The Christmas Bonus

The four team members nodded their hellos. Joanna did as well and was greeted with a wide and bright smile from the beautiful girl. Jessica was such a mix of sweet and gorgeous it was all Joanna could do not to proposition her in front of her father.

"She's going to be filling in for Mrs. Bircham at reception while she's recovering from surgery over the next month," he continued, "Just another one of the team."

"My exams all wrapped early and I could use the extra cash." Jessica said cheerily, answering a question nobody had asked, "Look forward to getting to know you all."

"I'm sure you'll get along famously," her father said, "But there are plenty more people to meet and these four have lots of work to do so let's move on."

"Bye," Jessica said with a friendly wave as her father lead her away from the group of cubicles the four shared.

"And Mr. Morrison, I'm going to need that report by the end of the week at the absolute latest. You need to shine on this one." Mr. Crawford added as he guided Jessica down the hall to the next group of cubicles.

The four team members waited for a few seconds as their boss and his daughter moved far enough away to be safely out of earshot. Joanna found herself cursing that the design of their workspace made it so that she couldn't watch Jessica walk away. When he was convinced that a safe distance had been reached, Alex simply slumped forward, his head in his hands and groaned.

"Whichever one of you has the well-dressed voodoo doll in your drawer," Alex said sadly, "I'm begging you, just stop."

"I tried man, I'm sorry," Phil said, putting his hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Jesus fuck, did you see her? That picture on his desk must be ten years old!" Josh exclaimed, referring to the only evidence any of them knew of that Mr. Crawford had a family, "I think I need new boxers."

"Wow," Joanna simply exclaimed, still unable to get the girl off her mind. She looked over and caught Josh's eyes and both of their eyes went wide for a second.

"Dibs!" Joanna exclaimed, a clear split second before Josh shouted the exact same thing.

"Fuck no!" Josh exclaimed, knowing he was beaten.

"Rules, motherfucker, rules," Joanna said with some glee, referring to a clause in the official rules of The Game that they'd written up. If a particularly attractive fellow employee was desired by all three of the contestants, one would have to make an initial claim so they wouldn't be inundated by come-ons and attention from the three of them. This would avoid or at least minimize the risk of a harassment claim.

"Why does he hate me?" Alex said, ignoring the two of them, "I'm such a nice, well behaved young man. Every MILF I sleep with says as much."

"I really did think when you came on that the old school ties would work out for you," Phil said, chuckling just a bit as he kept patting Alex on the back

"I'd like to strangle that bastard with the old school tie" Alex groaned as he finally sat up. Across from them, Joanna and Josh continued their negotiation.

"Oh come on," Josh pleaded with Joanna, ignoring Alex's complaints, "You don't even know if she's gay and she's only here for a month."

"Oh yeah, like it'd be the first straight girl I banged," Joanna said, making quotes as she said the word straight.

"But she's clearly the future mother of my children!" Josh kept at it, "Did you see those things? Those are, what, double D's? E's? F's? Think of the meals you're depriving my offspring of."

"Okay, weird and increasingly pronounced impregnation fetish aside," Joanna said, shaking her head, "Too much brain blood went down into that massive thing you've got there and it made you just a little late, a little slow. Better luck next time."

"Damn." Josh said, resigned to his fate.

Alex turned around and caught Joanna's eyes.

"Jo, I am going to make you an offer you need to listen to." he said, his eyes alight with a mix of anger and deviousness

"I'm not giving up dibs," Joanna shook her head swiftly. She was even surprised herself how much she wanted the girl.

"No, I respect the dibs," Alex said, wagging his finger, "But you're going to step that game up. You're going to get this girl. You can't let me down."

"I'll do my best." Joanna nodded, indicating she absolutely would give it her all

"No try, just do." Alex said sternly, "You need to get this one. And I will make it worth your while."

"How so?" Joanna asked with a crooked eyebrow, her eyes catching on to just how much Alex seemingly wanted this to happen.

"If you just get her. It's your standard fifteen points for a fourth floor employee." Alex said, "But if you get her panties and give them to me, then in accordance with rule five of the game that says that any one player can transfer his own points to another player if they think the conquest was especially magnificent, then I will give you every single one of my points for the year."

