by R. R. Banks
“When I told you to go get what you wanted, I didn’t mean chase him to his car,” she quipped sarcastically with a disappointed look on her face. “I meant follow him through the cubicles to the break room again, or maybe walk him down a hallway and pause, hoping he stops with you, not follow him to see what his license plate number is.” Hannah sighed as she placed her arm around Alexis’s shoulders, comforting her while she looked dumfounded. “Come on, we can try to find some pizza and ice cream to drown out your sorrows tonight.”
“He asked me out,” replied Alexis, causing Hannah to remove her arm and turn to face Alexis. “While we were out there, he asked if I wanted to have dinner with him tonight.”
Hannah nodded in approval. “Great, and you said?”
“He didn’t let me answer, saying that by me following him to the parking garage, he already knew my intentions.”
Hannah nodded again, this time agreeing with what she said originally. “Yeah, a little bit too over the top there, Lexi,” she said with an assured tone, placing her arm back around her best friend’s shoulders. “And people say I’m as subtle as a jack hammer; clearly they haven’t met my best friend.”
Chapter 7
Hannah and Alexis lounged in their apartment, taking off work two hours early so that they could start their weekend earlier. After the very long day, arriving at work early to have a meeting with one of the board members in New York, followed by Alexis’s stalking her prospective beau, Nathanial Jenkins, the girls decided they had earned an early day and went home for the afternoon, stopping for a brief lunch before arriving at their apartment. Immediately removing their clothes and getting comfortable, the two opted to spend their afternoon lounging around, taking a nap, and waiting to find out when and where Alexis would be meeting Nathanial later that evening.
She ran her hair through her fingers and shook it about, shaking her hair and turning it into a mess while she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. With her hair now frizzy, she pulled it back into a ponytail and emerged from the bathroom wearing a tank top and shorts, opting for comfort in her own apartment. Their kitchen was small, yet functional, consisting of a large refrigerator, range, and microwave. She walked over and opened the fridge door, grabbing a bottle of water and a small pack of fruit before reaching into the pocket of her shorts to feel her phone vibrating.
Hey, meet me at nine tonight at Amal. I hope you like Italian.
~Nathanial
“Hmm,” she thought to herself as she read her phone, thinking about the prospect of meeting Nathanial at one of the most luxurious restaurants in all of Dubai. She shrugged her shoulders, knowing now that she would have to look better than she did the previous night, even though she was not much of a fan of Italian cuisine. She placed her phone back in her pocket and carried her water bottle and fruit cup with her out of the kitchen and into the common room.
“Looks like I’m meeting Nathanial at nine,” announced Alexis as she walked toward the couch to find Hannah sitting with her laptop out. With a smile on her face, Alexis walked around the edge of the couch and sat down beside her best friend, looking over as she searched the internet for various clues on who she was going on a date with.
Wearing only her panties and a t-shirt, Hannah leaned forward on the couch with her laptop sitting on the coffee table. Enthralled with morbid curiosity, Hannah surfed through various websites and financial blogs to try and discover who Nathanial Jenkins actually was. “It says here that most of his money is tied up in oil, investing heavily in the smaller countries operating within the consortium,” stated Hannah, analyzing the facts she read off of her laptop screen and recited them for Alexis. “I don’t understand how that can be viewed as a lucrative strategy.”
“That’s not a terrible financial strategy,” defended Alexis. “Because of the security of the consortium, most of Nathanial’s investments are protected. The opportunity for massive growth is substantial, though somewhat unlikely.”
Hannah smirked. “Already defending him and you’ve yet to go out on a date?” she joked. “I understand the low risk, high reward strategy that is involved with this method of investing, and it’s clearly worked for him in the past, however, he would be better off investing the sure things and pouring all of his money into them. He would honestly be better off investing the bulk of his funds in our company if he wanted a safer and possibly just as steady rate of return.”
“But what’s the fun in that?” asked Alexis rhetorically. “In all seriousness, some people do not like to invest safely. They’d rather take a chance and get the thrill of victory.”
Hannah scoffed as she turned and looked back at her computer. “I can’t see doing that with my money.”
“Neither one of us has as much as he does,” countered Alexis as Hannah started typing on her computer keypad again, searching for more results on Nathanial Jenkins and his history.
“He doesn’t date much,” announced Hannah as she read off an article from a gossip column. “It says that Nathanial Jenkins is rarely seen in public with women. When he’s out, he is usually wining and dining some of the world’s most famous and wealthiest women. No matter from what city, country, or continent, Nathanial Jenkins does not discriminate. These women that he is seen with, while incredibly wealthy, are also stunningly beautiful, though have been known to have boring, drab personalities. He was last seen out two months ago while dating a supermodel from Switzerland who, and this report came from the waiter at the restaurant, swore at the waiter, for the restaurant not offering cheese from special dairy cows from Spain. It says that they left shortly after this incident and he has yet to be seen again at this restaurant. The restaurant in question is Amal, one of the finest Italian restaurants in the entire world.”
Alexis choked on her water a bit as she listened to Hannah read off the last sentence. “Amal?” she asked after clearing her throat. “This incident happened at Amal?”
