She really hoped he’d seen the movie, or else this would be more embarrassing than singing to herself…
“Will do. Say, listen, I need to talk to you about your TPS reports…”
As hoped, Marcus leaned back in his chair and guffawed. He slapped his desk and wiped a fake tear from his eye. “A woman after my own heart. I LOVE that movie. LOVE it. Okay, little Miss Workaholic, what can I do for you?”
“Okay, well I‘ve gone about as far as possible on your ‘wouldn’t it be nice …’ list. I’ve hit a couple snags.”
“Just a couple? Most of the stuff I come up with isn’t even remotely doable. But it’s nice to know you’re trying, math-geek mine.”
“I wouldn’t be a proper Fairy Godmother if I didn’t work the impossible, right? Okay, the thing is that the last couple ideas might be doable, but it’s lost in the translation. I am going to need you to go over it again.”
“No problemo. Only thing is, I spit out new ideas so often that I lose track of the old ones.”
“Just call me a spittoon. Said spittoon knows how to write things down and keep track of them.” She pointedly looked at his paper-strewn desk. He just shrugged. “So I will read back what I have, hopefully spark your mental pistons, and you just let it rip again. Will that work?”
“Yes, ma’am. Fire away!” He actually sounded impressed that this could be done. The guy didn’t write down much, it seemed.
Krista read back her notes exactly as she had written them down, daring to push a couple pieces of paper toward a couple others that were similar. When she’d gotten the idea out, and had found some clear desk, which helped her mental state, Marcus’s eyes lit up with remembrance.
“Yes!” he said enthusiastically. “That was a good idea. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do that, but …”
Krista was ready this time. She took notes frantically, trying to catch every last word he spit out that might help the translation factor. They went on to the next idea, then the next. There were four in all, and by the time they reached the fourth she was completely done in.
She straightened painfully from her crouch.
“No more,” she shook her head and held up her hands. “No more of your insanity. My geek brain can’t handle such an extended tour into your art brain. It gives me a headache.”
Marcus sobered for a moment as he looked up at her. “You’re really working on making these ideas happen, huh?”
Krista’s confusion seeped into her features. Distractedly, she picked up a few stray pens and pencils and put them in a holder. “Uh, yeah. Why? Is that wrong?”
“From what I understand, no. I just haven’t seen it happen before. Your kind doesn’t really communicate well with my kind. Mine can never seem to get our goals across to yours, and yours never seems able to focus our creative direction with your pencils and notepads.”
She straightened the pile of printed pictures at the edge of his desk. “Oh. Well, in truth, I’m not so much ‘my kind’ as the normal gal, but no, I still don’t have the foggiest as to what you’re talking about most of the time. Actually, it all sounds great when I hear it from your mouth, makes perfect sense when you say it, but it just isn’t the kind of thing I can turn into a search and destroy mission, you know? Too much chaos.”
“Then why bother with all the notes if you can’t get the end result?”
“I said it was all Greek to me. Just so happens I have a roommate who speaks art and logic. He is my decoder ring for all this hogwash.” She nodded toward her notes before straightening a framed photograph.
Marcus had his smile back, “Cheater.”
Krista stepped forward slightly with a smile. She helped another couple loose papers find their home as she said, “Cheat to win, Marcus ol’ boy. Cheat to win.”
With that she left the Hub, her mind whirling in confusion. She decided just to cut out early, get some of Ben’s favorite takeout, and offer a bribe for the latest round of much-needed help.
As she rounded the green wall of plants, she heard, “When did that woman find time to clean my desk? She’s a genie. Julie—this is magical, come look at how clean my desk is!”
Chapter Thirteen
Sean looked up as Ray walked in. “Just got off the phone with Marcus,” he said by way of greeting.
Ray took a seat. “And?”
Sean leaned back and rubbed his eyes. “It seems our Researcher has been down for her second round of question-answer segments.”
“Oh? She was able to get all the information for the first installment?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t checked in. I think she’s waiting for me to call a meeting with her. I told her to continue working until I did.”
“She hasn’t checked in?” Ray’s placid face was mildly skeptical. It meant he thought Sean was making a mistake.
Sean held up his hands. “I know what you’re thinking. I am checking in with everyone else who is experienced, why not her?”
Ray didn’t even bother to nod.
“Because her friends say this is how she works best. Also because when she was under James Montgomery, she still churned out incredibly thorough, well-thought-out reports.”
“But that is a lot of information to cover in two weeks.”
“She’s been working late almost every night.”
“Still, Sean. You should probably check in with her. It is a huge gamble on someone of her caliber.”
Sean clenched his jaw. Ray still thought Sean wanted her on the team to get close to her. He had absolutely no faith Krista was above the rest in her job performance. It galled Sean to anger, but he knew better than to show it. Ray had been around a while. He knew what he was talking about. This one time, he was wrong. Sean knew he was wrong, but he had no proof. Not yet.
“Krista is like a wild fire,” Sean tempered. “Give her a spark, fuel and a lot of open space, and she’ll burn brightly. Give her a chance.”
