Janet stepped out onto the sidewalk. A warm breeze blew as the sunlight pressed against her skin. Her complexion was quite fair, as she always trying to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible. She never really understood why people wanted to ruin their skin by spending hours turning it brown every summer. Staying out of the sun was a lot easier in San Francisco, which seemed to be overcast most of the year. It was a lot easier when I had cloths, too! That thought made her frown a bit.

She thought about the small tube of sunscreen she had packed. Even if she had it with her, it wouldn’t have had enough to cover everything that needs to be covered. Of course, if she had it with her, she would have had clothes as well.

Janet took a minute to notice all of the other people coming and going. They certainly noticed her. Nobody expects to see a naked girl at the airport, but their responses varied. For instance, men would typically have one of two reactions at seeing her. Most would stop and stare at her for a minute before scurrying away. Other would see her and seem to consciously avoid looking at her, even going so far as to walk way around her as they passed. At first she thought those were gay men, but she saw more than one of them with a wedding ring. Good for them. She thought musingly.

Women on the other hand typically had one reaction, and it was negative. She had received more glares from other women than she was comfortable with, and it actually scared her more than the idea of being surrounded by a bunch of horny men, at least here in broad daylight.

There was a forth reaction that came from the younger people. This was men and women, boys and girls, and it made her hurry away. They all had cell phones out and were taking videos of her. PERVS! She thought angrily.

There was a large awning with signs that indicated which traffic could be found where. Curbside pickup and drop-off for passenger vehicles were closest. She used the crosswalk near the door she had come out of to get to the outer sidewalk where the sign said, Courtesy Vans.

She could see 3 white vans. The first had a sign indicating that it would ferry passengers to any of several hotel chains. The sign on the second van indicated that it belonged to something called Superpark USA. The third van didn’t have any signs on it at all.

The back door was open and the driver, a young African American man wearing a dark blue polo shirt and a lanyard slunk around his neck. Janet stared at him before speaking.

“Excuse me, are you waiting for Janet Wu?” she asked meekly.

He turned around and look at her. His eyes widened and his jaw seemed to drop. She still wasn’t used to the shocked looks people had when they first lay eyes on her. “I uh… what?” he asked.

“I um… Are you from Anderson Fitness?” she managed to ask.

“I…” he couldn’t get words to form properly, so merely nodded instead.

“Hi, I’m Janet.” She said cheerfully as she climbed into the van.

“Me, uh… Simon.” Simon managed a weak grin as he attempted to regain his composure.

“Are you going to Anderson Fitness?” She repeated.

“Yes, I’ll be your driver.” He confirmed in a steadier voice. She thought her murmured something about he’ll be anything else she wants too, but when she questioned him about it he instead he hadn’t said anything.

“Sorry, the flight was a bit delayed. Did you have to wait long?” she asked.

“That’s what they pay me for.” He replied cheerfully. “Do you need help with anything?”

Janet looked around to see who else he might have asked that too, since the only thing currently in her possession was the purse tucked under her left arm. When she didn’t see any else near the van, she said, “I think I can manage.” And she climbed into the back seat of the van.

Janet buckled in and waited.

Simon kept looking at her even after she loudly cleared her throat.

He blinked, but still didn’t say anything.

“Are we going?” she finally asked, as patiently as she could manage.

“Oh, right” Simon said, shaking off his shock at having a naked girl suddenly climb into the back seat of his van.

Simon turned toward the front and Janet made sure to keep herself covered up. She also slid down in her seat so her breasts were not immediately visible to the cars passing by. She still fell just as embarrassed as she had since walking out of the security desk, but this was more so other drivers on the road didn’t get distracted if they noticed her. She didn’t want to be responsible for causing an accident.

“Are you okay?” Simon asked.

“Yes”, Janet replied. “I ah, just don’t want to get too much sun.”

He nodded as if that made sense. He still glanced at her every 10 seconds or so, but she thought as long as she kept herself from being too exposed he would be able to pay attention to the road. After a few minutes they got onto a freeway and traveled for about 45 minutes.

While they drove, Janet started going over in her head what she had planned to tell them. She also thumbed through every article she could find on the Supreme Court ruling regarding Nudism and the first amendment. After a while, she began nodding off.

