Exposure (first draft teaser)
~--WIP alert--~
I've never done this before, but I thought I'd put my superstition to the test and post the teaser for a work in progress. I want to prove telling people a little bit about a story that's not finished won't totally kill it.
First chapter. First draft. Unedited, raw, uncut, unrefined writing. I haven't even looked at it since I first wrote it 2 and a half months ago. I'm posting it for fun, and to show everybody that yes, I am working on something new :-)
Mature for the following adult situations: being at work, being an accountant, making smalltalk with coworkers, office politics, and being caught with your pants down.
Kids should not be exposed to this stuff. Reader discretion advised.
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"Exposure" By Tagenar
Copyright 2013 by Tagenar. This is the first chapter of the first draft of a work in progress. Do not alter.
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Numbers. Numbers scrolling up the screen. Numbers separated by neat little column and row lines. Numbers created by modifying the equations within those lines. Entire columns of numbers jittered, increased and decreased with the simple touch of a padded finger to a keyboard.
Expenses, accounts payable, billing, requisition reporting.
Scrolling up, up, up.
The lynx sat in a task chair within the cubicle walls. Action figures guarded his computer, comic strips and pictures of family, friends and places he'd rather be were push-pinned to the fabric walls. Gale's side of the cubicle looked like a kitten worked here.
The other side of the cubicle belonged to a wolf named Fiona. Her side was covered in plush toys and pictures of her pup. It looked more like her puppy's bedroom than a productive space. The office was pretty liberal with what it allowed and all employees took advantage of it.
"I think we're missing some numbers from March," Fiona said over her shoulder at the lynx.
"I think you're right, I think you're right, 'cause nothing here is adding up," Gale said. "I'm short sixty grand last quarter in expenses."
"Eighty-five grand in sales reports." She swiveled out of her chair and stood up. "I'm gonna talk to Vern, tell him to double check his papers and make sure he gave us everything."
Gale turned around in his chair and stood up as Fiona marched out. "I'll grab 'ol Doublecheck. Geeze, why can't every just keep track of this stuff as they go so we won't have this problem now?"
"Because we're the only ones who do things right around here," Fiona said as she turned the corner, tail waving.
Gale smiled and stepped into the aisle after her. He walked by six double-occupied cubicles, each side personalized as befitting the occupants. Decorations included plastic figurines, fantasy landscape calendars, sports pictures and equipment, award certificates and an entire wall of comic strip clippings. Some of the inhabitants of cubeland could draw, and adorned their cubes with work of their own creation. Gale wished he could do that.
Fiona had already reached the shared printer and pulled out the report she requested. She walked off to another part of the office. Gale found his papers in the stack of pages, paperclipped them together, highlighted the discrepancies and walked to a wholly different part of the office.
Gale walked by more cubicles and finally stopped at one occupied by a thin rat and a large crocodile.
"Last weekend me and Sheryl were at this place watching the game--" said the croc.
"Yeah, I saw it, too, wife and I," said the rat.
"You see the one play second quarter?"
"I couldn't believe he dropped that pass--"
"--there was no way--"
"--some dog threw a beer can at the TV," the croc said. "Stormed out the room and into the bathroom."
"Well it was a bad play, but they made up for it later."
"Dog had a lot riding on the team. He can't stand it when his team makes a mistake. Always afraid they'll never recover."
Gale smirked. "How much?"
The croc and the rat noticed Gale standing at the entrance and turned to look at him.
"He wouldn't say," the croc said. "You see it?"
"Yeah, roommate and I watched it. He had his girl over. They're both huge fans and when they saw that play they about cried."
"What is it with you people?" said the rat. "We don't make nearly as big a deal about it."
"It's a ride," Gale said. "And Ken..."
The rat looked at Gale directly now. Gale stepped inside, holding the papers out. Ken looked them over.
"There's a discrepancy. A big one. Maybe lots of them. Expenses don't add up."
"You have everything I have, Gale," Ken said, glancing at the croc for what must have been moral support.
Gale nodded, rolling his eyes, smiling. "You always say that, and then you double check and hey, I found a whole stack I forgot about! Check your stuff again, Ken. I want my stuff to add up before I leave."
"Gale..." the rat shook his head. "I'm tellin' ya, you have everything."
He smiled condescendingly again. "Double check it." Gale walked away, back down the aisle.
All the accountants were equals, so Gale wasn't in charge of anybody. It wasn't his place to tell anybody to stop talking and get back to work, but when it came to making sure his numbers added up, the means often involved forcing others to make sure their numbers added up as well. It went around the entire office like that, and in this way, the department pretty much kept itself in line.
