Travis
TRAVIS
I was in awe, watching them with a sense of pride filling my chest. It started when I stepped out of my room this morning and found them both dressed and ready for the day. They looked like a hot power couple. Jasper in his suit that clung to his body perfectly, and Finn in his snug-fitting outfit that showed off his petite body.
They’d strode into the office like they owned the place, and Jasper was now tearing them down for the mistakes they’d made without raising his voice or uttering a swear word. He was like one of those parents who tell you that they aren’t angry, but disappointed. You could hear a pin drop.
“I don’t understand why you thought recalibrating the tech was a good idea. You’ve basically made every line of data you’ve sent since this team was set up worthless. It will take days and countless man-hours to fix this, plus we’ll have to restart your data collection, meaning you’ll be out of sync with all the other sites. Who authorised this? Because decisions this big should have a paper trail, and this has none.”
He looked around the room at the ten or so staff who worked here in the research centre, who all looked ashamed and also confused.
“None of us has done it. We were asked to start a couple of days late and told there was a problem with the computer system. When we got here, everything was set up, so we presumed it was done at the same time as sorting the computer glitches. Everything looked within the parameters we were given, so no one thought anything was wrong. We’re so sorry, Professor Fischer. I know I can speak for all of us when I say that none of us would do anything to jeopardise the project. We’re all really passionate about you and your work. It’s why we took the job,” Cordelia, the team leader, declared.
“Well, we’ve got to the bottom of it now. Finn will email you over the new parameters, and I will personally reset everything with Travis before we leave at the end of the week.”
Finn stood next to him. “We will be asking an independent person to keep an eye on the equipment and QAing the data before it comes to us, and if there are any more issues that are caused by human error rather than a result of the data, then we will be looking to replace the team as a whole.”
There were murmurs and whispers around the room.
“Any questions about any of this, please come to me. Professor Fischer and Doctor Jones have busy schedules for the rest of the week, but I’ll be happy to help.”
Jasper offered a nod. “Right, back to work. Thank you all for your time.”
Everyone filtered out, and I closed the door behind them. “Very assertive, Jas.”
His shoulders dropped, and he let out a huge breath. “God, do you think? I was shitting myself. I’ve never been good at dishing out the tellings off. This was not why I started this job. I feel so disconnected from it, it doesn’t even feel like my work anymore.”
Finn pressed his hand to Jasper’s lower back. “You only have to last the week, and then you get to spend a week on a boat.”
Jasper turned to look down at him, his frown flipping into a smile. “Yes, I do.” But then it slipped from his face, a scowl replacing it. “But then I’m back to the office. More meetings, more stakeholders, and talk about budgets.”
Finn laughed. “That’s the best bit. I’d rather be doing that than be on a boat. I’m looking forward to a week on land while you two sail the seas or whatever the phrase is.”
My eyes widened. “What? You’re not coming with us?”
Finn recoiled. “No! I hate boats. Hate water. Hate getting wet unless it’s in the bath or shower. Nope. No way.”
My eyes locked with Jasper, who looked incredibly guilty, and then Finn looked between us, obviously cottoning on to something being off because he slammed his notepad and phone on the table and put his hands on his hips.
“Something to tell me, Professor?”
Jasper pursed his lips before he said, “I thought I could persuade you.”
“To go on the boat with you?”
“Yes. It will be fun. Just the three of us. Trav and I can’t really do it on our own. We need a third set of hands.”
He reared back. “I’m sorry, you want me to be a deckhand on this boat?”
Picking at his fingernails, Jasper avoided eye contact and said, “Not a deckhand as such.”
Finn reached for his stuff. “Ludicrous. You people are ludicrous if you think I’m getting on a boat for a week and helping you drive it.”
He stormed towards the door.
“It’s sail. You don’t drive a boat, you sail it,” I said as he passed before rolling my lips into a thin line for fear of laughing.
“I don’t care if you have a self-driving boat and I can lie on the front sipping cocktails and topping up my tan while naked sailors do a merry jig for me, the answer is no. I’ll see you back at the hotel.”
“Do you have an EpiPen,” I asked, not letting him go anywhere without checking.
He turned, his angry glare softening. “I do. Thank you for checking. You’re both still out of your minds though.”
And with that, he vanished.
“He’s not coming, is he?” Jasper asked quietly.
“He’ll come. He just needs a little persuasion.”