Joanna smiled. All of Alex's points would give her an insurmountable lead. Josh would have no hope of catching her no matter how magnificent his penis might be. Europe might still very well be on the table. She wanted the girl anyway, knowing it would be worth five thousand dollars to her? Joanna wanted her even more if possible.

"What do you want with her panties?" Joanna asked suspiciously.

"I am going to make them into a handkerchief," Alex said, patting the front breast pocket of his jacket where a white handkerchief currently sat, "And every time that fucking cocksucker talks to me I'll know that in my pocket are his daughter's panties. Panties that you took off of his daughter with your teeth. And I'll just sit around waiting for him to get a cold."

"I have to take her panties off with my teeth?" Joanna chuckled at the bizarrely specific revenge Alex seemed set on, not that it sounded terrible to her.

"Just speaking illustratively," Alex said with a shrug, "But if you don't, tell me you did anyway."

"Between you and Genghis over here, god," Joanna said as she turned back to her work station, "Straight guys are so weird."

"Just get it done and all the riches of my kingdom are yours," Alex said pointedly as he turned to start on the massive pile of work he knew he had to finish.

"Yeah. This is just going to end spectacularly well, I can tell." Phil said with a shake of his head as he to turned to start on the day's work.

Chapter Two.

The first few weeks of December really did not prove particularly fruitful for Joanna's attempts to seduce Jessica. Despite passing the gorgeous girl every day on her way into work, Joanna really didn't have the time to stop and chat as much as she'd have liked. Work was, as predicted, piling up and even most of Joanna's lunches were spent at her desk. Nobody on the team left their desks before six in the evening at which point, it seemed, Jessica had already gone home for the evening. What was worse, Joanna noted, was that every time she did find herself in the lobby there was at least one young male employee attempting to engage Jessica in some sort of conversation. Worse still, Jessica seemed the flirtatious type and usually the young men seemed to be making some sort of progress with her. Clearly the news had gotten out about the gorgeous new girl on the fourth floor and now the entire male population of Gigake-American's Northeastern Headquarters were circling like horny vultures. Joanna could feel Paris slipping away from her again.

So it was on a very unusual Friday evening that Joanna had finished her last bit of work for the day and looked up at her computer to see that the time was a quarter to five. Even rarer still, the other members of the team also seemed done for the evening.

"Wow. That was kind of a light day." Josh said, putting a piece of paper into the folders next to his computer.

"Speak for yourself," Alex said painfully, "I can still feel whip marks on my back

"You love the pain, admit it," Joanna said with a grin

"Usually, but Crawford makes for one frightfully ugly dominatrix," Alex said as he gathered his things into his briefcase. Josh looked at his watch happily.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but who's up for a drink or two?" Josh asked the team, "The Union Hall? Hot food, cute waitresses?"

"A drink or two and a waitress or two sounds right up my alley" Joanna nodded, they hadn't had a drink together in some time.

"I suppose I have some time to waste with you rabble before my arrangements with a lady friend," Alex nodded, "Phil?"

Phil shook his head.

"Can't. Friday night. Which means Carrie has put on a roast, there's mashed potatoes and gravy and we're going to curl up to watch the shows we Tivo'd this week," Phil said with a big smile, "Someday you three will learn that all the cute waitresses in the world pale in comparison to a quiet night with someone you love."

Josh, Alex and Joanna looked at him for a second before speaking.

"Was that English?" Alex asked first, turning towards the other two.

"I know those words but they seemed all jumbled and out of place," Joanna said, continuing to look confused

"I just heard Carrie's name and then gravy..." Josh drifted off, "Do you suppose she cooks in an apron?"

"Oh and a little floral dress," Joanna said dreamily.

"Hair all done up with a string of pearls and high heels," Alex added, sharing the fantasy

"Just waiting for you to get home," Josh nodded. Phil shook his head with pity at their banter as he put his winter coat on.

"You kids will be a lot of fun when you pass these initial stages of puberty," Phil said as he walked from their cubicles.

"You go get her Phil! Get her for all of us! Live the dream!" Josh called out after him, causing the other two to chuckle a little as they all put their own coats on and got ready to leave for the weekend.

"Get who?" came the feminine voice behind them. It was Jessica, looking lovely as ever with a tight knit sweater pulled tight over her luscious chest and khakis covering most of the luscious rest of her. Her blonde, shoulder length curls still artfully framed her face. She was clutching a clipboard at her side and looking at them with a degree of puzzlement. Joanna did her absolute best to stay cool as she looked at her despite feeling as though someone had hit the thermostat.

