For Love Of A Good Woman - A Short Story

Terrence was an average man of average height and average weight. He wasn't very outgoing or boisterous yet he wasn't boring either—he was, well, average.

He had a longing for a woman—a woman that he could care for and that would care for him. One that he could truly love and that would love him. He didn't want a fairy tale relationship—as those don't exist, do they?

No, he would settle for a true shared affinity, caring and devotion. Terrence was looking for the one.

Celia was a beautiful girl masked by poor choice in clothing, misdirected style of hair and untrained in the art of makeup. Presentable was the best she could manage.

Terrence and Celia were more than coworkers, they were friends and would carry a conversation far too long for the comfort of management as they shared their secrets and dreams. Terrence was comfortable sharing his thoughts with Celia and Celia was comfortable with just sharing with Terrence.

Barbara was the new girl down the hall in sales and was not beautiful, she was gorgeous, as far as modern graces allow before heading into smut.

Barbara attracted the eye of most men in the office, even the married ones. Most men, except Samuel as he was a homosexual but even he appreciated her decor. "Drag queen extraordinaire" he would joke jealous and catty.

Terrence knew he had no hope of pursuit of this wonder of over-abundance nature had provided as he was, well, average. And he knew it. Yet, he longed and yearned as did every other man in the general vicinity of her aromatic perfume, aesthetically pleasing form and magnetic smile.

He stood at the copier performing his daily and mundane task of repetitious monotony when he whiffed a pleasant odor and knew from whence—Barbara. She was behind him, silent and waiting. With the press of the copy button and turned to face the contemporary aromatic goddess. "I'll be through in a few minutes. It's a busy paper day," he said vacant of any social graces or thought to decorum. Barbara just smiled warm and inviting. Terrence turned and continued his monotony until he soon completed his reproduction tasks and gathered his mountain of paperwork. "All yours," he blurted then walked away. As he turned the corner of the partition labyrinth he could see her shapely form in his peripheral vision. She was looking in his direction! Not a glance, but a lingering gaze. Her eyes returned to the copier. As Terrence continued through the maze of chest-high partitions Barbara's eyes again returned to follow his movement and he could glimpse as she watched with intent. Her attention seemingly fixated upon him. He knew not what to do with such attention, he left the room for another department.

Celia, witness to the event, as was the rest of the office, male and female, who kept a close eye on their new addition, the men wanton, the women scornful, hung her head and returned to work.

She then performed her daily ritual and delivered Terrence coffee and petitioned for the previous night's news as she enjoyed starting the day with Terrence and his, not so exciting, news from his night at home. For some reason it was comforting that he wanted to discuss the mundane with her. She would always interject her trivial escapades of home life as well.

Terrence sat at his desk as is usual as Celia approached with coffee in hand. She reached to place it on the desk and noticed a fresh, half-drunk cup of coffee occupied the space she usually placed it. "You already got your coffee?" she inquired with a hint of sadness.

He turned to face her. "Oh, yeah, I was in a little early so I got it myself," he replied.

A little disappointed she placed his coffee on a file cabinet and took a seat. "So, what did you do last night?" she asked with interest.

Terrence looked at the floor and responded, "I don't really have time to talk today. I need to get ready for a presentation for our client." Moments later Barbara appeared. "You ready hot shot?" she prompted.

All hope of baiting him into a conversation was gone when Miss Perfect appeared. She quickly excused herself. "Oh, I see you're busy, I'll see you later?" she asked searching.

"Oh, sure," he said dismissive.

Celia walked away in dismay as she knew she could not compete with that living artwork! As she walked she realized her feelings for Terrence went much deeper than she had ever realized and felt a little queasy, and her thoughts became scattered. Not too sure but she believed she was jealous! This won't due, she said to herself. He's just a coworker and friend, that's all! she tried to convince herself. It was not working.

Terrence and Barbara headed for the conference room. All eyes were on them as they entered and Barbara shut the door. The conference table had various stacks of paperwork laid out in specific order. "Did you do this?" he inquired.

"Yes, you need to be prepared for our client and as I made the sale I figured I knew best what you would need for a proper presentation," she said.

Terrence looked at the organised mountain. Wow, this girl's serious about her job, he thought. He sat behind the work and began to thumb through the pages.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm trying to figure out where to start," he said.

She leaned on the table in front of him displaying ample cleavage. "There's no start—it's finished!" she exclaimed. "I have the presentation ready. This is just reference material," she said then slid a thin file folder to him. "This is the presentation. All you need do is know this and you're all set!" she said then smiled.

