Confessions of a Mailgirl Ch. 05

"You don't think I haven't thought of that, Kelly, but what choice do I have?"

"You could let Anna go. She shouldn't be a mailgirl anyway. She's too young."

"She's old enough to be making her own decisions," I said. "Besides, I can't let her go back to her mother. That's a bad situation."

"And being a mailgirl is the fix for that? Let her go somewhere else then if she's old enough."

"No, I don't want to," I responded. "I want to help her."

Kelly looked at me suspiciously. "Do you have something going on with her?" When I didn't respond right away she laughed. "You do don't you? The two of you are doing the slap and tickle! Don't you think you're a little old for her, Danica?"

"I'm twenty-five, Kelly! You make it sound like I'm a Cougar or something. It's none of your damn business anyway. And why do you care where I live? Are you afraid that Barbara will force you to live in a luxury condo too?"

"Me?" Kelly snorted. "No, Barbara doesn't give a damn about me or where I live. I'm just a minor irritant in her life, a pebble in her shoe. The only thing she wants from me is to take off my clothes, keep my damn mouth shut, and deliver the mail like a good little mailgirl. You're the one she's interested in."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Because it's true. She's fascinated with you. I don't know if she's just hot for you or if it's a dominatrix thing or whatever, but she wants to control you. And now she's using Anna to do it."

"So now you think that Barbara is the one who planted Anna in my life?"

"No, I never said that," Kelly replied. "That would be way too Machiavellian even for Barbara. Besides, I think Anna's batshit mom is a legit problem for her and her Mailgirls program. I just think that Anna fell into her lap and Barbara saw her as a way to control you."

"I don't understand why you think that. I mean, when Barbara first met Anna do you think she thought 'Hey, I bet Danica is a closet lesbian who will fall for this girl and then I can use her to twist Danica around my little finger!'"

"Who knows what the hell goes on in that reptilian brain of hers? Maybe she just thought she'd throw Anna into the mix to see what happened."

"And what do you think happened?" I asked.

"I think you fell for the girl and now Barbara can use her to twist you around her little finger."

"Listen, Anna came to her," I said. "Barbara couldn't have foreseen what would happen."

"All I know is that she made you take Anna into your apartment and then kept her with you for more than two weeks for training. Two weeks! Hell, you can teach a monkey to do this job in about two hours. She forced the two of you to be together twenty-four hours a day long enough to see what what would happen. And now that she's seen it she won't let Anna go even though she's just an intern and her psycho mom is causing all kinds of problems."

All of this was making my head hurt. "Kelly, I know damn well how manipulative Barbara is, but I don't think she has any more interest in me than she does you or Anna. She only cares about her Mailgirls program. Hell, she threatened to fire me today!"

"She only did that because she knew you'd cave. And you did."

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, let's say you're right and she's just using Anna to get her hooks in me. I still don't see why you care."

"I care because I'm your friend, Danica. And I know that you're the only one Barbara is really interested in because she hired me to help get you. She didn't think you'd become a mailgirl on your own and she used me to help draw you in."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Kelly remained quiet for a minute before speaking again. "I already knew Barbara before that first meeting. She brought me in to help her on a project a few weeks earlier and that's when she first started talking to me about this Mailgirls program. She told me she'd pay off all of my student loans plus give me a large bonus if I did it and she wanted me to help recruit you into it, too."

"What?"

"She knew you'd never go for it unless you were told it was a management job and had someone else there for support. And then before we left for Tokyo, Barbara told me to get naked during our training with Mariko and that she'd pay me an extra $5000 if I convinced you to get naked too."

I felt the blood rushing to my head. "What the fuck, Kelly! So you knew we were going to be mailgirls all along and you didn't tell me? You let me sign that contract?"

"Yeah, but Barbara was offering me a lot of money and I didn't really know you very well at the time. But then after we got back from Tokyo I got cold feet about it and wanted to back out, but it was too late by then. That panic attack when we were signing the nudity waiver was real, Danica. I didn't fake it. And after we became friends I felt terrible about the whole thing and wanted to tell you but I didn't know how."

"Friends? You lied to me and kept this from me and you think we're friends?"

"I'm telling you now, Danica. I'm so sorry."

"Get the hell out of here, Kelly! Get back to work before you get fired!"

"Please, Danica, I...."

"Get out!"

Kelly wiped the tears from her eyes. "Just please think about what I said though. She's been after you since day one. Don't move in here, Danica."

"Go!" I shouted.

After she was gone I slumped onto the couch, unable to move. My world was spinning out of control and I didn't know who I could trust anymore. I wasn't even certain that Anna wasn't part of the plot too. My thoughts swirled in a million directions before I finally got them under control and came up with a plan of action.

I searched through my boxes until I found my favorite business attire from my previous life - a black skirt, matching black jacket, and white blouse. They were wrinkled from the move so I unpacked my iron and carefully ironed them, then jumped into the shower. After toweling off I put on a white lace bra and panties, my business ensemble, a pair of panty hose, and a pair of black shoes with three inch heels. I then went to the bathroom mirror to dry and brush my hair and apply makeup. As a finishing touch I put on my favorite earrings, necklace, bracelet, and watch. When I looked at myself in the full length mirror in the bedroom I saw an up-and-coming young business woman staring back at me. I picked up my purse and strode for the door.

I was heading back across the street to DDE to confront Barbara but I was going to do it as an equal, not as a mailgirl.