“I just like to doodle. Always have.” I point out different color schemes and ideas that might be better now that I know the details a little more. “The pastels of this one can blend with?—”
“This one, this one, and blend these two,” he says, interrupting my explanation of my ideas. “All of these you can throw away.” He gathers the ones he doesn’t like in a pile and tucks them in his folder.
“Excuse me?” I lower my chin and raise my eyebrows, trying to comprehend what just came out of his mouth and not lose my shit from the way it just came off.
“Those are what we’ll present. Can you work on blending these two and have them to me by morning?” he asks, not seeing how pissed he just made me.
“You’re not even going to let me finish explaining my ideas?”
“No need. I like those ones. Buyers aren’t going to listen to your spiel about why you did what. They are either going to bedrawn to it or not. I was drawn to those and think if you blend those two, they might be something as well. Good work.”
With that, he closes his laptop, slides his chair back, picks up his things, and starts to walk away, then pauses and turns back to me, handing me his phone. “Give me your phone number.”
I keep my head down, gathering my papers. “Why?”
He pauses, obviously holding something back, then says, “Because we are working on this together, and there might be a point in time where I need to speak to you, and people speak through a telephone when they aren’t together in person.”
I roll my eyes, grab the phone, and enter my number, then hand it back to him.
He turns to walk away again, leaving me both fuming and a little happy that he liked my work, which makes me even madder because he’s not supposed to make me happy in any way, shape, or form.
CHAPTER FOUR
David
I enter a bar in Chelsea, where I’m meeting my college roommate and some buddies of his to celebrate the launch of their new dating app called Mystery Match. Since they have zero budget, I’ve helped with the layout and aesthetics of it at no charge while they did all the background coding to make it actually work. My job was easy with just giving suggestions while they were the ones doing all the labor, so I told them I was happy to help, and if it ever blows up, they can throw me down some cash as their thank-you then.
“What’s up, brother?” Donny stands to clap my hand and give me a bro hug. “This is Chad and Matthew.”
I wave hello to the other guys at the table, then sit and nod my head to the waitress, letting her know I’d like the same beer they’re drinking.
“How was work?” Donny asks.
“Just another day,” I respond with a sigh.
“No Zoe drama today?” he’s quick to ask, knowing she’s always part of my drama for the day.
“There’s always Zoe drama, and now we have to work on a big project together. Yay for us,” I respond sarcastically as the waitress hands me my beer. “Thank you.” I smile at her, then turn my attention back to the table.
“Will you just fuck her already and get it over with?” Donny states definitively.
I almost spit out my beer. “The waitress? I just saw her for the first time.”
“No, this Zoe chick. You guys need a good hateful bang to get it out of your systems.”
I hold up my hand. “There will be no hateful banging going on here.”
“Who needs to get an angry fuck in?” a guy I haven’t met asks as he lays his hand on Donny’s shoulder.
“You made it!” Donny stands to greet the guy.
“David, this is Joey, who I told you about. He’s worked a lot on the project. He’s also a bartender at a place in SoHo, so he’s never able to join us like this,” Donny explains to me.
Joey shrugs. “Still got to pay the bills until we make some actual money on this. Nice to meet you.” He sits down, then looks at me. “So, who are we talking about needing to angry fuck?”
“No one. Subject change. How did the launch go today?” I ask.
“Great, thanks to my boy Joey here.” Donny claps his hand on Joey’s back. “Him being a bartender has helped tremendously with him spreading the word and getting single people to sign up.”
