Fascination! Ch. 06

Craig Nichols was as quiet as a church mouse.

It was another long, drab meeting in which he had nothing to offer.

Sure, the 21-year-old intern, for a lack of experience, could be excused for hiding in the corner of the smoke-filled conference room.

But Craig felt even if he had been there 10 years, he'd still have nothing to say.

Once the meeting on the new toothpaste ad broke up for the day, Craig returned to his desk.

He slunked down, staring at the clock and counting the minutes until it was 5 p.m.

The summer's supposed to be a fun time, he thought, not a time for boring summer internships draining your batteries.

"Craig? Can I see you for a second?" chirped Holly Preston, his sweet but demanding boss.

Craig grabbed his notepad and pen, tucked in his dress shirt and dutifully walked to her office.

She urged him to take a seat.

She smiled, and pushed forward.

"Hon, this isn't working out," she said directly.

Instead of disappointment or worry, Craig instead felt a sense of relief.

"I know," he said.

"Hon, you just seem lost," she described. "You don't bring anything to our meetings, you look bored out of your mind, your work is always behind..."

"I know, Ms. Preston," he said, apologetic in tone. "I'm starting to think advertising just isn't for me."

She had a sad look of disappointment, not so much in him, but rather for him.

"Thought I would follow in my dad's footsteps but. I think I need to do something else," he admitted.

She nodded slowly, still feeling for him.

There was quiet for a moment.

"Well," she announced, leaning forward over her desk. "I have an idea. I don't want to see you not get your six credits for the internship.

"So I was thinking, if you could get in touch with someone at Oklahoma, make sure this is okay. I was going to have you fill out the rest of the summer as our office administrator."

"You mean a secretary," Craig translated easily, having picked up plenty of the jargon from his dad's office.

"Well, yeah," she said upbeat. "Believe me, there's plenty to do. Answering phones, running errands, taking notes, making copies..."

"Yes, mam," he said.

She smiled.

"Is that a 'yes?'" she asked.

"Oh, yeah, definitely. Sounds good to me," he answered, again, sort of relieved and feeling this could be an easier, less taxing job for him.

"Well, great," she gushed. "We could use you, that's for sure."

Again, there was a silence, but this one sort of comfortable.

Craig got up to leave, but Holly stopped him.

"Oh, before you go," she interjected.

She got up, and trotted lightly over to the door, closing it for further privacy. Her stocking-covered feet pranced along the carpet.

"Sweetie, I have to ask," she said, now giggling, as she got something out of one of her folders. "I found this."

She retrieved a single sheet of paper, and now placed it in front of Craig.

It looked like the cover of a comic book.

In big, bold letters, it read along the top: "CFnm Costume Party, Big Blowout at Adriatico's B & B."

And beneath, the artist had drawn several stimulating cartoons - the detail something to behold - of many scenarios one might see at such an event.

Craig recognized this design quite well because he drew it.

An overwhelming feeling of embarrassment came over him, as his female boss was suddenly peaking into his private world. But with that, came a slight, building feeling of arousal.

"Hon, it was on the copy machine - someone left it," she calmly informed. "I checked out of curiosity, to return it to its proper owner, and the copy machine allowance code entered belonged to you."

He felt as though his face turned three shades of red.

He felt denying it was pointless.

"It's. it's mine," he stammered.

"It's very impressive," she gushed.

"Really?" he asked, surprised out of his seat.

"Well, yeah. the artistry. you're very talented, Craig," she insisted. "I wish you had this kind of passion for advertising but. nevertheless. you're gonna go places with designs like this."

She praised the artwork and the craftsmanship, but it was inevitable she delved deeper into the subject matter.

"Craig," she began, sort of chuckling, the big-bosomed Ms. Preston getting up out of her seat and coming around to sit next to Craig.

She crossed her legs, her skirt hiking up a big.

"You're gonna think I'm such a square, but what on Earth is CFNM?" she managed.

From the sound in her voice, Craig could tell she probably did her best to find out, but came up empty.

"Um," he began, trying to gain traction.

He felt the easiest way was to be direct.

"Well. it stands for Clothed Female Naked Male," he informed.

"Clothed. Female, Naked Male," she repeated, trying to process things.

"Yeah, it's a party, or an event where the women are fully clothed and the men."

"Are completely naked," she deduced, finishing for him.

"Yes, mam" he answered.

She turned the sheet of paper around, back towards her, and studied it further.

