Chapter 4: The Coffee Mug

Claire came early today at work, nobody from her department had arrived yet as it was 7:25 a.m. in the morning. After gym, she usually goes to the shelter where she volunteers to feed the stray dogs and cats in the morning, that was her routine everyday before she went to school.

At 5:00 A.M. she went to the gym, she'd finish around 6:00 A.M. then by 7:30 She would be at home, then she'd take a shower and by 8:30 she would be on her way to school. When Claire knew she was going to start her internship, she already reported to the shelter that she wouldn't be able to stay for more than an hour as her work began at 8:00 A.M.

But today, Claire received a message from the shelter that they had another volunteer coming in this morning so she could skip, and now she was at the office very early. Claire went to the small pantry where they made coffee and tea, she didn't have coffee this morning yet so she decided to make one there. 

She was about to turn to the door with the coffee in her hand but she was surprised to see Ms. Miller standing there. Claire didn't expect anybody to be in the office that early, she was shocked to her core to see someone just standing there. She totally forgot she had a hot coffee in her hand and it caused her to spill it on the floor and to herself as well.

"Oh My God!" She heard Ms. Miller exclaiming.

Because of the shock and probably the adrenaline that shot down on her at the moment, she wasn't able to feel the burn in her chest and stomach. Her eyes were just following Ms. Miller's moves. To her it was like slow motion, she took a lot of tissue and tried to dry her clothes but all she could feel was Ms. Miller's hands touching her boobs, well, not technically touching but she was wiping her blouse. And Claire was still holding the mug unable to move. 

"Are you okay? Ms... Dammit, are you okay? Claire could hear the panic in her voice, why couldn't she move? What was wrong with her? 

"Miss, are you okay?"

Claire seemed to stir up when she felt her hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she repeated. 

Claire was now back to her senses and she could feel the pain in her chest and her stomach caused by the hot coffee. Her mouth automatically gaped wide as well as her eyes. She bent her head down and started shaking off her shirt. It was a good thing she was already wearing an inner small sleeveless blouse before she buttoned down her shirt, but it still hurt.

"Come here!" Ms. Miller took her hand and guided her to follow. She took the coffee mug in her hand and put it down on the counter. As soon as their hands touched, she suddenly had this feeling in her stomach that she couldn't explain, it was like something tingling in there.

Ms. Miller's hands were soft and warm. She felt a sudden electric current travelling through her body. What was that?

Claire never felt that before, many people already held her hand but she never felt that. The pain in her chest and stomach magically disappeared as her whole focus was centered on her hand holding hers.

Ms. Miller took Claire to her office, locked the door and she gestured for her to sit on the couch. When she let go of her hand, the emptiness nearly killed her dreamy fantasy.

"Take off your shirt." She casually told Claire while she was ransacking her first aid kit. "Wh-What? Why?" Claire stupidly asked.

She stopped at what she was doing and looked at her. 'Was she smirking? I think I saw the corner of her lips twitch a little bit" Claire thought.

"Uhmm, because you burned your skin and I am planning to apply the first aid cream that is in my first aid box." She answered Claire mockingly.

"Come on, take off your shirt." She repeated with a little bit of a higher voice and continued to look for the medicine. When she found it, she sat facing Claire beside the coffee table that was in front of her. 

"Oh my god, this is not the time to be modest, Miss..." She said with an annoyed voice.

"This is the part where you tell me your name."

"O-Oh, I'm Claire, my name is Claire." Claire told her disconcerted.

"Ok, Claire. Whatever you have underneath your shirt, you can be sure that I have them too. Ok? Now take it off so I can see if I need to bring you to the clinic or if this cream that I'm about to apply is enough."

When Claire heard her bossing her, it made her speed up unbuttoning her shirt. As soon as her shirt was off, Ms. Miller took the Hem of her top and helped her lift it up to her head, completely removing it. And oh boy, she was not a patient woman.

"It's not that bad, I think it helps that you were wearing two layers." She took the cream, put some in her finger and gently smeared it in the area where it was visibly red. When her finger touched Claire's skin, Claire could feel the unfamiliar tingling in her stomach again. Every touch sent a shiver down her spine, it was not normal, was it? she kept asking herself.

Claire was completely aware that she was half-naked in front of her boss but all she could think about was her finger gently touching her skin. While she was busy, Claire was busy assessing her features on her face. She didn't think there was even a single pore in her face, how was that possible? she marveled. 

Her long eyelashes and those brown eyes, She could drown in them. Why was she feeling that towards her boss, oh no... Why was she feeling that towards a woman? She kept thinking.

Realizing that, made her go back to her own senses. "A-Are you not done yet?" she asked her nervously. She suddenly could feel her heart beating so fast. 

"Why are you feeling nervous?" She stopped what she was doing and looked at Claire under her lashes.

"Wh-What?"

Yeah, stutter, as if that helps, 

"I could feel the rapid pulse in your chest, why are you nervous?"

Claire looked down at her chest and tried to see something, was she playing with her?

"Does it hurt that much? Do you want me to bring you to the clinic?" Claire could hear the worry in her voice. She was worried about her. Her eyes even softened looking at her. 

"Uhh- No, no, it doesn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. Can I go now?"

"Half naked? Mmm-mmm, I don't think so." She smiled as she shook her head.

"I have something here that you can wear, I'm sure it will match your pants." As she paused at the end of her sentence, Claire's eyes flew to what she was looking, which was her breast.

Claire suddenly felt conscious and felt the need of hiding it with her hands but she didn't want to look stupid so she just let her be.

Claire cleared her throat which made her come back to her senses and she immediately stood up. She almost stumbled beside the leg of the coffee table as she stood up very fast.

Claire didn't know if she should have laughed at that she looked like she was caught. But she chose not to, to save her from embarrassment. 

"Here, wear this." She handed her the loose grey half buttoned shirt.

Seemed like she recovered quickly, Claire thought. She took the shirt from her hand and she wore it. "Thank you. I'll have this returned tomorrow, washed of course."

"No, you can keep it. I caused that anyway." She pointed at her chest. 

"Ohh, no."

"I mean it, keep it." She cut Claire off.

"Thank you, Ms. Miller."

"Just call me Jamie. I've seen enough of you, I guess its just fair to call each other on first name basis." She joked, while her eyes flew on my chest.

Claire was not sure how to react on that, so she just smiled and stood up. She walked towards her door and unlocked it. Before she went, she bid her goodbye. 

"See you, Jamie."

And before Jamie could respond Claire pulled the door behind her and left.