Filed to story: Outplayed Story (Brooklyn & Ethan) Book PDF Free
‘No, I mean, why you
? Why this way? Why set it up as a business?’ He stood up again. Now he was towering above her.
Brook looked up. ‘I want other people to be able to swap handbags quickly and easily …’ Wasn’t it obvious?
He turned a chair round and sat down so that he was facing her. ‘You need a story,’ he said, pointing towards the crowdfunding site. ‘Something about why you came up with this business. Why it’s important to you. I’m guessing you’ve gone through your friends and family for donations. They’re investing in you, rather than the thing. When it comes to strangers, they’ll be investing in both the thing and in you. So if you can tell them a personal story about why this is important to you, it’ll make them more inclined to give. Does that make sense?’
‘I think so.’ She considered the site that she’d spent so long putting up. She’d learned how to do it all by reading blogs and other guidance. It was entirely possible that it needed work.
‘Your product photos are perfect, by the way. Really nice.’
‘Oh, my cousin did those.’
‘They’re great.’
The conversation faltered for a moment, before Ethan said, ‘I’d … better let you get back to it. There are a few things you could do with the layout to improve flow. I’ll mock something up for you, if you like.’
She didn’t know what to say.
‘I’ll bring it round tomorrow. Nine-ish?’
‘That would be amazing. Thank you. But … why are you doing this?’ If it was just an elaborate way to ask her out, then it seemed weird for her to take advantage like that. Besides, she didn’t have time for dating right now.
He considered for a second, then said, ‘Partly, it’s a community thing that we do here. You know, helping each other to “fly the Nest”. I started out in a tiny office like this one – just me and my business partner.’ A fleeting sadness passed over his face. ‘People here who were more established helped us with advice back then. I try to pay it forward.’
‘That’s very kind.’
‘Partly, I feel bad that I spilled your coffee.’
At this, Brook laughed. ‘If you can help me get the crowdfund going, you will have more than paid back for the coffee.’
He grinned. ‘I’ll see what I can do. I’ll see you tomorrow, a bit after nine.’ When he smiled, his face lost that slightly wary look, making him quite handsome.
‘See you tomorrow.’ She watched him close the door and turned back to her crowdfunding page. Now that he’d pointed it out, she could see that he was right. She’d been so busy making sure she told people all about the product and how useful it was, she’d forgotten to tell them anything about herself.
The next problem was whether she wanted to tell people about her reasons for starting this business. It was far too personal.Ethan returned to his office feeling optimistic. She hadn’t said yes to coffee, but she had been happy to meet him tomorrow. For him, that was progress.
In the office, Pete was on the phone. Ethan quietly sat down at his desk and pulled up his project list. He had deliberately blocked his schedule to watch the SyrenQuest announcement. Now he needed to get back to work.
Behind him, Pete laughed. Ethan glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. Pete was so natural in his interactions with people, even on the phone. Ethan himself hated the phone. Give him a computer and he was happy, but speaking to real people, or worse, trying to sell to real people. No, thank you. When he and Bradley had started this business, they’d split the tasks so that Ethan did the coding and design work, and his partner did the selling and schmoozing. It had worked well until Bradley gradually stopped coming into the office. These days, Ethan rarely saw him. There wasn’t any evidence that he was doing any work at all. The only reason the company had stayed afloat was because a lot of their existing customers came back every time they needed someone to run an event.
‘Fantastic,’ Pete said. ‘I’ll just drop you an invoice for the deposit and we’ll get cracking on this right away.’
Ethan’s shoulders dropped a fraction. Good. They got the job. Pete had been working for him for six months. He had originally been hired as part of an apprenticeship scheme run by The Nest, where The Nest paid part of the salary for a junior employee for a year. The company got a helping hand, the fresh graduates got work experience – everyone won. The plan was that Pete would take over the design work while Ethan handled all the tech stuff, but it had quickly become apparent that Pete was a people person. So now he did all the customer care, which Bradley should have been doing, while Ethan’s workload stayed the same. Ethan had no idea what was going to happen when the year was up. He couldn’t manage by himself. Besides, he liked having Pete around to share the office.
‘That’s brilliant,’ Ethan said to Pete. ‘You’re really good at this.’
Pete grinned. ‘Not really. I’m average at it. You are just very bad at it and it makes me look good by comparison.’
He couldn’t disagree with that.
Pete grabbed a pen and wrote the client’s name on the whiteboard and started to block out time for the project. Ethan watched him. Bradley should have been doing that too.
‘How’d it go with Brook?’ asked Pete. ‘Do you have a date?’
‘Sort of,’ said Ethan.
Pete turned around. ‘What do you mean “sort of”? Did you ask her to meet you for coffee or not?’
‘I did. But then I offered to help her with her crowdfunding campaign. So I’m meeting her tomorrow to give her notes on how she can improve the page.’
‘Unbelievable. All you had to do was say, “Do you want to have coffee?”‘
Ethan shrugged. ‘But this way, I get to see her more than once. The best way to get to know someone is to work with them, right?’
‘I suppose.’ Pete laughed. ‘When I first met you, I thought you were a bit nerdy, but cool in your own way. Now that I’ve worked for you for a few months, I know that you’re very nerdy and … really not that cool.’
Ethan laughed too. ‘See. It works. You know me better now.’
They both returned to their work. Yes, he definitely needed to talk to Bradley. He couldn’t afford to pay the full amount of Pete’s salary when the apprenticeship ended, unless his partner reduced his take. Damn. There was no one else who could talk to Bradley for him. He had to do it. The very thought of it made him feel sick.
He opened up a new email. May as well get it over with. Like pulling off a plaster. Should he call? The idea made him go cold. No. Email was better.
He typed in Bradley’s email address then wrote:
We need to talk. Meeting at the company office at 9.30 on Wednesday?
To his amazement the reply came back within a few minutes.
Hello stranger. Yes. A chat is long overdue. Wednesday is good. Can’t do 9.30, I have a previous commitment. I’ll come round at 11.
Ethan stared at it. The assumption that he was free at eleven rankled. But there was no point prolonging the discussion. So he wrote back and confirmed that Wednesday at eleven was fine with him.
It took a whole minute of mindful breathing to calm his heart rate back down again.