GITJ Tangent Thread: Seeking Approval, p1

Seeking Approval, p1

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Mercedes Arroyo straightened the pens in her “University of Virginia” mug for the third - and she promised herself final - time. She straightened her short black skirt, and pushed an errant lock of her long, black hair behind her left ear. She straightened her posture in her new leather executive-style chair, readjusted the straps of her new bra and buzzed for him to enter.

“Come on in, Sam,” she called out, lighting up her most brilliant smile for him, the newest member of her team here at the FDA. Samuel Packer was young, right out of college at some Midwestern party school, and he was delicious.

Haha What? Whoops! Mercy, you can’t think like this!!

The big, green eyes of the new Director of the Second Division of the Office of Non-Prescription Drugs sparkled as he entered her office, all cute and short in his eagerness and wrinkled khakis, hands folded deferentially in front of himself. His eyes flitted to the floor, to her, and back again. Adorable. She was going to have to stay focused, she knew, and not get too excessively...flirty. Mercy Arroyo had been surprised how powerful these viral urges could be, now that she’d started on-

“Hi Director Arroyo!” Sam said, stepping up to her rather industrial, government-issue desk in her rather unremarkable, bureaucratic office. Bigger than his little cubicle, of course, and well-appointed. She’d just had the walls painted a calming shade of blue, so that was nice. But it was definitely the office of a civil servant. She was smiling at him, sitting back away from her desk, and - dammit! He did it again! His eyes jumped down to her big tits for that brief second. Why am I such an idiot?!? he scolded himself, Maybe she didn’t notice… “Am I on time for our meeting??”

“Yes, Sam, you’re fine,” Mercedes chuckled, re-crossing her long, gym-toned legs. Immediately she had felt her sense of authority swell as he entered, all his body language signaling his inferior position, and her superior one. Her thighs were heating up already just from the tone of his voice. He so wanted to please her, she could hear that, and it had made her want to undo another snap of the strained neckline of her crisp, tight, blue blouse. And then when his eyes (predictably...he was infected, after all, and she was getting so busty) shyly dropped to her chest for that instant? Well, the things she wanted to do to him...

“You know what, Sam, close the door,” she said, right as he was about to seat himself in the little plastic chair in front of her that she’d had them all take, for their “evaluations”. She liked that it was small; it made them seem small. Him, she thought, bringing another wave of warmth between her legs, him it would make look like a little boy. What was he? 5’6”?

“Oh, okay, sure!” Sam chirped. He realized how high his voice sounded, when he was nervous. And boy was he nervous! She tended to make him that way, most pretty women did these days. She must be at least thirty, but god she was hot, and it was hard to concentrate around her. Nice hips and Jimminy Crickets those tits. And to make matters worse, this was to be his evaluation, with the Director, today. She’d been on the job a few months now, and was just getting around to “reorganizing”, seeing who she thought was best for what positions. Lina had been promoted, right off the bat, and Ms. Foster. But most had to sit for these evaluations, which felt a little like getting re-interviewed for your own job. And they hadn’t been going too well, for some of the others here. Jim had been let go, Vince demoted. Ryan, Rico and Rob sent to another division. Even Dave, who had been his mentor of sorts, here...gone. He didn’t know what happened to Marty, who was keeping quiet, but he was out there packing up his desk...so it probably wasn’t great.

So yeah, Sam was nervous. He did as he was told, closed the office door, and - with a sheepish smile - came back to stand aside the little plastic chair in front of her desk. She wore a lot of makeup.

He’s waiting for me to tell him to sit, Director Arroyo thought, holding back a sigh as she looked up at the thin man-boy standing before her, obsequiously. In all honesty he was barely ten years younger than she, but she felt an entire generation more mature. Again she absentmindedly readjusted the strap of her bra through her top, and told him to sit.

“So, Sam,” she began, as he took his place, her voice warm and velvety. She knew she had a nice voice, that people responded to it well. “You’ve been with the division since June, is that right?” she asked, “Just a few months longer than me?”

“Yes ma’am, that’s correct,” Sam replied, proud of himself for not letting his voice crack, nodding and smiling. He hoped he hadn’t started sweating because man was he-

“Nervous?” she continued, cocking her head on her long, thin, elegant neck. She’d always liked how the tendons of her throat looked. “Because, well, Sam...I can understand, how you might be nervous,” she explained, reaching out to straighten the pens in the mug on her desk, “You are the least experienced inspector on the team, your aptitude tests were just barely good enough to get you into the division, and frankly there are a number of more qualified applicants I have that would love your job.”