"Oh, Phil cruises old folks homes for dates because of the high female to male ratio and hasn't been having much luck lately so we're cheering him on." Josh said with a straight face as he tucked his newsboy cap on.

"O-kay," Jessica said with a disbelieving smile, "But can one of you sign for a package that came in for him just now?"

"I absolutely can," Alex nodded, taking the clipboard from Jessica and scribbling his lengthy signature on the dotted line, "Have big plans for the evening, Jess?"

"Ugh, I wish. Was supposed to see a movie but my friends cancelled on me," Jess said in frustration. Joanna brightened at the news and the opportunity.

"You should come for a drink with us," Joanna said with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm, she caught herself and added calmly, "You've been here two weeks and we haven't really gotten to know you."

"Really?" Jessica seemed taken with the idea.

"Nah, she doesn't want to be hanging out with us sad old bastards," Josh said, noticing Joanna's enthusiasm at her opportunity to win the points Alex had promised.

"You guys look young," Jessica laughed. Joanna thought she had a wonderful, infectious laugh, "How old are you?"

"Well, I still have most of my faculties at the ripe old age of twenty-six," Josh explained, "Joanna's hearing is going a touch as she's twenty-seven and good old Whitebread Fizzlebottom the Fourth there is basically George Burns as he's twenty-nine."

"I think I can keep up with you then," Jessica smiled, "Where do you fogeys drink?"

"The Union Hall," Alex offered, "Need a lift?"

"I do. My dad or Mr. Crawford I guess drives me in," Jessica said, seemingly embarrassed at her transportation arrangements.

"I can drive you," Joanna eagerly volunteered before frowning. No, no she couldn't. Her car was having work done at the moment. She'd cabbed it today.

"No, you can't," Alex corrected her, "But we can let Josh drive her and I can drive you and we should all get there safely."

"That sounds perfect to me," Josh nodded. Jessica seemed to agree and Joanna reluctantly agreed.

"I'll just go get my coat and meet you out front," Jessica said as she made her way from the cubicles, Josh followed her with his eyes glued to the shapely, heart-shaped backside that Jessica's pants showed off very well. Joanna grabbed him by the back of his coat and spun him around.

"You respect the dibs!" Joanna said pointedly but softly

"But..."

"Respect. The," Joanna pressed her finger into Josh's chest, "Dibs!"

Josh frowned and growled but eventually nodded and went along after Jessica. Alex waited patiently as Joanna finished getting ready before leaving the building with her. Joanna noted that Alex seemed to live his life according to some hundred year old book of etiquette. He held the door for her every opportunity he got, asked her for her floor despite knowing they were both heading to the lobby and even took her hand to guide her over the few puddles that had built up within the parking lot. It was something she liked a great deal about him and rarely got to see outside of work. Joanna was a girl who liked expensive things and Alex, well, he definitely seemed expensive.

"You were, I thought, not terribly discrete with her," he chided gently as they made their way to his entry level Mercedes near the very end of the Gigake employee lot.

"God, I know, I'm a spaz at times," Joanna agreed. Alex shook his head

"No you're not. I've seen you pick up dozens of girls." Alex recalled, "Do you actually like this girl?"

"I don't even know her," Joanna said positively before admitting to at least something, "But I'm maybe a little smitten."

Alex sighed as he held the door of his car open for her. Joanna smiled as he did and got in before waiting as he walked around to the driver's side and getting in. She thought about what he'd said and Jessica and how it related to the arrangement that Alex and Joanna had made a few weeks earlier. She'd begun feeling a little bit worse than usual about the whole thing. Joanna suspected her newly found conscience was the result of all of the Christmas advertising. It was all happy families and happy couples and Joanna hadn't had a relationship that had lasted more than three months since she was eighteen.

"Look, I still want to win," Joanna said definitively, "It's just that, I don't know, don't you ever feel bad about the Game? Like we're dehumanizing it all?"

"No," Alex said, as if the idea seemed ludicrous to him, "I like sleeping with women. I'm good at it. None of the women I sleep with think they're getting into anything other than a night of fabulous sex. What's to feel bad about if we take something we'd do anyways and use it for gambling purposes?"

