The Bad Boy Computer Programmer At Wattpad

VIDEO CHAT (Ian's Perspective)

**Ian**

At a quarter to ten, Sloth and Mouth strolled into a darkened Wattpad office with snacks and beverages in hand. Ian sat alone at his computer setting up for the conference call with Amanda--a single light illuminating his work station. Balancing a bag of ketchup chips and 2-liter bottle of soda on a pizza box in one arm, Sloth rolled his desk chair over to Ian. Mouth did the same, but with a tub of popcorn and 2-liter bottle of soda in a different flavor.

Whiffing the scent of pepperoni pizza and buttered popcorn, Ian refocused his attention from Amanda's bug report to his coworkers as they descended upon his desk with their ergonomic chairs. "You do know this isn't the 10 o'clock showing at the Cineplex?"

"I'm here to see a comedic horror," jested Mouth.

Sloth pushed his way between Ian and the side portion of his L-shaped desk. Ian shuffled over to make room, adjusting the monitor so Sloth and Mouth wouldn't be in the camera's view. "I'm just here looking for ideas for a Wattpad story," Sloth confessed in a sea of sarcasm.

Still readjusting his keyboard and support ticket papers, Ian replied, "You think people would read something you wrote?"

Placing his hand on his chest before plopping down in his chair, Sloth proclaimed, "You keep forgetting I play God with code. I can force my story down people's throats."

Glancing at his watch, a nervous Ian issued words of warning. "Not a sound from either of you. When directly dealing with the public, we're a reflection of Wattpad. The shenanigans that happen in our normal work bubble are off limits. I'm dead serious about this."

"Why would you want to be dead Sirius?" Mouth asked, playing on words. "Alive Sirius was more useful to Harry Potter." Ian glared at Mouth. "Okay--be dead Sirius. I'm not here to judge anyone's cosplay."

Mouth scooted behind Sloth, both on Ian's right-hand side. "Are we making bets?" Mouth asked. "Is Yoda gonna be a Leia or a Jar Jar?

"If she's a Leia--." Sloth grabbed his bag of ketchup chips and popped it open. "I get more of these." Throwing a couple chips into his mouth, he added, "But if she's a Jar Jar--." Sloth paused to finish chewing his food. "If she's a Jar Jar--this is going to be awesome."

A ringing sounded from Ian's computer. "I mean it," he warned his coworkers one last time with a stern stare. Sloth and Mouth held up two fingers--the Boy Scouts hand sign for honor. Then just as Ian reached to connect with Amanda on Google Hangouts, Sloth crossed his two fingers and grinned.

"Amanda?"

A woman with wavy hair pulled in a ponytail appeared on Ian's 24 inch monitor. As she smiled, her shoulders rose towards her ears and her nose scrunched. "Yes! That's me. I'm Amanda."

Cute, Ian thought to himself.

"Hi. I'm Ian. I'm one of the engineers here at Wattpad."

"Nice to meet you, Ian."

"Thank you for doing this."

"Thank you for staying late to fix my thing. My--." Amanda paused, looking downward for a moment. "My box."

Sloth turned to Ian. "Dude--what are you fixing?"

Hardly moving his lips, Ian whispered, "I'm not sure."

"My computer box," Amanda corrected. She paused for an awkward moment, then added, "Thank you for staying late to fix the bug in the computer box--or whatever it's called. I'm not too skilled in tech vocab--or tech knowledge."