A shepherd popped out of his cubicle and walked with Gale. He had some discrepancies of his own to work out and Gale was glad to help. Gale stopped at his cubicle. Fiona was already there, typing away, a new stack of papers on her desk.
After about twenty minutes the shepherd left and speed-walked backed to his cubicle as if the fate of the world rested on his next act. Gale swiveled back around in his chair and worked on something else while he waited for DoubleCheck Ken to get back to him.
The hours flew by. Gale felt like a circus performer keeping dinner plates spinning on sticks, jumping from one to the other, adjusting this one a little bit, this other one a bit more, maintaining an entire stage of them by himself. That would actually have made things easier. Instead he shared the stage with thirty other people all trying to keep the same plates in the air.
Lunch time. In near unison, Gale and Fiona stood up. He grabbed his lunch bag and they walked into the hall. Months ago, Gale ate lunch in his cubicle because, like everyone else in the world, he seemed to work better when he was not working. He figured things out on his lunch hour, and not when he was actually working, so he took advantage of that. He'd still be doing it if not for a recent change in his work habit.
The entire department went on lunch at this hour, so conversation took off like a distant train coming closer and closer until it was finally on top of the office. Hardly anybody talked about numbers. The mood was last night's game. Gale felt like he was in school again on his way to lunch. The only differences were no cafeteria food, and nobody was making everyone walk single file.
There were only about twenty people in the break room. Canines, felines, reptiles, rats, mice, a couple rabbits. All sitting at the round tables. The rest were probably still in their cubicles, working hard. Gale surveyed the room twice. D.C. Ken was nowhere in sight. The lynx smiled and sat in his usual place.
He wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but crowds of people tended to separate themselves by species. Canines tended to sit together. Reptiles tended to gather in their group. The rabbits and rodents tended to sit in their little groups, too.
In no time Gale was in the midst of the felines. Most of them brought fish for lunch, all of them brought a story about the game. The stories moved over and through Gale. He was there with them, mostly talking about his roommate's girlfriend and how she was even more hyped up about it than Gale and Josh combined.
While someone else talked about the game party at a friend's house, Gale's eyes wandered over to the canines. He found Ross, two tables over, talking to several others about the game and the weekend in general.
Ross was dressed in a loose shirt and long slacks. A fox with black and white fur, and a chest so wide no shirt could hide it. Months ago Gale overheard Ross say his bench was up to 240. Of course everyone asked him what he was doing in accounting, and Ross' answer was obvious: bodybuilding didn't pay the bills.
Gale remembered the first day Ross worked. Gale was at the watering hole when this huge, black and white fox walked up to him. It wasn't casual dress that week, so he was in business attire. It didn't matter what the fox wore. He stood out. The lines in his chest were obvious. The bulges in the biceps were blatant. The individual muscles that made up the legs were easy to see even through his loose slacks. Ross introduced himself as he took some cold water from the cooler.
Gale had stared for a moment. He didn't hear the fox. Ross repeated himself. Gale covered his stare by saying his mind was still back at his desk, trying to make the numbers add up. Ross laughed it off, took a swig of water. Gale tried to make small talk. He didn't do very well. So much he wanted to say, but none of it came out.
That had not been the only time Ross spoke to him. He saw Ross at least once a day. The lynx happened to be one of the people Ross relied upon for numbers that made his numbers add up. He hadn't seen him today until right now. Gale sighed as he looked on at the huge fox. Even his business causal clothes didn't hide his time in the gym. He expected someone in management to send him home to change into something less distracting. Someone must've complained about him by now. As the weeks passed, Gale came to the conclusion that he was the only one who was distracted.
Ross was talking about the weekend with his girlfriend. It disappointed Gale every time he heard him talk about her. He said her name was Candy. Gale wasn't sure if that was her real name, or if it was just what he called her. It seemed like all the best ones were straight. He often told himself that didn't mean he couldn't talk to the fox, and several times he tried to do so, but each time he couldn't think of a single thing to say that wasn't work-related. He could do it just fine with anyone else. He did it every day with Fiona and D.C. and Rob and Penny and everyone else. He was doing it right now. Conversation moved freely from weekend adventures to game parties to movies to the news to standard office gossip. And yet, when he tried to talk to Ross about any of these things, he locked up. Gale talked amongst the felines and a few of the wanderers between the groups, but in between moving his mouth, he stole glances at the biggest male in the room.
