Dress Code - Dare To Wear Dress - Chapter 12

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Several women from the cube farm looked over my wall to look at my flowers. The narrow hall outside my cube was briefly choked with people trying to see what all the commotion was about.

 Through all the voices, from just on the other side of the wall, New Guy said, “I guess that answers that she’s not single, eh Carl. Flowers like that aren’t cheap.” From over the wall, Carl said, “Like I said, Jimmy. She’s out of your league. I gotta get to work. Catch ya at lunch.” 

“Later Carl,” said the New Guy, Jimmy, “and like I said, nobody’s out of my league…” 

Candace’s head appeared over the top of the cube wall, “Wow, those are gorgeous, honey. Looks like an apology.” She then grinned knowingly at me. Joyce actually entered my office and bent down to sniff the flowers. 

“Wonderful, Heather. Who sent them?” Sitting there with a tissue in one hand, trying desperately to avoid looking like a raccoon, I debated for a second if I should say who sent them. 

I mentally shrugged and said, “Just a guy I’m seeing. Dylan Donovan.” Joyce shook her head, “I don’t know him. Does he work here?” Candace’s eyes widened as she exclaimed, “I’ve heard of him! 

Good job, Heather!” Her smile vanished as she took on a more solemn expression. She said, “Be careful with him though.” I nodded and said, “Oh, I will.” As she started to walk away from my wall, Candace said, “The last thing you need is to get pregnant.” 

I looked to Joyce who grinned at me. I said, “Yes. That is the very last thing I need.” Joyce smiled at me as she left my office, “Those are lovely, hon. And Candace is right. Do be careful.”

Has everyone gone insane? Now they’ve got me worrying about getting pregnant. 

 I strutted into the meeting room to the cadence of the bass line to the song Green Onions playing in my head. 

I was going to own this meeting. I was prepared. I had delivery dates, PowerPoint slides, and a road map to where the IOTEK project was headed. I was a minute or two late. I was the last one to arrive. 

I wanted to be noticed arriving. Seated at the table were the usual suspects Mr. Keys, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Rogers, Reggie Jones who was a senior developer in our department, a woman I’d never seen before, some manager from Marketing, and someone I had no idea who they were. This was my first time to attend a Steering Committee meeting. 

I took the seat next to Ms. Rogers. She leaned over and whispered, “You’re late.” I whispered back, “I know. I was making sure I was presentable.” Frowning, Ms. Rogers said, “Mr. Keys hates it when people are late. Next time, start getting pretty sooner.” Some of my confidence slid as I just said, “Yes, Ma’am.” 

“Are you settled in, Ms. Stephens? Do you need a few more minutes?” 

Mr. Keys frowned at me as he asked his questions. Trying to shrink in my seat, I said, “I’m good, Mr. Keys.” Mr. Keys shuffled some papers in front of him and said, “Well, with Ms. Stephens’ approval, we’ll begin.” I straightened up a bit as now he was deliberately trying to irk me. 

Mr. Murphy cleared his throat and said, “Mr. Keys, we have several items to discuss in this month’s meeting. 

Marketing is moving to the tenth floor and all their PCs and printers will need to be moved and be ready by a week from next Monday. This also puts them in a new subnet. IT support is already short-handed…”

My mind started to drift as Mr. Murphy droned on. I really didn’t care about moving PCs or Planning’s desire to purchase a new planning system. I started listening again when Reggie Jones’ name was mentioned. 

Not only is he a senior developer heading up his own teams, but he’s also on my IOTEK project as well. If he was annoyed that I, a relatively new programmer on the staff, had been assigned as lead programmer, he never showed it. 

“…Mr. Jones, who has been with us for almost three years. 

He has several important projects he’s working on that this committee needs to be aware of, and Ms. Stephens, who is heading the IOTEK project.” The meeting was as exciting as I expected it to be: a complete snoozer. 

