(Another story requested by bobjim - thanks for the ideas)

Des was in a pretty good mood. Not only had he just passed his six-month probation period at work, but the company was holding its annual fundraiser this weekend. And what was more, Melissa had said she had something special arranged for him. He didn't know what she had planned but knowing Melissa it was going to be fun.

Melissa was one of the senior developers at the company and a few years older than Des. Whilst she wasn't technically his boss, she did have greater experience which was why she'd been assigned as his induction buddy when he started. They'd gotten on famously and Des was glad of her advice on multiple occasions when he'd been unsure of himself or about to make a costly mistake. It also didn't hurt that Melissa had curves in all the right places; something Des got to admire on an almost daily basis as she had a tendency to wear tight fitting clothes.

Des had to admit that he had something of a crush on Melissa although he knew she didn't feel the same way despite the fact that she often flirted with him; but then again Melissa tended to flirt with everybody and knew full well the effect she had on men. The first time he'd seen Melissa she'd sashayed through the office causing one of the other developers, who was so focused on watching her swaying hips, to lean back so far on his chair that it tipped over dumping him on the floor. She'd glanced back with a mischievous smile and winked knowingly at Des.

They had become close colleagues and Des found himself getting a bit of a reputation as both a ladies' man and prankster because of hanging around with Melissa. He wasn't sure he really deserved either tag, but it was nice to be popular for once and he was fairly positive that being "known" had been a contributing factor in passing his probation.

* * *

Des was waiting at the entrance to the company fundraiser for Melissa. As usual she was running a little wait but that was probably deliberate so she could make an impact when she did arrive. Des hadn't been quite sure what the dress code of the event was, so he'd gone smart casual with white shirt and black trousers but wore sneakers instead of his usual work shoes.

Melissa arrived five minutes late and looking completely amazing. Like Des she had on sneakers but that's where the similarities ended. She had on the shortest pair of jean shorts that Des had ever seen and a t-shirt that could easily have been confused with a single coating of white paint that had been sprayed upon her torso considering how tight it was. The outfit was certainly causing a stir not only with Des but also some of the other employees, but Melissa just smiled and took his hand as she led him through the entrance and into the fundraiser.

There were two large marquee tents set up in the field and surrounding these were numerous covered stalls. Just under half of the stalls were serving various street foods whilst others included games of chance or were selling craft items. There was even one stall giving away company merchandise such as t-shirts, mugs and pens. But the most popular attraction was one of the large marquees which was doing a roaring trade serving drinks. Melissa got a hot chocolate with baileys and Des a bottle of imported lager.

With drinks in hand, they spent a good twenty minutes wandering around the stalls. Des wanted to know what was under the second marquee but Melissa kept spotting new foods to try or games to play, not that they won anything sadly. But eventually, arm in arm they made their way to the entrance to the marquee.

"I wonder what's inside?" Des queried.

"It's a surprise" Melissa responded.

Before Des could react, Melissa dragged him inside. The marquee was set out much like a theatre with row after row of chairs facing a raised stage at the far end. There were already a lot of people inside, most of them sitting expectantly as if waiting for something to happen. Des did a quick look around and spotted a few company employees he knew including Suzanne who was on the same project team as him. Suzanne noticed him observing her and gave him a brief wave before turning away with a smirk on her face.

Melissa led him down the central aisle and towards the stage. He thought she must have managed to reserve some seats on the front row but instead she took him over to a partial concealed doorway and stepped through into some kind of backroom area where there was just a bench upon which rested a couple of colourful t-shirts and a pair of shorts.

Once in the room Melissa closed the door and turned to Des. She explained that she'd volunteered the pair of them as part of the entertainment for the fundraiser and that Des and one of the company interns would be competing for a chance to gunge their respective boss. To say Des was surprised at Melissa's announcement was an understatement.

But then things then got even more startling turn as Melissa spun around and started stripping off her tight t-shirt. Des wasn't surprised to note that there was no evidence of any bra straps on Melissa's perfectly smooth bare back. She slipped on one of the colourful t-shirts from off the bench and then turned to face Des with an expectant look on her face. Des took a moment to realise what she wanted and then reluctantly partially undressed in front of her before putting on the t-shirt and shorts provided.