"But how would they feel if they knew?"

"I don't know. But I like to think the golden rule applies here. If I found out that a girl I slept with used sleeping with me in some elaborate game with her workmates in order to win something I would congratulate her heartily for it. I'd ask if she got bonus points for sleeping with me again and do my utmost to help her win," Alex said as he started up the car,

"But if there was a girl you really did like?"

"Then, like Phil, I'd probably not include her in the game," Alex admitted before pausing and looking at Joanna, "You may remember yourself that I have not claimed all the points this year I could have."

Joanna smiled briefly but shook her head as she bit on one of her nails. Alex was referring to a night in early June where, fresh out of her relationship with Beverley, she'd met up with Alex and Josh for a night celebrating her return to the fold. They'd all gotten smashed to pieces and after Josh had picked up some girl, she'd found herself alone with Alex. They were both drunk and silly and didn't see anyone in the bar that tempted them and, much to both of their surprise, Joanna had suggested that the two of them go home together. Alex had drunkenly agreed and they'd had a fairly nice night together. Neither had been at the top of their game because of their drunkenness and Joanna's complete lack of familiarity with the equipment but both had reached satisfactory conclusions.

Joanna had never been attracted to a man before. The next morning, as they recovered from their hangovers, she realized she'd still never really be attracted to Alex. But his charm and his sexual reputation in the workplace and the fact that his place had been closer to the bar they were at than hers must have worked some sort of wonders on her drunken mind. She hadn't regretted it, exactly, but in the end it had really only cemented her preference for women. Alex, unsurprisingly, had been a perfect gentleman about the whole thing. He'd never mentioned it to Josh despite Joanna knowing that the two of them had long since made a side agreement that if either of them had ever slept with her that they'd receive three hundred points. He'd never even brought it up with Joanna until that very moment.

"That didn't happen," Joanna said with a sly smile as she idly looked at her nails, noting that a manicure was in order.

"What didn't happen?" Alex said, doing his best to look oblivious.

"Exactly," Joanna nodded

Chapter Three.

The Union Hall was one of those places that seemed as though it was unsure whether it wanted to be an upscale club catering to the well dressed young professionals that tended to congregate at the bar or the students and working class folk who would huddle at a table with baskets of the slightly overpriced but better than usual bar food they served as they watched whatever game would be on one of the large TV's mounted in every corner. They seemed determined to cater to both crowds. There was cheap beer on tap but top shelf liquor available upon request. The waitresses were indeed cute but were dressed stylishly rather than sleazily. It would be packed on a Friday night but Josh was friends with one of the owners and so it was no surprise to Joanna that, as she pushed her way past the people huddled together at the front for warmth, she could see Josh and Jessica seated at the table that she'd come to think of their usual. She undid her pleated houndstooth Victoria coat and threw it over the seat next to Jessica as she sat down.

"Good to see you two made it here ok," Joanna said, noting that both of them had drinks in front of them. Alex undid his own trench and sat down next to Josh. They were quickly joined by a pretty red haired waitress that Joanna recognized from a previous time here, dressed in the tight black t-shirt that bore the bar's logo and tight black jeans. She was holding a plate of food that she set down in front of Josh before turning to the new arrivals.

"Hey guys, what'll it be?"

"Vodka tonic with a lemon wedge," Joanna repeatedly quickly, nervously shifting her leg when she realized it was brushing against Jessica's. Alex rubbed his chin thoughtfully before placing his order.

"The last time I was in here you'd just gotten in a case of the Highland Park Lunar Bottling. There wouldn't happen to be a bit left would there?" Alex asked hopefully

"I have no idea." the waitress said with a friendly laugh, "But I'd be happy to check for you."

"I wouldn't be imposing?"

"I think I can manage," she winked at Alex "Anything to eat?"

Both Alex and Joanna politely declined the offer and their waitress went back towards the bar, leaving the four of them on their own.

"Mmm, yes, if it's not a smidge too much trouble, I was really hoping you might have a drop of the Chez Snooty fifty year old cabernet," Josh said, trying to adopt Alex's educated tone, "I find that it really is the only tipple delicate enough to engage my refined palette yet strong enough to wash the taste of the rest of the polo team's ejaculate from my throat,"