I hoped Mr. Keys couldn’t tell I was just doodling on my notepad. Apparently, they were saving me for last, as they went through all the agenda items. 

There was a sudden clattering noise that seemed to echo throughout the meeting room as the clip-on earring I had been playing with fell off my ear and onto the table. 

I gave Mr. Keys an embarrassed smile, as I apologized and quickly grabbed the wayward earring and put it back on. 

Ms. Rogers leaned in close and whispered so only I could hear, “I suggest you get your ears pierced.” 

“Yes ma’am,” I whispered back. Scowling at me, Mr. Murphy said, “Would you two ladies like to join our meeting?” Ms. Rogers said, “Of course, Mr. Murphy.

 Ms. Stephens just had a minor wardrobe malfunction.” Mr. Keys looked around the room with an amused expression and said, “Well now, I trust everyone else’s tie-tacks and cufflinks are secure, let’s move on to the IOTEK project.” 

Mr. Murphy said, “Ms. Stephens. Please report on the progress of this very important IOTEK project.” 

I cleared my throat, and all my confidence tossed out the window. I opened my folder and began, “We’re actually ahead of schedule on several pieces of the project. Every day our Agile team produces an executable that we pass on to the IOTEK representatives for their feedback. IOTEK has caused some delays in the database design by…”

 “IOTEK has had some concerns about the database design, and we’ve been working with their team to assure them that the database will perform per spec and actually better than projected as their site scales to accommodate an increasing number of users,” said Reggie Jones acting like I wasn’t even speaking. “The web page designs are being performance tested daily to ensure scalability and reliability. 

Balancing the load between multiple servers will guarantee that IOTEK’s customers will always be able to access the information and applications they need.” When Mr. Jones stopped for breath, I said, “Yes, I have a meeting this afternoon with several principals from IOTEK to…”

 “Everything is going really better than expected, Mr. Keys. The meeting this afternoon with IOTEK will finalize some specs and from here on, it’s smooth sailing to the target date.”

 “I…” I started to say. Mr. Murphy’s eyes brightened as he said, “Excellent Mr. Jones! 

That’s the type of hard work and initiative that keeps up Xantek Corporation’s reputation with its customer base.” Mr. Keys said, “Well done, Mr. Jones. Well done!” Mr. Keys glanced at his wristwatch, “As I have another meeting in about five minutes, I will adjourn this one. 

Good work everyone.” 

I just sat in my chair as everyone else stood up to leave. I frowned at Reggie Jones as Mr. Murphy shook his hand. 

“Keep up the good work, Mr. Jones,” said Mr. Murphy as both turned to exit the meeting room. Ms. Rogers had stood up to leave but saw me still sitting. She sat back down and said, “Anything wrong? Mr. Keys seemed pleased with the IOTEK project.” 

I just looked over at Ms. Rogers and said, “That Reggie guy just talked over me as if I wasn’t not only speaking but as if I wasn’t even in the room. He stole all my talking points.”

Ms. Rogers frowned and patted my shoulder, “Get used to it, Heather. You’ve entered a brand new world.” I just sat there in stunned silence as I watched Ms. Rogers leave the meeting room. I gathered up my unused notes and slides back into their folder. I got up, smoothed my skirt, and left the meeting room as well. I caught up to Reggie Jones by the elevator. He was going up and I was going down. I hoped to God that wasn’t a metaphor for my career at the moment. 

I stood in silence for a few moments. Just as the elevator going up opened its doors, I said, “What was that about?” I asked. 

“You took all my talking points.” Reggie looked at me quizzically. He seemed to have no idea why I was asking him this question. 

“I don’t know what you mean. I was just trying to help move the meeting along.” Trying to control my temper I held the elevator door open. 

I said, “I was going to try to present some points to Mr. Keys. We need some additional resources.” Mr. Jones flashed me a smile and said, “Come on, Heather. You’re a beautiful girl. No reason for you to get all bogged down in small details. I have your notes and I’ll mention them to Mr. Murphy when I meet with him before this afternoon’s meeting. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to run. Maybe we can grab a latte later and discuss the project.” The elevator door closed leaving me standing there alone until my elevator door opened. I just stood there as the elevator car emptied of the few people riding in it. 