With as much positive effort as he could muster, Sam tried to keep a smile on his face. Honestly, though, he didn’t hold a lot of hope that he was going to make it through this meeting.

“I know that it’s getting harder and harder for men to find good, entry level positions like this, and you feel lucky to have it, ” she continued, sitting back in her chair now, tenting her hands in front of herself and regarding him with a strange little smile. “Remind me, Sam. Are you married? Girlfriend?”

“N-n-no Ma’am,” he stammered, caught off guard by the question - but at least it was an easy one.

“And very little in the way of family support, right?” she asked, additionally, all-the-while fighting the sudden urge to rub herself between her legs, “You’re a ‘bootstrap’ kinda guy, if I remember. Worked your own way through school, got a couple scholarships. Came here to Maryland all by yourself?” Though Director Arroyo hadn’t had a lot of face-to-face time with Sam, over the past months, she had his file memorized, at this point. So vulni...

“Th-That’s right...” he responded, adding: “Ma’am.”

Director Mercedes Arroyo smiled, benevolently, blessing Sam with a big grin that showed off her big teeth. It was a smile that would suddenly made him feel better, she knew. She liked his deference, she liked all their deference and respect for her every word during these meetings, when they were nervous for their jobs. “Y’know,” she began again, “I know I haven’t been a supervisor for very long. I know that when I was brought in to replace Mike McGill, who’d been here his whole career, there was a bit of talk…”

‘Talk’ was putting it nicely, Sam thought to himself, some of the other guys had been convinced she’d slept her way up to get to this desk. For himself, though, Sam wasn’t so sure. She seemed pretty smart, driven. But, yeah, those legs and now, these days, those, uh...tits. He could see how, uh...

“Don’t tell anyone but I admit it,” she continued, “I like firing guys, especially those that think I got to be their boss by spreading my legs. I like moving them out, moving women in…”

Sam’s throat caught, his heart skipped. Weird, how that got him excited.

“...but you, Sam...you’re different. I like you,” she smiled, watching with pride how his expression suddenly changed, how the fear started to fall from his face, replaced by a relief he was trying to keep quiet. He would feel gratitude to her, too, and she could tuck him in to that. “I’m going to keep you on, and in fact I have a very special assignment for you…”

Director Arroyo went on to explain the job she had for little Sam Packer. It was an exciting opportunity for him, a chance to go out into the field on his own, for the first time. He’d be travelling, set up in a hotel room for however long the assignment took: a week, two weeks, maybe a month. She’d be keeping tabs on him, of course, personally, but she was confident he was the right man for the job. A small pharmaceutical company had been fast-tracked for approval of a new supplement, and she needed him to visit, go through all the necessary procedures, get all the forms signed...and get this project done, onto the next step.

“What’s the name of this company?” Sam asked, writing as fast as he could on the pad of paper she’d let him use, with the pen from her mug.

“‘Evolution Pharmaceuticals’,” Director Arroyo answered, “You’ll meet with their compliance officer next Monday...her name’s Rina Rubens. They’ll also set you up with an assistant for the paperwork, show you around. It should all be pretty straightforward.”

“Wow, okay, wow…!” Sam exclaimed, knowing he should keep his excitement in check but struggling. He was just so, well...excited! Not only had he not lost his job, not only had he been given a great, independent assignment which sounded pretty important, Director Arroyo seemed like she was taking a special interest in him, in his career. Though it was a little weird how she kept smiling at him when she told him this could end up leading him to an exciting new position in life, he took it as a positive. She really wanted him to do well!

“So, Sam,” she finally said, after they were done discussing the particulars, “You have to join us out for drinks tonight, meet some of the new members of the team?”

“Tonight?” he asked. Wow...I’m being invited to Wednesday Happy Hour? That was usually “Girls Only”..! He hadn’t had anything planned, haha, of course, and secretly the idea of seeing Ms. Arroyo with her hair down, letting loose a bit, was a little gripping. “Sure!”

“Great,” Mercy beamed, standing, and watching as he followed her lead. She directed him out, watching that little butt of his, and asked him to close the door behind himself. Immediately she took out her cell phone, a private line, and dialed Rina.

She got her voicemail.

“Well, you can tell the ladies it looks like our troubles are over…” Mercy Arroyo spoke into the phone, straightening the pen he’d put back in her mug, “I think I found the solution to our problems…”

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Done by commission for a generous reader who'd like to remain anonymous. We're not sure exactly how long this thread will continue, but will be at least three parts.