Page 67 of 12 Days

We’re surely reaching a boardroom record for number of heavy silences during a meeting. Not that any of us are complaining. I think we’re all mulling over how incredible the leadup to this launch has become.

“So fucking what?” Owen’s taken it upon himself to be the main adversary in this meeting. I respect him for it because it’s cutting through some of my formless ramblings.

“So, fucking what is that she has something going on herself. That doesn’t mean it’s bad for us, or has anything to do with anything we give a shit about, but she has her own objectives in mind, whatever they are.”

That weird stiltedness leaves rapidly, and the boardroom reverts to its usual self: twelve voices laughing, swearing, trying to talk over each other. Except me. I wish I had a gavel sometimes, to bang on the table and bring order to the boardroom. After a few seconds, everyone calms the fuck down.

“Hey, what is your motive anyway?” Tate repeats himself but with a snarl this time. I can feel the annoyed energy coming at me, not just from Tate, but also from everyone there.

“Fuck. Let me start over.”

The whole room goes up in a tidal wave of laughter. It’s mostly relief, and that’s why I’m cracking up, too. I just needed to remind everyone that I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about.

“Anyway,” I resume after everyone starts to calm down, “Alyssa’s aiming for something. We may find out what it is, and that’s something to keep in mind. I say that because I don’t really care, and I don’t think any of you do either.”

“I don’t know if you did any better this time,” Nico gets out before starting to laugh again.

“Yeah, gotta agree with that,” Owen says smugly while leaning back in his seat and actually putting his hands behind his head, just in case he wasn’t arrogant enough. “But I also agree with Sean.”

“Way to redeem yourself, Owen.” I give him a friendly point, and he points back, still looking smug, but I can forgive him.

I try leaning back a bit myself, looking up at the insanely high boardroom ceiling, and I’m starting to feel feverish, blood rushing to certain regions. It’s a really nice fucking feeling to have at work, and it’s thanks to Alyssa.

“See?” Theo’s voice jolts me back to the meeting. “She does that. Right?”

“Heh. Right.” I go back to the ceiling. My moment of having everyone attentive, maybe the last time that’ll ever fucking happen, is now in the past, and I couldn’t care less.

“I think there’s only one person on our minds now,” Ethan says for the first time this meeting.

“Usually when that happens,” Tristan interrupts, “it’s something we’re all worried about.”

“And we’re not usually finishing each other’s fucking sentences, either,” Nico inserts quickly.

“That’s my point!” Ethan’s not finished, and he’s retaking the floor. “We’re all in agreement, it seems, and it’s not about some fucking debacle for once.”

“My point, too,” Tristan says.

“I guess it’s my point, too,” I say. The meeting’s out of my control, but I’m trying to bring it full circle anyway. “I also don’t know what Alyssa’s objectives are. I just wanted to broach that topic, and make certain that we’re all in agreement that we trust her.”

I think I did bring it full circle, because there’s another one of those weird silences–except it feels more relaxed this time. A comfortable boardroom silence; it’s like the world’s gone topsy-turvy in the best way possible.

There’s still a trivial issue–well, not so fucking trivial for me–but it’s something I’m not going to bring up at this meeting. Clearly, we all feel very warmly about Alyssa, which is an understatement. There’s just no way of knowing if anyone else in this room feels as warmly as I do.

This is the kind of shit I try to detach myself from at work. I have a spotless success record with that, so far. I’ll try to detach again.

“That’s it from me. Is there anything else to bring up while we’re all here?”

It’s a formality, and I have a bad feeling about asking.

“I trust her, but I also really like her.” The words come from Ford, but at the same time it’s like they come from everyone.

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