"Interesting," she said sincerely, not at all placing guilt or shame upon the artist.

"So," she began, struggling to get out what she wanted to say next.

Obviously, she had some questions.

"It's a niche party, is what I tell people," he said.

"I understand but what is this," she asked, holding the piece of paper up. "What is this? This actual sheet of paper?"

"Oh," he answered, as if to say, 'that's easy.'

"That's an invitation."

"Ohhhhh, it's an invitation," she answered, wide-eyed and intrigued.

"Yeah, I made about 20 copies, for my buddy to take to work," he answered. "My buddy, Barney, he's a stripper, works at Guns of the Dusty Plains."

"He's a stripper," she answered. "I see. Oh, and so you were making copies of the original, and forgot to - "

"Yeah," he said, laughing at himself. "I'm sorry, Ms. Preston."

"No, no, it's fine," she answered.

She looked the photo up and down.

"Geez, and I thought the '70's were over," she smiled. "This is absolutely wild!"

Craig felt a little bit more comfortable with Ms. Preston's "discovery," but his heart was still racing a bit, and he felt more and more aroused and excited as the conversation delved deeper.

"Are you a fan of Disco?" she asked with a teasing smile.

He was caught off guard.

"I see the D.J. is playing Disco music," she commented, pointing to the cartoon.

"Oh, yeah. Disco's not dead, baby," he belted out.

Suddenly they were talking all about current music. Holly admitted she enjoyed "Shock the Monkey" by Peter Gabriel.

But they pressed on.

"So, I guess, what really surprised me was...the nudity is one sided," Ms. Preston pointed out.

Craig nodded. He could tell she wanted him to explain.

"Yeah, it's a fantasy where women are in control? Not that women being in control is only a fantasy - I can tell you have things taken care of here," he stammered, seeing a smile from Holly. "It's - "

"It's sort of like role play," she interjected.

"Yeah! Only it's...the whole night," he answered.

She smiled, excitedly.

"It's basically for voyeuristic women, dominant women and exhibitionist men, maybe even submissive men," he urged himself to say.

"Oh, well, yeah, they'd have to be deriving some sort of thrill with being put in this position," Ms. Preston went on, studying the invitation.

"And I definitely like the position the women are in," she revealed.

She casually put the invitation down in order to share something with Craig.

"The closest I ever came to, a quote on quote, CFNM experience like this was in college, and I was in a sorority," she began. "The Tri Mega Fraternity was hazing pledges, and they had to stand on the stage of the main auditorium - it was late at night, mind you - and they had to strip completely nude and sing the school's fight song...while doing jumping jacks."

"Oh, no," Craig gushed.

"Oh, yes (laugh). And so the fraternity leaders had our entire sorority come in and watch, just to razz the pledges," she laughed. "We filled the front two rows."

"Oh, wow," Craig said, amazed.

"Needless to say, seminars will never be the same for me again," she laughed. "I just imagine, well, a whole lot of flopping (laugh)."

Craig laughed as well.

"But, I don't know. there was a certain energy there that night, pretty wild. The guys had a great time, like they really liked being nude for us, and obviously the gals had a blast," she revealed.

They talked a little bit more about personal experiences, until Ms. Preston ultimately had to ask: "Can I keep this?"

Craig sensed she meant something more than just keeping a sheet of paper with drawings on it.

"You wanna come?" he asked.

"I'd love to," she answered, without hesitation. "If you have a couple more copies, I know Sue and Becky would probably be in."

Craig got excited.

"I trust you'll be there," Ms. Preston said.

"Oh, absolutely," Craig answered. "Barney and I are guests of honor."

She smiled. There were unspoken words, along the lines of Holly was going to get to see Craig in the buff.

They chatted more about the invitation: the suggestive game of ring toss that was displayed in the upper right corner, the auction going on in the opposite corner, and the drawing of a casual conversation between one nude gentlemen and a gal in shorts and a top.

Holly noticed something else.

"Who is this 'blessed,' or, depending how you look at it, 'burdened' young man?" she asked, pointing to an amusing photo of a man with a penis so large, he had to roll it around in a wheelbarrow.

Holly and Craig both cracked up.

"Oh, that's my other buddy, Dick," he laughed.

"Dick?" she asked.

"The cartoon exaggerates his size but not by much. He's got a frickin monster dick."

"Really?" she gushed, with a delighted laugh.

"It's...It's just absurd. it's all we ever talk about," he laughed.

She followed suit.

