DEBS’S HOUSE - TUESDAY MID-MORNING

KITCHEN

DEBS

I can’t believe that not only did he refuse to lend Michael the money, after all he will pay it back eventually...but he is still friends with Carl! He should’ve dropped him the moment I did! Well since I have all this free time, as Delores didn’t call, I shall go and have a word with him. As I grab my coat, my phone rings. “Debbie Novotny. Oh just the man I am coming to see. Why? Where are you going? You’ve only just got back from a...now don’t take that tone with me! What about the diner? What did you hear? What? Are you sure?!” I nod and all thoughts of going to Kinnetic are quashed. This needs to be sorted out first!

Just as I am about to head down the street, I hear a horn toot and turn around. It’s Ben. “Hey, what are you doing round here?”

“I had hoped to catch you. Are you alright after last night? Did you know about Brian and Carl having this meeting up thing? I think it’s highly disrespectful of him to have anything to do with him after you broke up. His loyalty should be to you.”

“I knew they were still friends, but not about their Monday nights. And damn right, it should be! Did you hear what’s happened at the diner? It’s closed this morning! I had better be getting paid for this!”

“How do you know that? And I’m sure you will.” He soothes.

“Brian told me after not apologising for his behaviour last night. You know Ben, it’s at times like this that I am glad that you and Michael ended up together. Can you imagine having him for a son-in-law? So selfish!”

KINNETIC

BRIAN’S OFFICE

BRIAN

That should keep her busy! I turn my screen on and take another sip of coffee. This is seriously good stuff. It actually tastes better out of this cup. “Cyn!” I call out and she pops in with a small paper bag and the boards for the Bellrush Whisky pitch.

“Coffee Fairy.” She says, putting it on my desk and then points to my cup.

“You still not going to tell me?”

“Nope, since the genius fairy wishes to remain anonymous. But please do not take this out on me...” She says as she puts the boards on the stands.

“Who the fuck did these? A blind leper?!” I gripe as I look at the boards. The shading is completely wrong. “Why is this purple instead of green?”

“They’re outside, so you can ask them.” She answers and then gestures that they should come in.

“What do you think boss?” Grantham unwisely smiles at me.

“They are shit. How did one of you numbskulls confuse green with purple? Fuck me, they’re not even in the same spectrum!”

“Well we thought as a team that it looked better this way. You see the bottle stands out more…”

“The whole point of it is that the bottle is NOT supposed to stand out! The bottle is supposed to be camouflaged in the grass!” I growl, barely holding my temper and then wincing when the handle of the cup snaps and the cup crashes to the floor. “Fuck!” I yelp as some of the coffee splashes on me on the way down.

“Don’t move!” Cyn orders and is back in seconds with water and a napkin to do some clean up.

“Take those away and do them the way I fucking said they were to be done!” I bellow and try not to whimper at my broken cup and stained trousers.

They scuttle out and I could have sworn I heard a snicker. “Okay first, let me get you another cup and the secondly, you have a second set of these pants, correct?” I nod. “Put them on and have you eaten yet?”

“No.” I pout as I head to my wardrobe and pulls out my pants.

“Well I’m going to get you something to eat. Something to balance out your sugar perhaps and give them an hour to get it right, okay?”

“45 minutes.” I growl.

“Done. Now stay in here and all will be fine.”

GRANTHAM

Everyone is glaring at me. I felt for sure that he would like the purple instead of the green, but apparently not. “You have 45 minutes to get it right!” Cynthia calls out and everyone rolls their eyes and shoot me dark looks.

“Let me speak to him. I’m sure I can get us more time.” I say confidently and head to his office. I spot that Cynthia is not there so knock on his door and walk right in.

“And how is this helping endear yourself to me?” He growls over his papers, not even looking up.

“Uh…”

“Your second mistake is remaining in my office where I didn’t say you could be!”

“What the hell are you doing in here, Grantham?! Get back to your desk and get on with your work!” Cynthia snaps.

“And you now have 30 minutes!” Brian bellows loud enough to be heard in the next state.

As I sit down at my desk, nobody says a word. They just work quicker.

JUSTIN

Jesus! I look across at the Whisky team and feel glad I’m not on that account, and all because of Grantham. He is such a control freak and glory grabber! He took credit for the Marshall Ward pitch that he had no hand in and got a bonus for it which should’ve gone to Patricia. She was so furious that she left. She actually interviewed me and told me not to work for him. I am working on the Woolstone pitch, which is a cute marble frog.

“What you doing?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” I reply calmly and close my pad before turning to Grantham.

“I need your help on something and Murph said I could use you.” I look around for Murph, but he’s not here. “He said it’s fine, now come on!” Something gives me pause and that something is a furious looking Brian, striding towards us. “Oh fuck!” He breathes before he heads back to his desk.

“In my office now!” He snaps as he strides past and I want to kill Grantham!

Less than a minute later, I am knocking on Cynthia’s door and she bids me enter. “What are you doing here?”

“Mr Kinney wanted to see me.” I tell her miserably and her frown deepens.

