Chapter Text
Sam is a jellyfish.
Sam is a jellyfish because jellyfish don’t have spines and neither does she. If she wasn’t a jellyfish, she would’ve kissed Mon in the pool, but she didn’t.
Hence the utter shame she feels now.
Mon was right there and her lips were all puckered, and pink, and – and – and accessible. Oh, and don’t even get Sam started on their flirtation on the way out of the pool. Mon is always flirting and tripping, and tripping and flirting, and making Sam feel like an emotional wreck.
It sucks.
Even now after showering – separately – Sam still doesn’t know how to act around her. Does she congratulate her for running Sam’s emotions through the ringer? Does she ignore her?
Does she proposition her again?
No, definitely not that last one. Mon isn’t into Sam like Sam’s into her. Mon is clearly into men. But then again, if she was into men so much, then why does it feel like she’s always flirting with Sam?
Or is she just flirty with everyone?
Does she almost kiss everyone?
Almost kisses aren’t the same as kiss kisses. And there’s probably no chance in hell that Mon would’ve kissed her back. So maybe it’s better that Sam didn’t even try.
At least that’s what this jellyfish tells herself.
This is their second attempt at sleeping together.
No, that’s not right. It’s their second attempt at sleeping in the bed together. That’s it. The fact that they bump into each other as they’re lying down in this mutually shared bed with no sexual undertones has nothing to do with attraction.
It’s just logistics.
That’s all it is.
This king size bed simply just isn’t big enough for the two of them.
Mon snores so, so loud.
Sam thought she was loud when she was rummaging around Sam’s office with the migraine medicine, but her little snorts now are just so cute and annoying and deafening…
Well, it’s not really that loud, but it is when Sam can’t sleep.
She will note, for future reference, that it’s best to fall asleep before Mon. If there is a world where this occurs again. Which seems highly unlikely given how badly Sam’s screwed up this sleepover.
Sam counts Mon’s snores per minute until eventually she succumbs to the white noise.
When she wakes up, Mon is in a towel.
This is not a drill. Mon is in a towel and a pink bra in Sam’s room. By her own decision. Sam tries not to short circuit.
Pink. Bra.
It’s not going well.
Meltdown mode is officially activated.
The image of Mon in a towel. The pink bra. She can see Mon’s pink bra. Words don’t even sound like words anymore. Sam’s thoughts don’t even make sense with the way they jumble around in her brain.
Even her bra is pink.
Sam just knows she’s making a stupid face as she greets her employee good morning. She stretches out like a cat, trying not to be too obvious with her staring.
And failing miserably.
Mon puts on more cheap makeup in the mirror. Sam wishes she’d learn her lesson about that. She’ll just have to take matters into her own hands and buy Mon some quality products. So that Mon feels as beautiful as she looks.
But as much as Sam would love to stare at Mon in her bra forever, they do need to get dressed and go about their day. She offers to let Mon pick out anything she wants from Sam’s closet.
To Mon’s dismay, she asks Sam why there’s only dark and grey clothes. What was she expecting? For Sam to own pink?
That awful shade looks much better on Mon anyway. Truthfully, everything looks good on Mon. Sam’s still contemplating dressing her up in diamonds and only diamonds.
If she can find some that are as flawless as Mon is.
Sam teases her for loving such a terrible color, but Mon is skittish and runs back over to the mirror with Sam right behind her.
“You seem to know quite a bit about me, hm?” she tells Sam indignantly, still in her towel and her famous undergarment that’s doing an excellent job of keeping Sam’s attention.
Sam bites her own lip though she’d rather bite Mon’s. “Maybe I’m becoming… your fan.”
Then she leaves Mon there to take her own shower, letting her nightgown drop to the floor of the bathroom with the door still wide open.
Two can play at this game.
Mon waits for Sam downstairs.
Scared she might like what she sees when Sam gets out of the shower, probably. Although she did shut the door rather quickly once Sam stripped naked. But that could just be out of respect since Sam is an honorable lady.
Google needs a handbook on how to successfully navigate this type of boss/subordinate situation instead of lecturing Sam on harassment.
Like, is Sam not supposed to comment on how Mon looks dressed down in Sam’s casual clothes? They’re dressed the exact same although Sam swears she doesn’t copy Mon. But if she had, would it be that big of a deal? They just look like they belong.
