by Oliver Rill
“If I buy 150 armchairs at Ikea, even without a multi-buy discount, it would be cheaper! And I’m going to need more than 150.” There was a discussion about whether you could compare airplane seats with armchairs. The seats were made to completely different specifications than normal Ikea armchairs and were, of course, much sturdier. I moved on to the business class seats and found a suitable style that was more comfortable. At $2,500.
I figured out: 12 Business and 150 Economy would be $150,000.
We snapped a couple of pictures and as we left, I told him that I would be forever in his debt if he could make me an offer of $100,000. I didn’t wait for his answer but jumped into my Jaguar.
“Do you think he will?” Matt asked as we rolled out of the car park.
“I know he will, or I will fly to China and get the seats there for 50. I should think about doing that really. It would just take time and be expensive, although I could probably do it for less than a hundred.” I grinned at Matt. “You know what that means for you, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. I need to go and get prices and dates! Tonight it’s your turn though. We are going jogging!”
We grabbed something to eat on the way back and got back to the office around two.
The mail folder was on my desk, when I got back. I flipped through it as I called to find out how Mark was getting on with the students. The last item in the folder was a letter of resignation from Amanda. I replaced the receiver, went over to her desk and asked her to come into my office. In the conversation that followed I found out that Amanda felt uneasy with me and just didn’t want to work in that way. She had had a word with Personnel and was going back to JB Homes. It gave me a start. I had only just started, and staff were already trying to get away from me. Was I really that awful? I searched around in my mind for solutions then came to the conclusion that I had actually done nothing wrong. This was Amanda’s problem. She had trouble getting on with me. I shouldn’t let it get to me and decided to simply write her off as a silly cow, who didn’t know when she had it good.
I called Matt and asked him to get an advert out on Facebook and on the webpage, then come to my office for a meeting about the presentation. We discussed a few outstanding matters and Matt reminded me that we were meeting with Boeing the next day. I felt a flush of excitement at the thought. It was six p.m. as I realized that I was beginning to flag and we left the offices.
I was secretly a little overawed by Matt’s prowess on the athletic side.
“Don’t worry Oliver. We’ll just run as far as you can and only as fast as you feel comfortable with. Maybe a quarter of an hour is enough to start with. We’ll take it real slow – just like in real life.” Matt grinned.
Matt parked in front of the house on the street and I went in and changed. Since Matt’s bag was in the trunk, he found it easier to slip into his jogging gear where he was, which caused a bit of hilarity.
We sprinted off and I asked Matt how it was going with finding the household help. He replied that he hadn’t yet managed to interview the candidates, checking the criteria he was hiring by. He reckoned he would do that in the morning. At that point he suggested I stop talking and concentrate on running.
Of course, it was hard work, after years of easy living. It was nice to run through the leafy streets of Hollywood though. For a start I was getting to know my neighborhood and the local area. I raised my head and sucked in the fresh, cool air which was a tonic even for me, sports-phobic that I was.
After a quarter of an hour, I had to stop due to a cramp in my shin. Sweaty and tired, I limped slowly home where I showered before falling on the sunbed on the terrace like a piece of chewed string. Matt grinned at me, hardly able to keep his schadenfreude, or his body, under wraps, undressed and leapt into the pool, yelling and laughing.
“Get in, Oliver, it’s beautiful!”
I thought about it. Should I go inside and get my swimming trunks or do I trust myself to a skinny dip? And with Matt?
“Come on, don’t be shy!”
Shit. Let nobody say I wasn’t up for a challenge. I jumped in after him and we splashed around having fun and feeling totally refreshed. Finally, I decided enough was enough and swam to the edge of the pool to get out. It suddenly hit me. I was totally naked! However, there was nothing for it, but to grit my teeth and do it. I hurried to the sunbed, grabbed up the towel and wrapped it around my middle, shading all eyes from my vital statistics. Clutching my impromptu security blanket, I slipped inside for my swimming trunks.
Outside, Matt lay, his eyes closed, on the sun-bed, without a stich on. I tried to keep my eyes averted. I managed for a while then I did look.
“Do you like what you see?” I was caught.
“Yes, Matt, you have a very well-toned body.” I tried to stay objective. Matt grinned and turned those tones towards me.
“If you want to play a while with it, I don’t mind.”
“Matt, please!” I stammered in my embarrassment.
“Ok, but you trusted me today. Are you ready for more?”
“More?” I snapped, irritated.
“Your back, Oliver.”
“Oh, I see. I guess it’s not going to help if I keep saying no, will it?”
“No, you’re going to say ‘yes’ at some point.” I sighed deeply.
“Okay. Where?”
“It’s probably best to do this inside.”
With a nod of the head I asked him to follow me to the bedroom and laid on my tummy on the edge of the bed. At least Matt had pulled on his pants. He started his massage from a standing position at the side of the bed.
“Oliver, I want you to breath in and out deeply twice. Then close your eyes and try to let your mind go blank. Just relax and feel yourself in the moment. You don’t have to help in any way. I can do this alone, ok?”
