Zarya Pt. 01 (Ch. 01-06)

Chapter 1

"...and that's why we'd like you to help lead this company project, Zarya," a fifty-something year-old man beamed at the thirty-five year old woman. She was stunned. Zarya had only been with the company for three years, but her boss was now asking her to help train some fresh faces at a competitive store that was being bought out by their own chain. She always put her heart into her work, but never imagined she would be leading a project this big--especially in just a couple years. But, the shift leader had proven her dedication and team work, so she had been recommended by her superiors to travel a couple hours away to a small store to help the manager there.

"I'm--honored," she carefully said, still in shock, but wanting to appear polite and grateful for the opportunity.

"So you'll do it? Great! I'll send you all the details to your e-mail, so you know where to go..." her boss, Randy, trailed off as her mind began to race. Would she fuck this up somehow? What would the people think of a competitor coming in and taking over their way of life?

She snapped to as Randy patted her arm and congratulated her. "I'm really proud of you!" While she didn't normally like being touched by others, her boss was an exception. He been a bit of a mentor to her as she climbed the corporate ladder, and he felt a bit like the fun uncle that made her feel comfortable, regardless of how stressful their work situations could become. Because she had spaced out, however, it still caught her off-guard. She smiled sheepishly and her pale cheeks filled with color.

"Thanks, Randy. I couldn't've done it without you, you know" she said quietly.

"Oh, now's not the time to be modest! Plus, you can always thank me later," he said with a wink and a chuckle.

Randy's laugh was infectious, and Zarya quickly found herself giggling along with him. Their conversation was cut short, however, when their assistant manager knocked on and cracked the office door to get the store manager's attention about an urgent matter.

"Well, duty calls! Like I said, I'll e-mail you the details, and of course you may reply there with any questions you have about it," he said as he rose and headed to the door. The office was merely a singularly shared space between managers and shift leaders, away from the public eye, so it was assumed Zarya would see herself out when she was ready to leave.

"Yes, I will," she smiled as the managers left the room together. It was unusual to have a shift leader help train this many new people at a time--normally it was an assistant manager's job, but the store Zarya would be helping was so small that the company didn't want to sacrifice any more money than necessary. Plus, this would be a good opportunity to establish loyalty at a more peer-friendly level, and give the young shift-lead a chance to show if she could handle more responsibility. This was, of course, on Zarya's mind as she stood up herself and headed out of the office, so the pressure was on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 2

After Zarya got home from work, she notified both her closest friend and her mother about the new responsibility she would have in just a couple weeks. It was not a lot of time to prepare, and after spending so much time chatting about it, she was feeling a bit overwhelmed about the situation. She decided to have some food delivered to the house, instead of cooking, so she could just unwind. It'll be fine... she thought to herself, trying to keep herself calm, despite feeling her anxiety spiking. Her heart rate was high, and she could feel that her cheeks were flushed.

She scrolled through the food app on her phone, and settled on her favorite--pancakes and bacon from a local mom and pop shop. "When all else fails, have breakfast for dinner," her dad used to say. It was always a good comfort food when she was feeling down. Ugh--the wait time is over an hour! Guess I should take a shower while I wait...

Once in the bathroom, Zarya undressed and let her shoulder-length brunette hair down. As she brushed her hair gently, she noted that she had more grey hairs creeping in, but she did not mind them too much. She felt that she was aging pretty gracefully, but the ruddy highlights of her hair were definitely fading fast the last couple of years. She was more insecure about her body shape than anything, but she knew she could not change who she was, and had been slowly learning to love herself--flaws and all. She was on the heavy side, and somewhere between "potato" (as she called it) and curvy, but she tried to focus on her positive traits. After all, what is a pretty face without empathy, for instance?

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and she groaned while wrapping a towel around herself. Due to her waist size, there was rarely a towel she could find that wrapped around all of the way, and usually it left a slit of some sort at her side. Zarya did her best to cover up, though, and quickly walked to the door, and looked through the peephole. "Who is it?" she begrudgingly asked, noticing it was an older woman.