* * *

Des was somewhat nervous as he waited beside Melissa in the backroom area for the cue to walk out on to the stage. Their opponents were being introduced to the audience and consisted of Patrick, one of the company's accountants, and his intern Iris. Apparently, they had beef because Iris was frequently late for work and Patrick overly strict. Melissa stated that they would need to invent a similar conflict between themselves to explain their participation in the contest. She suggested that Des complain about her being bossy which was completely untrue.

They got their cue and walked out on to the stage to cheers from the packed marquee, most of whom they knew. Whilst Des felt a little exposed with everyone looking at them, Melissa was clearly in her element as she played up to the audience and even batted her eyes at the attractive host. He smiled back at her before holding out a microphone towards them.

"Who are you and why are you here?" the host asked.

"I'm Des and Melissa here is always bossing me around" Des lied.

"And he is always playing pranks on me" Melissa falsely stated.

With the introductions over, Patrick and Melissa were escorted to the rear of the stage to sit beside a large cylindrical object which was covered over with a tarpaulin. Iris and Des meanwhile stood beside one another as the host picked up a series of cards. He began to alternatively ask them a series of ten general knowledge questions, scoring them one point for each they got right.

Des had always considered himself to be quite intelligent but unfortunately so was Iris and he found himself two points down as the host stopped his questioning. However, there was a second round which consisted of a physical challenge, namely juggling. Luckily for Des he had once taken a circus skills workshop at school and so managed to successfully keep three balls up in the air. Iris had clearly had no such training and failed to even keep one ball up meaning that Des not only won the challenge but also the contest by a single point.

A relieved looking Patrick was accompanied back to the front of the stage and given a custard and cream pie which he took great delight in splattering into his intern's miserable looking face. The pair were escorted offstage as the host stepped over to Des to explain the final round. Stagehands removed the tarpaulin to reveal a Perspex vat filled with green gunge over which was positioned a single seat. Beside the vat was a raised section of stage with a podium upon it and atop the podium a large red button.

Whilst Melissa was sat upon the seat over the slop, the host showed Des up to the raised section of stage so he could see the final stage of the contest up close. Des had to admit that he was quite looking forward to seeing Melissa drop into the vat and get covered in gunge especially if that meant he got the opportunity to see her damp t-shirt clinging to her body.

"You do have a chance to escape your fate" the host told Melissa.

The host pulled out a set of cards and began to ask Melissa a series of five tricky questions. She answered nervously, occasionally looking down at the slop below her, correctly answering first one, then two, three, four and finally all five questions. The audience reacted with lukewarm applause as clearly, they were hoping to see someone get dropped into the gunge.

Suddenly the podium in front of Des erupted with a stream of green gunk which struck him directly in the face. Blinded by the slime Des didn't see the host step to the side of the stage and begin to pull on a large lever however he did hear some ominous creaking sounds coming from below him. Glancing around in confusion, Des saw Melissa looking at him expectantly. Then he began to drop as a previously hidden trap door beneath him gave way and he slid down into a short tube which spiralled around before depositing him into the vat of gunge.

Des went completely under the gunge and felt the cold wet substance soaking into his t-shirt, shorts and even his underpants. It was awful and he struggled to escape the vat, pushing up from the bottom to emerge totally coated in slop. He took a moment to steady himself on the slick flooring before attempting to clear some of the gunk from out of his eyes and ears. It wasn't easy as his hands were also covered in the stuff and at first he seemed to be wiping more gunge onto himself and off but eventually he managed.

Having done so the first thing that hit Des was the sound of laughter. It seemed to be coming from all around him: his fellow employees in the marquee, the host at the side of the stage and mostly strangely of all from directly above. Looking up he saw Melissa still sitting on the seat suspended above the vat and looking down at him laughing her head off.

"You think this is funny?" He asked.

Before Melissa could respond Des decided to get himself out of the gunge. He carefully took a step forward and began to reach for the rim of the vat but lost his footing and immediately face planted straight back into the gunge. This time when he emerged from the gunk, he didn't bother cleaning himself up and instead slowly shuffled over to the side of the vat.

He flinched when he felt something damp touched his face, but it soon became clear that someone was helping wipe his face clean. That someone turned out to be Melissa who must have quickly disembarked from the seat above the vat to help him out. She gave him a reassuring smile which shortly turned to one of mischief as she lifted her other hand to reveal a cream pie. Before Des could react, Melissa smashed the pie forcefully into his face and in the process sending him back into the gunge once more.

The end.