#the colllar

You'd been Ms Wilhemina Venable's personal assistant for five months now. And let me tell you, it was a roller coaster of emotions. Some days the woman was mild; not really bothering anyone much, except when they got on her way or were being especially annoying. But other days, she was literally a volcano. One word could set this bitch off, one slight misstep and you were literal toast. It was a difficult job, for sure, but honestly you didn't hate it. From the first day you knew that you weren't going to get off the hook on pretty much anything with Venable, so you did your best to impress her. To make sure that she knew that you were serious about your job and helping her out.

The woman seemed to not hate you, actually. Sure, at first she treated you the same as everyone else: badly. She's a very critical person, so you had to watch your mouth and actions. But a few weeks in and you had mostly come to understand what set her off, and what she liked, how she liked things done. It was actually quite rewarding, when you did stuff that she approved of. And surprisingly funny watching her tell off thing one and thing two (that being Mutt and Jeff) (seriously who names their kids that wtf). How she dealt with those two on a daily basis was beyond you, but she also dealt with you so you guessed she must have some sort of secret. And it was one of the many that you were determined to uncover.

You'd be lying if you said you didn't have just a teeny tiny crush on Venable. I mean, who wouldn't. Actually, I take that back. A lot of people wouldn't. And you were glad because somehow the idea of someone else having her made you feel strange. In a bad way. A feeling you weren't used to, that's for sure. But you pushed that aside for now because you had some serious work to do. Currently, you were writing down the important meetings Venable had for that day, and emailing the few people that she requested you to. (yes I did have to look up 'what do personal assistants do' don't @ me)

(so there's that)

It was kind of boring, rather repetitive, but remembering the look on Venable's face when you did what she asked, in a timely fashion, and correctly, you smiled and continued on with a renewed sense of vigor. (the look fills you with determination)(okay okay I'll stop sorry i had to) You picked up your pen again, looking away from your laptop for the moment, and refocus on the planner next to you, quickly scribbling something down as you hum a tune under your breath. The pen moved smoothly against the paper, clean lines in neat handwriting appearing under your swift movements. The action is soothing, and you glance back at your computer, checking to make sure you had your number correct, before again looking down, writing down the last meeting for the day.

With a quick noise of satisfaction, you click the end of your pen closed and smack it against the desk a few times, flicking it between your fingers (imagine that scene in 'hit me baby one more time' where Britney is messing with her pen) and tapping your finger. You had been diagnosed with ADHD, so the impatient movements and fidgeting weren't an uncommon occurrence. Some people hated it, the constant leg tapping or finger drumming, the noise annoying for others. But the sound helped you to focus more. At your old job, you were allowed to listen to music whilst you worked, but Venable requested that you not do so as she wanted you to be able to hear what was going on around you. So you instead had to fill the empty silence with something else.

But all at once, a hand was placed over the one with your pen, stopping the movement and causing your other hand to falter it's rhythmic tapping pattern. Your head shot up and looked to the hand still resting on yours, swallowing at the purple half-glove covering it. And even though you were aware of the person that must have been now standing behind you, you still jumped in your seat and let out a shocked squeak when her voice was suddenly directly in your ear whispering "Stop fidgeting. You'll break your pen." The chuckle that followed as the hand retracted made you sigh a shaky breath, head falling back down again. "Hello Ms. Venable. Sorry for bothering you." You heard the woman tsk behind you and were tempted to spin your seat around to look at her, but you could also feel your face heat up at the sound and didn't particularly feel like showing that fact off to her.

"You weren't bothering me, Miss l/n. I simply do not want you breaking the pen, or making a mark on the desk. It simply won't do." She said, and you nodded, apologizing quietly again and setting your pen down on the wooden surface, pushing it a few inches way from you to prevent your fingers from wandering and grabbing it again. Clearing your throat slightly, and recognizing the lack of blush on your skin, you did turn around then, planner in hand, ready to give it to Venable as you had finished it early. But you once again forced your self backwards, chair back bumping into your desk as you found said woman almost directly in front of you, so close that all you had to do was barely bring your arm out and be able to touch her waist. She looked down slightly, one eyebrow raised and a small smirk on her lips at your actions.