Suddenly the van lurched as if it had hit a pothole or something. Startled, Janet checked the time on her cell phone. “Is it much further?” I am already late. She frowned.

“About 5 minutes away.” Simon responded. She was grateful that he resisted the temptation to turn around and look at her when he talked.

5 minutes. She still hadn’t decided exactly what she was going to say when she got there. She was treating this like catching a cold. She would endure it, but didn’t expect any good to come as a result.

The van pulled into a parking lot. There was a security gate, but it was wide open so anybody could drive in our out. At the far end of the parking lot was a three story office building with the company’s AF logo displayed in large letters at the top of the building.

Pulling up to the sidewalk in front of the lobby Simon stopped the van.

“Here you go.” He said, smiling a big toothy grin as he looked her over one last time. No, not the last time. He would have to drive her back to the airport later in the afternoon.

She wanted to take a minute to get her composure, but the door popped open and another man was standing there to help her out.

“Hi Janet, I’m Jeff Hawkins, I’ll be…” he began and then stopped when she realized what he was seeing.

His hand had been extended to help her out of the van, as he stood there like a statue.

Janet gratefully grabbed his hand as she existed the vehicle and said, “Hi, I’m Janet Wu. Nice to meet you.”

She recognized his name as the hiring manager for the position she was interviewing for. Way to make a first impression. She thought, stiffening her smile a bit to keep it from turning into a frown.

Jeff finally came out of it and asked in a suddenly irate tone, “Is this some kind of joke?”

“Wha..” she started but he cut her off.

“Don’t ask ‘What?’ You know goddam well what I am saying! Our company took the time and expense to fly you across the country for a job interview, and you make a mockery of it by showing up bare assed naked.” Jeff’s voice was getting louder as he spoke. Janet’s normal reaction here would have been to run and hide, but she must have already used up all of her fear reserves and it only left anger for her to respond with.

“Explain yourself!” he demanded.

“Explain myself?” she repeated. “I didn’t realize that this company was so willing to discriminate against my religion.”

“Religion? What religion has people show up to a job interview in the nude? Is this some new sect of Buddhism I never heard of?” he pressed.

“Not Buddhism, Nudism.” She said simply.

“Since when is being naked a religion?” He said incredulously.

“Since the Supreme Court granted us the same rights as everyone else.” Janet said, a little louder than she intended. She realized that she was getting angry too. I’m just reacting to his tone! She justified.

Janet pulled out her cell phone and opened the web browser. The page was already open to the news article. She had had to read it herself before she could truly believe that this was somehow legal for her to wander around in public like this.

“Here!” she said, pushing her phone towards him so he could read the screen.

Jeff read silently for a minute before saying, “Wait here.” His tone was more level, but still had an icy hardness to it.

Janet could only watch as Jeff left her alone in the parking lot. She turned around, but Simon had already driven off to who knows where. She guessed he didn’t want to get scolded for bringing her here from the airport in the first place. Looking back at the building, she took in the surroundings a bit.

The three story building looked like it was made out of hundreds of large tinted glass rectangles. She couldn’t see into the building, aside from the sliding doors into the lobby. In there she saw a security guard in a white button up shirt sitting behind a desk undoubtedly watching the security monitors.

Another fearful thought. Janet began looking around the outside of the building and in the parking lot. To her horror, she was in clear view of at least 3 security cameras. She wanted to find a better place to stand, but he had told her quite firmly to stay here. The last thing she wanted was for him to come back looking for her and her be gone. Then she would be stuck in a strange city with no clothes and very little money. Then what would she do?

Janet had the feeling like she was being watched, but there was nobody around that she could see. Then she remembered the tinted glass windows all over the building. How many people are up there staring at me? She wondered.

The thought of hundreds of unseen eyes staring at her made her body react, but not the way she expected. It started as a shiver that went from her toes, rose up through her knees, and her body finally going to her shoulder blades like a wave. Then a second wave… And a third…

This reminded her of the plane ride when she…

Janet’s emotions confused her. She expected to feel embarrassed and scared, which she did. At time she also had urges of excitement when she noticed people staring at her. Think about everything that has happened, she remembered how people looked at her, men with lust and women with what she at first thought of as scorn, but now imagined might even be jealousy.

