Page 26 of That Friendzone Feeling

Chasecloses the door behind me. “Letme take your coat, then you can warm up by the fire.It’sso chilly this eveningIhad them light it for us.”

“Us” is an interesting word choice.

“Thankyou.”Idrop my bag, untie the belt of my black wool coat, and slide the coat off my shoulders.Hecatches it before it’s barely off me. “I'mfine to get straight to business though.”Ilook around the room. “WhereshouldIset up?”

“Ithought maybe we could have a glass of wine first,”he says, hanging my coat in the closet near the door. “LikeIsaid this morning,Iinvest in people as much as the business, so you are as important a part of the deal as the spreadsheets.”

Ishe coming on to me?Justa tad?Hecan’t be.He’sChasefreakingCooper.He’dnever be interested in a completely average, boring, nonextraordinary person like me.

“Tobe fair,Walker’sprobably more important thanIam.Withouthis beer-making skills, we’d have no pubs.”

“Ithink you sell yourself short.Ittakes a remarkable and creative business mind to build a company like yours.”Chasecrosses the room to the table and gets to work uncorking the wine. “It’sa shame he couldn’t make it, though.”

Hedoesn’t sound particularly disappointed.

“Ibet you guys would get along great,”Itell him asIpull my laptop from the bag.God,IwishWalkerwere here.Thisis a big responsibility to shoulder alone, andI’malways more confident with him beside me.The“problem” up at the brewery sounded unlikely.Butwhy the hell would he want to duck out of this meeting? “I’llset up while you pour.”

“You’reall business, huh?”Hechuckles asIset my laptop on the table and wait for the start-up chime.

“Thelast eight years have certainly been allToastedTomato, all the time.”Inavigate to the folder containing all the plans, projections, and photosIwant to show him. “Mustbe similar for you.Youmust be constantly working.”

“Ido work a lot, yeah.”Hehands me a glass. “It’sone of the reasonsI’mstarting to diversify my interests.SoIcan take a bit more time for myself.Tobuild an actual life.Orto take on more indie projectsIbelieve in, rather than big studio movies.”

Andit doesn’t even sound like he’s bullshitting.He’sso consistently credible and real.Allthese perfect-person things he says and does seem completely genuine.

“Thankyou.”Iraise my drink toward him.

“Toa fruitful relationship,” he says as his glass meets mine.

Idon’t like to drink whenI’mworking, soIraise the wine to my lips, let it just brush them without taking a sip, then set it down. “AndI’mabout to explain to you exactly just how fruitful that might be.”

Thelow power message pops up in the corner of my screen. “Damn.”Ihead back to my bag. “Sorry, need the power cord.”Icould have sworn my laptop had been plugged in all afternoon and was fully charged.

Thebag’s empty.

Myheart races and pumps ice-cold blood to my every extremity.

Irun my hand around the inside.Whatthe hell is the point of that?Incase the cord is there but has turned invisible?

Iunzip each of the side pockets, whereIhave never once in my life ever put the power cord.Empty.

JesusChrist, what kind of incompetent fool comes to a potential business-saving meeting without a power cord?

Iturn toChase, smiling as if all this is no big deal, my hands aren’t really trembling, and my stomach isn’t about to eject the cinnamon bunIhad this afternoon.

“I’man idiot.”Iroll my eyes at my own incompetence. “CouldIborrow a power cord, please?I’vevery unprofessionally come without mine.”

Helooks at my laptop and screws up his perfect lips. “Mine’sfrom the opposite ecosystem,I’mafraid.”

Oh, shit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,shit.

Idash back to the table and slam my fingers on the keyboard. “Quick, tell me your email address soIcan send everything to you, and we can go through it on your computer.”

“Okay,” he says like there’s all the time in the world. “ChasedotCooperat—”

Thescreen goes dark. “Fuck.”Islam the side of my fist on the table.