I opened my eyes so wide that they started tearing, making me more sleepy than I already was. The clock ticking on the size slowly moved from 6 am to 6:05 as I sat in this freezing conference room listening to Alex drone on and on about how VR is the new up-and-coming technology. Why was VR so special to him anyways? Whatever those guys showed us a few weeks back was crap.
"What's the date today?" Alex asked me.
"October 24th," I said automatically.
"Oops... I knew that!" Alex smiled at me. Of course, he knew. He knew it was my actual birthday today, but he was still making me work. "Dad, I guarantee you that we will have something by Christmas. This gives us two months. After that, we will be ready with a protocol, maybe even for a beta test."
"Tha..t a..ll, great. Wh..at...point," Alex's father's, also named Alexander, broken feed hummed. He was already in his pajamas, from what I could tell from the blurry video that was being displayed on the big conference TV.
"I think he is trying to say, what's the point?" Alex whispered.
"Mr.Tribecc. I understand your hesitation." I interjected. "VR in the past has been a hit or a miss for many tech companies, but these guys are trying to do something new. They are taking real people and creating 3D VR versions of them," What a stupid fucking idea, I internally thought, "Even if it doesn't work for our users, having a stake in an up-and-coming idea can always benefit LongD."
"Oh god, please don't say that stupid fucking name," Alexander requested.
"Okay, sorry, LD. Happy?" I complied. "So, what are your thoughts?"
"This is exactly what I've been telling him for the past few months. But, unfortunately, I don't think he will go for it," Alex again whispered to me.
"Okay fine. I saw the initial product they showed us. It was not that great. It's bad enough I have to see your son with my eyes open. With their new VR thingy, I was seeing him in the dark." I started.
"What are you saying? Shut up!" Alex warned.
"But this was what they created a few days after talking to me. They turned a meet and greet into a demo. In nothing else, these guys' talents and thirst to innovate were refreshing. They are the exact type of people who would be an asset to the company." I continued.
"This was exactly why I recruited them, and we were both impressed!" Impressed was a bit of a stretch, but those guys were nice and nerdy. However, I did not doubt they were hard workers and deserved the funds this collaboration would provide. Even if this company went down, they were going to bounce back with a new idea, so I nodded in agreement.
"Okay, you know what, I am tired. Char, you made a lot of cohesive points. Alex, I trust you, kid, don't let me down. So send me the contract by email. I'll have my lawyer look it over...."
"Dad, I already had my legal team look at it...."
"No harm doing a second check, son," He advised.
"Fine," a dejected Alex said.
We all said our goodnights and good mornings, and finally, the screen went black.
"You're welcome!" I exclaimed.
"What for? I still have to send him the contract we drafted. He is going to scrutinize that to no end. More work for you to do," He commented.
"Good thing I only have till May to worry about it," I said, getting up and shutting my laptop lid. "For now, I am going to go enjoy my Sunday."
"We still have a few more things to discuss. So I thought we could go to Patty's, get a Bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, her famous scorching hot coffee, and review this weekend's deadlines," he suggested, also getting up.
"Patty's doesn't open till 8," I said, then turned my hand over to look at the time on my smartwatch, "And look at that, it's only 6:15 right now. Wow, can't believe you made me drag my butt all the way to the office for a 15-minute call."
"Come on, let's go," He mysteriously said as he exited the room.
I gave him a quizzical look but followed him out. We took the 2-minute walk to Patty's, a local diner we often eat at for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, sometimes all three, and I rolled my eyes. From the large windows, we could see the lights were off, the place surrounded by darkness. Alex, not a man who can take no for an answer, tugged at the glass door, and the 'Closed' sign that hung there mocked him by swinging vigorously.
"Alex, they don't open till eight! So we are almost two hours early!" I informed him of the obvious.
"Hold on!" He said, now knocking twice. To my surprise, an older woman with an apron appeared from the back corner, a small flashlight in her hand, and gave Alex a thumbs up. He mimicked her with his own thumb. She disappeared again, taking the light with her.
"What's going on?" I asked him. He pointed at the window, and to my shock, Patty's wasn't dark anymore. Instead, purple and gold LED lights shone in the back. The purple covered the words Happy and Char, while the birthday was brighter than the other two, in gold. I instantly smiled. In total, the bright lights spelled, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAR.'
