Staff Party

“So, are you going or not?”

“I don’t know, I might”, you said, ringing out the water from an old mop. “When is it again?”

“Day after tomorrow. Cmon, you have to come. I don’t know what happened last week, but there’s something different about Chaewon. I mean, she still can’t hold her anger in for the life of her, and I can tell she’s still really tired working all the time, but she seems less… stressed? Wonder what happened.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed anything”, you said, tossing the mop to Eunchae. “No here, let me do that”, grabbing the trash from her hand”. It was true, you hadn’t noticed anything. Ever since you… oh how did you put it to her, fucked your manager against the supply closet door, Chaewon seemed to go about business as usual.

“Ever the gentleman”, Eunchae smiled, grabbing the mop from you. “You know she’s gonna be pissed at you if you don’t go right?”, she said, her bright eyes turning mischievous, and a small curl of a smile appearing as she purposely poked you with the mop on every swipe of the floor.

“Yeah, well she’s not too bad when she’s angry. She’s actually kinda cute when she’s mad”, you said thoughtfully.

Eunchae mopped you a little harder this time. “Doesn’t matter, you’re coming.”

“But-”

*Poke

“Sigh, fine fine, I’ll go”, you sighed, defeated. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to go to the party Chaewon was throwing to celebrate you and Eunchae’s promotion to fully trained employees, it was just that you hadn’t been to a girls house since your ex, and you felt a little guilty being around 2 beautiful girls around so much alcohol. Well, I already fucked…

You had decided to erase what happened last week from your memory. If you were going to keep your apartment, this job was crucial. And mingling with the people you worked with didn’t usually equate to longevity at a job. Still, no matter how hard you tried, the image of Chaewon rolling her head back in ecstasy, of her kneeling in front of you, almost in a trance from the ecstasy stayed firmly in your mind. 

A sharp poke from Eunchae’s finger at the side of your torso jolted you from your thoughts. 

“Hehe, good. Now hurry up, let’s walk home together again”.

———–

Nowadays, as you lay in your bed at night, free from worrying about how you’d pay rent, or planning how you were gonna feed yourself the next day, the calmness of security left your sleep refreshing. But over the past couple of days, despite steeling yourself to not mingle with your coworkers for the sake of that security, images of Chaewon’s face, her soft eyes growing sharp when she was angry, the way her face grew into the accusatory “wanna keep going?” expression as you teased her occupied your thoughts as you fell asleep. 

It didn’t help your restlessness that now you and Eunchae had shifts together. You quickly grew comfortable with her friendly demeanor, and walking home with her after your shifts taught you that with Eunchae, you could talk about anything. You found yourself checking your schedule, quietly celebrating when you found you were working with her.

Was it excitement that kept you up tonight? Did the thought of seeing Chaewon’s room make you tingle? To hopefully find something of hers that might make good ammunition to tease her about? Maybe a diary, or a cute hairbrush someone her age had clearly grown out of? You certainly didn’t hate the thought of getting to know Eunchae better either. Who knows, maybe the 3 of you would become closer after this party.

——

“Cheers!” Chaewon yelled, thrusting her cup towards you and Eunchae’s, but much too hard. Her can bucked Eunchae’s out of her hand, spilling its contents all over her oversized T-Shirt. “W-whoops, haha hiccup, that was har- that was too hard. Haha, like this guy hahaha”, she said drunkenly, pointing towards your crotch, eyes locked on it as if excitedly viewing a toy she particularly liked. Luckily Eunchae was looking down at her now soaked shirt. 

The three of you sat on her 1 room apartment floor, space cleared in front of the couch so you could all fit. The room unit wasn’t really what you expected, although you weren’t sure exactly what  expected. The apartment wasn’t exactly cluttered, but it definitely had a homey, lived in feel. With a variety of throw pillows and blankets on the couches, and hoodies scattered around the room, you felt as if Chaewon really valued comfort.

Eunchae looked up from her spill and giggled. “What does that mean?”, she asked innocently, still giggling.

Hiding your embarrassment, you responded with a quick “No idea”.

“Who knew she was such a lightweight”, she giggled at you. “I’m gonna go clean this up”, she said, waving her hand in front of her soiled shirt as if presenting it. “Chaewon, do you have an extra shirt?”