"I've never seen a particularly large one before. That'll be something new," she shared, with anticipation.

Soon after, there was a knock at the door, and Holly had to get on with her day. It would be time to leave soon.

"So, Craig, I think you'll like your new position. I really do," she encouraged.

Craig drew a correlation between his new position, and the position the men were in at these parties they spoke of. Both seemed to be fitting for him, and enjoyable.

"In fact," she began. "Why don't you come in tomorrow, if you can? Sue, Becky and I are going to be here and we can kind of break ya in a bit," she explained.

Craig nodded without even realizing he did so. It was as if he was in a trance.

"I will see you tomorrow then," she smiled.

*************

The Temple Telegram's annual "Best in Town" award recognized the finest local businesses.

Best donuts, best coat store, best diner, best place to go horseback riding...

You name it, The Temple Telegram had it covered.

Several categories were taken into account.

For the past nine years in a row, however, Nancy Calhoun's Texas Totes was a dynasty in the best craft store category.

Much to Deborah Krendall's chagrin.

"Dick, come here," Dolores said sharply one morning at the store. "I wanted to give you a heads-up. The applications for 'Best in Town' came in the mail today."

Dolores briefed Dick on the stress this brought to Krendy, and as a result, the rest of the staff. Krendy, around this time of year, wanted the store absolutely immaculate.

She always believed it was her turn to win and take home the prize.

Dolores and Dick got a jump on things and began to tidy up.

"I don't know about you but I had a couple nightmares last night," Dolores shared as they were organizing the candles. "All of those ghost stories we heard yesterday? Sheesh."

Dick laughed. He thought about his encounter at Open Woods.

But what also struck him about Dolores' question was that, as the day went on, she didn't even revisit or make mention of Dick's stunning display of autofellatio at the little get-together at Adriatico's. It's like Dolores wanted Dick to feel totally comfortable about it, like it was so accepted and natural it wasn't even worth mentioning.

She did, however, tease him throughout the afternoon, somehow working the prefix, auto, into as many sentences and conversation items as she could.

"Dick, Krendy should write an autobiography..."

"Dick, how many Cowboy autographs do you have?"

"Dick, have you been to new AutoPlex on Route 9?"

Dick had to laugh. Her teasing was relentless. It was as if Dolores was basically saying, "You have no secrets from me, buster. I know your special gift and I think it's amazing:)"

Krendy rolled in by 11:30 that morning and, as Dolores had predicted, was all business.

"We were just talking about all the stories of the supernatural that we were regaled with yesterday," Dolores said with a big smile.

"Oh, Phyll would have had a field day," Krendy laughed, speaking of her friend's upcoming book.

Krendy laid out a plan for the day but soon, stomachs began to rumble, and conversation turned to lunch.

"Dick, have you been to the Rusty Nail since it renovated?" Dolores asked.

Dick shrugged.

"I can't remember, it's been renovated so many times," he answered with a laugh.

"I know, I know. But it's supposed to be pretty nice," Dolores commented. "I hear it's expensive but pretty nice."

"Oh, the Rusty Nail?" Krendy asked as she walked into the back room.

"Yeah," Dolores answered as she bit into a pretzel.

"It is very expensive," Krendy confirmed. "Phyllis and I went over one afternoon for lunch - two salads, two drinks and we couldn't believe how big the bill was."

"It was a whopper?" Dolores sympathized.

"We didn't go back," Krendy admitted. "Desert Winds is much nicer and it's cheaper. They always have specials."

Dolores nodded.

"U is turning in his grave right now, screaming, 'lower the damn prices!'" she laughed.

After lunch, it was a busy day at the store. But Krendy didn't need to look far for inspiration.

She glanced across the street, seeing Nancy saunter into her store.

The competition was just beginning.

*************

"Alright, Parker Brothers, I need you to put E.T., Donkey Kong, Spider-Man...uh...Pac-Man, Tron...put all those on the second shelf. Because we gotta make room for all of the 2600 stuff," Dig Doug informed, as Dick seamlessly went from one job to the next, rolling into Westcliff Hobbies that evening.

Before the two could go about re-organizing things, they had a special visitor.

A big-bosomed, bespectacled brunette with a curious, inquisitive look on her face and an Atari T-shirt that was stretched to the limit.

It was Dolores.

"Oh my God, who is this?" Dig Doug asked.

"Hey fellas," she said in a warm, sweet tone.

Dig Doug couldn't even respond.