"Excuse me--" the muffled voice said, but Zarya could not make out the rest. She gave in, and cracked the door to find a woman who looked about eighty leaning over a cane and shaking slightly.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you through my door. What is it that you needed?" Zarya inquired.

"Oh my! Well, I seem to be a bit lost, but it looks like I've caught you at a bad time, dear," croaked the old woman.

"No, no. It's ok!" The woman did look confused, and Zarya could not help but wonder if she had dementia or Alzheimer's. "Where are you supposed to be? Would you like me to call someone for you?"

"Oh, no, this is quite embarrassing. No need to call anyone. I just need to find my doctor's office, but this doesn't look like it from the inside," said the old woman insisted.

"Blame the architects," Zarya chuckled. "For some reason, when they designed the buildings in this neighborhood, they made them all look very similar, but I bet the doctor you're looking for is just next door!"

"Oh really?" she woman smiled with hope.

"Yes! What's the name of the office?"

After some discussion about which doctor Mrs. Robinson (as she soon told her) was seeing--and why--and how many grandkids she had--and what a nice doctor Mr. Benson was--Zarya decided it would be best to show the talkative (perhaps lonely) old woman where the office was exactly. "Listen, I need to take a shower soon, but I'll point you in the direction you need to go, ok?" she said gently as she headed towards the entrance of the apartments. Normally Zarya would not dream of stepping out of her apartment without being fully dressed, but the old woman was not going to leave on her own. Thankfully she lived on the first floor.

"Oh! But it was right there all along!" Mrs. Robinson exclaimed, as Zarya pointed out the building with a large sign on the left.

"Yes, the sign is hard to see from the road, since it's attached to the side of the building instead of the front. Fortunately for you I see it every day."

"What a dear you are!" the old woman smiled, squeezing the young woman's arm firmly in a way that reminded her of a hug.

As the woman hobbled away, Zarya's own smile was quickly replaced with anxiousness, as she saw a young person exit a car and head in her direction with a delivery bag. She wanted to flee back to her apartment, so she would have the safety of its door, at least. It was too late, though, as eye-contact was made between her and what appeared to someone about fifteen years her junior. Oh--god... please don't... this isn't happening. She swallowed the pressure, and sheepishly smiled at him. "Oh, no. He's hot," she felt her cheeks turning red as the slender guy with long, dark hair pierced into her hazel eyes with his cold blue ones.

"Uh, you wouldn't happen to be waiting for me, would you?" he said with a confident smirk.

Zarya could feel herself shiver slightly. She felt frozen on the front step, yet somehow felt stimulated from the warmth of his voice. "I guess that depends on who's asking," she smirked back. What is wrong with me? Despite how awkward she felt, the person continued by asking for her name. "It's Zarya... I had some food coming soon," she replied.

"I wish that wasn't the only thing," he sadly quietly, but loudly enough that she knew he intended for her to hear. She caught him glancing at the towel, but he was gracious enough not to stare too long. She shivered again, and felt her pulse racing. He held the bag out to her, "The food was done a bit early. It's a shame when it's too early," he winked. "The directions said to wait at the door for in-person delivery, but... I have a feeling you're not accepting visitors."

Smooth... "Uh, yeah... I'll take that, thanks," Zarya clutched the towel tightly with one hand, and grabbed the food with the other.

"No problem. It's not very often I get to take the scenic route to my deliveries," he let out a hearty laugh, and turned to head towards his car.

"Oh! W--wait..." Zarya gasped, remembering that she hadn't tipped him, yet.

"If you're worried about the tip, I should be giving you one," he smiled one last time before ducking back into his car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 3

Zarya stood with her back to her apartment door, propping herself up after rushing back inside and setting the food down. Her legs were shaking. Did that really just happen? How embarrassing!! I--she cut herself off, remembering how he had smirked at her. She felt the blood rush through her again, first in her cheeks, then through her chest, and finally at her fingertips. But then she felt it--the throbbing. Her clit was swollen thinking about how some young, attractive guy found her attractive... no, it was more than that. It was being vulnerable--out in the open and exposed for him to gawk at. What is wrong with me?! This can't be normal...she braced herself against the door, but as she did, the towel began to slip. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, which finally released the towel from its hold on her. Underneath was her large chest, and fully grown bush. Zarya gasped as the air hit her nipples. They were so sensitive, and began immediately hardening which made her clit throb even harder.