She suddenly became aware of a bead of sweat running down the inside of her right leg. It has to be sweat. She tried to convince herself, even though she didn’t feel the least bit hot. She looked down and say that she had goosebumps on her arms and her nipples were erect. What am I doing?

She tried telling herself that it was just her imagination, nobody is watching her and she needs to control herself.

Janet blinked. She hadn’t noticed that Jeff had returned with a woman by his side.

This time, Jeff didn’t look so fierce. His expression was… sullen? She thought.

The woman walked along next to Jeff until they had almost reached her, and then hung back a step as he approached to talk.

“Miss Wu.” Jeff began, his eyes not meeting her gaze. “Anderson Fitness is an equal opportunity employer, and I apologize humbly for my earlier attack on your religion. I assure you that your religious beliefs will not hinder you in the hiring process at this company.”

Janet was stunned, not by what he had said, but she was still thinking of how her body was reacting to the idea of being naked in front of so many people behind those tinted windows. She was certain it wasn’t her imagination. There must have been at least a few people up there staring at her unseen.

Realizing that he was waiting for her to say something she blurted out, “I, um, I accept your apology.”

Jeff nodded. “I’m glad. Let’s go get you checked in.”

When he gestured for her to follow him into the building, the woman finally approached.

“Hi Janet,” said a familiar voice. “I’m Marianne.”

Janet smiled reflexively. It was the first familiar thing she had heard since leaving California.

“Hi Marianne, it’s nice to finally meet you.” Janet replied. She made as if to hug her, but stopped realizing how awkward it would be. Marianne pushed past the hesitation have gave Janet a warm hug that lasted for a few seconds.

The two of them chatted as they followed Jeff into the building. “Keiko never mentioned that you were a nudist.” Marianne said.

“Oh I… it’s complicated.” Janet said.

“I understand.” Marianne told her. “Even with the changes to the laws, I’m sure there are a lot of people who wouldn’t be too understanding for you to be out in public like this.”

“Yes, something like that.” Janet lied. “A lot of people aren’t very comfortable with nudity.” Especially me! She thought

“I apologize again for Jeff’s reaction. I assure you it won’t happen again.” Marianne said, giving a brief but visible glare at Jeff’s back.

“Do you have you ID?” Jeff asked, looking at Janet.

Janet fumbled in her handbag for a second, finally pulling out her Driver license and handing it to him. “Will this work?”

Jeff passed it to the security guard who started typing on the computer before handing it back to her.

Please stand behind the yellow line. The security guard instructed, pointing to another pair of feet that had been painted on the floor in front of a small digital camera. Janet paused for a second realizing that this would be her first naked selfie.

Following instructions, he then told her to stare at a red dot on the wall. After an uncomfortable amount of time, he finally told her he was all set.

He handed her a clip-on plastic with her image pasted to one side and the word VISITOR stenciled on the other. At first she was worried, but her breasts were cropped out of the photo that began at her bare shoulders. Then she noticed the metal clip and winced at the idea of fastening it to anywhere on her body.

“Get her a lanyard.” Marianne instructed.

Within a few seconds, Janet had the visitor pass hanging between her breasts by a blue nylon lanyard.

“Thanks” she whispered to Marianne.

Janet followed Jeff and Marianne past security. They offered her coffee, which she gratefully accepted and then led her to a conference room where she would be interviewed.

“Before we start, would it be possible for me to visit the restroom?” Janet asked.

Marianne directed her to a nearby facility. She didn’t really need to use it, but wanted a minute to regroup. How could I go and scold him like that? She wondered. In all of her previous interviews, she froze up, barely speaking. Her fear of not giving the right answers to the questions paralyzed her and kept her from giving any answer. Needless to say they didn’t go well.

It wasn’t as if she was expecting to get this job, but she was why all of a sudden she could speak so freely. She decided that it must be because there was nothing to lose, and there was no pressure on her to be perfect in her answers.

The door started to open so Janet slipped into the first stall and closed the door. By habit, she wiped the seat off before extracting one of the toilet seat covers and taking a seat. She still needed a few minutes.

Janet pulled out her cell phone to check the time. Then she remembered that she still needed to take care of her missing luggage. She pulled out the number to the airline baggage claim and dialed. She waited until the other person left before pressing Dial.

An auto-attendant answered. After following the prompts, she finally got to customer service.