An hour later, everyone began migrating back to their work. Gale left after Ross did. He made sure to be behind him to see that ass. It was like nip for the eyes, better than television but more or less just the same. Fun to watch, but never able to touch. He could live with that.
Gale walked into his shared cubicle. D.C. was sitting in his chair, holding a stack of papers. When the lynx entered, Ken stood up and handed the pile to Gale.
"Fine, say it, say it."
Gale grinned. "Thanks, Doublecheck."
The rat walked by Gale and out of the cubicle.
"I hate that name, I hate that name..."
"So stop earning it," Gale called to his back, still grinning.
Seconds later, Fiona poked her head around the corner. "Was that--? Oh, ol' D.C. strikes again." She walked in, sat down. She was holding some new papers herself. "Good, I just got an update from Vern. He found a few more numbers. Let's see what this does to our totals."
Gale set the stack on the shared desk, making sure it slammed down and shook everything. Gale's action figures tipped over. Fiona held onto the stuffed toys.
"Gale!"
Gale said nothing as he sat down and got to work. He rearranged his action figures. Fiona let go of her decoration and started typing furiously.
"Excuse me, Gale," said a voice from behind.
Gale's heart sped up. He turned around in his chair. The black fox filled the cubicle door. "Yeah, Ross?"
"Do you have the..." Ross lifted a single piece of paper from his waist closer to his snout. His bicep seemed to double in size from the effort. His chest puckered the shirt a little. "Clifford account figures yet?"
Nobody ever asked Ross to pose, or make a muscle, or anything so lame. Gale would never even ask that. All Ross had to do was... move. Scratch his chin, lift a piece of paper--it didn't matter what he did, when those muscles were in motion, Gale was distracted. But he'd gotten better at not locking up anymore.
"Yes, I finished that yesterday, I meant to enter the figures on the shared spreadsheet this morning but..." Gale gestured to the paper stack.
Ross glanced at it, smirked. "D.C.?"
"You know it," Gale said, swiveling back and forth in his chair.
"Gotya," said Ross. "Well, when you get a minute, update those numbers so I can go home."
Gale smiled. "I'll get on it."
"Thanks." Ross pushed off the cubicle wall and back down the hall.
Gale wished he could come up with an excuse for Ross to stand there just a little bit longer. He swiveled back around and faced the computer. He had his fingers on the keyboard. He replayed the conversation again in his mind. All about work. All about boring numbers. He wished he had something else to say to Ross. Some way to get his attention without coming across as creepy.
Gale put the D.C. stack on hold for a minute and updated the Clifford account on the shared spreadsheet. For anybody else in the office, Gale would not have dropped everything. For Ross, he did. Gale supposed it was a subliminal way to get his attention. Doing him little favors like that... Favors he would not take to mean what they actually meant. Gale sighed.
Numbers scrolled. The hours passed again. Gale got up for nip from time to time. He met Penny, another feline and exchanged statuses on the day's work. Another trip he paused with a mixed group of canines and reptiles around the water cooler and chitchatted about the game and last weekend. Gale hadn't done anything this weekend but watch the game, but Colin, another dog asked him if he skateboarded lately.
"You skateboard?" said one of the reptiles.
"I did all the time in high school through college. Still do."
"Professionally?"
"Nothing pro, no."
Skateboarding was a fad when he was growing up, so naturally he tried it. Unlike most kids who got sucked into the fad, he was pretty good at it. Also like everyone else who tried the fad, he never wore knee or elbow protection. From there Gale got to talking about a few of the biggest injuries he suffered over the years.
Gale didn't dwell on it long. He went back to his desk, promising more where that came from next time at lunch.
A while later Gale went back for more. This time Fiona went with him. They met Ted, a rabbit. He asked Gale about the Baker account.
"Sorry, I haven't gotten to that one yet. I'm still finishing catching up with the big numbers."
The rabbit nodded. "D.C.?"
Fiona and Gale nodded at the same time.
"That little rat," Ted said, taking a drink. "Didn't his mother ever teach him to make sure the job is done? Oh, speaking of that, how's the puppy, Fiona?"
"Growing up too fast," she said. It was the expected response.
"When are you gonna have one, Gale?" Ted said.
"No plans. No plans."
"Me and Carl had none either," Fiona said, "but it happened."
And from there Fiona talked about married life a little. Ted was also married and he shared the same sympathies, and the same humor from the male perspective. Gale had plenty of insights of his own.
The conversation only lasted a couple minutes and then it was back to work. Numbers scrolled, the paper stack got smaller and smaller, and Gale got up for what was sure to be one last nip break for the day.