A moan slipped through her lips, and she bit her lower one gently. She could not stop seeing him ogling her, regardless of how discreet he had been about it. To be fair, she had checked him out, too. He was wearing a band t-shirt and jeans that hugged his legs in all the right places. She began wondering if he was touching himself in his car--what he looked like. Her eyes jerked open as she caught herself beginning to caress herself. Stop it! This can't be right. I have no right to think about some stranger this way.

She picked up the towel and food, and walked to the kitchen. Should I eat now, or... Her pussy was on fire, and she could hardly focus. Maybe that shower would help... she thought, as she set the food down on the counter. Either way, she was afraid to sit down naked and expose her body to more stimuli. She quickly made her way to the bathroom, where she considered the shower, but settled for a bath instead. Zarya knew the pounding water from the showerhead would be too much for her clit to take, so she bent over and started running the water. As she did, she imagined the guy behind her, eyeing her body and catching a glimpse of her pussy. A whimper bubbled out of her, and she covered her mouth. Seriously? You need to calm down..

Zarya took a deep breath and put her hair up away from her face and neck. She always loved a good, deep bath, but did not feel like getting her hair wet this time. Mostly, though, she was trying to distract herself from what was on her mind. Yet she could still feel her pussy quiver slightly as she caught a glance of her boobs in the mirror.

By the time she was done putting her hair up, the tub was about half-full, which was high enough for Zarya to slip into comfortably. As she entered the water, the warm feeling she had between her legs was matched by the hot water. Her muscles loosened as she began to relax. Ah, this is the life, she smiled. Zarya rested her head back on the tub and closed her eyes as the water slowly crept up her body. Somehow it felt more sensual than usual, the water lapping and kissing at her skin. As the water level rose, so did her arousal. What was supposed to be relaxing, was now creating more contact with her sensitive nipples. The contrast between the warm water and the cool air hitting them made her squirm slightly. She placed her hands over her chest to keep them warm, but as soon as they made contact with her nipples, her back arched slightly and she let out a sigh. Before she could think about stopping herself, Zarya's fingers started squeezing and pinching her small pink nubs. The feeling was electrifying. The small waves that rushed through her left her head buzzing and her body wanting more.

Regrettably, the buzzing in Zarya's head was soon replaced by that of her phone. She reached for a towel to dry her hand before grabbing the phone to see who was calling. It was an unknown number, so she sighed and let it go to voicemail. Well, there goes that... she grumbled internally. She despised phone calls, especially if she did not know who was calling.

Since the spell had been broken, Zarya quickly washed up and dried off her body. She slipped into some clean pajamas for the evening, her usual baggy t-shirt and yoga pants combo, before hearing the quick double buzz of a voicemail notification. She put it on speakerphone and listened to the message play in its entirety. It was the store manager she was going to be helping in a couple of weeks. He introduced himself as Roger, and that he was glad to have her on board. "Please call me if you need anything!" he ended pleasantly. An orgasm would've been nice, she thought snarkily. She sighed and shook her head, accepting defeat. This is what I get for fantasizing about strangers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 4

The next week two weeks went by quickly, and Zarya soon found herself packing for her trip. The small town she would be going to was a couple hours away, so the company had decided it would be pay for her to stay at a motel for a month, instead of compensating her gas and mileage for driving round trip five days a week. Zarya had a feeling it was moreso for convenience if there was an emergency at the store, rather than the company trying to be "green" about their carbon footprint.