I could not believe what Mr. Jones just said to me. I’d expect something like that from that old fart Mr. Keys. The elevator door started to close. I hit the button again to make it re-open and with a girly growl, I stepped into the elevator. 

“Thanks for inviting me to lunch with you, Ms. Rogers,” I said as I climbed into the passenger seat of her Lexus.

“Well, I think we need to talk, girl to girl,” Ms. Rogers said as she turned the ignition switch and brought the Lexus to life. “Plus I’ve been wanting to try that Rosa’s Café in Frisco. Tomorrow is Taco Tuesday and it’ll be too crowded.” “Do they have fajitas?” I asked. Ms. Rogers only nodded and we drove in silence for several minutes. 

“I want to apologize to you Heather,” said Ms. Rogers. She was wearing shades so I couldn’t see her eyes. 

Furrowing my brow, I asked, “Apologize for what?” Frowning, Ms. Rogers said, “I should have better prepared you for that lion’s den you walked into today. I was upset this morning, and I let my feelings get in the way.”

 “I don’t blame you,” I said meekly. 

“Heather, you’ve picked a hard path for yourself,” Ms. Rogers said as she zipped between cars. “You could have called off this bet or just laid low until it was over, but you jumped in with both feet.

 I’m not criticizing you. In fact, I commend you on doing extraordinarily well presenting yourself as a woman. You don’t act stupid or act superior to women. If I just met you, I’d never suspect this is all pretty new to you.”

 “Thank you,” I said. “I never considered trying to make myself a parody.” 

“And that’s where I’ve let you down, Heather,” Ms. Rogers said as we pulled into the Rosa’s Café parking lot.

 “I mean right off the bat on your first day as a woman you learned firsthand how men are going to treat you. Even on a date, no matter how sweet or nice or attentive a man is, it’s rare that he’ll ever see you as his equal intellectually. 

“The way you strutted into the meeting this morning, I could tell you thought the meeting was yours. I’m sure you expected some resistance from Murphy and Keys, but I know you weren’t expecting to be treated as if you didn’t even exist. I should have helped you prepare for that. 

Women don’t like it, but it’s basically a way of life.”

“Are you saying we should just roll over?” I asked surprised by what Ms. Rogers was telling me. Taking off her shades and putting them in her purse, Ms. Rogers replied, “You can push back a bit at a time. 

Assert yourself too much, and you’re ‘bossy’, ‘demanding’, ‘pushy’, or more commonly bitch’. You can rise past it, but it just takes time.” 

 I was running late for the afternoon IOTEK meeting. Just before I had to leave for the meeting, I got a call from the support desk about some manager having trouble with a program I now had to support, but I didn’t write it. Late or not, this meeting I plan on being on top of things. 

As I entered the meeting room, I said, “Sorry I’m late guys. I had to take a helpdesk call.” I set my purse and tablet computer on the meeting room table. 

I looked around, but no one was sitting. A guy from IOTEK named Tom turned to smile at me and said, “No worries, honey. We all arrived a bit early and Mr. Jones here got us all squared away. I think we’re good on everything.” Mr. Jones flashed me another smile, “It’s all taken care of, Heather. I brought in Mr. Murphy…” He pointed behind him. I hadn’t even noticed Murphy was in the room. “… and we went over your notes and like Tom said, I think we’re good.” Mr. Murphy smiled at me, “You’re lucky to have a man like Jones here on your team, Ms. Stephens. Very lucky. Nice job everyone.

 Let’s get back to work.” As the group from IOTEK filtered out of the meeting room, I walked up to Reggie Jones got right in his face, and said, “You hijacked my meeting? What the hell?” Mr. Jones frowned and took a step back. He said, “I thought you’d appreciate us getting it done quickly.