Hannah turned her head and looked at Alexis with a perplexed glare. “Yeah, why?”
“That’s where I’m meeting him at nine,” she answered. “He’s taking me to Amal.”
“But you hate Italian,” stated Hannah plainly.
“I know, but I didn’t want to be rude,” continued Alexis. “I’m sure there will be something there that I can muscle down. I’m sure they’ll at least have wine.”
Hannah shrugged her shoulders before turning back to read more on the screen. “Oh, this is interesting. It turns out that the Australian Oil Trade and Refiners, one of our sister companies, has lost over three hundred percent of their revenue over the past year.” She paused a bit, scrolling down on her monitor while Alexis leaned forward. “Nathanial Jenkins has personally lost two hundred million dollars from this company’s mismanagement and misallocation of investment funds. Their chairman has been forced to resign and the company is in the process of preparing to file for bankruptcy, losing their position in the Consortium of Oil Traders, and potentially being sold to other companies in Australia.”
“The largest problem that the Australian Oil Trade and Refiners is facing is the ability to gather new sources of crude, stating that their insufficient resources, combined with their poor credit and financial history, is making it nearly impossible for them to keep themselves afloat in the crude oil business,” continued Hannah.
Alexis’s eyes grew wide. “Without product, they’re practically dead already,” she stated plainly. “He’s going to lose a lot more money before the time this is all done.”
“And we’re going to get a new member in the consortium,” said Hannah. “Honestly, I don’t have to deal with the other companies very often, but I’ve heard how much you and the rest of the logistic administrators complain about the others, so I can’t imagine bringing in a new company from Australia is what anyone wants.”
“Not even a little,” answered Alexis. “Continuity is what we all crave when it comes to dealing with one another because at least then, we have a re
port. Over the past year, whenever a new company comes in, they always try and throw their weight around and do things their way, before eventually standardizing themselves with the rest of us because that’s how we all like to do business.”
Hannah looked at her screen some more, analyzing the potential losses for all of the investors. “In the end, Nathanial Jenkins may lose four hundred million dollars from this company sinking.”
“When were the Australians meant to meet with the officials in COT?” asked Alexis as Hannah continued to read the news article. “They desperately need the help of any other group in the consortium.”
“Today,” she answered solemnly. “They had their meeting about their reformation and salvaging their company today in Dubai.”
Alexis leaned back on the couch and sipped on her water. “I would be incredibly cranky after that meeting,”
“I’d head straight to a bar,” quipped Hannah. “Honestly, I don’t know if I could drink through this though. I may have to start doing meth.”
The two girls chuckled as Hannah closed the lid of her laptop, turning her body to face Alexis as she sipped on a glass of wine that was hidden behind the lid of her laptop. “Seems to me like you’re starting a bit early today.”
“Seems to me like you’re starting a bit late,” replied Hannah as she sipped on her wine with a smug look on her face.
Alexis chuckled as she stood up, watching Hannah sip on her glass of chardonnay while she thought about what she was going to talk about that night. Her mind continued to dwell on how Nathanial reacted after he left the meeting, but she kept revisiting the fact that he willingly sought her out before he received the terrible news. “Would you consider it a good thing that he found my phone number in the employee database?” asked Alexis.
“It makes him look just as creepily awkward as you are,” answered Hannah sarcastically, still holding onto her glass of wine by the stem. “You two are possibly made for each other.”
“Ha ha,” replied Alexis, knowing that Hannah was going to respond with sarcasm but letting herself become impervious to it. “I guess what I meant to ask is, would you consider it to be something that shows him to be legitimately interested?”
Hannah set her wine glass down and leaned forward on the couch, gazing at Alexis as she shook her head in disbelief. “I swear you act more and more like a teenage girl every time you finally decide to go out with a boy,” she stated rudely. “Alexis, I love you. You’re my favorite person in this entire world. I would do anything to make you happy and keep you as my best friend, but please, for my sake, and for the sake of everyone you ever come into contact with, please, don’t over think this.” Hannah stood up and walked over to Alexis, placing both of her hands on the sides of her arms and facing her. “Please, don’t treat this like you’re at work. You’re not being paid to overanalyze every finite detail in this encounter. You’re not being paid to learn how to finesse your way into the conversation. Hell, Alexis, you’re not being paid at all,” she quipped, prompting Alexis to giggle as Hannah continued to lecture her. “Alexis, please, just go have fun.”
“But what if I start over analyzing things again?” asked Alexis in a whiney voice, intentionally trying to annoy Hannah, who responded by shaking her by her arms. “Ah, stop!” screamed Alexis as her hair was becoming frizzier with every violent shake. The two stood in the room catching their breath after the brief exertion. Alexis bit her bottom lip and placed her hands on her hips, thinking as Hannah looked at her with a confused look. “Hannah, how much excess inventory do we have right now?”
“Are you seriously asking me a question about work right now?” dejectedly answered Hannah. “I’m already a glass of wine in. This is a no work zone now.”