"Yes, mom, I packed my toothbrush," she grumbled. Her mother still loved giving her childish practical advice, but she knew it simply came from a place of worry. Maybe her mother quietly suffered from anxiety as well--regardless, If there was anything consistent in her life, it was this. "Yes, yes... I got your gift card in the mail. I appreciate it. It'll make dinner more exciting than ramen every night." She glanced at the phone to see how long she had been talking, and quickly put it on speakerphone. An hour was way too long to be on the phone, but her mother loved to gab. At least this way her shoulder could get a break while she stuffed the last of her belongings in the duffel bag.

"I know you're probably getting sick of chatting, so I won't bother you anymore," her mother said, as if on queue.

"It's fine, mom. Just finishing up."

"Well, let us know when you get there safely--and take lots of pictures! I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, and I will," Zarya replied. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

"You, too. Bye, sweetie!"

Zarya breathed a sigh of relief as she zipped up the bag, and she plopped herself onto the bed next to it. She usually packed light, but the anxiety of going somewhere new (and all the responsibilities that were going to come with it) had wore her to the bone. She wanted to save the money, but ordering food sounded more ideal than cooking. Let's see what the wait times are, she thought while scrolling through the food app for her favorite food combo. Nice! Only thirty minutes. Done!

After placing the order, she carried her duffel bag to the front door, and placed her medications on the counter for the next day. She was going to need to leave early in the morning to make it to her shift at six, so she was glad that everything else not already packed would be easy to toss into the bag. The company had refused letting her check into the motel a day early, because she had needed to work a normal shift at her regular store. In fact, Zarya had not been home long before she had started packing.

She then sat down in her favorite recliner, and turned on the television. She planned on continuing a series she had been watching for a couple of days, but suddenly felt uneasy. Her stomach was bunching up in knots, and it was hard to focus. You're gonna do fine, Zar, she tried to give herself a pep talk about the next day. Yet she could not get the feeling to leave. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Ok... what's wrong? Is there something besides work tomorrow that's bothering you?

Suddenly her phone started ringing. She assumed it was Roger giving her a call since she never contacted him about her first shift. She had not had any questions, though, since her boss Randy had given her a thorough e-mail, which also included the store's address. The only thing she needed was store log-in information, which she knew would be confidentially given to her at the location. Despite her natural resistance to answering, she did not want to ignore yet another phone call from him, so she quickly hit the green button.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Is this Zarya?" a young male voice said.

"This is..." she replied, confused. A store manager is not usually so young...

"Hey, it's your food delivery driver. Cook says they're out of bacon and wanted to know if you wanted a sub?"

"Oh!--Well, that's--too bad. Uhh..." she stuttered, as she did not care for breakfast sausage.

"He said you can have sausage or ham."

"I'll take the ham, thanks!" she replied, grateful to have another option.

"Alright. See you soon," the voice said before ending the call.

As Zarya pulled the phone away from her face, she looked down and began to intently stare at it. What is this feeling... she was puzzled. Despite the voice being friendly on the other end, she was more anxious than before the call started. She shrugged it off, however, and went back to setting up her show. Nothing like some true crime to relax your nerves, she giggled to herself.

About seventeen minutes later, there was a knock at her door. Zarya quickly put the footrest down on the recliner, and rushed to the door. As she swung it open, her eyes grew wide, and she had to force herself not to drop her jaw. Suddenly she realized why her nerves had been on edge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 5

"Good evening, Zarya," a familiar face smirked. His blue eyes were penetrating her just as they had two weeks prior.

"Evening..." she practically croaked.

"It's nice seeing you again," he smiled more genuinely as he held her food out to her. "My name's Callen by the way."

Zarya remained silent, stunned that she managed to have the same driver as last time, but smiled and nodded.

"Look, I know last time was--awkard," he chuckled, "but if we're going to start making this a regular thing, I might as well introduce myself, ya know?"

"You're right," Zarya replied. "It's nice to meet you, officially." God, I probably sound so cheesy. Why is he even giving me the time of day? she pondered. "Oh!--and here's your tip this time," she smiled.

He smirked again as he looked down at the money. When he looked back up at her, he paused, leaving an awkward silence in the air as he read her face. "Can I ask you something?" Callen finally said.