“Yessir!”
“Is it ok to sit on you? I can reach better then.”
“Yeah, ok.”
He sat carefully on my backside and began to massage my top, then turned around and tackled my legs sitting the opposite way around. On his second turn, he started at my arms, moved slowly to the shoulders, down my back and then started to work on my backside.
I was totally relaxed. It felt great. His hands were warm and strong with just the right amount of pressure.
“May I?”
“Mmmh.” I grunted without thinking about what he meant. I was sure he could if it carried on making me feel like this. And he was inside! I gasped. So that was what he meant.
“Oh Oliver, that feels so good!” he moaned.
“I hope you have at least …”
“Shhhh. I did. Relax.” He crooned.
After, he rolled on his side, breathing hard and perspiring. I didn’t feel that my normal response of cuddling up to him or kissing him was appropriate, somehow. I looked at his glistening stomach and chest muscles.
“Come over here.” He grinned. I pressed against him and he wrapped his arms around me, kissing me.
“I’m sorry I’m not gay.” I smothered the retort that rose to my lips, not wanting to spoil the feeling.
“I am going to shower quickly then go, is that ok? You cool?” I didn’t feel cool. I felt a thousand sensations running through my veins, anything but cool.
“Yeah.”
As Matt came out of the shower, he dropped his towel, provocatively, then dressed.
“I hope you’re not disappointed, but I wanted to know what it was like. And I liked it. You are a really sexy man.” He said as he turned theatrically at the door. I didn’t know what to say, for once words failed me.
“See you in the morning, Matt. Take care.”
Today was B-Day – ‘Boeing day’. Mitch, the guy from Boeing sat with us in my office and once we had held the obligatory small talk, I asked about the order to delivery times for 737s. They had managed to reduce it by half a year to its current time two and a half years.
“Mitch, two and a half years? And in the meantime
? What on earth am I going to? Am I expected to twiddle my thumbs?”
He gave a few alternatives, but they didn’t knock my socks off.
“My boss and Bass are good friends. There is a cancellation that you could take advantage of. I could deliver two planes right away and another in five weeks. But that remains strictly between us and I will need you to sign now or it goes back to the waiting list.”
I grabbed the phone and dialed Doug’s number.
“Hey Doug, I have the option of three Boeings if I can make a decision now. How are we doing with the securities?”
“We were prepared for that. You can sign. Ad thought you had something like this in mind. Don’t worry about it. Just sign for them.”
“Get the contracts to me and I will sign them!” I smiled with confidence as I laid the receiver back in its holder.
In actual fact, it could have been an A for Airbus day, but I had already signed for my Boeings and they didn’t have any quick fixes that they could offer me, so after an hour the gentlemen from Toulouse went on their way with promises to keep in touch.
Alone in my office I had time to reflect. I ran a small airline now and had yet to prove myself. One of my staff had resigned, I had slept with another and I had signed for three new airplanes. I hoped that at least the latter wasn’t a mistake. Up until now, things had been easy, but now I really had to show my worth.
I hurried over to Mark.
“Where are the students?”
“Some are coming on Monday to have a look around.”
“Call them up and tell them to think about a name that …No, no tell them that they should create a logo for Can American Airlines‘ by ten a.m. tomorrow. They should submit it by email.
“Doesn’t that sound a bit like Pan American?” Mark queried.
“Really?” I said, sarcasm dripping from my tongue as I left his office.
“Matt. What’s happening in Venice?”
“I have three offers. Two haven’t smelt the coffee yet. The one offer we did get can’t start until April. From what I have heard so far the others could start relatively soon, but that remains to be seen if they can actually get their finger out. The quotes are more or less the same.”
“Tell your Dad he can start Monday and if he goes over two weeks, we make deductions from the end price. We will have to make a floor plan – who is going to sit where. Oh yes, and before you do that, ring that seating guy up and tell him he can deliver the seats for six planes to Boeing Field as we discussed yesterday. We’ll get the logo to him tomorrow.”
“Six planes? I thought …”
“No, its six.”
Steve from the Tech department was next. It would be his job to tell me whether the planes could repainted. Then the lovely Amanda. She would need to give me information about the skill set that her successor would need. She had told me that there were already several applications for the job. I asked her to print them out and look through them then tick the ones that look as though they might be suitable.
“Give them back to me before you leave tonight, please.”
“Matt? It is Friday tomorrow, isn’t it?” I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. “Let’s work on this presentation.” I said as I went into my office past Matt’s desk.
“I’ll be right with you. Oliver, are we going to the gym or are we running today?”
“The gym is probably better. What’s happening with our project ‘Devious Housemaids’?” I asked using the name we had applied to it in jest.
“Oh yeah, you wanted to give me your criteria for the job description.”
“Ok, after a bit of thought, I have decided on Monday to Friday 12 to 16:00. What do you think?”
“Do you want a man or a woman?”
