Laura leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. Her long, brown hair swung over the back of the chair and she let herself sink into it futher. Why did she always come up with such stupid ideas?
She was in her office, on the third floor of the new modern building of the university. It was small but cosy. She had finished at 6pm with most of the other lecturers, but knew she was behind on grading papers. So many. She hated grading them at home. Home to her right now was a shared penthouse flat in the city centre, with two professionals around her age. One was in accounting, the other was in PR. The flat was nice, but crowded. She could always hear music being played from one of their bedrooms. She knew she wouldn’t have the concentration to grade properly if she went home. So she’d decided to stay in her office for a couple of hours, only those hours dragged on. It was now nearly half past eleven and she was still nowhere near finishing.
She was a newly hired lecturer, still getting used to the university itself, the courses she taught on and the staff around her; including those with a Dr. in front of their name. She constantly felt like she was behind on everything compared to the other lecturers. She could just slap a letter on the papers and be done with it, but she knew the other staff were expecting comments – in depth analysis of the students essays. She knew they could all see each others work.
She sighed. She was to release them to students at 12pm tomorrow, but her supervisor had to go over what she’d wrote and make sure it was okay, so she had to submit them to her by midnight.
She got up out of her chair and shut her laptop screen over. She needed a toilet break.
The corridor outside was in darkness, and her eyes squinted. She could make out the lit up main hallway further down. The university was completely silent and she wasn’t used to it. She walked slowly past the other offices, some classrooms until she got to the main hallway where many of the bosses, supervisors and co-ordinators offices were. Each door had a little window on them and she glanced in as she walked, every single room in darkness, her being the only idiot to stay this far behind and get herself exhausted.
She stopped in the corridor when she saw one of the offices still lit up. Her supervisors.
Relief washed all over her. Gosh, if she was still here, she could just explain what was going on to her in person, maybe even ask for some help. It wasn’t ideal, but she knew everyone only cared about not letting the students down.
She peered through the window. The door stated: Dr. Jenny Barnidge. Laura gulped as she realised the room was empty. The light was on, but no one was there.
“Dammit.” She sighed.
She continued on to the bathroom at the end of the corridor, her mind filled with nerves. Should she just power on, get herself completely tired out until midnight and probably not even do a good job grading them? Should she just go home and complete them in the morning? She didn’t want to do that. Not without notfying anyone. Should she leave a note for Jenny? YES! She washed her hands, confident in her decision. An email might not be read until midday at the latest. She knew her supervisor had tons of emails come to her, from other staff and students. She could leave her a note on her desk, so she’d get it first thing, and explain that she couldn’t manage to get the essays summitted to her, but that she’d get the rest done in the morning and send them to her, so they’d be done for the 12pm grade release. At least her supervisor wouldn’t be wondering where they were and what was going on.
She left the bathroom and stopped at Jenny’s door. She was a little intimidated of Jenny. Everyone was. She was the most intelligent woman she’d ever came across. Jenny Barnidge was one of those people everyone respected. She had a dark, wicked sense of humour that everyone loved. Her husband was high up in the city centre, doing something Laura wasn’t sure of. But she knew they tons of money. Jenny wasn’t exactly the prettiest women she’d ever seen, but Laura found her insanely attractive. The way she carried herself, the way she spoke. Jenny had shoulder length dark hair and pale skin, and her eyes always looked as if they knew something no one else did. She had tons of interests; gardening and cooking being her top ones. Jenny was the one who had created a gardening plot at the university for other students and she often helped out. She was an avid reader, too and had knowledge in lots of subjects. But her charm was that she could make almost anyone laugh, she was always sarcastic and had quick wit and dark insults. Plus, she was really good at her job. Every student loved her.
Laura pushed open the door. Jenny’s office was incredibly tidy. Her bookshelf in the corner was filled with all different folders and literature. She had potted plants all over the room. Laura looked out the window, the view of the university campus outside, lit up by various floodlights and the city beyond, twinkling in the distance. The professors on this side of the building got all the best views.
There was something odd. Laura looked out the corner of her eye, towards the desk. Jenny’s laptop was sitting on it, open.
Huh… Laura thought. Maybe she is here after all?
She quickly peered out the door, glancing down the corridor but no one was in sight. Had she left it here by mistake? Perhaps this was a work laptop and her personal one was at home.
Laura sat down at her desk and grabbed a piece of paper from the notepad sat on it, and used one of Jenny’s many pens to scribble her note. Her arm accidentally hit the laptop as she was putting the pen back and the laptop screen lit up.
