1 Humping Monkey
The lights in the conference room are off, so we all can see the big screen in front of us. My animator coworkers are sitting at the table and watching the video we created in the past few weeks.
I'm standing by Smith, our boss, as he silently and carefully watches. A cold sweat sits on my back, and I breathe too slowly not to disturb anyone. The screen goes black, and the video which was playing ends. Someone turns the lights on. Tilting my head, I see Smith's hand playing with a pen on the table.
"Take a seat, Mia," he instructs, and I pull an unsafely quivery chair and sit on it. As I try to balance myself not to fall from the chair, Smith speaks. "Not that bad," he says, and everyone sighs in relief. "I don't want any mistakes like this in our company again." His British accent somehow makes him more serious. "You understand that if you hadn't finished this video by today... I don't know what I would do to animators."
I nod in agreement. "It won't happen again."
"There will be no next time." He puts his hand on the table. "You will be fired. Is that understood?"
"I—"
Before I can form a sentence, the quivering chair breaks, and I almost fall to the floor. "I'm okay!" I say as I try to get back on my feet. My coworker grabs my arm and lifts me. I dust off my clothes and look at Smith again. "Sorry. Go on."
"Are you okay?" Smith asks, and I nod.
"I'm fine."
"Alright. I hope you take this warning seriously."
"I wish you would warn Sebastian, too," I mumble.
"Excuse me?!"
The atmosphere of the room tenses up again. Everyone holds their breaths.
Putting the strand of my hair behind my ears, "I was talking to myself," I say, and he narrows his eyes. "I don't care when anyone shows up. I mean, who cares, right?" I can't believe no one is stopping me. Everyone's awkwardly watching me ramble. "Look at your bloody faces," I say, this time with a British accent, and my teeth tighten. Why did I have to do this? "Cheer up, mates," I add with the same accent that sounds more Australian than British.
Smith grabs the flash drive from the laptop on the table and leaves with his assistant. The tension is still here, although he probably has arrived in his room already.
One of my colleagues breaks the silence, chewing gum in her mouth. "Did you just say 'cheer up, mates'? With an Australian accent?"
I let out the breath I was holding. "Bite me."
She shrugs. "I'm not the one you're mad at."
"You know what?" I move the broken chair in my way to face all my colleagues. "I worked a couple of weeks on an animation of a monkey humping everything, which was disgusting, and I got five hours of sleep in total. So excuse me if I'm mad at Sebastian for not showing up at work!"
"A lil' bitter today, huh?" a soft voice says.
I turn and smile when I see my friend, Isla, who works here but not in our department. She works in the filming section.
She offers me the box of cupcakes she is holding.
"Ugh, I am so sleep-deprived," I whine. "I'm gonna punch someone, like, really bad on a private part."
"No punching, Mia," Isla warns me. "I thought you were over that rage."
"People test me."
"Smith again?" she asks, and I nod as I grab a cupcake from the box. "What was he talking about all this time with you guys?"
"Sebastian's not here again, and Smith blames me for the unfinished job. Even though I finished it."
She grabs a cupcake as well. "Seriously, where the hell is Sebastian?"
I lift my shoulder. "Who knows? He's a manager, but he's never here."
"I see you missed me, girls," says a voice, and we turn around.
Brown eyes. Brown hair. A little smirk. A monumental ego.
"Sebastian!" My tone is neither excited nor relieved.
He winks. "The one and only."
"As if we want to see more of him," I whisper to Isla.
"Sara, can you meet me at my office?" he says as he walks toward his office. "I need a coffee. Get me a mocha."
Isla licks around her mouth to get the cream off her face. "I bet Sara spits in his coffee every morning."
"Let's hope she just spits," I whisper.
"I gotta go. Good luck with him!" Isla says, and I wave her goodbye.
I walk to Sebastian's office and knock, then enter without hesitating. He's holding his head in his hands. "Did I say you can come in?"
I stand in front of his desk. "Sebastian, we need to talk."
He releases his head and rolls his eyes. "God, Mia. It's fucking ten in the morning. Stop yelling."
"I'm not yelling." I move to the windows and open the curtains.
"God, no! Why?" He covers his face.
"Okay, Dracula. We need to have a discussion ASAP."
"I'm hungover. What is it that can't wait?" The telephone on his desk rings, and he jumps on his chair. "Oh, my God," he says as he has a minor heart attack. He picks up the phone. "What?! Oh. Hey, Smith... Sure... Yup... I'm there in a few minutes."
Taking a deep breath, he runs his hand through his hair and gets up from his chair. "Fuck!" he jumps again when he notices me still standing there. "Why are you still here?"
"I said we need to talk," I try for the last time.
"I'm busy! I have to see Smith. Give me a break, Mia." He pulls the curtains half-closed and leaves his office.
Sara has arrived with the coffee, and Sebastian grabs it from her hand as he walks away. "Where is he going?" She asks.
"To Smith," I say, watching him disappear.
A man is leaving Smith's office. "Pleasure working with you," he says, smiling. "I look forward to working with y'all again."
Smith smiles. "Sure. We're just one call away."
The man walks away, but Sebastian stops him from leaving. "Hey!" he says with a surprised face. "Big Thick?"
The man smiles. "Yeah. That's me."
Sebastian smiles widely. "Man! You're the one who wanted the humping monkey?"
"Yeah."
"I didn't know that! I've seen your vlogs, man. The 'I killed my ex's dog' was amazing!"
"Thanks, dude. Check out Humping Monkey. I just got the animation part from them." He points at Smith's office. "It's gonna be lit."
Sebastian narrows his eyes. "They gave you the animation? It's done?"
"Yeah, man. I liked it. They did a great job," Big Thick says. Sebastian clenches his jaw. After a few seconds, he walks toward Smith's office. "Yo, what's up?" Big Thick asks but gets no response.
Sebastian angrily knocks on the door and opens it. Smith is in the middle of a conversation. He stops talking and looks at Sebastian with a not-so-surprised face.
"Hey, Smith," Sebastian says calmly, "Did you give Big Thick the animation without me being here?"
Smith has his assistant and a man inside his office. "I'm in the middle of something," he informs.
"You called for me to meet you at your office. So here I am," Sebastian says, his tone getting more impatient.
"You should wait outside for a few minutes," Smith says very calmly and continues his conversation.
"I asked you a question, Smith. What is the matter with you? You never acted like this."
Smith rises from his chair calmly and fixes his sleeves. "We created and delivered the animation to Mr. Thick, as promised."
Sebastian moves his jaw a few times. "First of all, Big Thick. Not Mr. Thick. And second, why did you do it without me? Why didn't I know he was the one who wanted this animation?"
"I wanted to talk to you alone, but if you insist." He moves away from his desk and gets a little closer to Sebastian. "We're friends, aren't we?" he asks in a low tone.
Sebastian gulps and says nothing.
"We're friends. I am your boss. Can you imagine what I felt when I found out you took our clients from us?"
"What?"
"It was a disappointment as your boss and betrayal as your friend."
"That's not true!"
"I know everything."
"Who said that to you?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes! They lied to you! How can you believe that? I've always worked so hard here—"
"Your section has been off the path for over a year. Our clients have stopped working with us. Your department barely kept together through last year. I gave you many chances to get it together and work yourself out of this rabbit hole—" His tone is getting louder and more serious.
Sebastian doesn't even listen to him and keeps trying to defend himself. "I am offended and hurt! You would believe someone else's word over mine! I cannot believe you!"
"But you never did, and you just drowned and got everyone drowning with yourself—"
"I have been the best employee of all time!"
"You're fired!" Is heard loudly as the last sentence of the argument, and it stops Sebastian from rambling.