The kind of romance that’s good for the company

It started off innocently enough, as just a group of colleagues going for after-work drinks. Then it was just the two of them going for drinks. Gift and Simone.
He was into the music scene and she’s the kind of arty girl who gets invited to all the best exhibition openings. So it was fun to introduce each other to their respective jols.
Then the one night after the record company showcase, they had a little thing.
They were both a little tipsy that time, so they sort of ignored it, and it didn’t affect the atmosphere in the office too much.
But a week later they had another thing, then another, and then it became clear to them that they were having a fully fledged office romance.
Relations in the workplace became a little awkward; no one else on the Freeflight staff knew about their affair and they saw no need to give the game away immediately.
Workplace liaisons had fallen out of favour since Freeflight’s short-lived last appointment, some guy who had thrown himself into wooing Simone at his first office party. The dude had ended up setting his pubes on fire in a fit of drunken besottedness.
These two lovebirds shared subtle caresses and clandestine kisses on the stairwell, then periods of basically ignoring each other as they overcorrected in trying to keep up professional appearances.
They did remarkably well in keeping their relationship a secret from all of their colleagues for a full two months before matters came to a head.
What brought the whole house of cards tumbling down was the annual Advertising Charity Fund Bowling Night.
The event is one of several social highlights of the advertising industry’s year, besides being a party of renown and notorious for being the genesis of several boozy office flings.
It would have been the perfect event for Gift and Simone to come out. Except then Gavin, the big-boss MD of Freeflight goes and invites Simone to Charity Bowling as his date.
Simone said she’d check what she was up to and then get back to him.
“What should I tell him,” she immediately confided in Gift. “If I tell him I’m going out with you, there’ll be a huge jealousy thing in the office. You know how crazy he can be!”
“And if I go with him, he’ll start thinking I like him and he’ll probably keep asking me out. And he’s really not my type.”
Good oke that he was, Gavin was a shaven-headed, tattooed weekend biker, and developing a boep.
“I don’t know,” Gift hesitated, suddenly seeing his advertising career on the verge of disaster thanks to his unchecked libido. “I can’t tell you what to do. You’ve gotta make up your own mind.”
“Hmmpf,” thought Simone to herself. Gift was all keen to have her as his skelm, but when it came time to own up he was suddenly all coy! She would certainly make up her own mind about who to take to Charity Bowling.
And so the appointed evening arrived. It had became clear to both Gift and Gavin that she was not going with either of them. Probably all for the best, they’d told themselves. These office romances only end up causing trouble.
Still, Simone is the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen. A Bohemian, blue-eyed beauty with tumbling blonde curls, a mischievous smile and a taste in clothing straight out of the Melville thrift shops.
Anyway, bowling night arrives. And Gav and Gift end up going as each other’s partners. Not in a gay way, just to have someone you know to go with.
So there they are, sitting at the bar at the Brightwater Common bowling alley. The whole ad industry is there and things are just starting to warm up. A couple of tequilas have been quaffed and the first naughty nods towards the toilet have been shared.
And then Simone walks in. Looking like Fergie out of the Black Eyed Peas in a shiny, skintight pair of scarlet pants, and a plunging handkerchief top… and Ryk Neethling on her arm!
Gavin nearly drops his Red Bull and vodka. Gift bites his lip so hard it stings. In fact heads turn all over the bowling alley. “Who’s that with Ryk Neethling?” “Simone from Freeflight!”
Sheess.
They’re the undisputed stars of the evening – the celeb-mag photographer can’t get enough. Meanwhile Gift and Gav sit anonymously by the bowling-shoe booth.
“They look quite good together,” grimaces Gift through his whisky.
“Ja,” says Gav. “Hope it works out for them. Be good for the company.”