“Hello, this is Maria. How can I help you?” came a pleasant sounding woman’s voice.

“Hi Maria, I just flew from San Francisco to Charterville and my suitcase didn’t make the trip.” Janet told her.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you want me to help you track down to see where it went?” Maria asked.

“I saw it sitting on the tarmac in SFO when the plane was leaving.” Janet told her.

“I see. Do you have the claim number?” Maria asked.

“I… let me check.” Said Janet. She opened her handbag and thumbed through the contents. What did I do with is?

She found the little slip of paper in her wallet. “Here it is. Do you want me to read the number?” Janet asked.

“Go ahead.” Maria instructed.

Janet read off the 10 digit baggage claim number and Maria repeated it back to her.

“Correct.” Janet confirmed.

“One second…” Maria said. Janet could hear more clicking and typing over the phone.

“It looks like the passenger, or ah, you, had requested the bag to be removed before takeoff.” Maria told her.

“That’s true, but I just needed to get something out of it for the trip.” Janet protested.

“I understand,” Maria continued. “We have already processed it, you should have it in a couple of days. Do you want to pick it up at the airport or would you like to provide us an address where you will be staying?”

“I’m flying back tonight!” Janet protested.

“Hmmm… let me check.” Maria said with the click-click of her keyboard in the background. “It looks like it will arrive at 8:00 PM local time.”

Janet’s heart sank. She had already realized she would be flying back to San Francisco naked, but was really counting on having something to wear when she got there. Now what do I do? She remembered seeing the clothing stores in the Airport, but didn’t really have any money to spend on clothes. At least she would have no way to pay it back.

“You’ll have to wait until they arrive and have them forwarded back to you once you get home.” Maria said coolly. “I can’t do it from this end, so you will need to contact the airport in Charterville.”

Janet felt like screaming. How can I go home naked?

After hanging up the phone, she flushed the paper down the toilet and walked out. After washing her hands, Janet looked herself over in the mirror. The site of her naked reflection staring back at her still freaked her out. She decided to worry about the suitcase later and pressed on.

Janet returned to the conference room. Now there were three people sitting in there. Jeff and Marianne were there. In addition, a Caucasian guy, who looked a little older than Janet, was sitting there with a laptop opened in front of him.

The conference room was a rectangular room with a projector hanging from the ceiling pointed at a retractable screen. Below the projector was a long glass top table with 8 chairs including 1 at each end. One he wall opposite the projection screen was a blank whiteboard. Janet strolled in casually and introduced herself to the newcomer.

“Hi, I’m Janet.” She said, holding out her right hand.

“Hi, I’m Scott. Nice to meet you. ” Was his reply. Scott stood up to shake her hand before returning to his seat. Scott didn’t react to seeing a naked girl walk in, so they must have warned him. Janet took a seat across from Jeff, with Marianne on his left and Scott on his right.

“I’m sorry, my bag got lost at the airport, so I don’t have any resume’s to give you.”

“No worries.” Marianne assured her. “We have plenty of copies for everyone who you will be meeting with today.”

Everyone? Janet wondered. She had been given a list of 4 names that she would be meeting with, and Scott wasn’t one of them. Janet smiled. “Thanks”

Jeff was the next to speak. “So you are here to interview for the financial analyst position. Why don’t you start by telling me about yourself?”

“Of course.” Janet said. “Since this is my first job, there isn’t much to say about my work history. I graduated with a BS in Finance and Accounting 3 months ago and I am still looking for my first real job.”

“I can see that on your resume.” Scott said. “But what about you? What are your likes or interests? What do you do for fun?”

Fun? Janet thought. Janet had a prepared answer for this question, of course. She studied the best way to answer every common interview question. She had a whole story about taking walks on the beach with her dad when she was a child, and how it taught her to enjoy nature and want to protect the planet from pollution and whatnot. It was all gibberish to her, since none of it was true. Not the walks with her dad and really not worrying about the planet. Not that she was callous about the environment, just that she had other things to worry about. Namely, getting her first job.

Since she was certain that this interview wasn’t leading to a job, she decided to just be honest. “Since I was a child, I had tutors, summer school, Piano lessons, singing lessons. None of that was fun, it was always work. I guess the one thing I really excelled at was my ability to focus on my studies. I can’t say it was fun, but it was something that I was most rewarded for, so I guess there’s that.”

