1
Jeremy
I sat back in my office chair, stretching my arms over the keyboard and shifting side to side until my back muscles started to loosen up. Standing up, I opened the mini fridge beside my desk and grabbed the turkey sandwich I’d made for the day. It wasn’t quite lunchtime, but I was hungry and the dazzling sun shining through the window was calling my name. I’d been working for nearly three hours straight and my brain was starting to turn to mush. It turned out running the social media side of Dis-chord Records wasn’t as glamorous as most people expected it to be.
I grabbed my aluminum water bottle and took a bite of my sandwich, then headed out the door. I took the stairs down one floor then jogged across the parking lot to the large grassy area complete with picnic benches, a small koi pond, and plenty of shade trees. I sat near the pond and took another bite, the trickle of the water tumbling down the waterfall feature after being sucked into the filter and cleaned was as calming as an artificial pond could be. It only barely drowned out the sound of the cars driving down the street on the other side of the manicured bushes. At some point, they’d given up on having koi and settled for less glamorous carp. Excited by my presence, they surfaced, splashing around like dogs wagging, begging for attention. I pinched off a bit of bread and rolled it into little balls, tossing several in at once. They went after the bread like orange sharks in a frenzy, then the water calmed and the fish swam serenely again. It was as if the moment never happened, and part of the reason I enjoyed them so much.
Movement caught my eye and I froze when I saw a gray and white cat emerge from the bushes. I watched him stalk across the grass, using the picnic benches as cover, eyes focused on the pond. I held my breath, surprised to see a cat in the business district. There were no houses for miles, and this little guy looked like he’d been on his own for some time. When he turned his head, I caught the notched ear, a sign that he’d once been trapped, neutered, then released where he’d been found. That could only mean one thing. He was feral, and there was no home for him to return to.
The thought saddened me, and when the cat neared the pond and licked his lips, I saw the desperation in his eyes. He was hungry. So hungry he thought he had a chance of catching one of the carp that was easily ten inches long and almost as thick. Those fish probably weigh as much as he did, I thought, pulling the meat from my sandwich and balling it up in my hand.
The cat froze, noticing me for the first time. He hunched down, eyes going from me to the pond and back to me. So hungry he was willing to risk an encounter with me to get himself some fish.
“Here you go,” I said, turkey flying from my hand and landing in the grass a few feet from him. He watched it soar through the air, then bolted when it hit the ground. I watched him go and thought about picking the meat up and taking it to the bushes. But the street was on the other side of the thick plants groomed to make a five-foot wall to dampen the sound. If he felt cornered, he might run into the street. I couldn’t have that on my conscience.
I waited for a few minutes, eating my meatless sandwich with avocado and smoked gouda, but he didn’t venture back into the grass. Sighing, I gave up and made my way back inside. It was almost time for the morning meeting and I didn’t want to give Garret a reason to start crap with me.
Getting to the meeting on time didn’t stop Garret from being his obnoxious self, but luckily the boss was in no mood for his shenanigans.
“Where are you with the new talent, Garret?” Laura cut in the minute he started ribbing me.
“We’ve settled on a graphic for the release, but he’s still waffling on the name.”
“Can you help him move it along, Garret? We’re cutting our deadline close.”
“Jeremy can handle it,” he said, throwing a mocking glance my way. “Once I have the graphics done and the name on there, he just copies and pastes it to social media.” Garret rolled his eyes. “Really. How hard is that?”
“It’s more than just copying and pasting,” I shot back, though I kept my voice even. I wanted to shake him senseless, but with Laura in the room, playing nice was the only option. “It’s a social media marketing campaign. I can’t create the marketing campaign until I know what I’m working with. And I won’t know that until you get your job done. Deadlines matter, Garret. Let’s be a team player here.”
It took everything I had to hide the grin trying to surface at that last shot.
When Garret scowled and his cheeks colored, I knew I’d hit him where it hurt.
“Enough, you two.” She turned to Garret. “No excuses. You get him to give you what you need to have that in by the deadline and if he doesn’t, tell him I’m authorized to push forward without his approval, per his contract. There’s no reason for it to take this long for him to settle on a title and his theme.”
“Isn’t controlling things like that the reason people choose an indie label though?” I offered, smirking at Garret from behind Laura like a petulant child. Not my proudest moment, but I hated Garret and it was the first time that he’d been on the defensive. It was a nice change.
“This guy just couldn’t handle the stress of a big label,” Laura said. “Not my favorite reason to work with new talent, but he’s mega talented. He just lacks direction.”
“That seems to be a theme,” I added, and this time, Laura shot me a warning look. But I saw the twinkle in her eye. I looked away anyway and remained silent as she finished giving Garret a lecture and direction.
Once she was done, she sent him on his way. I waited behind, ready to have my ass handed to me for playing Garret’s game. When Garret was gone, Laura closed the door and plopped down in the closest chair, her plain, royal blue pantsuit in stark contrast to her bubbly demeanor. Long-legged and naturally slender, her elegance had melted away into a tangle of knees and elbows, green eyes rolling to look at the ceiling through blonde bangs that were a touch too long. She looked more like a bored teen than a hard-ass CEO in that moment.
“Can you believe him?” she said, flinging her arm in the direction of the door. “Really. If he wasn’t the most talented graphic artist in the industry, I would fire his ass on the spot.”
I sat across from her and patted my leg. Smiling, she put her foot on my lap and sighed when I started rubbing.
“Why can’t everyone be like you?” she lamented.
“Talented, wonderful, punctual, and amazing?” I teased.
“You know what I mean. When I brought you on to help me get this label off the ground, I really thought I’d hire a bunch of Jeremys, and it would be like it was in the old days, you know?”
“Old days were like ten years ago.” I pushed her foot gently and she gave me the other one.
“I just want to have the connection we have with everyone I work with. I wanted this place to be groovy and chill.”
I laughed. “Not everyone had the pleasure of working with you when this was just a two-person operation. No one is going to bond with you like we have. It takes years, tight spaces, and the possibility of everything going belly-up before it gets off the ground.”
“I think I needed you more than you needed a job. This place wouldn’t be what it is without you.”