"You did all this yourself?" he asked in disbelief.

She remained in her position in front of him—cleavage and all. "This is an important presentation and I need it to go off without a hitch. It means a lot to me, you and the company!" she said with confidence.

Confused, and having much difficulty keeping his eyes on hers, he offered, "So why me? I mean anyone could do this. In fact, I can think of a few people far more qualified than me to make this presentation," he said.

Barbara remained in her tantalizing position and peered into his eyes as she squeezed her chest slightly to reveal even more cleavage then displayed a sweet smile. Terrence needed no words—no man would. The message was clear. A rush of nervous tension rushed in. This was not what he was expecting today—or any day for that matter! Women as beautiful as this do not proposition men such as he. Do they? He tried to collect his thoughts but before he could speak Barbara interjected. "I believe we should discuss how best to present this to the client. How about dinner, say tonight around seven?" she asked in a seductive and inviting manner.

As thoughts of uncontrolled insecurity ran through his mind he managed to form a cogent thought. "I think that's a good plan," said Terrence.

The next morning Celia, apprehensive, walked to visit Terrence with coffee in hand. "Hey, I've been waiting for you!" he said with excitement in his voice.

Celia smiled. "You have?" she said secretly pleased things were back to normal.

"Yeah, have I got something to talk about this morning," he paused to collect his thoughts then continued, "I went out on a date with the most wonderful girl last night," he said exuberant.

Celia's heart sunk to even lower depths than previous. She managed to feign ignorance and interest. "With who?" she said knowing full well.

Terrence brightened. "Barbara," he blushed.

Continuing her ignorance, "Oh, that new girl? She's very pretty Terrence," she offered interest as best she could.

"Pretty? She's gorgeous!" he exclaimed.

Celia listened as he gave far more detail about his first night with Barbara than she cared to know. With each word she became more uncomfortable. It was almost painful to hear the compliments and subtle inside thoughts of Terrence, the man she cared for more than she had let herself admit. "Terrence that sounds like you had a wonderful time!" she feigned excitement. "But I'm sorry, I have to go to a meeting in five minutes. Can we continue this later?" she said desperate.

"Oh, sure, C, we'll talk later. There's more to tell," he said with a sly smirk and winked.

Celia jumped from her chair before she lost her ever decreasing grip on her runaway emotions. She hurried for the ladies room and hid in a stall weeping as silent as she could.

Terrence approached Barbara as she was speaking to a small group of men. He stood patiently as she talked about some current office business. It was obvious to everyone Terrence was there to talk to her as he had no business in that department or the group yet, he remained. After a few more moments Barbara turned to address him. "Is there something I could help you with?" she asked somewhat dismissive.

"I have a few questions about the presentation," he thought to say.

"I'm a little busy right now, I'm sure if you applied yourself you could manage," she said a bit malicious with intent to embarrass. A couple of the men smirked a little in response to her comment. Terrence left without a word and walked in confusion and disbelief of what had happened. I don't get it. Was I not there last night with her? Did we not have the time of our lives last night? he thought.

Two women in the office were having a conversation near the copier. One of them noticed Celia nearby and waved her over. She approached with trepidation. "Have you seen the new guy?" asked Sarah, one of the office gossips.

"No, I haven't. I've been a little occupied lately," said Celia a little sullen.

Joanne looked her in the eyes and grabbed her hands. "Yeah, we've seen the way Terrence has been acting around that Barbara slut. Don't you worry none, honey, we'll get him back for you," she said with compassion.

Celia countered with, "But, he's not my-"

Sarah cut her off. "What? Not your boyfriend? Girl, if you ain't got the hots for him I don't know who does. Don't you worry none. We'll get him to notice you again," she said certain.

Celia looked down and spoke. "I don't think he ever thought of me that way. He never went to dinner with me like he did with her. I mean we've gone out but not like a date or anything," she said.

Joanne began to pick and primp Celia's clothes. "Oh doll, you forget, we see everything around here. Even though he doesn't know it yet, he's you're man." She paused and grabbed Celia by the shoulders and gently turned her in the direction of the hall. "Now, you see that fine hunk of man down there? Hm?" she asked.

"Yeah," she acknowledged looking at the fine hunk of man.

"That's the new guy, Kenneth," said Joanne.

Celia could see what they meant. He was very good looking. Tall and muscular with classic chiseled features. "He's really handsome," she said.

"That's you're ticket right there, honey," said Sarah.