Janet’s words came out thoughtful and honest. She had never said them out loud before. It felt kind of liberating to just announce the way she felt.

“Sounds like you had one of those tiger moms we hear about.” Scott noted.

“You could say, I was raised by a pack of tigers.” Janet said. That got a chuckle from Jeff, for some reason.

“So tell me what you know about Anderson Fitness.” Jeff said.

Janet had red everything she could find on this company. It wasn’t just because her friend worked here, but also because she wanted to know if they hired her, how reliable were they going to be as an employer. She wanted to get out from under her mom’s thumb, and a steady job was going to be the first and most important step in that.

“Anderson Fitness is the second largest distributor of athletic equipment in North America. Despite having a worldwide footprint, they have consistently underperformed in Europe and Asia for the past ten years since first they went global.” Janet said.

“Interesting.” Jeff said. “Though most of that you could have read on our Wiki page, what makes you say that we are underperforming?”

“I am basing that on not meeting sales projections for three of the past 5 quarters.” Janet said.

“How would you know that?” Scott asked.

“I was able to find transcripts of your past few quarterly investor calls.” Janet said.

“Then you would know that the reason behind our shortfall is an underlining fall in global exercise equipment across the board.” Replied Scott, sounding a bit defensive.

“Then why are your competitors continuing to grow?” Janet asked.

“Which ones?” Scott demanded.

Janet looked carefully at him. This guy was taking this personal. “Is your name Scott Pernel?” She asked.

Scott nodded to confirm. She remembered reading his name on the investor report. He is the assistant to the CFO and was the one who prepared the reports for the investor call.

Janet told him, “Well, Hite Oh for one.”

“Hite Oh? They are based in Korea. They are barely in any of our current international markets.” Scott said.

“True.” She agreed. “But their subsidiaries of Gem Fitness and Artoo Athletics are both growing rapidly in Europe.”

Scott began typing on his laptop, clearly looking to fact check her. “I know they are growing, but why do you think that they are subsidiaries to Hite Oh?” said Jeff.

“It was in their investor report.” Janet said simply.

“So you got a copy of their investor report as well? Why would you do that?” Marianne asked.

Jeff agreed, “Do you like punishing yourself?”

“It’s not that.” Janet said. “I just want to be thorough when I do my research.”

“Isn’t there investor report in Korean?” Scott protested.

“Ah, yes it was.” Janet confirmed.

“Do you read Korean then?” Jeff asked.

“No.” Janet said.

“Ha, then how do you know about their subsidiaries?” Scott demanded triumphantly.

“Google Translate.” Janet said.

“B-B-Bu…” Scott stammered.

“What other research did you do?” Jeff asked.

Janet provided 3 other competitors that she had analyzed and predicted how they were soaking into Anderson’s market share in Europe and Asia. She also divulged an acquisition in the US that would give a Chinese company a competitive advantage in the next 5 years.

Scott stopped asking questions and just started taking notes. Janet had been talking for about an hour when Jeff announced that he had another meeting to get to. Scott also had to go, leaving Janet alone with Marianne.

Janet had never felt this confident when talking to strangers before. She didn’t understand why she wasn’t a nervous wreck in this interview. She decided that her experience over the past few hours had used up all of her nervous emotion and she was running on instinct and caffeine.

Janet followed Marianne into her cubicle and took the seat across from her. There was not as much privacy and she had hoped for, considering she could hear several people talking either with each other or on the phone.

Janet tried listening to see how many distinct voices she could hear, while Marianne typed on her computer. She thought she had hear at least seven women and three men.

“So how much are you looking for in this position?” Marianne asked.

Janet was ready for this line of questioning. Everything she ever read or heard about this was to let the other side make the first offer. She had thought of several stall techniques and decided to play coy at first.

“Are you planning on making me an offer?” Janet ask.

“Not at this, time, I just wanted to know a ballpark range you are looking for in your next job.” Marianne replied with her own coy smile.

“I think everything is negotiable, but would rather wait until there is an offer on the table before we get specific.” Janet said thoughtfully.

“Fair enough. If you are offered a position, how soon could you start?” Marianne asked. She was had typed something on her computer while she talked.

