Soon, the journalists of the ‘Man’ began to clap. Their witch in a turquoise suit looked great, standing next to the competitors warming up their muscles before the start. But instead of warming up, Alice stood almost motionless, looking at the opposite edge of the pool.
The boys, looking at her, had no doubts that she spent her free time not like them, in the Tavern, but working hard on her physical condition. However, they were aware that having a beautifully built body does not mean that it can swim well.
They began to argue that the competition was controversial, not very fair, as there were two women and four men taking part in it, and the distance was as long as two lengths of the pool.
For a moment they forgot about the hatred, anger, the fragile male honor and the painting she forced them to do. They really hoped that their chief editor not only looked great, but she could swim, and that'd be good enough.
“And racing on electric brooms and jet mops will also be?” Simon cooled down first.
“The witch not only has functional grey brain cells, but also she has a beautiful body. There is something to look at!” Michael commented with delight.
"Plastic surgery works miracles today." Simon summed up with irony.
"Dude..." Thomas said, outraged. “Does every good looking chick have to be ‘made’? If she can afford a very good car, then she would have money for silicone and a good plastic surgeon! And yet, there is nothing to look at.”
“Fact! Almost flat as a bread. Maybe her ass is touched up?” Simon guessed. “Or...”
“They artificially stretched her by half a meter.” Thomas said ironically, looking at the shorter friend. "You could use that method too." He added with a laugh.
Alex and Adam, disregarding the opinions of their colleagues, began to cheer for Alice, who was leading the struggle from the very first moments. At first, only centimeters, but her advantage grew every second.
To their great joy, she won. In beautiful style, almost a quarter of the length of the pool ahead of everyone, even the chief editor of a sports magazine, who was a professional athlete more than a dozen years ago, with significant success.
Their greater joy was that their previous editor Leo Walker had left them and went to the magazine he was writing for. In that moment, they had forgotten about the editorial disagreements for good. They were proud that it was their chief editor who kicked the asses of the competition in a beautiful style.
They couldn't take their eyes off her as she came out of the pool. Up close, she looked dazzling, especially in her wet suit and dripping hair. Almost immediately, Alice noticed that her colleagues didn’t take their eyes off her, as did the cameraman of the local TV station. Then, under everyone’s eyes, she put on her tunic back.
Alex, Adam, Thomas and Alice took part in the next discipline of the competition, the relay race. To the surprise of her subordinates, she was still doing well.
Throughout the length of the pool, she was cheered on by the spectators and her colleagues from the editorial office who had gone earlier. And they were not disappointed!
The supreme team gave her all, and the fight was really tough, because all teams put on their best fighters. And this time, the journalists of the ‘Man’ won with just a few centimeters.
Tired but happy, they went to sit down for a while. After a break of several minutes, a water polo tournament was about to take place. In order to not discuss sensitive topics with the competition journalists sitting next to them, Alex and Adam gave up on their rest.
Instead, they decided to practice bouncing the ball, and basically show the large female audience their beautiful bodies. Besides, they hoped that Alice would join them for a while. They wanted to take a closer look at her muscles.
However, she had already changed her clothes and didn’t step away from Nicolas’ side.
“Sit down, playboys! This is not a runway!” Michael was nervous. Being undressed, he couldn’t compete with his younger, physically fit colleagues. He disliked having anyone other than himself in the spotlight.
“Join us!” Alex, who was seductively throwing back a storm of wet hair, was encouraging him, and he realized that this gesture was upsetting Michael.
"Friends, should I get you a strip session for a women's magazine?" He was irritated by the behavior of his friends. “Maybe a session for some gay journal?” He added after a moment. He also knew exactly what to do with them.
“Why not?” Adam was having a good time. “We have something to show!” He tensed his torso in front of Michael's nose, whose face flushed red with anger.
“Enough! We are not alone here! Please bear that in mind!” As usual, Thomas stepped in just in time. “Are you going to introduce a new discipline to today's competition, combat fighting? The ring isn’t here!” He stood between Michael and Adam. “End of discussion! Where is the ball? I’ll play with you!”
Moments later, Simon and Jack joined them. Finally, Michael, who didn’t want to talk to the competitors sitting next to them, stepped in too with a sour face. Every now and then, he surreptitiously glanced at Alice, who was still talking to Nicolas.
Everyone had a great time until Adam, trying to distract his friend from the naked girls hanging around the pool, hit Alex in the face with a ball. The blow turned out to be quite strong.
Surprised, Alex lost his balance for a moment and almost fell. A frightened Michael stood by him immediately.
After a while, all the colleagues gathered around him. His face didn't look too good. A dark red halo appeared around the eye, the eyelid immediately began to swell, and blood flowed out from the nose.
Alex himself panicked. Without protesting, he calmly sat down. He tried to get into balance as quickly as possible. He didn't understand why he still had some black spots in his one eye vision.
At training, he was often hit badly, hundreds of falls on skis, and even hit a tree, but he never lost balance due to a ball hit. In addition, he couldn’t see much with his right eye due to the swollen eyelid.