“You are the one giving her a chance. I am the one saying—moderation. Just check in. See what she’s got so far.”
Sean let the frustration get to him. “I know you mean well, but I know what I’m doing. I trust her. If she had a problem, she would ask. Her asking Marcus, twice, for information—actually breaking through his ideas, from what he is telling me—shows me she’s got it. I’m going to stand back and let her work. If it was about getting her naked, I would check on her constantly.”
Ray flinched back. He wasn’t the type of guy to hear that kind of sentiment. He then shook his head. “You always bet on a sure thing. Bet me she will give you what you’re looking for.”
“$100” Sean said without having to think. “$100 that she gives me what I’m looking for, and you know my expectations are high.”
“Done.”
Sean nodded and looked back at his notes. “She’s working on four of Marcus’s ideas. He says she’s got her roommate helping break them down.”
“Break them down?”
“Apparently she doesn’t understand Marcus enough to know what to research, in so many words. This roommate takes her notes, translates them for her, and she works on the research. He’s the middle man.”
“Sounds like an important asset.”
Sean looked up at Ray. “Yes, he does. If I am not mistaken, he was the genius behind her layout and colors for the presentation.”
Ray held Sean’s eye contact. “I don’t mean to push, but when do you plan to check in on her?”
Sean glanced at his calendar. “Two more weeks. We’ll all meet then. We’ll all go over it together.”
Ray just shook his head. Sean knew what he was thinking: It was a long time to let someone go unchecked. She could be doing anything up there all alone. Or nothing, which was Ray’s worry. But Sean took what her friends said to heart. They knew her best, and they were in complete agreement. He had to start trusting sometime. He’d stay the course.
~*~*~*~
When Krista got home, Ben was actually there waiting for her. He
had her favorite dessert in hand—chocolate lava cake.
“Ben.”
“Hi Krista.”
He noticed the takeout. A small smile appeared on his face. “We have dinner and dessert it seems.”
They ate immediately since they were both starved, opening a bottle of wine and watching “The Big Bang Theory” reruns. After they were both sufficiently stuffed, they got to business.
It seemed Ben had cleaned his room and found a stack of bills. While Krista worked, Ben set to deciphering the latest batch of Marcus gibberish. When they were both done, Krista told him what he would need to spend to cover the bills, and what his new monthly and daily budget needed to be.
“Great, thanks Krista!” He sounded so relieved. Apparently being in debt stressed the poor guy out something awful. She knew how he felt.
“Shall we get some dessert and go over ideas a la Marcus?”
“Let’s.”
With a mouth full of lava cake, Ben explained what Marcus was probably going for. Krista made further adjustments to the explanation to encompass what was actually doable, which, surprisingly, was quite a lot. When they were done, full, and half drunk, Ben said, “But, and this comes from just working off of these ideas, but what if you merged these two ideas?” He pointed at two numbered items on the list.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, hit this younger market through this program…thing he is talking about here,” Ben stabbed at idea number two, “and let it spill over, or whatever, into this other, older market program … uh … thing. Or vice versa—whichever works best, I guess. That way you can hit two birds with one stone. You know, because the subject matter is the same, right?”
“Huh.” His explanation was a little weird, but she kind of got what he meant. “Er. Yeah, I see. I think. Well, I mean, not really, but I can get data on it.”
They talked for a while longer, drank the rest of the bottle, and then got chased to their individual rooms when Abbey came home with some guy. Krista made sure to put in her earplugs when she went to bed. That woman was the loudest in sex history. It was a wonder that she wasn’t embarrassed by it! For that matter, how could the men stand it? She would make p**n stars roll their eyes!
In her office the next morning she sipped her coffee and looked over the transcribed ideas. She had been avoiding the break room like the plague ever since she walked in and all conversation stopped. It was three women obviously gossiping, and when they didn’t pick up their conversation during her coffee gathering, Krista figured she was the topic du jour.
The other weird thing was that Jacob had left an old coffee pot in her office with a note that said,
We don’t need it anymore. You might use it so you can avoid the Golden Girls. –Jake
She’d sent him an email thanking him profusely, and now only went to the break room to see Tommy, or to get creamer and sugar. Thankfully, the ruse with the boyfriend worked—Jacob hadn’t been bothering her at all. He’d asked her to drinks one other time, but after she’d said she had to check with the other half, he dropped his interest.
Now, in her office, as she sipped her tasty, safe coffee, she tried to pay attention to who was walking around outside the office. She wanted to know who was spying on her…which lasted about as long as it took to hit a snag with Marcus’s rationale, and then she blacked out into the world of numbers and research until she heard a distinct sound. It took her a minute before she stopped and listened, finally realizing that the sound was a knock.
Marcus was standing in the doorway in blue jeans and a navy, form-fitting shirt, laughing at her.
“Geek Girl, you are completely lost in your geek world.”
She sighed and turned her music down, “Was I singing?”
“Yes. Nice voice, actually.” He sat in one of her visitor chairs.
“What’s up?”
“Curiosity brings me.”
“Oh? Well, my favorite flower is the red tulip.”
“Is it? Mine is the sunflower.”
