Maddie Ch. 01

It was 8:30 in the morning and Nate was already half asleep at his desk; clearly the coffee wasn't doing its job anymore. He tuned out the sounds of the morning office chatter while he clicked the mouse and tapped on the keyboard to get ahead on his work. The morning meetings didn't usually apply to him anyway, and it was one of those days where he just couldn't stand to listen to all the cheerful morning people. Besides, he had a deadline to meet. The last thing he needed was to get stuck in an endless conversation with the sales people while he was trying to get all the pictures and text laid out for Chuck and Katie's sports articles.

Of course, right as he was getting fully invested in his work, just after taking his last sip of coffee, the boss, Paul, steps into the office and makes his presence known with his signature, loud cough, followed by his low, thundering voice.

"Hello, everyone. I hope you're all having a good day," he said. While Nate didn't have much of a choice but to listen to whatever Paul had to say, he kept is eyes on his screen and continued to work through it. "I just wanted to come and introduce you all to the newest member of our team," he continued, "this is Maddie. She'll be joining us as our newest columnist and will be focusing her efforts into niche interest articles. I hope you will all give her a kind welcome and help her learn the ropes around here."

Nate finally decided to pull his eyes away from his screen and turn his focus to Paul and Maddie. His jaw nearly dropped when he saw her. She was a young, 20-something of average height, but next to Paul, she looked tiny. Her platinum blonde hair was tied up in a loose bun, and a long lock of hair framed the left side of her face. He couldn't quite make out the color of her eyes, but they definitely looked big and eager; and the square-framed glasses she wore just elevated them more, at least for him. Her bright pink blouse illuminated her upper half while her legs were wrapped in a pair of tight leather pants. It was a daring look to pull off for sure, especially for being her first day, but he wasn't going to complain.

Nate went back to work as Paul took her around the office to each employee individually to introduce them. He remembered when Paul made him do that. It was far from his favorite experience, preferring to keep to himself, but he did what he had to. Still, he felt a bit of excitement in the anticipation of waiting for Paul and Maddie to get to his desk. There was no way to deny that he already though she was hot; a thought probably better kept to himself. She did check all his boxes, though. The blonde hair, her athletic frame, the glasses, and of course, those tight leather pants. That was enough to make his dick twitch no matter who was wearing them, but the fact that it was the new employee who looked so close to his age put his libido in overdrive. Despite his wandering mind, he maintained an effort to focus on his work, only occasionally glancing to get a little view of her while they walked around the office.

Eventually, it was time for Paul and Maddie to make their way to Nate's cubicle. He already saw them coming out of the corner of his eye, and the distinct sound of Paul's heavy shoes on the carpet, and Maddie's leather pants shuffling with every step continued to get louder until they arrived.

"How's it going over here, Nathaniel?" Paul asked.

"It's, uh, going good," he replied, staring at his screen after making a few clicks before fully turning his attention to his visitors. Maddie was even prettier up close, now that Nate was able to get a good look without seeming creepy. And she actually looked a bit familiar too. He couldn't quite figure out why, since there was really no reason to recognize her.

"Good to hear, I'm glad," Paul said. "Maddie, this is Nate. He's one of our graphic designers and editors. He's the one that makes all of our pages look pretty. That being said, you'll likely be working with him from time to time when it comes to designing how your articles will look."

"Sounds good," Maddie said.

"And, of course, this is Maddie," Paul added, turning back to Nate, "Like I said earlier, she'll be doing niche interest articles for the mag. I trust you'll help her out as needed."

"I'll do what I can," Nate said, "It's god to meet you."

"Likewise," Maddie replied. She had quite a sweet voice. It had a certain melodic element to it that Nate always appreciated. And her voice kinda sounded familiar too. Have they met before, he wondered. He watched as Paul took Maddie back toward her own cubicle on the other side of the office so she could get started on her onboarding tasks and get fully integrated into her new job.

After a few hours, it was getting to be time for lunch, or at least, Nate's lunch. He always took his lunch a bit earlier than most of the other people in the office, but it was part of his workflow that was best for him. His mornings would be spent finalizing the add pages and basic layouts for all the magazine pages, then in the afternoons, he would dedicate his larger time blocks for working on the layouts for the individual articles. He finished up his files for the sales team to look over, and headed out to have a word with Chuck for his upcoming fishing article before heading out to lunch.

"Hey Chuck," he said, walking up behind the greying 50 year old writer, "I'm putting that article together for you when I get back from lunch, if you have any last minute photos or graphics you want to get in there, you better email them to me now."

"You got it. I'll see what I have," Chuck said, "Have a good lunch."

"Thanks."

On the way over to the door to head out for some food, Nate stopped by the cubicle where Maddie was working to see how her day was going. When he got there, she was deep in a series of the typical cybersecurity training videos they made everyone watch. She definitely looked bored out of her mind.

"You look like you're having a good time," Nate said with a less than subtle hint of sarcasm."