“Are you sure?” She says just as the door flies open and the man himself strides in. “Brian, he’s here. Shall I give you a minute or two?”

“Why? I am not going to be less mad the more I wait!” He stands by her desk, glaring at her and she glares back. “Well, where is he?”

“Um, I’m here.” I tell him, trying to sound a lot less timid than I feel.

“Mr Slim, can whatever you want wait? I have an ass to rip off and he’s not helping himself by DAWDLING!” He bellows again, making the room vibrate.

“Stop bellowing! The stain will come out. Now who exactly is dawdling?” Cynthia asks.

“Your favourite tit-stalker! Actually, why was he talking to you when he was supposed to be fixing the fuck up?”

“He said that Murph wanted me to work on something and…”

“Murph would not do that. Go back to your desk, Mr Slim. It’s not you I want.” He takes a huge breath. “And on your way, can you tell Mr Grantham and his team to get here now or I will review their work in the middle of the office.”

I swallow hard and run out. I don’t like the guy, but the rest of the team doesn’t deserve that.

“Grantham, you need to go in there now!” I tell him, but he just stares at me. “Seriously, that’s what he told me or he will critique your work right here!”

His team looks at me and then him before getting up and heading to his office. “Where are you going? We’ve got another 5 minutes!”

“But he said that he said…” Mark, the junior artist, starts.

“And I am your boss and we have another 5, well now 3 minutes. If Kinney had said what he said then he would be over here right…”

“This close enough for you?!” Mr Kinney rasps and all colour leaves Grantham’s face. All of his team looks like they would rather die than be there at that moment. “So show me. In fact, do the pitch as you would to them.” He demands and I feel so sorry for them. “Come along everyone, Mr Grantham…”

I know you’re angry, but please don’t do this to them. It’s not fair; it’s not their fault! There is a stunned silence and everyone is looking at me and I realise that I have said that out loud.

“It’s not fair?” He echoes and takes a step towards me. “Not fair?”

“No, it’s not.” I whisper and just stare up at him as he stares back unwavering. Finally, I have to look away.

“Say thank you to Mr Slim, Grantham and team. You get to pitch to me in my office in five minutes.” He strides away without a backward glance and I sit down in the nearest chair.

“Jesus, Justin thanks!” Mark gasps. “That was awesome! We owe you a beer, don’t we?”

“To say the least!” Kelly grins. “But first, let’s get this finished!”

Twenty minutes later, they are back and looking relieved. Kelly gives me the thumbs up and I smile, still disbelieving that I did that! I am still not happy with my frog when my message box pings up.

Cynthia: He wants to see you.

Me: Oh crud!

Cynthia: Don’t keep him waiting.

I gather my things as best as I can and Murph frowns: he wants to see me, I mouth at him and he just smirks and waves me away. I make my way to his office...again.

“Go straight in.” Cynthia clips out, but there’s something wrong with the sternness on her face. She appears to be trying not to smile.

“Mr Kinney?” I poke my head round the door and he waves me in.

“Draw me a caterpillar.” He said, handing me a notepad and some pencils. “And then one of a butterfly.”

“A…”

“Caterpillar and a butterfly.” He repeats calmly. “You have an hour. The caterpillar has to be green with golden eyes and look cute. The butterfly green, blue, black and white; make it look realistic. Take a seat over there.”

DINER - SAME TIME

DELORES

I look at a red faced Debbie Novotny as she opens and then closes her mouth in disbelief.

“I’ve been demoted?!” She demands again and again, I shake my head.

“Here is the official email.” She screws it up and throws it at the bin. It misses and I try not to laugh. “You are still a manager, but you’ve not been demoted per se. I’ve been promoted. The joint in your title has been changed to assistant...sorry, temporary assistant.”

“I want to speak to HR about this! We do have an HR department, right?!”

“Yes. How can I help you?” I smirk at her expression. “I handle all HR related queries in this branch.”

“Branch?!” She gapes incredulously. “So you deal with all complaints about yourself?!”

“But of course. Isn’t that the way it used to operate or would you like to speak to the owner?”

“Damn right, I want to speak to the owner! I have been here for years and…”

“You never tire of reminding us. Now obviously that means nothing to the new owner or they wouldn’t have put me in total charge. Whilst there was a campaign to keep you here when the diner was first bought and that was a successful effort, it would appear that your people-stock is plummeting. And apparently, so is your hearing and memory…” I talk over her attempted interruption. “This was discussed at the last staff meeting; you should ask Ben to remind you. He was there, after all! Now you and I need to sit down and redo the shifts for next week. For some reason, you seem to have put yourself down for all the morning ones and Kiki for the graveyard hours. This needs to be more evenly spread.” She continues to stare dumbfounded at me. “Shall we make a start?”

KINNETIC - AN HOUR LATER

BRIAN’S OFFICE

JUSTIN

I keep checking the time, but I have a few minutes left. I check them both one more time and then clear my throat.

“Let me see them, then.” He says, waving me forward and I feel like a child in school. “The caterpillar first, obviously.”

He chuckles and then turns over the page and then turns it back before nodding. “Nice detailing.”

