A Wrench in the Gears [Damien Haas]

6. My name is Boneless...!

"Oh, damn, she knows about our Gus streak," Shayne mumbles, squinting his eyes at me. "You're no predator at this, Jade Greene. You'll be a prey when that man... no, that legend comes back. Aaaaanyway, I gotta go pay for this stuff now, so see you on Monday, Jade! Bye, Damien, you guys take care."

"See ya!" I exclaim.

"Take care, Shayne," Damien says as he ends the call before turning to me. "You caught up on our TNTL videos."

"That's right, Elizagerth," I reply, referencing one of his jokes. "Of course, Jason and Jeremy here had to guide me to understand a lot of references. These kids are smarter than they seem. Am I really the older sibling?"

He chuckles before putting his phone in his pocket. "Anyway, I still got work tomorrow, so I guess I should get going," he says, standing up. "Let's get your brothers to bed! It's already late."

So we get Jason and Jeremy in their room, and after they bid Damien good night, we stand by the doorframe again. "I'll see you on Monday then," I tell him, smiling. "Take care on your way home!"

When he leaves, I lock the doors and go to my room. Mom has a spare key, so I can get to bed immediately. Lily has the morning shift, so she's still asleep by now. I have nothing else to do except wonder at the thought of Damien.

Damien was something else. Many guys had already gone and tried to make me smile, but he really was something else. His brown hair with a bit of blue that he worked out well was simply different. His brown eyes that twinkled with each smile was always so dazzling. I wonder how many fangirls out there wanted to be in my spot right now, because he was dreamy and goofy and the perfect bit of everything.

He already had my brothers' seals of approval anyway.

The weekend flew quickly as it always did, and I was already on my way to Athens HQ to have a time-in. After timing in and submitting reports from the following day, I make my way towards Smosh, the official start of work.

Upon entering, I get into the elevator and try to look as casual as possible. In Athens, we always wore corporate clothes in the office and when we were out, we had to wear anything flexible so we could get atop of cars and shoot or maybe climb walls to get a better view. In short, most of my casual clothes were just shirts and random denim pairs of pants. I had put a sweater over this, and when the doors open, I looked as casual as everyone.

In short, again, I was still trying to fit in. I've always wanted to be in a creative workplace like this, and working in serious journalism for a few years has gotten me a bit too serious for the things that I like.

"Hey, Courtney!" I greet Courtney on my way to the room that Athens people occupy.

"Jade!" she greets me back. "TNTL later, you gotta laugh when I make a joke, okay?"

"No promises," I say, waving at her before running into Shayne. "Good morning, Shayne!"

"Hey, hey, it's Jade!" he exclaims, patting my back. "Don't laugh at Courtney but laugh at mine. I bet ten dollars on it."

"Still no promises," I tell him before seeing Mari. "Hey there, Mari!"

"Jade, nice to see you!" she says before high-fiving me. "Victor's really good at writing for videos. He's actually in the brainstorming session right now for his fourth video."

"Awesome! That's Vic in his own ways," I say before meeting Ian. "Yo, Ian!"

"Hey, Jade," he says, smiling. "See you at TNTL later, okay?"

"Yup, see ya!" I reply as I push the door into the Athens room. "Good morning, guys!"

"Hey!" Jenna and Chris chorus.