“Well built, … mid-thirties …” I raised my eyebrows and grinned.
“You’re hurting my feelings!” Matt took up the banter. “I’ll call the agency. When’s best for his interview?”
“Tomorrow would be good. Nine o’clock at mine.”
We worked on the presentation. Matt demonstrated his skills with the computer which I was grateful for as I had never learnt. I could cope with general work in Excel, Word, and those programs that I needed for my job, but anything further and I was at a loss. PowerPoint, in particular, was a no-go area for me.
At the end of the day we went to the gym. He only flirted with me once as he helped me with the weights. He just stood a little too near to me.
“Oliver, its funny, normally I would go straight home after work, but lately I have been spending the evenings with you. Do you want to be alone tonight, or shall I come over to yours again?”
I felt the same. I had been letting him tag along without thinking or even asking if we should be eating together. It would be the first evening for a long time which I really spent alone.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“We could eat, then go to a bar? Or we could order a takeaway and watch a film at yours. Sorry, but your house is just more comfortable.”
“Let’s watch a film and get something to eat on the way home. You follow me in your car.”
There was nothing especially exciting about the evening. Matt was very solicitous as usual. I had followed his diet to the letter for about a week now and he had dragged me out quite successfully either running or to the gym. When would I see my body changing and looking more like his? That was my dream. I awoke at four O’clock on the couch. I had apparently fallen asleep before the end of the film that we were watching. That was my style, to watch half a film and fall asleep. Matt, it seemed, had draped a blanket over me. I got up and looked in the guest bedroom, but it seemed he had not stayed.
Promptly at nine Gavin rang my doorbell. He had been sent by the agency for the housekeeping job. He looked thin and smart. More like a computer freak than a cook or cleaner. He told me that he worked as a cook in a restaurant in the evening and needed something during the day and the hours that I had asked for looked as if they would work for him.
“Okay, Gavin. I’m not an expert in household matters. Have you got a car? I need someone to make sure that the house runs properly. Clean and, you know, let the gardener or the pool man in. If you are a cook, maybe you can prepare me something now and then?”
Gavin did have a car and he wanted to know if that was really all I needed: five days a week, four hours each day.
“That is exactly what I need, Gavin. Do you think you can manage that?”
I passed him my cell number, the keys to the house, scanned his documents and drove to the office.
“Oh good morning, Boss! I guess you will be suffering a crick in the neck from your night on the sofa?” Matt teased.
“Good morning, darling, thank you for the blanket.” I retorted. “What have we got on the cards for today?”
“First it’s LSG and meet the caterer for the airport. This afternoon I wanted to incorporate the logo in the presentation and then we have some interviews. We’ve also got to discuss the floorplan and I want to discuss some technical details with you.”
“When is the meeting at the airport?”
“We’ll need to leave in about an hour.”
“Ok. Matt can you get me some coffee in my office and I’ll get moving.”
I was looking forward to seeing the logos that the students had submitted. Some were really good, some were a bit naff and others were useless. I didn’t see any that knocked my socks off. It was all a bit disappointing.
Matt arrived with the coffee.
“And? Which one is the best? Show me!”
“I don’t think any of them are up to scratch. I’m just going to run over to JB Homes graphics team whether we have the time or not.” I grabbed the coffee and took the elevator to the third floor and walked straight into the open plan office.
“Who worked on Californian?” I yelled across the office.
Everyone looked over to me. Silence reigned. I needed to change my tack. I approached a desk and
asked.
“Did you work on Californian?”
“No that was Linda. She sits over there, to the right of the window.” That worked.
“Linda, I need your help a moment.” She put up some resistance. She had stuff to do and she had been told not to work on Californian anymore, but I didn’t let go. “I could stand here and discuss this all day, or I could be gone in 20 minutes. Your choice.”
“Ok. What do you need?”
“I need a logo for Ca’n American Airlines. It could look a bit like Coca Cola. The word ‘Airlines’ should be written normally, underneath the ‘Can American’, and should be in a clear font. The other two words need to be a bit special, which loops and so on. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, let me try that out a bit. Are you going to stand and look over my shoulder the whole time? That makes me nervous.”
“I’ll go away when we are done. We’ll do it together, that will be quicker.”
“Great!” After a while I suggested that the red should be more of a blue-red. Very dark, not like Coca Cola. And that the apostrophe should be a tiny aircraft to loosen it all up a bit.
After 20 minutes we had it. She even did a mock up on her computer onto the side of a plane to show me how it would look on the side of the plane.
“Linda, you are awesome! Many Thanks.”
“To be honest, you could have done that on your own. You knew what you wanted it to look like. I wanted to wish you luck too, I have always enjoyed working for Californian.”
“Apply for one of the jobs! I’ve heard that the boss is nice.” I winked at her and left.
“So Matt. We have the logo. I’ll send it to you.”
“Oooh. I am looking forward to that. Are you not going to take any of the students now?”
“Yeah, I guess. But I don’t know which one. I’ll look at them again in a while.”