Alex didn’t object when someone called over a doctor who was watching over the players. The diagnosis managed to bring everyone down. The medic decided to take the injured to the hospital for observation and X-ray. Adam standing next to him, the culprit of all the fuss, looked no better than the injured Alex. He didn't want to knock out his friend, he just wanted to distract him. Now, he felt remorse and had a moral hangover. Faced with the requests and pleas of his colleagues, Alex ended up sitting on the stand with an ice pack on his head. It was the only thing he could do for his colleagues. Stay on the sidelines until the end of the tournament. Observe and support them in spirit. The last discipline of the competition turned out to be extremely dramatic. It was attended by the entire ‘Man’ team except for the injured Alex and Alice, who sat worriedly next to him. The injured person didn’t feel well, but kept a cool head and didn’t move from his se
The boys, tired of the murderous rivalry at the event, the previous night’s all-night party and climbing the stairs, decided that before they went down to get new equipment, they would first rest for a while. They hoped a miracle would happen and the elevators would repair themselves, or it would turn out that there was no breakdown at all, and they wouldn't have to climb up to the seventh floor again. They sat in silence, happy in the depths of their souls; there was a weekend ahead of them, two long days that they absolutely wanted to devote to rest. Only Michael, burgundy with rage, complained about the bad luck that haunted him: all the evil, injustice, meanness of the world in the hard life of an honest, conscientiously working, and underappreciated outstanding journalist. He muttered under his breath about the terrible headache that didn’t allow him to think rationally, the terrible pain in his back and nagging muscle soreness that made it diffi
Michael planned to share his problems with his friend, the only person he could trust and who always had unnecessary cash. Just tonight, he was going to talk to Alex about a small loan so he could settle the bills. He knew that when Alex hears the amount he urgently needs, he will at least sit down, if he has something on. Besides, he will have to patiently listen to his friend's critical opinions about his recent excessive and unnecessary expenditures at work and in the inn. He will once again be forced to make promises to Alex that he won’t keep. However, an unexpected problem occurred. Immediately after the competition, Nicolas had taken the knocked out Alex to the hospital, where, after the tests, the doctors decided to leave him under observation. Michael hoped it was just a preventative procedure, and not anything serious. He found himself in a trap, it was not proper to talk about money even with his best friend in the hospital. The deadline fo
Meanwhile, Michael ran to open the door. That was her. He had no doubts whatsoever. Through the door, or rather its slits, he could smell her sensual perfume.“Good evening! I'm sorry for being late!” She said with a smile.She didn't look like the magazines’ witch at all. She looked different, quite ordinary in blue jeans and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up almost to the elbows, and a sophisticated collar that covered her long neck.It was only now he noticed that she had a high, beautiful forehead, which she usually covered with bangs, beneath which lay her exquisite eyes and long eyelashes. He had never seen her like this before. Completely ordinary, but beautiful.“Please! A bottle of good French wine, vintage 1977!” She said as she handed over the elegantly wrapped bottle.Without waiting for an invitation, she stepped inside."Take a look around the house." Michael choked out. "And I'll take care
“Would you like something to drink?” Michael's voice came from the kitchen.“Whiskey with ice, double please. Great working conditions.”“I don't work there!” She heard the voice of Michael approaching.“I usually write in the bedroom, in bed. I don't like the library, it reminds me of my father and grandfather.”“Michael, do you work at home?” She was really surprised, and began to laugh out loud. “I thought you wrote your amazing columns twenty minutes before the end of each issue.”“You are absolutely right!” He also laughed.There was no denying that he was not an overzealous scribbler. As befits a seasoned columnist, he writes only when he has to, at the last minute.‘A big plus for Alice. She is perceptive.’ He thought. For appreciating his excellent columns. He wondered if she had any hints to herself in the last issue. Probably yes.
Next time maybe she should invite him to dinner. Yes, he could already envision it. She would rather invite him to the most expensive restaurant in town than cook something herself. These are the ways of a successful woman!“I'm sorry!” She said, because it was so impolite of her, although she was not at all sorry. “The cream is, I mean was, really great.”“Let's go to the living room. Everything must have cooled down by now.”Michael walked out slowly first with a tray full of bowls and platters.“Would you like some help?” She asked.“No thanks. I don't want it all to end on the floor.”“I'm not clumsy! On the floor? Why?” She didn't finish speaking.She was speechless with amazement. She had heard many amazing stories from Alex about Michael’s extravagant, futuristic greenhouse, which only lacks growing cucumbers and tomatoes and a jacuzzi, but the storie
He knew that if given another minute with her, he wouldn’t be able to shirk and he would have to talk about his famous ancestors, whom he despised as much as the miniature botanical garden.He hated all the trees, bushes and perennials that he had to regularly fertilize, water, sprinkle and trim. He kept them alive only for the sake of his brother, who sometimes came for a weekend on his way to a scientific conference or a lecture, to see the work he had created with his mother and grandmother during his childhood.He loved his brother above all else, that's why he cared for the weeds, as he affectionately called them, and hoped that one day the plants would die a ‘natural death’ - they would freeze in winter when he forgets to turn on the heating, or a draft or cigarette smoke will finish them off.So he cared for them carefully. He smoked in the living room, opened all the windows, made drafts, turned off the heating, deliberately forgot abou
Michael tried to recollect his thoughts.‘How was yesterday's dinner?’ He woke up on his own so it didn't end as he thought it would, rather he hoped it would.Although… He could smell her perfume. An incredibly sensual and captivating composition of sandalwood, patchouli, cedar and some other specifics, the names of which he did not remember.Once, delighted with her exceptionally delicate and elegant scent, he wanted to know their name and composition.He spent half a day in the perfumery, sniffing all the perfumes, looking for the ones Alice used. In the end he succeeded, and he found the brand of a sensual fragrance the price of which was terrifying.As long as he tormented the women selling there, those wanting to get rid of him as soon as possible, found him the official perfume composition.Looking around, he found no signs of a woman in his bedroom.Everything was in perfect order. His shoes, right next to t