It was Carrie’s turn to get the drinks for the office; problem was, it was absolutely throwing it down outside.

“No problem”, said Claire. “You can use one of the office raincoats. They stop anything from getting to you.”

She handed Carrie two cards.

“One’s got the order on it; the other is the office payment card.”

“It’s Ok”, Carrie said. “I can remember the order ok.”

“Trust me, you’ll need the card”, said Claire.

Puzzled, Carrie took the cards, then went to get the coat. Shortly, she started going through the office, wearing it. It was a very thick, transparent raincoat, with a very strong hood. It was a lot sturdier than the coats she usually wore.

As she passed Claire, going to leave, Claire tapped a button on her mobile.

There was a click. All the fasteners on the coat locked, and the belt round her waist went tighter, then locked. At the same time, a visor slid down at the front of the hood and covered her completely. A couple of tiny, shielded vents opened up in the collar, allowing her to breathe. The hood, however, was completely soundproof; Carrie was yelling at Claire, asking what was going on, but Claire ignored her completely.

Claire pointed out the door.

“See you when you get back”, she mouthed.

Carrie, of course, refused to go, yanking at the raincoat.

“It won’t unlock until you’ve finished your errand”, Claire said, slowly so Carrie could read her lips. “I programmed the Coffee Shop into the coat’s GPS.”

Furious, Carrie stormed out the door.

The weather outside was still quite rough; it never stopped raining, sometimes it was really heavy. Carrie had to keep wiping the visor to see out.

Cursing under her breath, even though the coat was soundproof, she eventually got to the Coffee Shop. Her friend Sandra was working behind the counter; she laughed, however, when she saw what coat Carrie was wearing.

Still cursing, Carrie handed over the order and payment cards. Sandra sorted her order out, handing her the cards back together with a receipt.

“You’ll need that to unlock the coat”, she said, slowly. “Claire can be a right bitch about that. I never thought you’d be idiot enough to work there…!” She started laughing again.

Carrie’s drinks were soon ready, in a carrier for her. She collected them and headed back to the office; Sandra had fitted a plastic bag over the carrier to stop the rain getting into the drinks.

Carrie was beyond angry when she got back; other people had looked at her while she was out, wearing the coat, and had been pointing at her and laughing. She handed out the drinks, then gave Claire the cards and receipt.

As she did so, the coat unlocked.

Carrie tore it off and threw it on the floor; swearing loudly, she then walloped Claire has hard as she could. Claire went flying, landing on her backside on the floor, stunned, her glasses broken and her hair mussed.

Carrie then grabbed her own coat and bag and stormed out, telling Claire where she could stick the job. She even grabbed her coffee off of the table on the way out.

“It’s the least you owe me”, she said…