 I used all the points that you were concerned about. I know Tom from a previous job so I knew we could hammer this out quickly, and you didn’t have to be bothered.” Fuming I said, “Listen. I don’t care that you’re a senior programmer. I’m the lead on this project. 

I will be involved in any future meetings or decisions concerning this project! Am I making myself clear?” With a scowl, Mr. Jones said, “Yes ma’am. Loud and clear. And by the way, you’re welcome!” He spun on his heel and exited the meeting room. Just as he cleared the room, I barely heard him say, “Bossy bitch!” 

“Hello?” “Hey, darling. Did you get my flowers?” asked Dylan Donovan over my cell phone. I sighed and smiled into the phone, “Oh, Dylan! It’s so great to hear from you. 

Yes, I got them and they’re just gorgeous. Thank you so much.” Dylan said, “Look, I’m really sorry I acted like a jack-ass last night. I’d like to make it up to you with dinner tonight. If that’s okay with you.”

 “I would absolutely love that,” I said with a big smile that he couldn’t see. “I just need to run a few errands on my way home.” “Pick you up at seven-thirty?” asked Dylan. “That’d be great!” I said surprised at my own excitement at the thought of going out with Dylan again. “See you then. I have to run so I’ll see you then. Bye babe,” and then he disconnected. 

I parked my car in a space in front of a place that had become all too familiar to me. I opened the door to Thelma’s Glamour Emporium and walked in. 

As usual, Thelma was back in the back and a few moments later, she walked to the front of the store.

Thelma grinned at me and said, “You’re becoming my most frequent customer.” I smiled nervously, “I hate to bother you again, but I need your help once again.” Thelma frowned, “I need to start charging you. What’s up this time, hon?” “You said you knew some gender therapists. I need one that can provide me with some documents that my H.R. department needs for them to officially accept my transition.”

 “That might take a while, hon,” said Thelma. 

“They’ll have to have several sessions with you, evaluate you, etc. They might not help you since you haven’t been dying to be female your whole life.” 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Thelma, but surely you know of a therapist who’s a little on the shady side? Someone who can expedite things a bit?” 

“Girl, you’re playing with fire,” said Thelma disapprovingly.

 “But yes, I know someone who can probably just do your forms. She’s a real therapist and could actually help you I think, but she doesn’t mind doing some things under the table. It’ll cost you.” “I’m good with that,” I said. “Do you have her number?” 

I checked the time on my phone, “I need to hurry. I have to get ready for a date.” Thelma handed me a card, “Girl, you need some serious help.” I grinned as I took the card and said, “Thanks a million, Thelma!” As I turned to leave, Thelma said, “Do me a favor. 

Be careful, hon. I like you. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Nodding I said, “I will, Thelma. I will.” 

“Is everything okay?” asked Dylan. “You’re not eating.”

I looked up from my plate and over at Dylan. “Hmm? Oh, yes. The dinner is wonderful. It’s just… well, I had a really sucky day at work. Too many things outside my control.” 

Looking concerned, Dylan placed his hand on top of mine, “I’m very sorry to hear that Heather. A beautiful girl like you just shouldn’t have put up with crap like that.” 

I froze and bit my lower lip for a moment. I then suddenly slammed the palm of my hand flat on the tabletop, causing several people in the restaurant to look in our direction. 

A flash of anger crossed Dylan’s face. I had to fight back a sudden urge to cry as I shook my head and closed my eyes, “I’m sorry Dylan. I’m not angry at you. It’s just that… I mean… shit. It’s just that’s about the third time today some man has told me I’m too beautiful to have to be bothered with problems.” Dylan hesitated for a few moments of indecision. 

That moment when a man realizes that no matter what he says or does to a woman, it’s going to be wrong. Dylan took a deep breath and clasped my hand. He said, “I’m sorry babe. 