Janet had already planned for this question, and answered without thinking. “I am available immediately.”

Marianne glanced at her and then typed something else.

“If you need to relocate, I suppose you don’t need much time since you wouldn’t have anything to pack.” Marianne said cheerfully.

“What do you mean?” Janet asked, genuinely confused.

Marianne looked at her and then glanced down at her naked body before returning to look her in the eye questioningly.

She thinks I don’t own any clothes!

“I have other things I would want to bring.” Janet said.

“Of course.” Marianne said, still typing for some reason. “Furniture I suppose.”

“Well, no, I live with my parents.” Janet replied slowly.

“Then?” Marianne asked. She had stopped typing and seemed to be just chatting now.

“I guess I have my books and my memory box.” Janet said finally. Wow, not counting clothes, I don’t really own much. Janet thought sadly.

The sound of the printer warming up startled Janet. Within a few seconds a sheet of paper printed out, which Marianne picked up, stamped, folded and placed into an envelope before handing it over.

“What’s this?” Janet asked casually.

“Your reimbursement check.” Marianne replied.

Janet popped open the envelope just enough to see the total before saying, “Thank you so much!” It was her first bit of relief she had had the entire day. She then added, “So then, am I done?”

“With the first interview, yes.” Marianne replied with a curt smile.

“So what’s next?” Janet asked.

“As you may know, you were somewhat of a late entry in our search. We have already started a second round of interviews for one other candidate.” Marianne said.

Great, so they already found people they want, why even put me through all of this! She wondered furiously.

Keeping her voice calm, Janet asked, “So you already have someone?”

“We’d like for you to be our second candidate to make it to round two.” Marianne said in a reassuring tone.

“Really? When? Do I need to fly back here for it?” Janet asked, barely keeping her words from tripping over one another.

“Well, if you are up for it, we would like to schedule you for tomorrow afternoon.” Marianne told her.

“Tomorrow? But how can I make it back so quickly?” Janet asked. She felt herself start to panic, thinking about flying back to San Francisco just to get on another flight back to Charterville.

“We can put you in a hotel for the night.” Marianne told her.

“But what about my flight? I can’t afford to book another one until I cash this check.” Janet said.

“Calm down.” Marianne said cheerfully. “We can book your return flight, if it comes to that.”

“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t it come to that?” Janet asked.

“You did say you are available to start immediately, right?” Marianne asked.

“I ah, did say that.” Janet said slowly.

“The other candidate wouldn’t be available to start for more than a month. We brought her in, but were really looking for someone to start as soon as possible.” Marianne told her. “Just between you and me, you are probably the stronger candidate anyway, so we just need to get you through tomorrow as impressively as you did today.”

Janet’s heart jumped in her chest with that news. I’m can still get this job!

“So who will I interview with tomorrow then?” Janet asked.

“A couple of the department heads and the Director if Interns. They aren’t necessarily decision makers for this position, but all of our incoming interns have to meet with the people they will report to during their rotation.” Marianne told her.

“Internship? I thought this was a financial analyst position.” Janet said.

“Oh it is, but all entry level people start out as interns and then, once they prove they can actually handle the work, we bring them on as employees.” Marianne replied cheerfully. “Don’t worry, you interviewed for the job you wanted. Just think of this as a long onboarding process.”

“Oh.” Janet said, somewhat mixed between disappointed and relieved. So long as it is normal, I guess. She also recalled Kuko mentioning having started as an intern, but she didn’t realize that was how everyone starts until now.

“So are you still interested?” Marianne asked.

Janet took a deep breath. She tried to process everything she had just been told. There was something about this that was bothering her, but every time she tried to nail down what it was the thought of her mom setting her up with a husband kept popping into her head. I’ll figure it out later.

“Yes, I am interested!” Janet said finally. She wasn’t sure if Marianne was asking if she was interested in the interview or in the internship itself. Janet didn’t think she could accept this job if it meant she would have to be a nudist the rest of her life, but she did want to delay going back and admitting defeat to her mom. So she was happy to delay for one more day.

“Great, I’ll go ahead and arrange for your hotel tonight. I’m not sure what you want to do for your dinner, but I am sure if I mention it, there will be a few people who would be glad to take you out to get something to eat tonight.” Marianne said as she began typing again.