And Sam likes things that look like they belong.
Then Sam remembers she’s supposed to be meeting her friends. Mon erroneously takes that to mean she should go home. She couldn’t be more wrong. But instead of inviting Mon, she just convinces Mon to invite herself.
Which Mon does.
Because she is a freeloader.
Kade, Jim, and Tee are already waiting at the entrance of the restaurant and they are quite frankly stunned to see that Sam has brought a friend.
Sam doesn’t understand why they have to be so rude when they know she has other friends.
Not friends that she likes, but she has them, okay?
But her usual crew only knows how to act like proper idiots so when Sam refuses to acknowledge the elephant in the room, it sends them into a tizzy.
Jim is the bold one asking who she brought – and Sam doesn’t lie when she says that Mon is her employee. She just doesn’t add that they had a tickle fight, or that she saw Mon’s bra, or that they almost kissed.
Those secrets can only be entrusted to Google as of right now.
But Mon is all smiles and Tee is charming her and calling attention to Mon’s beauty and asking her name and ugh.
Just give it a rest already.
There’s too much chatter about how cute Mon is. Sam knows she’s cute. Mon knows she’s cute. She’s like an explosion of cuteness wrapped in a pink bow. But the fact that Sam’s friends can’t stop calling attention to it is… uncomfortable.
And that’s Sam’s employee, thanks very much.
Sam offers the menu to Mon once they’re seated and the trio of dumbasses watching their every move react like it’s some grand gesture. Like Sam was just going to throw the book at her.
Even though she hit Mon with a book once before.
Or twice.
On accident.
But Mon is certainly way nicer than these three. And she could never afford to eat here under normal circumstances, so she’ll have to see a menu.
Otherwise she won’t know what to get.
Although Sam could order for her. She knows Mon can’t eat spicy foods. But if she insisted on a dish, and Mon hated it, and only ate it out of politeness, Sam might have to leave the country out of mortification.
So she lets Jim order for her and leaves Mon to her own devices.
The first two dishes Jim picks are terrible, but she quickly changes her mind once Sam agrees that it would be fine. On her third try, she guesses sea urchin, which is actually acceptable.
Ugh, her friends must be doing the Opposite Game again.
The one where they try to interpret what she’s thinking. What she’s feeling. What she wants to eat. At least that last one is kind of useful though.
Sam can’t say that she blames them. She’s not exactly all that forthcoming. She can’t even tell Mon that she wants to kiss her. She’d also be breaking her own workplace rule by doing so.
The rule that’s in place to prevent distractions.
And Mon is a huge distraction.
Well, a petite one, but huge in the sense that Sam can’t seem to concentrate on anything but her.
Jim really has to pee.
Or so she claims.
She also makes some bogus claims about her baby choking on the pee if she doesn’t go now, but pregnancy or not, Sam’s not falling for it. Even Kade and Tee get in on the act and Sam can see why Kade’s never won an award after that display.
Mon sweetly offers to take Jim, but Sam finally relents. She shouldn’t have subjected Mon to these dumbasses in the first place. And Mon is definitely not responsible for delivering Jim’s baby should she go into labor.
While that might be anytime soon, Sam would rather not run the risk. So she takes Jim just to get it over with, leaving Mon at the mercy of Kade and Tee, and in return gets locked in the bathroom.
Whatever Operation Natasha Romanov is, it had better be worth it.
This is the thanks Sam gets for taking Jim’s smug pregnant self to the bathroom. One minute she’s checking the stalls to see if anyone else is inside, and the next, Jim is slamming the door in her face.
And since her friends never do this, Sam can only assume it’s because of today’s newest variable: Mon.
Her friends are still so childish it hurts and if Sam finds out those nosy bitches aren’t minding their manners…
They don’t mind their manners.
Of course those assholes are interrogating Mon when the waitress finally hears Sam banging on the door.
“I really am her employee,” Sam hears Mon tell them, but they disagree, insisting there must be something more that Mon isn’t telling them. That she means something to Sam. And Sam means something to her.
Sam would like that answer too, but it doesn’t mean Mon owes it to her. Or these three lunatics that she just met. If that’s how Mon views their relationship, then so be it.
They’ll go back to being just boss and subordinate.
And Sam can stop her fruitless Google searches.