“Hmm, yes. I’m glad we had this chat.”
“Can’t get rid of me that easy, Geek Girl. Did you work out my ideas from yesterday?”
“With help, yes.”
“Who is this magical translator you have?”
“It’s a secret.”
“Why?”
“Because it sounds better than just saying ‘my roommate.’”
“Yes it does. Well, I have some more ideas if you want them.”
“Honestly, no, I don’t. I will write them down, but I need a break from your art ridiculousness for a while. I’m still working on your last set of rabble.”
“Do you think they are doable? That’s what you said, right? You were working out a way to do them?” The hope in Marcus’s voice rang through his words.
“Oh no—don’t go putting words in my mouth. No way. I said I could get information on them. Some of the information is less than strategic, but I am getting everything I can from everywhere I can. It will be up to Sean whether they are doable or not.”
“Ah yes, the young stud. Ball breaker, that one. Like a dog on a bone.”
That was odd—she hadn’t heard a peep. She wondered if they just put her up into a floor with empty offices to die.
But then, she had incredible focus and a great work ethic. Marcus on the other hand…
“I am still on step two,” Krista continued, “which is you. And if you don’t stop giving me gibberish to unravel then hunt down, I’ll never get to step three.”
“How many steps do you have?”
“Six, I think, but I didn’t read past three. That is about when the aneurism kicked in.”
Marcus laughed, his white teeth flashing in his dark, striking face. The guy was good-looking. Almost a Sean. Taller, though, with a thinner frame, and ten times more style. His style was subtle. Refined. He was not over-the-top trendy, but he always fit in, and always looked good. Either he got the ladies or the guys—she still wasn’t sure of his sexual orientation. He wasn’t the subject of constant gossip, or much gossip at all, actually, which was another vote for g*y. The ladies wouldn’t watch his every move if they didn’t have a shot in hell of getting him, or even getting laid.
“Good. I’m glad I’m not the only one,” Marcus said, getting up. “Alright, beautiful, I’ll leave you to your numbers. Don’t be a stranger. The Dark Hub isn’t only there for work!”
“You know, if you fixed that light bulb, it wouldn’t always be so dark.”
“Who said the bulb was broken?” With that, he sauntered off in his lazy lope through the mostly vacant offices.
Krista vaguely wondered why the company had all this space if they weren’t using it. Certainly they could fit her a million different places. Sean, too, when they finally got around to moving him. Maybe they wanted to fill this floor, and they needed this big, elusive account to do it?
Whatever. Not her problem. The rest of these ideas, however, were.
She turned her music back up and lost herself yet again to the fog of numbers.
The next couple weeks passed quickly. Krista was making great strides on the ideas she got from Marcus. There hadn’t been much of anything in the company databases for them, which she took as a good sign, so she got all her info from the library and out in life. Once done, she reviewed all the original data and did some changes and fixes that made them easier to understand and more accessible to non-Geeks. She even put together a table of contents in case it was needed. It was overkill, but Sean asked for thorough, so he couldn’t really yell at her if she gave it to him.
On Thursday evening she got an email from Sean addressed to everyone on his team. Instead of immediately hitting delete out of pure fear, she opened it. He wanted to see what they’d gotten so far. The day had come. She was not ready for it.
She was desperately scared he would see all her work, get a disappointed look on his handsome face, and tell her she had wasted a month of his time on frivolous research. Or that
she completely missed the point of his list. Or that she shouldn’t have been bothering Marcus after all.
A list of possible reasons she would be fired shot through her head. It also fueled her fire.
She worked like a demon to get all her things together and glossed up.
The other was…she’d missed him. Which was bad. But he was funny and fun, witty and intelligent—he was on his way to becoming a friend, and she didn’t realize it until he stopped coming around.
Kate was going to punch her in the mouth really, really hard!
Turning her attention back to work, she was suddenly overly glad she’d done the table of contents! Otherwise she might have wasted time trying to find her way through all the information again. The bad news was, even with the table of contents, it was still just a stack of papers--well organized papers--but a stack nonetheless. She needed something a little more dynamic.
Once again, she headed down to Marcus.
The marketing and art department was abuzz. More so than usual. People were smiling but tense, calling off directions across the room. Someone needed some ten stock white something or other. Someone else needed those slides pronto, darling, yesterday! They worked like an anthill after it saw a boot. Complete chaos to the passerby, but probably some hidden rhythm in there somewhere. Being that Krista had heard Dell mentioned a couple times, she figured it must be presentation day.
Krista kept walking as she made her way back to the Dark Hub. As she rounded the wall of plants, she didn’t hear Marcus on the phone for once. This time he was there, quietly sitting in his chair, his nose inches from his computer.
“Hey,” she said as she walked up.
Marcus looked up distractedly. “No more ideas. I gotta get this crap for Sean’s meeting.”
“Yeah I know. I am at the same point. I need to put my stuff into a nice format. A binder isn’t going to cut it.”
Marcus leaned back. It was the first time a small amount of stress showed under his calm exterior. “What kind of format?”
Breene, K F - Growing Pains 01 Page 19