“That would be great.” She said.

“No problem, I will text you the name of the hotel once I book it.” Marianne said.

Instinctively, Janet reached down to pull out her cell phone. It was not in her purse. She leaned down to see under her chair. Nope.

“What is it?” Marianne asked.

“I must have left my cell phone in the conference room.” Janet told her.

Marianne let out a sigh.

“It’s okay, I do this all the time. I’ll just run back and get it.” Janet said, starting toward the door.

“Don’t bother.” Marianne said coldly.

Janet’s heart sank. Would someone really steal my cell phone from a conference room?

“Wh-what? Why?” Janet asked. Before Marianne could answer, a woman had entered the room and asked, “Is this yours?” Janet turned to see a Caucasian woman with bright red hair pulled into a long braid that neatly draped over her left shoulder. She looked to be in her late 30’s or possibly early 40’s. She had a beaming smile that Janet felt was somewhat infectious. That or the fact that the woman was holding out Janet’s cell phone.

Either way, Janet returned the smile while she snatched her phone back. “Thanks!” she said happily. “See?” she said, holding it out to display her small victory. “Nobody stole it.”

“It’s not that.” Marianne told her. “Kim, can you please explain it?”

The other woman let out a small laugh before answering. Kim was a slightly plump, but with a heart shaped face that made her looked cuter than her age should have allowed. “Janet, right?” Kim asked.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you.” She said, holding out her hand to shake it.

Kim graciously embraced her hand for a moment before letting go and continued. “People here don’t steel cell phones. They just like to play a little prank when someone leaved theirs unattended.”

“What kind of prank?” Janet asked suspiciously, eyeing her phone.

“You know how you can access the camera on a phone without unlocking it?” Kim asked, barely holding in her smile.

“Yes.” Janet agreed.

“Well, some of the guys think it is funny to take some, shall we say, risqué selfies before returning the phone to the rightful owner.” Kim told her.

“Risqué?” Janet began just as Marianne blurted out “Dick Picks!”

“Your phone is going to be filled with dick picks!” Marianne continued.

Kim burst out laughing, no more effort to control herself.

“What? Whose?” Janet asked.

“Who knows… guys who work here.” Marianne told her

Kim followed up with, “It’s just a prank. The guys mostly do it to each other, but when there is a girl they accept, she usually gets them too.”

Janet stared at the phone. No way. They might do that to each other, but not to a stranger.

“They don’t even know me!” Janet insisted.

“No, but they all want to, from what I hear.” Kim said, still laughing.

She stuffed the phone into her purse without checking though. Marianne was glaring at both of them for some reason. Kim stifled her laugh and took hold of Janet by the elbow before pulling her out of Marianne’s office.

“So, did I hear you are coming back for a second interview tomorrow?” Kim asked excitedly.

Janet yelled back to Marianne, “Text me!” before letting herself get led away.

“I am. Marianne is supposed to book a hotel for me to stay tonight and I will be back tomorrow for the second round interview.”

“That’s great.” She said. “We only have one other Asian at the offices here in Charterville, and she normally has a stick up her ass. I can already tell that you are going to be fun to be around!”

What is that supposed to me? Janet wondered. Another Asian? Is she talking about Kuko? No, she works mainly out of the San Francisco office.

“What are you doing for dinner tonight?” Kim asked.

“I… I don’t know. Maybe I can just eat at the hotel.” Janet said slowly.

“Nonsense. I have a company credit card. Let’s go have some fun tonight!” Kim said.

“Is it okay?” Janet asked.

“Better than okay, you’re on a business trip. The company pays for everything!” Kim said. “You up for it?”

Janet suddenly smiled. Kim was nice and she didn’t even need to worry about money or anything. “Sure.” She said.

“Awesome! Wait here. I know just who else we should ask to come with us.” Kim said.

“What? Who else are you asking?” Janet tried to ask. But Kim was already gone. Janet suddenly realized where she was. Kim had walked her back to the reception area where she first came in. The security guard was there looking at her.

She didn’t want to glare, but she really didn’t like guys staring at her even when she was dressed. She especially didn’t like it when she was standing here naked.

That was something she just realized. She had not thought about how she was walking around this place without a stitch of clothes on. Thinking about it now made her flash red and she even covered herself with her hands and purse for a second before remembering that she was pretending to be a nudist and slowly released herself.

