Filed to story: Outplayed Story (Brooklyn & Ethan) Book PDF Free
‘You have to tell them at some point, though, Brook. They’re going to find out.’ Niro pulled out her phone. ‘Especially if you get any press coverage.’
‘If I do well enough to get press coverage,’ said Brook, ‘I’ll tell them.’ She put the handset back in its cradle and returned to the stove. ‘Now, can we change the subject?’
She turned her attention back to the food she was cooking. She stirred it violently. If she was being honest with herself, she knew that she could weather the criticism about careers from her father. It would be hard, but she’d cope. No. The real reason she hadn’t told anyone about Shanthi Bags was that when she’d started the business, naming it after her mother had been the most obvious decision she’d made. It was a tribute to her mother. She was making a difference in the world, by giving the world more of something Amma loved. There was no other name she could have used.
Her father rarely talked about Amma anymore, apart from when it was one of their birthdays or every year on the anniversary of her death, when they all went to the temple and made a donation to charity in her name. If Brook were to present him with a failing business emblazoned with the name Shanthi, she wasn’t sure she could cope with his pain.
Breakfast meeting. Brook smiled. It was such a formal way to describe meeting for coffee before work. It was also, weirdly, very Ethan. When she arrived, he was already there, laptop on the table, scrolling through her pictures while he ate his porridge. It seemed that he’d taken her ‘we’ll see’ to be a definite yes.
‘Morning.’ She slid into the seat opposite him.
‘Hey. How are you today?’
‘Ah. Same old, same old,’ she said.
‘Just let me finish my breakfast and we’ll get your page sorted.’ He pushed the laptop across to her. ‘Do you want to point out which ones are your favourite?’
She turned the laptop so that they could both see it. ‘Straight to work, huh?’
Ethan flushed. ‘I’m … not so great at small talk, or so I’m told. Sorry.’
She smiled. ‘I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.’
‘Ha. Please. Uncomfortable is my basic state of existence. Don’t worry about it.’ He flashed her a smile. ‘But seriously …’ He nodded towards the computer.
‘Okay.’ She shrank the files back to thumbnails. ‘I like this one, this one and … this one.’
She selected three of her mum’s favourite bags.
‘Hmm,’ said Ethan. ‘None of those photos have you in them, still.’
‘But the bags are the important thing.’
‘Brook, we talked about this. For this page, you need a story. You need to give people a reason to invest in you.’ He put down his spoon. ‘Think about it. When you’re crowdfunding, you’re asking people to pay for a new, untested product. If the crowdfund is unsuccessful, the product won’t even exist. If it is successful, the product will probably be available in a few years at a higher quality … and for less than they paid for it. You’re not appealing to their head.’ He tapped his chest. ‘You’re appealing to their hearts. So we need you. And we need your story.’
Brook resisted the urge to snap and withdraw. She looked down and picked at her nail varnish. ‘I don’t think so.’
Ethan gave a little sigh. ‘Brook, is there a reason you don’t want to be identified with your product?’
‘I don’t …’ What did he mean she didn’t want to be identified with her product? She made the first prototypes by hand. She was a part of them.
‘Do you think that you’re not going all in because you’re secretly afraid of it taking off?’
‘No. Why would I be afraid of it going well? That’s ridiculous.’
‘There is such a thing as fear of success, you know. We see it all the time here.’ He made a gesture that encompassed The Nest, then he went back to his coffee. ‘Think about it. I’ll wait.’
Brook drank her coffee too, trying not to scowl. How dare he suggest she wasn’t trying? ‘I do my best,’ she said.
‘I think you’re trying very hard. But is it really your best?’
She frowned. He raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, she liked him a little less. ‘You’re very judgemental, you know that?’ she said.
‘I can let it go, if you want,’ he said. ‘But it won’t help you. This is your one shot at making this company work. If you don’t give it your all, it will fail. So, I would be a terrible mentor if I don’t help you work out what’s holding you back.’
‘You’re my mentor now? And here I was thinking you were just helping me with the crowdfunding pages.’
He moved back from her anger. She immediately felt bad.
‘I’m sorry. I know you’re just trying to help. I shouldn’t have snapped.’ She passed a hand over her tired eyes. ‘I’m tired. But that’s my problem. I shouldn’t take it out on you.’
His expression changed. ‘You’re right. It’s not ideal to take out your frustrations on someone else. Especially someone who is just trying to help,’ he said thoughtfully.
Was that a dig at her? Well, she deserved it.
He leaned forward. ‘Listen. I’m sorry if I pushed too far. But please, think about it. You would make a great face for the brand. If you don’t want to, then that’s okay. But think about why and who you’d like to use instead. People buy from people, so you have to have someone in the “about us” page.’ He looked at his phone. ‘I should get to work. I’ll see you later.’
She watched him gather his stuff. ‘Ethan,’ she said. ‘Thank you … for doing all of this.’
He looked up at her and smiled. The light fell on his face so that she could see his eyes crinkle behind his glasses. ‘Like I said. Mentoring smaller companies is part of the deal when you’ve been here a while. It’s my pleasure.’
He slung his satchel on his shoulder. ‘We’re watching a few more SyrenQuest replays from round one today, if you want to come join us at lunchtime.’
Oh. That could be useful. It would mean she could watch the replays with intelligent commentary in her lunch hour so that she could keep up when Blaze talked about it. On the other hand, she didn’t particularly want to spend even more time with Ethan if he was going to give her a hard time about her website photos. On top of all that, it was just so weird hearing people talk about her like that.
She was taking too long to answer; Ethan looked worried.
‘I’ll think about it,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure what time I’ll break for lunch today.’
‘Well, we’ll be there from half past twelve until half past one, if you fancy it.’ A flash of his transformative smile, and he left.
Brook watched him go, noting how he greeted people as he went past. Kim was right. For someone who seemed to spend his time avoiding the limelight, he did seem to know a lot of people. They all treated him with a sort of respectful fondness.
She turned back to her coffee and breathed in the smell. She felt slightly raw. As though she’d somehow exposed more of herself than she had intended.