Love In Design

Chapter 9 - Date

DAVID

After finishing tidying my house for the second time, I gaze around it to make sure everything looks perfect. I bought some plants and cushions to make it homier, and new bed sheets for my room. I don't know how my date with Kaley will end, but it if makes it to my bed, I don't think my old faded sheets will make a good impression. I'm not usually one to fuss, but I'm kind of nervous. Excitement, maybe?

When I went for my interview at The Idea Factory over two years ago, I wasn't sure what to expect, or even if it was the right path to take. I had been working at an accountant's office for years, but never clicked with the people there. Lunch time was a circus with people trying to pry on my private life; wanting to know if I was single, about my family, my past. Those are details that I'm not willing to talk about freely or even comfortably. I felt in need of a change and when I saw a short vacancy text in the Saturday newspaper, I knew it was my chance to do something different. Without giving it extra thought, I emailed my details on that morning, not expecting much to come out of it. Not even an hour later, I had Zack on the phone begging me to come on the same day for an interview.

After closing the door of the studio behind me, I found chaos; boxes, a half-built table, buckets of paint against a wall, print proofs over all surfaces, even spread over the floor. A curvy girl with her brown curls in a knot, held by a pen, was on her knees examining a sheet close to her face. Suddenly, Zack appeared in my vision field.

"Thanks God, you are here! Come with me!"

I followed him to what is now the meeting room, which was also filled with more boxes, stacks of paper and chairs wrapped in plastic. Zack looked around, moved a pile of flyers from a chair onto the floor, and motioned for me to sit down.

"Can you do something about this?" He gazed around the room, while I ripped the plastic off the chair.

"What are these?" I peered into a box nearby.

"Receipts, invoices, everything from the last three years. We moved recently to this building. I haven't had time to sort stuff out," he raked his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Are they paid? Have you been paid? Or is it just filing?"

"I'm not sure, that's why we need you," he plead.

"Okay, I think I can handle this."

He grinned and rushed out of the room.

"Hey, wait a minute! Shouldn't we talk more about the position?" I asked from the door.

"It's yours! You can start now! We will pay you whatever you want. I just don't want to deal with that shit anymore. I'm a designer. I hate doing the project management!"

The girl stood up from her paper mess on the floor and another guy I didn't even see when I came in approached me.

"Hi, I'm Elvam and this is Kaley. Together with Zack Valentine..." He pointed at Zack, who was back at his desk muttering. "We own The Idea Factory. I assume you applied for the project manager position?"

"Yes, I'm David Lantz, nice to meet you both. I'm not sure what just happened in there."

"Nice to meet you too," they both shook hands with me, but I couldn't keep my eyes off Kaley. "I'm sorry about that. We are kind in a hurry to hire someone. Zack usually does our finances and paperwork, but it got out of hand and he's close to a break down," he chuckled. "If you give me a minute, I can pull the minutes of our discussion to let you know the salary."

"We can really use the help. Like right now," Kaley said and from that moment on, I couldn't say no to her.

"I- Uh... Yeah, sure. I can give you guys a hand."