"Oh! Hi," she said, clearly startled. "Yeah, it's... uh... invigorating."

"Well, fortunately, most of that crap is common sense. I don't even watch those videos anymore. I just let them play in the background and do the quiz when they're done."

"Not gonna lie, I've already done that with a couple of these," She replied.

"Well, I'm about to head out for lunch, so I'll be out for an hour or so. I just thought I'd see how you're first day was going. I know it can be boring."

"Hehe, thanks," she said with a little giggle.

Nate waved bye, but as he turned around to leave, he stopped midway upon seeing the sweatshirt she had laying on the floor next to her bag. He immediately recognized the green and blue pattern as well as the wolf on the sleeve. It finally began to come together for him; why he felt he knew her from somewhere, they attended the same high school. Wait... He thought, Maddie... Maddie...

"Really random, but is your last name Burke," he asked?

"Yeah, it is," she replied.

"Maddison Burke. We went to high school together. Do you remember me?" He asked, "Nathaniel Wallace."

She clapped her hands together real quick in recognition, "Yes! I knew you seemed familiar!"

"Likewise."

"How have you been? It's been what? Like eight years?"

"Yeah, I've been good," he said. "Went to college nearby and graduated in graphic design. Now I'm here."

"Sounds about the same. I went out to Philly for Journalism. I figured I'd give writing magazine articles a shot. Seems fun enough; finding new things to highlight."

"Wow, I definitely never would have expected to run into you again here after all these years. It's a small world."

"Right?"

"Yeah. Well, I'm going to let you get back to work on the boring stuff so you can get it done. We'll have to properly catch up one of these days."

"Agreed," Maddie said, "Well, have a good lunch."

"I shall." Nate waved as he stepped away and out the front door for his lunch.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. At some point, Paul had pulled Maddie into his office for most of the afternoon. If it was anything like the typical first day BS, he was likely going over a nice long review of company policies and job expectations with her.

Nate, on the other hand, was stuck at his desk going through the regular motions of his job while also fighting his subconscious for control of his thoughts. It almost pained him that he didn't recognize Maddie immediately, especially considering he spent nearly all of high school crushing on her hard, and even beyond high school, he still thought about her sometimes.

They were always friendly with each other, although definitely not in the same friend group. He was one of the artsy nerds in school while she, of course, was one of the popular girls. Being one of the premier varsity track and field stars certainly helped with that. Even though he always thought she was cute, it wasn't until the day she came to school wearing those black vinyl leggings that his attention was on her endlessly throughout the day. They were so reflective, and they had everyone's attention; the guys, the girls... some of the teachers; it's a wonder she wasn't flagged as dressing inappropriately, cuz those pants were hot.

If Nate ever had a chance to be truly honest about it, it was probably that moment that started his little obsession. Vinyl, leather, latex: if it was tight and shiny, he loved looking at it. He was, perhaps, even a bit obsessed. It wouldn't be the only time she ever dressed so daringly either. On his drive home for the night, he recalled a few occasions where she opted to wear those reflective leggings to school, or something similarly attractive and shiny. Over the years, he couldn't help but wonder whether she maybe had a bit of a fetish for it herself. For the moment, he passed today's work outfit off as a one-time or rare incident; even wondered it Paul might have mentioned it in their little meeting.

He spent the rest of his night relaxing to his regular activities. He tossed a cheap, frozen pizza in the oven for dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching a movie and playing video games. His thought still wandered back to Maddie, though. He recalled all those nights as a horny teenager where he would pick one of the hot girls in school out of the yearbook and imagine what he'd do with her while he jacked himself off. He wonder how many times he must have imagined Maddie in those vinyl leggings as he jerked himself to sleep, wondering when or if she would ever come to class like that again.

For the first time since college, he opted to actually use his own imagination for some personal pleasure rather than resorting to some porn video online. He just couldn't get Maddie out of his head. He was so enamored by how absolutely beautiful she had gotten; not that she wasn't back then. And the outfit she wore. That pink, satin blouse was so sexy yet sophisticated, and it paired so nicely with those tight leather pants that kept his mind churning all day. They weren't as shiny as some things he'd seen in the past, but way they made her look so professional and sexy at the same time drove him crazy. And then there were the other employees at the office to consider; what did they think? Surely he wasn't the only one to feel a certain way upon seeing her, and he couldn't blame anyone else for that. But this was his high school crush. This was his girl. He felt protective over her in a way, and wanted her to be his. He wanted to believe she dressed like that for him, but how could she have known he'd be there. Perhaps she did develop a fetish of her own. Would she wear anything else just as sexy? He just wanted to see more. He wanted to touch. What did she feel like? What did all that satin and leather feel like? What did...

But that was it. Just another head game. Another fantasy. Another mess to be cleaned up. It was getting late anyway; it was time to go to bed so he would hopefully not be too tired in the morning, and maybe the coffee would be more effective.