"I am going to kiss you on the cheek now, don't think anything of it!" He advised and did as he warned. His aftershave made me feel giddy inside, and the fact that I could feel his smile on my left cheeks made mine wider. "Or think what you want. Who am I to stop you?" He whispered in my ears.
"Thank you!" I said once we separated, and my head stopped buzzing from all this excitement. "That was very sweet!"
"Yeah, and it's staying on till we eat!" Alex said. Then he opened the door easily, the 'Closed' sign now mocking everyone else but the two of us...
"Wow, what acting. It looked like you were going to break the door before!" I said, entering the diner.
He told me to pick any seat, so of course, I picked the one close to my sign, not before taking a billion pictures of it, next to it, making Alex begrudgingly pose with me.
"You like it?" Alex asked as we sat down, and I stared at the sign. "It's not much, but I wanted to make you feel special today!"
"It's perfect!" I said. "I liked that you left the age part out too!" I laughed.
"Do I know you or what?" He proudly said.
"Yes, yes! Bound to happen when you spend 29 hours a day together." I joked. "What are we eating?"
"Patty!" Alex called out. A few seconds later, Patty appeared from the kitchen carrying at least ten stacked pancakes with candles sticking out of them. She carefully placed them in front of me, blocking the bottom half of Alex's face.
"This man....he come up upstairs to my apartment," She said in her polish accent, pointing up to the ceiling, "wakes Mr.Patty and me up at 5 to make this. So skinny little girl, you better finish it all. Understand?"
"Thank you, Patty! It looks great!" I said to her, "You helping me eat this!" I said to Alex's forehead, seeing wrinkles form there. I heard him laugh in agreement. So we began digging in, breaking whatever we could without butter knives.
"So you woke up at 5 for this?" I asked as the pancake tower deflated slightly and how I could see everything but Alex's chin.
"Who slept? I dropped Glenn off at his hotel room and came to the office to prepare for today's call."
"And then at 5, you decided to take a break to plan all of this? Get lights and have Patty make breakfast." I pried.
"I couldn't get much work done. My brain was all over the place. Needed to do something about it. So, since I had a connection in Chinatown for the lights, I got those, then woke up Patty, and it all came together. At 5. In the morning." He explained.
"Why was your brain all over the place?" I interrogated.
"You know, Glenn, you, May! A lot of things...." He took a big bite of the pancake, and the cake toppled more. Alex was again in full view. He looked dazed and a bit confused.
"So, is this a ploy to keep me from quitting?" I accused him but kindly. It was kind of working.
"No, I get it." He signed, then continued, "let me finish apologizing from last night. I am sorry I pretty much held your life captive all these years. I started depending so much on you that I second-guessed everything till you approved it." He gave a bitter chuckle. "However, my issues shouldn't be your problem." He shrugged.
"It's fine. I know you were under so much pressure."
"I promise from now till May, I will only bother you after hours when I have an emergency, and I will relieve some of your project load." He said.
"Thanks for understanding, Alex. I wasn't sure how you would react today, to be honest. We've had this conversation a few times in the last few weeks, so I am glad we got to an understanding."
"Okay, good! So let's make your stay till May a good one!" Alex said, raising his water glass, urging me to do the same, I did, and we clinked them. "Oh, I have one more thing I asked Patty to make. Give me a second." Alex got up and walked into the same room as Patty, guessing at the diner's kitchen.
I excitedly waited for Alex. He was acting differently today. The usual demand for my time was absent. History taught me not to read too much into this, so as I waited, I tried to convince myself all of this was nothing. Now that I was leaving, he wanted to be kind to ensure I didn't have bad memories of working with him! Yeah, that must be it!
My phone gave a loud buzz snapping me out of my contemplation. An unknown number?
"Hello?" I cautiously questioned.
"Char, I hurt myself. There is blood everywhere." Said a familiar voice.
"Where are you, Glenn?"
"The hotel across from the office." His voice cracked as he spoke.
"You need to call 911 after you hang up. If it's bad, you need help! I am with Alex now. I can send him."
"NO!" He screamed, straining slightly. "He will send me back to rehab. You have to come without him knowing."
"Um... okay, fine," I said after taking in all the information he was throwing at me. "Call 911 and get to a hospital, at least. I'll come there!" I offered.
"Char, Alex pretty much knows all the doctors in the city. That's how he found out last time that I was using. Please just come! I don't want to die yet!" He pleaded.