"I--s-sorry, Ms. Venable, you just startled me there. U-Um, could you....could you, back up..a little bit? Please?" You mumbled, your free hand's fingers tapping nervously on your leg. Venable must have noticed the motion as she did so, taking a few steps back to allow you some personal space, and you let out a breath. Swallowing, you thanked her and stood up, hesitantly holding the planner out to her, not making eye contact at first but soon bringing your eyes up to meet her gaze, not wanting to look weak in front of her. Without a word, the woman grabbed the paper from your fingers, eyes moving down to read through it quickly. A few seconds passed before she let out a pleased hum. A small smile appeared on her lips when she looked back up at you, nodding once and saying "This looks very good. Thank you, Miss l/n. I hope I didn't give you too much of a fright before."

You quickly shook your head and assured her that she didn't; "Oh, it's fine, Ms. Venable. I wasn't paying attention, I probably should've heard you. Normally I would have, I must have been lost in my own thoughts. I'm sorry." Venable sighed lightly and waved you off with a "Stop apologizing. You did nothing wrong." You smiled shyly and glanced away from her, praying that a flush didn't appear over your cheeks. But one must have as the woman chuckled quietly again, clearly amused. But it was quickly over, as she turned without another word, only speaking as she was about to be out of your sight, with a "Oh, Mutt and Jeff wanted to see you by the way. I don't know what for, but I'd be careful if I were you." And before you could say anything else she was gone. You stood there for a few moments, thoughts flitting through your head. Why would those two want to see you? You didn't have anything to help them with, did you? They weren't angry, right?

You managed to rid yourself of such things, and quickly turned to face your laptop, not bothering to sit down as you just bent over to rest your elbow on the desk, crossing your ankles behind you and typing a few things out onto the screen before pushing the thing closed, giving it a little pat on the cover when it was done. You didn't have a reason for doing that, but you did it with most things anyway. You didn't recognize, once again, Venable presence in the room until she cleared her throat and you stood up quickly, spinning around to face her and absently pulling at your skirt, which you hadn't realized had hitched up a bit when you bent down. That was when you noticed the slight flush over Venable's neck, and how she was very much avoiding eye contact with you.

Clearing her throat again, she muttered "I apologize. I just came back to ask if you'd gotten those emails I asked you to send done as well, as that was my original purpose of coming here." You repeated her action before speaking, the atmosphere suddenly very tense; "O-Oh. Yes, yes I did most of them. I have one left that I was going to finish when I got back from the boys." Venable nodded, motioning vaguely with her hand for you to go on, and you did, slowly making your way towards her. As you were about to pass her, a quiet "Thank you" on your tongue, your wrist was grabbed, and you looked back to the woman in purple, a shock being sent up your arm at her touch. She had a curious look on her face, one that you couldn't really read, and she whispered "Perhaps you should wear longer skirts. We wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea, would we?" You swallowed roughly, throat suddenly very dry as you realized that it must have pushed up a bit further than you thought, and nodded quickly, also averting your eyes, looking anywhere but at the woman.

She finally let your wrist go with a hum, and allowed you to go past. Turning to face you after you'd made a few paces forward. She saw the flitting movements of your hands at your sides, and the way that you subconsciously pulled at the fabric of your skirt, tugging it a bit further down your legs. She hadn't meant to make you uncomfortable, of course, she was just surprised when she returned to your desk to find you bent over it, typing at your laptop. She also wasn't expecting to see the way that your skirt hitched up as your hips leaned against the thing, revealing a few more inches of thigh than Venable was used to seeing from you, and it made her breath catch and her throat go dry. She felt her face flush as multiple inappropriate thoughts and images flashed through her head. Most including you still bent over that desk, her hands on your skin, your voice a mess of whimpers and moans.

The woman was slowly becoming aware of just how you felt about her, and she was a bit ashamed to admit how it made her feel. You were the best assistant she'd ever had, for starters, and did your job almost perfectly. She'd never once had any reason to yell at or insult you, as she didn't have any grounds to do so on. You were well behaved, professional, and got your work done quickly, efficiently, and correctly. Venable was impressed, to say the least, and hoped that you weren't planning on leaving her anytime soon. And the image that she had just witnessed only a few minutes prior, even as she trekked through the building to return to her own office, still had yet to leave her, moments on loop like a broken record.

Meanwhile, you had just entered the last hallway to get to the large open space that Mutt and Jeff occupied, and a moment later you had arrived, and stood at the top of the stairs, arms crossed as you observed the two. One was doing something with his computer, the other had his face buried in a pile of cocaine. Loudly, you announced your arrival with "You know that shit's terrible for you, right?" Mutt's head popped up from behind the white dust, one side of his nose dirty with the stuff. With a sigh, you hopped down the stairs, pulling out a small handkerchief from your shirt pocket, walking over to him and carefully wiping the skin clean. He smiled lopsidedly up at you and you smiled back, shaking your head and replacing the cloth in your pocket once again. "Thanks, babe. And yeah, that's the point." Mutt said, spinning around in his chair once, arms flaring to his sides with a large grin.