“In my room”, she slurred as Eunchae sauntered off towards said room.

Now, with you and Chaewon alone, you could only hear the drunken hums of someone trying their best to stay sober. “Chae, You’ve only had like two dr-”

“Shut up!!”, she burst on you unexpectedly. “Hey! hiccup, don’t think you can hiccup” she raised her voice as she slowly started towards you on her hands and knees as she thrust her finger at you accusingly. “Don’t think you’ve gotten away with pulling that stunt in the- in the closet last week.” She was close enough you could smell the alcohol on her breath. “If you think you can just do- do whatever you want to me-”, as the spit from the words exclaimed in sharpness hit your face, “then- then your in for a treat the next time we fuck”. She held her face close, and her eyes, unblinking, didn’t leave yours.

Fuck, you thought. So much for forgetting about it. But you too were also 2 drinks deep, and while not drunk to her level, you could definitely feel the buzz. You couldn’t, in this state of mind, resist yourself from playing with her, especially with her promise of a next fuck. With a quick look around for Eunchae, you heard a sink from the washroom, and assuming she was washing the alcohol off from her, decided you had enough time to play with Chaewon.

“Oh, were you upset about that?”, you said with a sarcastic edge to your tone. Chaewon held her gaze, but you noticed her small shudders as you moved in closer. “Really? I couldn’t tell. You looked like you were enjoying it quite a lot actually”, you whispered.

Chaewon’s arms now were shaking as you shared each other’s warmth. You could tell Chaewon was in a dilemma. You decided to keep pressing your attack.

“And now you choose, of all times, to confront me about it at your staff appreciation party or whatever this is, right? With the ignorant Eunchae in the bathroom? Or what, did you plan this whole party because you wanted to fuck again? Did you spill that beer on her on purpose?”

Chaewon was full on trembling now, her face scrunched up in predicament.

“Shut up”, she hissed, inching forward. “Shut- hiccup shut up before I kiss that stupid smug look off your hiccup, off your dick”.

Oh, this was dangerous. Maybe it was the alcohol, or just Chaewon, but your mind grew dizzy. Her arms were on either side of your legs, trapping you like she trapped those cupcakes in the oven she baked every morning at the cafe. You could feel her warmth, the baby hairs brushing against your cheek, smell the sweet perfume on her, almost caramelly mixed with yeasty smell of beer on her breath. 

You leaned in, completely forgetting the situation you were in. Your cheek brushed up against her jaw as you mouthed into her ear “So kiss it, you slutty manager”.

“All clean!! Chaewonnie, I’m grabbing another drink, you want anything?” a playful voice came from down the hall, breaking the spell you and Chaewon were in.

Chaewon leaned back quickly, seeming to sober up for a second, before her eyes went droopy again. You too scooched back a little.

“Y-yeah!”, she called.

“You know, maybe our dear manager should slow down”, you yelled.

“Get me one!!”

——————————————————————————————————————————-

A couple of hours of games and laughter, followed by another hour of trying to decipher what an increasingly inebriated Chaewon was trying to say later, you and Eunchae sat side by side, backs against the couch while Chaewon lay passed out on top of it. It was now the part of the night where the alcohol was caught. You two were not drunk enough to pass out, but still not sober enough to attempt getting home. 

You reached over Eunchae’s bare legs, sat straight out in front of her to grab her empty can.

“I think that’s enough for tonight”, you said, tossing the can into an overflowing small trash bag set in the corner.

“Chaewon doesn’t know how to slow down, does she?” Eunchae laughed, reaching over her head and blindly patting Chaewon a couple times. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

You eyed her curiously. “Shoot”

“Are we like, actually friends?”, she said, leaning her head back so she looked at the ceiling, head lolling on Chaewon’s glutes.

You raised your eyebrow inquiringly.

She turned to peek at you. “Like I mean, am I just your coworker?”

You thought for a moment. “To be honest, I feel like both of you guys are just… like my friends? It doesn’t feel like I’m at work when I’m with you guys, even when Chaewon’s yelling at me. So, yeah Eunchae, you’re my friend.

You could see relief light up in her eyes, her face transforming back into the bright smile you’d come to know. “Okay good~, it’s just, my last group of friends-”, she started before trailing off. “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter now”, she said, leaning her head on your shoulder.