"Okay...what room are you in?" I asked.
"235."
I hung up, shaking in worry and confusion. Blood everywhere? What had he done to himself? Why didn't I ask? Should I call for help? But he asked me not to. But what if something happens to him in the meantime? Should I just get up and leave before Alex gets back? These and several billion other questions flooded my brain, leaving me paralyzed. I didn't move until Alex's hand jolted me back to the diner.
"You okay?" He asked. "You look pale."
"Yes," was all I could muster.
He looked content at my answer and sat back in his chair. "Here!" He handed me a fortune cookie wrapped in a thin clear film. It looked hand-made. "You remember that really shitty Chinese restaurant we went to after the Tech summit. We were so hungry, and the food was so bad that all we ate were fortune cookies. We both kept getting the 'You will take a chance in something in the near future.'
"Yeah, I do...." I said, smiling at the memory. As crazy as working with Alex was, we always found a way to have a good time. A quick second of relief was made worse when Glenn's voice came flooding back, echoing in my brain. There is blood everywhere. I had to get to him! "um...Alex, I am sorry I have to go. Sugar just called. She locked herself out of the room," I lied straight out of my ass. Sugar, not once, had ever done that. "I have to go, her audition is starting soon, and she left her script in her room. I am sorry!"
"Why don't I get my driver to drop you off?" Alex offered.
"The Uber is already here," I lied. "Sorry, Alex!" I took the cookie he had just gotten me and stuffed it in my bag, "I'll have this later! This was so great!"
I heard him trying to stop me, but I dashed out the door. The hotel was a few blocks away, so I sprinted towards it, not looking back once.
****
My hands trembled as I knocked on the door, but that didn't stop me from almost banging a hole into it.
"Glenn, open this door," I simultaneously yelled out.
A few seconds later, he did. Glenn's white pajama Shirt was covered in blood. It almost looked like a tie-dye pattern. He also had his wrist wrapped up in one of the hotel's towels.
"Are you okay? What happened?" I yelled at him. He slowly lifted the towel and revealed a gash across his wrist, swimming in blood. It almost looked like a movie makeup artist had worked on his arm to make it look as gory as possible. His skin was lifted like molehills in the plains. I lost all feeling in my legs. I wanted to throw up, but I swallowed hard and walked inside the room. He called me to help, and help I should. "You need medical attention. If that means going to rehab, it means going to rehab. Clearly, it didn't work the last few times. So what's once more?"
"Char, please, I won't be able to make it out alive! Help me."
"Is this living now?" I intensely questioned.
"Can you help me stop the bleeding or not?" He strongly asked. "If not, leave."
"I can if you come to the hospital with me or let me call 911." I simply said.
"No! If that's all you have to say, get out!" He barked. Though that cost him. He used too much energy and now had none to stand, so he slowly collapsed against the hotel room wall. I rushed to him to make sure he was okay. "Glenn!" I shook him. "Say something."
"No hospitals," He faintly said.
I let out a long strained breath as my chest shook violently. What could I do to help Glenn? He was too big for me to drag him out. What could I do? What could I... then I remembered something small Ben had mentioned on our first date about his sister-in-law going crazy at home during maternity leave. She was on leave from being a...a... "NURSE!" I yelled out loud. I wasted no time dialing Ben, and he wasted even less time picking up.
"I thought you would never call after last night! I felt awful about it!" He said in lieu of a greeting.
"Ben, your sister-in-law, could she help a friend that hurt himself? I remember she was a nurse!" I talked fast, not knowing how long Glenn had left before fainting.
"Oh gosh, sure. Should I wake Mariam up?"
"Yes, sorry, it's an emergency."
A few minutes later, a lady with a soft drowsy voice took the phone. I explained the situation. "He needs to be taken to the hospital. But, unfortunately, it might be too late if he already lost a lot of blood."
"He is refusing to go and not letting me call for help from the hospitals. I am not sure what else to do!"
"Okay, send me and Ben the address. I'll get there shortly. However, if I see the situation is out of hand, I call the cops." She clearly said.
"Yes, please get here as soon as possible."
****
"I got a turkey sandwich from the cafe downstairs," I said as I huffed and puffed. I had run at Glenn's demand to get him food because he felt faint.