Laura glanced towards it and her eyes widened. On the screen in front of her was… porn. It could only really be described as that. Nude women. In various positions, in bondage. Laura couldn’t look away as she scanned the page. Every woman was tied up, some with their hands above their heads, some lying down. It was obviously from a website. She didn’t think they were Jenny’s personal photos… were they? Laura swallowed and her hand hovered next to the laptop.
Should she close it? She felt uncomfortable, as if she was looking at something she shouldn’t. She listened. She heard nothing but silence. Without thinking, her finger went to the touchpad to stop the laptop shutting down again. She needed to keep looking.
Why was she so intrigued? Was it the photos of the nude women themselves or the fact that Dr. Jenny Barnidge herself was looking at them in her spare time? It gave Laura a strange feeling inside.
“Just get up off the chair and get out her office, you idiot…” She thought to herself. “You’ve left your note, let’s get out of here.”
But she couldn’t move. Her eyes were glued to the laptop. She studied the photos more clearly. One woman was on her stomach, feet tied to her wrists from behind, and she had a ball gag on. Another woman was high on her tip toes, arms stretched as she tugged at the handcuffs over her head. Her expression was of delight.
“No, you can’t…” Laura thought to herself as she moved the mouse on the laptop to scroll up the page. But she was doing it. More photos were there, all of different women in different positions.
“Wow…” Laura said out loud as she got the top of the page. There was a photo of two women this time. One was in bondage lying down on a bed, and the other was above her looking down. She held a feather and was holding it on the women’s stomach, clearly tickling her. The woman on the bed was crying out, but laughing. The woman holding the feather had a smirk, and looked to be enjoying herself very much. Laura felt a spark going up her back.
She scrolled back down, completely obsessed with the photos in front of her. She’d never seen images that made her feel so excited.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Laura jumped and let out a scream.
Jenny was standing in the doorway. She had on a crisp white blouse, black pencil skirt, black tights, low heels and a red bowtie, which she always wore to work and everyone found adorable only right now Jenny was finding it less adorable and more like the hottest thing she’d ever seen. But that’s because she’d just seen pictures of naked women. Surely.
Laura had frozen. Had she seriously just been caught looking through someone’s laptop? Not only that, but someone’s inappropriate photos on their laptop. She coughed. “I… I’m really sorry. I’m, I was just-I’m sorry”. She was blabbing. She couldn’t hide her nerves at being caught.
Jenny was waiting. She didn’t say a thing, just watched Laura’s face get red and watched her struggle to find words.
Laura met her eyes. “I’m sorry. I- I should get back to my office. I wasn’t looking at, I mean-“
She looked down and saw her scribbles on Jenny’s desk. “The note! Yes! I, uh, I came to leave you this.” Laura quickly grabbed the note, grateful to see it and have an excuse. “I am behind on my papers, and I- I wanted to leave you this so you’d see it. I didn’t realise you were in.”
“Are you allowed to wander into my office without asking during the day?” Jenny asked.
Laura looked up, confused. She held the note in her hand pathetically. “What? I mean, I didn’t think you were here, I thought-“
“Are you allowed to wander into my office without asking during the day?” Jenny repeated. Laura blinked.
“No. Um, no. I always knock, of course.”
“Then what makes you think you can wander in at night and snoop through my things?”
Laura went hot at the word ‘snoop’. She wasn’t a snoop! “The laptop was on!” She realised as soon as she said it how ridiculous she sounded. She was a snoop.
Jenny didn’t look impressed. But she didn’t look angry. Laura stared at her. The bow tie would look almost cute if Jenny wasn’t standing in a power stance, looking down on her.
“Get up.” Jenny ordered, her voice smooth and her tone undeniably fierce.
“Look, Jenny… I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to see… anything. I honestly was just leaving the note then planning to go.” Laura mumbled, going towards the door, determined to get out of the awkward situation.
“Off my chair.” Jenny clarified, stepping into the door frame so Laura couldn’t leave. “Sit over there.”
She pointed at the chair on the other side of the desk. Laura swallowed, wondering if she was going to get in trouble for this. Could she lose her job? Her mind scrambled for answers, but she couldn’t find any. She had no idea how bad it was to be snooping through not only a staff members things, but her own supervisors.
She sat in the chair opposite and waited for Jenny to take the one she had been in. But she didn’t. Instead, Jenny leaned on the desk, hands cupped at her skirt and didn’t take her eyes off Laura once.
“What was your favourite photo?” Jenny grinned.
Laura was not expecting this. She was still feeling incredibly awkward, and she stared up at Jenny, looking at the women who seemed amused. “Sorry?”