Again you shook your head playfully, crossing your arms again. Jeff finally looked up at you, a grin on his face as well, and you looked over to him. "Well well, he lives." you said, and he scoffed, standing up and moving to be in front of you. He patted your head, ruffling your hair a bit; "Hey!" you exclaimed, pulling back and giggling at his antics. "I was told you boys needed me for something?" "Yeah, we're tryna figure this out, and since you're the math wiz here we thought you could help." "Mhm." You nodded and gestured with your hand, saying "Alright, where is it then?" Jeff led you over to his computer, pointing out a few figures and numbers on the screen, explaining to you what they were trying to do. He showed you what the machine was doing currently, and you bent down again, eyes skimming over the many things onscreen.

You'd taken a few years of coding in high school, so you kinda knew what you were doing. So you placed your hands on the keyboard, quickly typing out some values, imputing them into the system and placing them in the correct order. "Yeah, you did this part wrong. See where you had this string here? You need it over here for what you're doing. Now try it." You said, standing back up after pressing enter, saving the changes. Jeff did so, pressing the button on the mechanical arm next to the computer, and sure enough, it moved correctly this time. Jeff laughed out loud, smacking you on the shoulder and calling Mutt over. The other boy did so, and grinned, letting out a "whoop!" You bit your lip to stop from laughing again at their behavior, but it was infectious and you ended up laughing anyway, leaning a hand on the desk as your head bowed.

The three of you made a few jokes in there at some point, one person saying something and the other two bursting into laughter again. Eventually it petered out, huge smiles still on your faces, and Jeff picked you up around the waist, spinning you around. You let out a peal of laughter again, smacking at his shoulders, saying "Jeff, stop it! Put me down!", barely being able to get the words out between giggles. Finally he put you down and you stumbled a bit, dizzy from the spinning. Again you had to balance yourself on the desk, catching your breath from all the laughing as Mutt came up behind you and poked at your side, which made you shriek and jump back. Your eyes went wide and you shot up straight, however, when two sharp strikes were made on the floor of the room. You knew exactly who made them, and you spun to face the entrance, Mutt's hand still on your waist. Your laughter died down at the serious expression on Venable's face, and all of your excitement dropped to the floor as your nerves flared up again.

You absently pulled at your skirt, remnants of your earlier interaction still fresh in your mind. Venable's eyes raked over the three of you, Jeff looking around, a bit nervous but still okay, Mutt slowly backing away as his hand dropped from your side. And you, right in the middle, standing rigid and frozen, hands clasping in front of you to avoid any further motion of your fingers. Venable's gaze seemed to be focused not on you, but on the boys, as she took a few slow, menacing steps forward, cane smacking against the hard floor. In a low voice, she said "And what, pray tell, is going on here? I was told you two needed to see Miss l/n for a work inquiry. This does not look to me like a 'work inquiry'." You swallowed, but before either Jeff or Mutt could respond, you took a small step forward, steeling yourself and internally praying that today wasn't the day you died.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Venable. I-It was my fault. The boys did ask me here for a problem, which I fixed, but we got a bit caught up in it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. It's not the boys fault, you should be upset with me." You said, doing your best to keep eye contact with the woman, who's gaze was as hard as ever. And again, she took another few steps forward, until she was directly in front of you. It was times like these that the height difference was made very obvious, as she used her left hand to pull your chin up. No one made a sound for a few charged seconds and you stared right into Venable's dark eyes. She was close enough that you could feel her soft breathing on your skin, and it made shivers pulse down your neck. Finally, the woman pulled back, pushing your chin away from her with a flick of her fingers.

She turned without a word and walked out, marching up the steps as the three of you watched her back, until she turned the corner and was out of your sight, at which time you let out a breath you didn't realize you'd been holding, back slouching as you turned back to face the boys. You feel into a chair heavily, rubbing a hand over your eyes. "Love that woman, but holy fuck is she terrifying." You murmured under your breath. Jeff, who was closest to you, nodded in agreement, silently turning back to his computer to work some more on his codes. Mutt did the same, right after taking a nice sniff of some of that coke. You let out another heavy sigh and stood up. You then cleared your throat and said "Well I had better get back to work, before Ms. Venable comes back and actually murders us all. I'll see you boys later, and try not to OD on that stuff."