Page 17 of Courting Clemson

Luke

All week, I could not get that girl off my mind.

I knew so little about her, so I found myself doing what any self-respecting man in a digital world would do and took to the internet. With a little detective work, you could find out an astonishing number of details about a person. Especially with the level of determination I had. I didn’t even know her name…at first. But after some sniffing around on her school’s website, I found my mystery interest.

Her name was Clemson Farsay. She was a biology major at one of the private universities here in San Diego, and apparently, she was one hell of a swimmer, because that was where I hit paydirt. She had been featured in a handful of articles dating back to her high school years that always centered around her swimming accomplishments. That explained her incredible body.

Sophomore in college…that would make her twenty years old at most. Almost twenty years younger than me. Did that make me a pervert? Maybe to some, but she was so mature when we talked. I found myself more interested in what she had to say the day we volunteered together at the shelter than the last two women I’d gone out with. And they were both my age.

And my God, was she beautiful. At the animal shelter, she had her blond hair tied back in a no-nonsense ponytail, so I didn’t get to appreciate how long and gorgeous it was. After I found her on social media and got to see her all dolled up, though, my tongue nearly lolled out of my mouth. The girl was a complete bombshell, and now I was desperate to see her again.

“Did you even hear a word I’ve said?” Liam asked, looking a bit pissed about it.

“Huh?”

“Perfect.” He sighed. “Where the hell is your brain this week? Are you coming down with something? You’ve been so out of it. I think you need a vacation, man.”

Honestly, I hadn’t heard a single word of his campaign pitch after the initial concept.

“Sorry, man. I’ve been so distracted. And I think you’re right. I should take some PTO.” I didn’t have much more to offer and didn’t think asking him to start over would be good either.

“Do you want to table this, or should I run through it again?” Liam asked, offering me way more grace than I deserved. “We’re on a timeline here with the client, so I’d like to get your approval to pitch it.”

My behavior was so unprofessional and uncharacteristic.

“Can you run through it again? Let me get some caffeine first, and hopefully I’ll perk up a bit,” I said as I rose to pour myself a cup of coffee.

I knew the real reason behind my lack of concentration, and it had nothing to do with my lack of sleep.

Back at the table, I took a hearty gulp of the steaming liquid and focused on Liam.

Instead of launching into his idea, he sat staring at me. “Seriously, Luke, what’s going on?”

“I just have a lot on my mind,” I said with a shrug.

There was no way in hell I would tell him about the girl living rent-free in my mind. Inevitably, her age would come up, and I didn’t have the energy to defend myself. Maybe that should have been a deal breaker on this one, but I just couldn’t shake the image of her.

“You’re so full of shit,” he replied and tilted his head in question. “Honestly, I’m a little offended. I thought we were better friends than this.”

“I thought you were on a time crunch with this proposal?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yeah, but I don’t think you’re even here in the same room with me, so maybe if you speak your mind, we may actually get some work done.”

When I didn’t say anything and just took another drink from the coffee mug in front of me, he let out an exasperated sigh.

“All right, be that way.”

I laughed. “So this is for the Stone Global account? The fitness centers?” I got that much from what he’d said before.

That was enough to light his fuse again. “It is. They’ve had a huge pick-up in memberships since the pandemic. The proposal is for a line of home gym equipment. Small, some even portable, machines that offer a great cardio workout, super durable and high quality.”

“My very first thought is what makes theirs any different than the hundreds of brands already doing this? Sure, there will be some brand loyalty, but I’d highlight whatever they claim they do that no one else does. It’s a massive challenge to market something no one really needs, especially in an already saturated market.”

We were off and running. We bounced ideas around using his initial concept and fine-tuned it so the decision-makers would be blown away with the campaign we offered.

More than an hour later, we left the conference room with a pretty solid pitch outlined. Liam definitely had his work cut out for him, though. I’d pitched a campaign to this client years ago, and to this day, it was one of the most stressful ads I’d ever worked on. I loved the creative outlet this job provided, but I didn’t miss the stress of the day-to-day interactions with clients.

Now, most of my days were spent managing my team, making sure everyone was staying on track to meet their deadlines, and reviewing their concepts. There was always the interoffice drama that any manager had to deal with—my least favorite part of the position—and it was shocking the situations employees got themselves into. Having to clean up the mess when it all collapsed was the worst.

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