"I am about done with the stitches. Glenn, you got lucky that you didn't get any vital arteries. The bleeding was bad because he had more than one deep cut, but I was able to stop the bleeding. Eat, rest today, and you will feel better." Mariam, Ben's sister-in-law, said, crouched down next to Glenn. The same place Glenn had collapsed at 20 minutes ago. I handed a feeble Glenn his sandwich, and he began to take small bites.
"When you feel well enough, let's try to get you into bed," I suggested. Glenn gave me a single nod.
"Thanks so much, Mariam. I am sorry I had to bother you so early. We don't know each other well, and you still came!" I tried to thank her. Mariam was a wizard as soon as she got here. She had a box that she opened when she saw his wounds. Inside she had everything she needed to help with his injuries. Gaze, tap, ointment, etc. She cleaned and sprayed something on it, then got to work. In about 10 minutes, Glenn stopped bleeding.
"Sure, no problem, but don't make it a habit!" She sternly said. "He needs help. Don't enable him." She whispered to me. I nodded in agreement. "And thank Ben for driving like a maniac. My new car almost didn't make it out alive." She smiled. I looked at Ben, standing a few feet away from all the chaos. He looked in awe. "I am driving back. Say your goodbyes and meet me by the car." She said to Ben, then waved her final goodbyes and walked out of the room, no doubt with the worst impression of me, but not of that mattered now. Glenn was okay.
"You okay?" Ben asked. "I can't believe you handled someone trying to take their life like this. Who is he?"
"He is an old friend," Easier just to say that.
"Oh...like someone you dated?" He rubbed the back of his neck.
"No, nothing like that. Glenn is just a plain old friend. I've known him for almost eight years. He lost his wife five years ago, and he is still coping with it." I explained.
"Stop telling strangers my life story!" Glenn complained, still chewing the one bite of his sandwich.
"This stranger saved your life!" I yelled.
"No, the girl did. He didn't do shit!" Glenn tried to yell back.
"It's fine. He seems to be out of it," Ben excused.
"Thanks for everything. I know we have a lot to talk about. I'll call you later?" I explained.
"Sure," he tried to kiss my lips, but I tilled my face, so he got most of my cheeks. "Sorry, a force of habit. I get it. I hope to see you soon." I smiled, and he, too, walked out of the room.
I decided to wait here till Glenn ate half the sandwich I got and till he had enough energy to get into bed. I took my phone out to kill time as I did and saw I had two miscalls from Alex. I dialed right away.
"Hey," He softly said.
"Hey," I nervously said. What did Alex know? Shit. Shit. Shit.
"Did you have a chance to open the cookie yet?" He asked with excitement.
"No, not yet," I said, slightly confused. "I can do it now,"
"Okay, I can wait."
I went to my bag on the couch where I had stuffed the cookie and tried to locate it, placing my phone on one of the useless puffy pillows. Just then, I heard a knock on the door. Before I went to open it, Ben entered back in.
"Oh...I guess I didn't close the door properly," Ben announced. "Just wanted to warn you, say the hotel staff coming around here to clean. You might want to clean up a bit before they get here. Things in this room look suspicious, or I can put up the do not disturb sign!"
"Yeah, good point, Could you put up the sign?"
"Sure!" He said and again walked out.
I returned to my original task and finally located the cookie deep within my pocketbook. "Hello," I spoke into my phone.
"You're in a hotel with Ben?" Alex's cold voice said.
"What?" I said, dumbfounded. Oh no, he thought I left him to come to a hotel room with Ben. "No, it's not what you think."
"I guess he had a birthday gift for you too. And it was more important than any I could give you?" I had nothing to say to this. Why did he react this way? Alex had made it clear that he did not like me, but whenever Ben was mentioned, he turned into a teenage girl. Bratty and mean. "Right, so Sugar didn't have an emergency?"
"No," I sighed. I couldn't tell Alex the truth, and the lie would revert the nice Alex I saw this morning into a monster, but what choice did I have?
"So that's still going on, is it?" Alex questioned.
"I don't really know."
"Well, it's good that you're in a hotel room with him then. Have fun!" He said, trying to sting me with his words, no doubt, but he sounded more in pain.
"Alex... it's not what you..." But it was too late. He had already hung up. I dropped my phone back on the couch and ripped open the cookie's wrapping, then the cookie itself. A white paper stuck out at me, and I pulled it out. It said, 'You will take a chance on something in the near future...May is near enough. How about a date then?'