The security guard cleared his throat and kept looking at her.

“Do you need something?” she demanded.

“You need to turn in the security badge.” He told her smoothly.

“Oh” Janet said, embarrassed that she was about to scold him. “I’m coming back tomorrow, should I just keep it until then?”

“No can do.” he told her. “You’ll need to get it back tomorrow.”

She pulled the lanyard off of her neck and handed it to him. She caught her reflection in the mirror and blinked. She realized that, even though it hadn’t covered anything important, that was the only thing she had been wearing all day and without it she was truly naked again. The idea made her flush again and she turned away from the guard before he noticed.

She started toward the door but remembered that Kim told her to wait there. Where is she going?

She pulled out her phone again. It was only 4:00. Maybe Kim had to go back to work. She still hadn’t gotten the text from Marianne and now she couldn’t even go back in to find anybody. The thought of her having to find a place to stay like this gave her a chill.

She decided to have a seat. She didn’t have any games on her phone. She began absent mindedly scrolling through icons looking at all of the apps she had on her phone. How many of these do I actually use? She wondered.

She really didn’t care about apps on her phone. She tried piecing through what had just happened. I agreed to stay the night here, even though it means I am going to be naked for the rest of the night and… tomorrow! I have to interview another day like this! WTF?

Wait, she said if I get the job I will start immediately. No, she didn’t say that. I SAID THAT!

Janet was no longer scrolling through the icons, but just tapping nervously on the phone. Suddenly she accidentally opened her Photos app. The last picture that had been taken popped up on her phone taking up most of the display. She didn’t recognize the photo and it took a few seconds to realize what she was staring at. A close up on some guy’s penis.

She quickly swept left to an older photo. Another penis. And another and another and another. In all there were more than 20 dicks picks on her phone.

“You got a lot for your first day!” Kim said loudly.

Janet jumped up out of the chair and closed her phone. Part surprised because she didn’t realize that Kim had returned and part embarrassed at what she had been looking at. Did I just get caught looking at porn? She wondered.

“Don’t worry, we’ve all had our share of dick picks.” Kim said.

“Speak for yourself.” A stern sounding woman said with an odd accent. Janet looked over and realized that it was an Asian woman who had just spoken.

In all there were 4 new people who Kim had brought with her. There was a thin black woman who stood about 4” taller than Janet, with her hair all in small braids that just reached the nape of her neck. She was wearing something that looked like a black and white striped leotard, but with ruffles at the neck. The arms of it also ended just above the elbow and the legs just above the calves, also with ruffles at the cuff.

Next to her were two white women with blond hair. Aside from their hair color, they didn’t have much in common. The first was plump, but where Kim wore her extra weight in voluptuous curves that she used to her advantage, this blond woman was built more like a solid piece, there were no curves and her width was uniform from her shoulder to the base of her hips where it all tapered off down her legs. She wore a beige pants suit with a green button up shirt underneath.

The other blond looked like a Barbie doll. She was as tall as the black woman, and wore a black hip hugging skirt with black stockings underneath. On her top she had a white blouse and a bright pink sports jacket with embroidery. All three of these women looked to be in either their late 20s or early 30s.

The 4th woman was standing behind the group that arrived with Kim. Janet wasn’t real clear if she was even with the group, but she did seem to be waiting for them for some reason. She was watching them and more urgently, she was watching Janet. Though, the thing that stood out most to Janet about her was the fact that she was Asian. She looked to be of Chinese dissent, but could have been mixed. She stood about the same height as Janet, but that was counting her 3” heels. She wore a white silk blouse and dark gray skirt that went to her knees. Under that she had on black tights. Her black hair was mostly held back with a clip that left a flat pony tail that hung to her shoulder blades. It also left a lock of shoulder length hair that she combed straight down and framed her face perfectly. Janet saw her and got the impression that this woman was a professional, no-nonsense type and probably not very likeable.

Kim introduced the newcomers. The black woman was named Alicia. The blonds were Tiffany and Haley. Finally, almost begrudgingly, the Asian was introduced as Ada Lin. Why did they use her full name?

“Everybody ready.” That might have been a question, but the way Kim said it, it sounded more like an observation.