"What do mean, ticket?" Celia asked a bit confused.

"That's your ticket back on the Terrence train, girl," she paused then continued. "That man there is gonna get Terrence to notice you again. But this time he's gonna see you in a different way," said Sarah.

Joanne leaned-in. "In a very different way, if you know what I mean," she snickered.

Sarah stood back and took-in the view of what was the current the look of Celia. "This won't do. Honey, you need a major makeover. I mean bulldozers and stuff," she said.

"Hey!" Celia said offended.

Sarah looked her in the eyes. "Girl, you ain't gonna get a man lookin' the way you look. Trust me, you need a little help," she said.

Celia looked down at her apparel and saw nothing wrong with her choice in dress. "What's wrong with my look?" she inquired.

"Nothing if you wanna work in the local library basement," quipped Joanna.

"Hey!" she said offended yet again.

"You just leave everything to me. I got training in makeovers," said Sarah confident.

Joanne cut-in. "It's true. She's got like sisters and cousins for days and that's all the girls do is dress and paint each other. I mean look at her, ain't she fabulous?" she asked.

Celia took a new look at Sarah and noticed she did dress rather sharp and her face was perfect. Funny, she never noticed that before.

The girls spent the next week giving full attention to Celia. Shopping and training her how to change, not just her look, but attitude as well. She learned proper dress, makeup and etiquette of a contemporary woman.

After many hours of attention to detail the transformation of Celia was complete. Sarah stood back and admired her work. "Damn, girl we uncovered a masterpiece in you," she said surprised.

Celia moved to the mirror and was shocked to see her new look. She almost didn't recognize herself, as she was stunning! Celia began to well-up with tears.

"Oh, no, no, honey. Remember, no crying with makeup. It'll be a disaster to fix. And remember, makeup needs to be applied where it looks like you have no makeup on. It's meant to accentuate not communicate," she said as she walked around Celia admiring her work. "I think you're ready for action," she said proud.

The rest of their time was spent on how to attract and interact with the opposite sex. Celia was clueless in this endeavor and much time was spent on her attitude toward this sensitive subject.

Monday morning arrived and Celia entered the office a new woman. Her look, walk and attitude was completely contemporary and striking.

As she walked through the departments, every eye was on her and she elicited looks to rival her competition—Barbara. Celia was indeed, the new girl. As she walked passed Kenneth, she smiled catching his attention. He watched her gracefully stroll down the hall. Inside, Celia was a nervous wreck. Those who wouldn't give her time of day just last week were clambering for her attention and she was having difficulty adjusting to societies vain and fickle predilection.

Upon arriving at her desk, her decision to remain was purposeful as there would be no Terrence and no chat this morning. The girls said he should come to her and that's what she was going to do—even if it was killing her!

While typing her morning reports, there was the sense she was being watched. She turned and there, standing in the partition opening, was the new god of the office—Kenneth. "Good morning," he said inviting and seductive.

Celia tried her best to reply but choked on her response. She smiled instead.

Terrence, looking at the time, was wondering where his morning confidant was. He popped his head over the partition and looked in the direction of Celia's cubicle—and there he was, the new guy. The bronzed, bright smiled, not a hair out of place, new guy! He was talking to his morning distraction—Celia! He became somewhat upset at this new guy stealing his time from him. His mind raced as he then thought, Is this a permanent change? Oh, I'm going to put an end to this now! He enjoyed their morning chats, their endless banter and no Greek god was going to rob him of that! A quick check of his emotions as he rose from his chair and made his way to her cubicle. Terrence approached Kenneth and stood beside him in the opening of the cubicle and looked toward Celia's desk and saw some other woman there. "Oh, I'm sorry I thought you were someone el-" His words were caught short as the information processed in his mind with the realization that this strange woman in Celia's cubicle was in fact, Celia! My God, she's gorgeous! That's Celia? he thought. "Celia?" he asked dumbfounded.

Celia looked him in the eyes and smiled. It's working! she thought. "Good morning," she purred.

Kenneth, being most familiar with this type of situation as he'd experienced it many times, quietly removed himself from the scenario. He knew when he was out-gunned. The way their eyes locked he knew he was defeated at that very moment. This was more than office romance.

Terrence entered and sat. How, what, wow! he thought quite astonished. "You look very nice today," he downplayed.

Celia's eyes never left his. "Thank you. That means a lot to me," she said as she gently touched his knee.

Terrence was now in a strange, unfamiliar but wonderful world.

The End

art source: pic