“Did you have a favourite?” Jenny’s eyes were sparkling. She realised she wasn’t annoyed at all, but actually, ready to maybe make Laura feel embarrassed in a different way.
“Jenny, I didn’t mean to-“
“Oh come on, sweetheart.” Jenny said, and Laura’s stomach flipped as she called her that, though she didn’t understand why. “We both know what you saw.”
“I-” Laura couldn’t find the words.
“So humour me!” Jenny laughed, picking up one her pens and twirling it around in her fingers. Laura watched her. Jenny just had that something where you couldn’t stop staring at anything she did. Weirdly, Laura felt more at ease with Jenny’s tone and light laughter. She had no clue what was going on, but if it meant everything was alright and she wasn’t going to get labelled a creep amongst the staff members, then she’d go along with it.
“I’m not sure?” Laura knew she was asking, not telling. She was fiddling with her fingers in her lap. Jenny’s silence made her continue talking. “Are they your photos?”
“No.” Jenny said. “I just like them.”
“Okay.” Laura said, forcing herself to look her in the eyes. She felt a wave of excitement as she did so, but couldn’t let herself roll with it.
“Did they interest you?” Jenny asked.
“Uh…” Laura had no idea what to do. She knew she looked as nervous as she felt. Jenny had this hold over her. Laura was realising she always did, as her boss. But this time it was different. There was a tension in the room that made her move around in her chair and not know where to look.
Jenny waited. Laura knew she had to say something. She could tell Jenny how uncomfortable she was and that she wanted to get back to her office and that this was inappropriate, but she knew that’s not how she really felt. She could brush it off as her just being nosy and thought it was quite interesting that she had those on her laptop, but nothing more, and walk right out of the door. But she couldn’t. She hadn’t acted like that from the start. She’d acted guilty. Not just because she’d been caught. But because she’d clearly liked looking at them. She knew Jenny knew. There was no point denying it. And she knew she was also so curious about this tension building up, making her hot and not quite wanting to leave anytime soon. “Yeah.”
That was it. She knew there was no going back now.
Jenny smirked down at her. Laura smiled shyly in return. Jenny had now dropped one of her pens and instead was holding Laura’s note in her hands. Laura couldn’t deny that having this woman’s attention made her feel all kinds of things. This was the woman who people had to make an appointment with three weeks in advance because she was always piled up with things. This was the woman who was so powerful in the university that all lecturers, staff and students had a crush on her, girls and guys alike. And here she was, staring down at Laura, like Laura had said exactly the right thing.
Jenny cocked her head to one side. “Well, I guess that’s something we could explore.” The confidence she had seemed to directly bounce off Laura and make her even more shy. Laura was blushing and didn’t know where to look.
“Jenny, I…”
“Deserve to be punished for coming into my office? I agree.” Jenny grinned.
Laura looked up at her, suddenly feeling even more turned on than she had when she was looking at those photos. This woman made sparks fly up and down her back just by the way she spoke. She glanced down at Jenny’s hands. Laura noticed her playing with her note, the way her fingers moved around it. Almost like she was playing with Laura herself, moving her from one hand to the other, fingers stroking and feeling. Laura was breathing heavy as she stared, and glanced up to find Jenny staring right back at her.
“Anyway, it’s getting late. You should be heading home.” Jenny said, the look in her eyes revealing that she knew exactly how Laura felt. She had her wrapped around her fingers. Literally.
Laura quickly got up off her chair. “Of course! Yes, sorry.” But she was still red in the face.
Laura left her office, sighing and walked down the corridor. Her mind was filled with all sorts of things. She got to her own office and started packing up her things. The cool air in her room hit her red cheeks, still on fire. Somehow she’d caught a teacher looking at naked pictures of women in bondage and she was the one feeling like she’d been caught looking at something dirty. That woman could do things to her. And what had she meant, they could explore it? She swallowed hard. There was no denying the tension between them. Those photos had done something to Laura, made her want to try those things out herself. She realised the only reason they’d made her feel like that is because she wanted Jenny to try them out on her, and that this woman made her feel excited.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She saw Jenny had sent an email to all staff.
For the essays tomorrow, please postpone releasing these until 2pm. Laura has not yet completed her grades, and I want all students to receive their marks at the same time. So release these later to give her time to mark. She’s a little tied up at the moment.
And then, in a seperate email sent just to her:
Or she will be, eventually
Laura had to stare at it a few times. She went hot, and as she grabbed her things, no longer felt tired but felt a thrill. Work was going to get a little bit more exciting.
Sunwalks writes 