Fake It ‘Til You Feel It (Work For It #3)

3. This Meeting Couldve Been an Email

CHAPTER 3

THIS MEETING COULD'VE BEEN AN EMAIL

MARS

A rubber band pings off my headphones as I doodle on a piece of scrap paper during a work meeting. I look up to catch Ivy pumping her fist like she’s celebrating a three-pointer.

I shake my head and point to my headphones with an exaggerated can’t you see I’m doing very important business-type things look on my face. In reality, this meeting could’ve been a medium length email. Ivy shrugs and preps another rubber band. Her own headphones are perched on her head, but I think she’s listening to music.

As much as my boss, Brian, loves scheduling meetings right before lunch, Ivy would probably break him of that habit within a week of working for him. I smile to myself at the thought of Ivy being in one of my meetings. In the work conversations I’ve overheard, she takes no prisoners when it comes to gaining new clients or getting people to do what she knows is best.

Maybe I’ll set up a meeting between me, her, and Brian so she can convince him we don’t need daily check-ins at half past eleven.

The CEO of our little skateboard company thinks he’s running a Fortune 500 corporation instead of a thirty-person shop that caters to counter-culture kids and aging millennials trying to recapture their youth.

I love my job, and I like the place I work, but every company goes through growing pains. Right now we don’t have nearly enough employees to take on the sharp spike in demand for high-end skateboards.

My meager marketing budget is stretched thin, but I like a challenge. Plus, since I started designing graphics for the skateboard decks and other merchandise the job has gotten infinitely more interesting.

Except for the meetings. The never-ending meetings. At least they give me a lot of doodling time.

Even though my nine-to-five satisfies my need for a creative outlet, I still carry a fineliner pen with me wherever I go. Right now, as I zone out for a moment during the manufacturing team’s report, I take my pen to the page.

I look up from my cartoonish drawing of my boss to see Ivy loading another rubber band on her fingers.

“Mars, did you catch that?” the VP of sales asks in my ear.

“Sorry, my connection dropped for a second. Can you repeat it?” I lie. The internet connection here is top notch—that’s part of the reason I joined the coworking space.

“The new board you designed is fast becoming our top seller. Congratulations. I’m glad you decided to branch out from marketing.” I smile at his complement, my face heating when I become the focus of the meeting.

“Thanks, I’m glad to hear it.”

“We want to get a jump on the next round of designs, maybe start using your idea of a theme across all the new boards and merch. Any thoughts?”

“We can reach out to some artists in the skate scene and maybe give them a scope to work within, make some limited editions.”

“Fantastic idea, but I also want some more Mars Brooks originals. Let’s set up another meeting to do some brainstorming on the theme.” I groan internally at the thought of another meeting.

I pick up the rubber band in my lap and fire it back at Ivy, hitting the back of her laptop. She smirks at me without taking her eyes off her work.

My meeting finally ends, and I slide the headphones off my head and stand up. Before heading to the kitchen for some water, I stretch my hands across the back of my neck as I arch backwards a little. My spine pops in a few places, sounding like a fresh glow stick at a concert. When I straighten, I catch Ivy’s eyes on the spot where my shirt rides up and her lip caught between her teeth. That’s very...interesting.

“Want some coffee, Ives?” Her panicked gaze snaps to my face as a blush stains her cheeks. She swallows heavily, and I wonder how long I can milk this. Purely for the fun of it—not because I like having her eyes on me. Not because her small moment of distraction has made my whole day. Ivy likes what she sees, even if she’ll never admit it.

She raises her mug. “Nah, I’m good.”

I stretch again, and this time she keeps her eyes on mine but crosses her legs. If I stretch a third time, our desk-mate Tien is going to wonder what the hell is wrong with me. I’m starting to wonder myself.

I grab my water bottle and head to the kitchen, skirting the coffee maker, which seems to hate me. Water splatters on my shirt when I turn on the faucet and the stream splashes into a bowl someone left in the sink. No workday would be complete if I didn’t manage to spill something on myself, trip on my own feet, or break something.

Stuart steps up to the counter across from the sink. “Hey, how’s your day?” What would Stuart be without his smile? The guy is one of the happiest, goofiest people I know, but he runs a tight ship here. I’m surprised he still likes me after all the things I’ve broken. At least the new microwave has a popcorn setting, making it close to Mars-proof.

I turn around and show him the wet spot on my shirt. “You know...fine.”

“I admire your consistency, man. Hey, you know Rocky’s new book club is starting soon. You in?” His habit of changing the subject midstream doesn’t throw me like it used to.

“Sure,” I say. Coastline Books is one of my favorite places in Wavecrest, and Rocky has never steered me wrong with her book recommendations.

“I’m glad she put together this overflow club. The first one she organized is overbooked.” He smiles at his own joke. “Joanie and Meredith are excited, and you and Ivy will make it even more fun.” I get a little jolt of pleasure when he links my name with Ivy’s which I tuck away for later.

“What kind of books are we reading?”

“All kinds, but you know what book clubs are like. Five minutes of talking about the book and two hours of gossip.” He’s not wrong. I used to be in a club where we gave up reading books after the fifth meeting. “But Rocky seems pretty determined to keep us on track. It should be a good time. Maybe her boyfriend Owen will lead some discussions.”

Doubtful since the guy is massively shy, even if he’s a published poet and works the front counter at Coastline with Rocky.

I get back to my desk and settle in for an afternoon of trying to market skateboards to various demographics.

My phone buzzes with a text.

Ivy

You going to book club?

I smile and glance up to where she sits across from me. I shake my head and mouth lazy at her. She responds by scratching her eyebrow with her middle finger. I laugh and get back to our text conversation.

Yep. Stuart talked me into it.

Ivy

Same. He’s a very persuasive guy. Also, Meredith and Joanie are joining.

So you’re saying we’ll have to rename it Chaos Club?

I hear her quick burst of laughter from across the desk.

Ivy

We would never...

IVY

Mars takes off his headphones and runs his fingers through his short, sun-faded hair. But the impression of his headphones is still there, cutting across the top of his head. Why do I find that so endearing?

The wet spot on his shirt is drying, but he seems unbothered by it. I haven’t worked out what does bother him. He never complains about his job, he laughs at himself when he does something clumsy, and whenever he’s not happy with a drawing he simply starts over.

He’s tossed at least three today. Earlier, when Mars was at the printer, I took the top one out of the recycling bin and shoved it in my laptop bag. It’d be a shame for the little doodle of an anthropomorphized surfboard spitting out a bit of seaweed to be thrown out.

Maybe Mars’ whole unbothered vibe is why we’ve become such good friends. He brings calm to my stressed-out existence, plus I love a guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously. I mean, not love, but appreciate. In a way I love. Dammit .

I force my eyes away from Mars when a new email notification chimes in my headphones. Right, work . That thing that allows me to eat and pay rent. Maybe buy a romance novel—or ten—at Coastline before book club.

Inconveniently, all of my recent book boyfriends have started to look like Mars in my head. And no matter how hard I try I’m unable to shut that shit down.