He walked to the pots. The nip was empty, so he began to brew a new one. Gale felt a large fox standing behind him.
"Hey, Gale, thanks for updating the account for me."
Gale looked over his shoulder at the fox taking a cup of water from the cooler. "Sure, sure, that was easy."
"Made my life easier," Ross said as he took a drink.
Gale stole a quick glance at that bicep lifting the mug. It was like a mechanical watch with a transparent face showing all the gears and inner workings. Fascinating to watch no matter what it's doing. He got the pot ready and waited for it to brew. He turned around, facing Ross at the cooler.
"Pot empty?" Ross said.
"Yeah. Last cat didn't refill it."
"Hate it when that happens."
Gale tried to think of something to ask. He really wanted to know how long he'd been working out, what motivated him, what his goal was, did he really want to be here or was this just a stepping stone job?
He thought about asking what Ross did outside of work, besides the obvious. Everyone in the office asked everyone that. He'd never heard Ross answer that question. Gale's answer always turned heads. Nobody would have guessed he could skateboard, or that he also went to a gym. Neither looked obvious. Gale was sure he could strike up a conversation about that, but he couldn't think of how to begin. Every time Gale resolved to talk to Ross about something, nothing happened. He couldn't think of a way to talk to him without sounding like flirting, or admiration.
So Ross drank the water in silence. Gale waited patiently for the pot to brew, pretending to be occupied with numbers. Ross turned and walked back down the aisle. Gale watched his backside. The triceps seemed to be working just from the act of holding the cup at waist-level. All Gale could do was whistle mentally. He poured himself a cup and returned to his chair for more plate-balancing.
At last it was time to leave. Gale pushed away from his desk. The stack of papers still wasn't done. Fiona finished hers, but Gale had a ways to go. Gale didn't mind leaving it for tomorrow.
All across the office people were getting up and leaving their cubicles. Conversation began rolling in like a train again. Gale logged off and locked the system out. The lynx yawned, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth he almost never used. Fiona closed out the system and quickly walked out the door, eager to go out and life real life. Gale was eager to do so, too.
He stood up and grabbed his empty lunch bag. Suddenly he realized how many cups of nip he had, and how determined he'd been to finish the stack. He had to piss. Now! Gale walked out of the cubicle into the aisle. He joined the traffic jam of fur and scale migrating to the elevators and staircases, but Gale was headed in the opposite direction.
There weren't many people on this floor, so the bathroom was unisex and single occupancy. He gripped the handle and pushed it down lightly. It turned. He pushed it inward and walked inside. He set the bag down, locked the door, unbuttoned his pants and slid them down. He didn't use the fly. Never could.
It took a lot longer than it should have. Gale just now realized how much he'd had to drink, and this was the only bathroom break he took today. He must've been thinking hard about those numbers--so hard he put everything else on hold until right now. Gale was shocked. He was pissing a river.
The handle turned. The door swung inward. Gale gasped and tried to turn away, but the stream was still going strong and he couldn't stop it now. Standing at the door was a black fox, one bulging arm holding the door open, the other on his pants, about to undo them. He halted and glared at Gale.
Gale could only stand eye-locked with the fox, one hand on his cock, which hung nine inches soft. Normally the other hand would have come to the rescue to hide it from sight, but Gale had learned over the years it didn't help at all.
A solid second went by. Ross blinked, looked up at Gale's face, then down again. Then up. Then down. Up again.
"Uh..." Ross opened his mouth a couple more times but nothing came out. Finally on the third try he backed out of the small room. "Sorry." He let the door close behind him.
The stream continued. Gale wished it would end. It went on for a few more endless seconds before finally slowing. Quickly Gale washed his hands, blowdried them, grabbed his things and gripped the handle. He clicked the lock. He pushed the handle down. There was a scraping sound inside the handle, and it turned. Gale rolled his eyes and held it down. He dreaded it when people waited outside the bathroom for him to finish. It made him nervous ever since he was a kit. And now...
Gale pulled the door open and peeked out, shaking and rehearsing what he was going to say. The entire floor was empty and silent. Ross wasn't waiting. Gale quickly walked through the office, hoping it really was empty and nobody was watching.
Gale walked down the cubicle aisle. He looked over his shoulder in each cubicle as he walked by. Nobody was here. He kept telling himself that over and over. Nobody was here. Nobody was here. It felt like a million people were watching him.
He stepped in the elevator, relieved he was the only rider. Three floors and a few endless seconds later, the doors opened to the lobby. Only the receptionist was here. He walked out the office doors.