“It was part of my graduation thesis, to create a marketing and service application for businesses to use. I’d known someone bought up the rights to use it exclusively, but I had no idea it was Max.”
“I had no idea she was the one who created it either. I stumbled upon it one day and knew just how valuable it would be for us, and I needed to make sure no one else had this kind of advantage. One single program that let us do everything we needed to, from marketing projects to diving out royalties.” Max looked so proud of his decision. And yeah, that buy out had given me a good chunk of change to live off of, but it wasn’t something that was going to last forever, so I put half the money in savings and the rest in stocks and decided to get a job. The responsible thing to do. I would probably use a portion of the money when I finally found a house I wanted, but right now, it was just collecting interest and gaining more from the stocks.
“And it was the best decision he ever made. It’s made my life so much easier and now that we have the creator herself here with us, I know we will be able to dominate everything that’s thrown our way.” Greg threw a fist into the air and then proceeded to shove another piece of pizza into his mouth.
I laughed to myself.
“All this talk of work makes me think we should get back to it. We have three new clients coming on board within the next week.” There were a few groans around the room as Max spoke. “I’ll be hiring more help, but I need everyone on point for this. I know we can do this. Let’s just keep our heads up!”
Max pushed back from his seat and so did I, following him back to his office.
I was supposed to be working with Greg today, but since Max found out about me building the program they used, he’d been working with me all day about the ins and outs of it and what we could do to upgrade it.
Within doing this, I had already contacted our five clients and had them adjust their setting for royalty payments to better fit the system updates I was going to do, so they could be paid monthly in increments, instead of all at once, or waiting for a few months altogether.
The clients were ecstatic about the change and I could tell it made the pressure Max was under lift slightly. Anything I could do here that would make it easier for everyone, I would do.
“I’ll have you finish what you’re working on today and then have you spend more time with Greg tomorrow, learning about how we do the royalties process.”
“Sounds good to me.” I clicked away at the laptop I had brought in with me and finished working on the programming Max had wanted me to change. I had even gone in to personalize it a little more for the company, so that it looked more professional and tailored to what Max was really going for.
I finally looked up at the clock at six to see time had just flown by.
“You heading out?” Chase stood at the door to Max’s office and I finally got a look around. I had zoned out in my work, that I hadn’t realized Max was no longer in the office.
“Did Max already leave? I didn’t even see him get out of his chair,” I asked Chase, but was really talking to myself.
“Just a few minutes ago. He asked me to check on you and not leave until you were ready to.”
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” I rushed to put my laptop and the notebooks I had brought with me away. I had no idea what today was going to entail, but I always made sure to have something to write everything down in. I shoved everything in the bag and slung it over my shoulder.
“Slow your roll, take your time. I’m in no rush.”
I watched Chase lean against the office doorframe, his eyes staring me down. I shuffled both of my feet, eager to leave after a long day, but not wanting to be out of Chase’s presence just yet.
“I didn’t know where the time went. I don’t normally get lost like that.”
“You caught the bug.”
“Bug?” I adjusted the bag on my shoulder and walked over to Chase. He moved out of the doorway, letting me go by, but we didn’t move farther than that.
“Max’s bug. For some reason it’s like some juju here in the office. When he’s working, everyone works better, but when he’s messing around or distracted, the whole office is. Being in the same room as him just intensifies the whole experience.”
“He’s pretty dedicated to this place, isn’t he?”
“It’s his baby.”
I stood there in front of Chase, swaying on both feet. I knew Chase was saying it was Max who was making me this way, but from the look of pride in Chase’s eyes, I knew it was him over everything. I had always done work for myself, but this time I was getting to finally show off to Chase and I wanted him to see just how amazing I could be at this job and how much I could give to this company.
“Ready?” Chase asked me and pointed toward the front door.
“As I’ll ever be.”
I followed him out of the building as he locked up and waited till he secured everything. I didn’t look back as I walked to my car, the night sky just starting to fall and the clouds swimming in a sea of yellows and oranges.
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
That simple question made my heart skip a beat as I turned around to look at Chase, who was walking backward toward his car on the other side of the parking lot.
That question held so much more to it than I think Chase would ever know about. That the question would be just the start to what we were. What we could be. And it held the slightest of glimpses of what had once been.
“Yeah.” I smiled at him. “I’ll see ya.”