"Hey Dolores," Dick said, with a hint of surprise in his voice.

Dick introduced the two, and he immediately saw a different side of his co-worker. She was more casual, jokey, seemingly in need of an escape.

She told the pair that she was reading one of her law books and desperately needed a break.

She hung out in the store all night, having dinner from Roy Rogers with the fellas.

When the store closed, they headed to the back room and gamed it up.

"So wait, you go...this way?" Dolores asked as she jerked the controller sharply in one direction.

"Go, just keep going," Dig Doug instructed, with Dolores laughing at her own struggles.

Soon after, her pixelated man fell to his demise.

"Eh, guess that's why they call it 'Pitfall,'" she laughed.

The three sat back for a while and took lengthy drags off a joint that Dig Doug produced.

"It's fun to hang out with you guys," she shared.

"It's...fun to hang out with you," Dig Doug could barely get out, hardly unable to pry his eyes away from Dolores' big, beautiful tits, which made the "A" and the "I" on her Atari tee curve to an emphatic degree.

"Wow. I can say I smoked a joint and played some Atari in the back of a hobby store. Cool Dolores," she said, poking fun at herself.

Dig Doug, who had a beer gut since the age of 18, went about showing off his skills in Pitfall. Dolores was amazed.

"Ugh, I don't know if I wanna go to law school," the young woman shared with the two.

"You gotta be kidding," Dick replied.

"Am I gonna be happy? Being a lawyer?" she pondered.

There was a reason she didn't go straight to law school out of college, and now again, she was having second thoughts.

"Don't worry about it, Dolores. Give it time. Hell, I thought I was gonna be the next Richard Rogers but how's that turning out?" he pondered.

"Yeah, but, Dick, you're still in college. You'll probably graduate, what, in '84 or '85? You're still going through the process. Me? I'm supposed to know by now," she lamented.

For now, though, simply venting her unsureness seemed productive enough. Pizza had arrived, and the three were having too good a time to think too far ahead.

*************

It was the first time ever that Craig went into work on a Saturday so excited.

With reception off on the weekends, Craig used his key to get into the front of the building and headed upstairs.

He could already hear Holly, Sue and Becky chatting away and carrying on.

When he ascended to the top of the steps, he saw all three, standing casually, arms folded, lounging about at the entrance to Holly's office.

"Odd seeing you here on a Saturday," Becky said with a smile.

Two other faces popped up, as Lynette and Samantha had also come in on a Saturday to chip in.

More women surfaced, and more, and more. The office, ironically, ,was full.

Craig felt a bit overwhelmed, feeling as though he was the center of attention.

Small talk ensued for a bit, but not for long.

Lynette, a plucky brunette known for being a party girl, interjected something. It was like a lightning bolt.

"So, CFNM parties, eh, Craig?" she said, with a long, lingering grin.

Gulp.

Craig froze in his footsteps.

"I told them about your illustrations, Craigers," Holly encouraged.

"Better yet, she showed them to us!" Lynette followed up.

Craig felt a warm feeling come over him, spiked by an on-setting, growing sense of arousal. The intensity of which, he had never experienced.

Chitter-chatter ensued, and Holly pulled Craig aside.

"Craig, what would you say to showing the women what a CFNM party is all about?" she asked ever so calmly, as if she were simply instructing Craig to take notes at a meeting or make a phone call.

"You mean my drawings?" he asked.

"No, no, no, we already covered that," she laughed.

"I mean you," she tried to gesture as best she could. "As if this were a CFNM party, you would..."

She didn't spell it out, although he started to get the idea. It made him nervous, but excited him greatly.

"You want me to strip?" he asked delicately.

"Only if you're comfortable," she was quick to say.

Before he could answer.

"See, I got the idea," she began, then broke up laughing, "to have sort of a CFNM-type atmosphere for our next quarterly meeting.

"Kind of a way to...rally the troops. You could kind of give us a...sneak preview of what to expect?"

Without hesitation, Craig willingly obliged.

"I'd love to, Goddess Holly," he answered.

"Ooo, Goddess, I love that!" she squealed. "Do that with all the gals!"

*************

Holly walked gracefully around the office, circling the desks on this delightful Saturday morning.

They waited for a good amount of time, maybe 15 or so minutes.

Finally, Craig appeared.

He looked nervous, measuring his steps.

"Woo-hoo!" Lynette encouraged from afar, seeing Craig was dressed in just a speedo, and nothing else.