“I’m serious,” stated Alexis sincerely, urging Hannah to think back on the reports she looked at weekly. “I know you get that report every Monday to alert you of our buying power and I know you study it closely. Think for me, please, how much do we legitimately have in excess oil barrels.”
Hannah inhaled slowly, filling her lungs before sighing loudly in protest to Alexis’s request. “I’m not sure, because the report is a week old and we just added a very large contract this week,” she answered slowly, pausing briefly before continuing as she compiled the numbers in her head. “However, if I had to guess, we’re probably thirty-five thousand barrels of crude too heavy this week, which really isn’t a lot.”
“What about in our reserves? What does that add to the total of what we already have sitting in inventory collecting dust?”
“It brings the inventory to nearly four-hundred thousand barrels of crude that is just hanging out in warehouses all over the country,” she answered. “Where it’s stored is beyond me, because I don’t deal with storage and shipping, I only deal with what we have and what we want to get.”
Alexis walked over to the other end of the living room and opened her laptop, pulling up the information on the company portal. “We have warehouses in ports all over the country,” she stated as she looked through the information. “Hell, we honestly have warehouses all over the world, but in particular, we have two warehouses in Jebel Ali that are holding forty percent of our reserves. As of Monday, that total was just over four hundred thousand, so once we add in the new numbers from the new contract you negotiated, that number will actually increase a bit.”
Hannah nodded as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed her bottle of wine and a second glass, refilling hers while pouring another one. She set the wine back in the refrigerator and walked the glass over to Alexis, handing it to her, though she declined. “I’m going on a date in a few hours,” she said in a matter of fact tone. “I can’t start drinking now.”
“Alexis, I swear to God, if you’re going to start figuring out ways to save this man’s money, you had better start drinking,” ordered Hannah, still holding the wine glass out for her to take, which she immediately obliged and began to sip on it slowly. “Good, now at least I’m not drinking alone,” she continued, walking away from Alexis and back over the couch to sit down. “For the sake of easy math, the two warehouses at Jebel Ali contain one hundred and sixty thousand barrels of crude that haven’t crossed the ocean yet?”
“No,” answered Alexis. “Honestly, we store a lot of oil here and use it for leverage with other countries in need, though we generally don’t like to participate in charity work.”
Hannah shrugged. “Then what are you looking at?”
“The cost of one of these structures is one hundred thousand dollars a month, easy,” answered Alexis. “You said it yourself, we’re bringing in thirty-five thousand barrels too much a week, which in turn is one hundred and forty thousand barrels over a fiscal month. That’s almost one of these structures. I wonder if we could convince Richard to turn over the rent to the Australians and finance the oil sales in those two warehouses over the course of the year.”
Hannah tilted her head slightly as she thought about what Alexis just said. “They’re struggling to get product and have a terrible financial history, though it can be traced to mismanagement and that problem has since been removed,” said Hannah as she thought out what Alexis said. “I don’t know if Richard or anyone on the board would want to go this far to help them, though.”
Alexis continued to look at her laptop as she sipped on her glass of wine. “This was a good decision,” she stated, setting the glass down before pointing at her computer screen. “Jebel Ali has two other warehouses available if we need them for storage, in the event that this works. However, Hannah, if COT was willing to guarantee the value of the crude in the event the Australians defaulted, and we can show where the Americans would make a profit from the crude that was collecting dust in a warehouse, I cannot see a scenario where Richard would tell either one of us no. Plus, with Nathanial’s connections on the board of several companies within COT, there shouldn’t be an issue guaranteeing the loans.
“Go through your entire plan for
me,” asked Hannah as she sat up on the couch and placed her wine glass in front of her. “We know that they have an incredibly poor financial history as well as a poor business structure. Convince me that your plan will work.”
Alexis smiled as she closed her laptop and stepped away, carrying her glass of wine with her as she paced in front of the coffee table. “In order for this company to succeed in the short term, they have to turn a profit or else their creditors will default on them. In the long term, the Australian company is going to have to repair their management structure, recreating their board and honing in on a good business model with solid relationships across the globe. In order to get there, the first thing they need is product. Thus, they need a life line and fast. They’re going to need our help with the entire process. By us subletting the two warehouses in Jebel Ali that we currently own, having them pay the rent for the warehouse while the barrels are stored there, we will save two hundred thousand dollars on the rent. Next, we will sell the barrels that are currently in Jebel Ali to the Australians at market price plus interest, which with the price of crude being up a few dollars a barrel over average, will make it worthwhile anyway. Next, we will ship the barrels of crude to them at cost, which we will roll into the rent of the warehouses, allowing them a few weeks to refine and sell their products to their distributors. Once we’ve established that they’re able to pay their bills with our assistance, we will continue to sell them barrels of crude. Hopefully, over the next few years, they’ll be a successful company with our assistance and everyone will be pleased with the result. Our company makes more money. The Australian company recovers and the man I’m about to go on a date with doesn’t lose nearly half of a billion dollars.”
Hannah nodded. “There’s one problem with this scenario,” she said softly, acting as a kill joy to Alexis’s plan. “The Australians have to agree to it. We can’t force them into this arrangement.”