How could I know? I… I didn’t mean to suggest you weren’t capable. You’re a strong, capable, intelligent woman. All I meant to say was that it’s such a shame to see a lovely woman such as yourself so distraught and…” 

His voice trailed away. I didn’t move. I just sat there with my head bent down but with one eye open and staring him down. Dylan looked down and said, “Sorry. 

That’s not what I meant either. I…” I sighed and said, “Just stop, okay? You’re not my problem, but you are digging a hole.” 

Dylan frowned and said, “Sorry. I wasn’t trying…” I thumped both my fists on the table on either side of my plate and with a narrowed brow I said, “Stop! Stop apologizing! Just… Just stop.”

 Dylan frowned again and said, “I’m sorry! I…” He then threw up his hands and looked away from me. I sat up straight and gave him an “I’m going to kill you now” expression.

For several minutes we sat in a very uncomfortable silence. I nibbled at my dinner, which was quite good, and I had selected the most expensive thing on the menu. Dylan sat there staring at his plate making stabbing motions with his fork. 

Dylan looked up at me and said, “Heather, I…” Interrupting, I said, “Are you going to apologize again?” Dylan scowled and went back to studying his plate.

 I couldn’t take the silence any longer and I let out a huge sigh while tossing my arms into the air in a surrender gesture. 

I said, “Look, I had a bad day at work; I’m not angry at you, and don’t you dare say you’re sorry!” 

Dylan grinned and lifted his drink as if he was making a toast and said, “Here’s to a better day tomorrow!” I lifted my glass and said, “I’ll drink to that” and downed a slug. 

 Dylan drove his car into my apartment’s parking lot and killed the engine. I leaned over to him and we kissed. And then we kissed again. I said, “Would you like to come up for a few minutes? Seriously it can’t be for very long. I’m so tired, but I just don’t want to be by myself right now.”

 Dylan smiled at me and said, “Sure. I’ll keep you company for a bit. I should go in about half an hour. I need to get up early.” As I let Dylan in the door, I looked over at Jerry’s apartment. It was all dark. He was either asleep or had his lights off to make it easier to spy on me. 

Dylan helped himself to a soda from my fridge while I kicked off my heels and turned on the TV. I plopped down on the couch. Dylan sat very close next to me and handed me a soda as well. 

I snuggled into him as a late-night talk show came on. I put my arm around him and pulled myself closer. I kissed his cheek. Smiling, I sighed and said in a wimpy voice, “Hold me.” Dylan smiled back at me put his arm around me and said, “Sure thing, babe.”

I closed my eyes and smiled. I felt so relaxed now. I was totally content. I was… 

  The buzzing of the alarm jolted me awake. I reached over and slapped the snooze button and lay back down, completely disoriented. The last thing I remembered, I was on the couch snuggling with Dylan. 

Dylan! I suddenly sat bold upright. I was in my bed. I looked down and felt myself. I was still fully dressed. I looked around in the early morning light and saw my pillow smeared with make-up. I looked on the floor and didn’t see any male clothes lying around.

 “Dylan?” I called out. There was no response. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. 

I walked slowly out of the bedroom. In the living room, there was no sign of Dylan. It was then I noticed a piece of paper lying on the coffee table. I picked it up and saw that it was a note from Dylan. 

The note read, “Dearest Heather. 

You totally zonked out on me last night. You weren’t kidding that you were pooped. 

I didn’t want to wake you (did you know you’re beautiful when you’re asleep?) and I didn’t want to leave you on the couch. 

So I carried you to your bed. Don’t worry, I didn’t attempt to remove your clothes or have my way with you, though it was tempting. :) Sorry. See you soon, Dylan” I smiled as I read Dylan’s note.

 I know he was honest about not undressing me as I’m sure this note would be saying something much, much different if he’d seen me naked.

 I walked into the bathroom turned on the light and was immediately horrified at the sight of me with my make-up smeared all over my face. I turned on the water in the shower and thought, please God, make this a better day than yesterday.