“Thank you.” Although, I am not quite sure what the point of this is.

“I like the way you brought the colouring of the caterpillar into the butterfly.” He presses the intercom. “Mr Grantham, to my office.”

In less than a minute, he’s here and looking nervous. “Mr Grantham, I asked Mr Slim here to draw a caterpillar and a butterfly. I gave him very basic instructions and this is what he came up with. What do you think?”

He takes the pad and flicks through it, looking displeased. “He’s clearly mis…”

“Understood me perfectly. He understood me perfectly. Did you thank him for saving you and your team from humiliation?”

“We’re going to take him for a drink later.” He responds and I just about stop the roll of my eyes. Mr Kinney continues to stare at him. “Mr Kinney, sir.”

“I doubt that was your idea, then. Go back to your desks and thank you, Mr Slim.”

“Yeah, thanks for earlier, you know.” Grantham mutters and rushes out.

“Meant with all sincerity, I’m sure!” I sigh as I head back to my desk but then pause. “Mr Kinney, why do you call me Mr Slim? And what was the point of that?”

“You’ve not told me that I shouldn’t. As for them, they are my son’s favourite bugs.” He replies. “And I can’t draw them for shit!”

“Oh…” Is all I can think to say. It’s not until I get back to my desk that I realise I didn’t tell him not to call me Mr Slim, but that can wait for another time. I’ve been in close proximity of him enough today!

WOODY’S - EARLY EVENING

JUSTIN

I had my thank you drink with Kelly and Mark. Thankfully, Grantham made his excuses not to come with us. I find a corner in the bar and try to figure out my day. As I am ruminating, a familiar smell assails me and I look up and there he is! He seems to be in a world of his own just peeling away the label on his beer bottle. I swallow down the rest of my beer and watch mesmerised as his Adam’s apple bobs as he drains his bottle. I make my way to the bar just in time for him to order a whisky...oh no, that will not do!

BRIAN

I look up at Steve, the barman. “I didn’t order that.” I point to the shot of whiskey.

“I know, but the guy said that this is better than that. And for the record, he’s right.”

“Who is?”

“The guy who bought you the drink, from an unopened bottle. Yours to keep if you love it or to share, if you don’t.”

“Where is this good Samaritan?”

“Kinney, you’ve known me for years. Taste the damn drink!” Sighing, I do as I am told and then eye him carefully. “Keeping or sharing?” He asks, a smirk pulling at his mouth.

“Kee…”

“Brian! What are you doing here?!” The shrill tones of Michael cement my answer.

“Out of sight!” I answer quickly and grab my coat. “Going home. I had a long day shouting at idiots. Bye.”

“But Brian, we have to…” He puts his hand on my chest to stop me from going past him. “...talk about Jenny. How am I...”

“Ah Mr Bruckner, kindly remind your husband of your duties.” I remove his hand from my chest very slowly. “Which is to…”

“Ma has been demoted.” Ben interrupts. “What are you going to do about it?!”

I take a second to think if they know, but clearly they don’t or they would be clamouring for the removal of both Delores and Kiki. “Since when do you call her ‘Ma’? It was always Debs and what exactly would you have me do?”

“That’s an outrage! When did this happen?!” Michael demands, reaching for his phone.

“This afternoon, and the shift schedule has been redone. Well she is obviously going to have a pay cut...and she will need…”

“Whatever it is she needs, you can provide, I am sure.”

“But after everything she’s done for you in the past…” Ben begins the same ole song but this time with Zen cymbals, causing my headache!

“Is in the past, Ben. Besides, I spoke to Delores and she’s been promoted. Debs remains as is, so I seriously doubt she has had her pay cut.” The highly pissed off tones of Emmett Honeycutt cut across him. “She’d be raising merry fucking hell herself if she had, now wouldn’t she?” He gives a noncommittal shrug. “Is your silence Zen for yes and I’m being a dick to Brian more and more these days?”

“Since when are you pro-Brian?” Ben scoffs.

“I am not pro-Brian; I am pro-fairness. I will call him on his shit just like I am doing to you.” Ben narrows his eyes and purses his lips. “So who was that drink from?”

“What drink?” Michael demands.

“Don’t know, but I could use another glass of it!” I sigh as I realise my chance of escape has now gone.

“So where is it?” Michael asks, eagerly.

“It is for Kinney and only he gets to decide who has any or not.” Steve explains.

“Well obviously, I get a glass and so does…”

“No, you don’t Michael and nor do you, Ben. The only people who get some is me, this Nelly bottom and if he’s still here, the guy that bought it for me.”

“He’s gone.” Steve tells me, pouring the two glasses.

“So some random guy is buying you drinks? You don’t know what’s....” Ben sermonizes.

“He’s been coming here for years and all the barmen look after him! And I don’t like the inference that we don’t!” Steve scowls.

“I didn’t mean anything like that.” Ben backtracks. “But with Brian’s reputation and previous behaviour, you…”

“...had no problem with my behaviour at the White Party!” I snap, finally fed up with his holier than me attitude.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Michael demands, looking between the two of us.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Just Brian stirring…”

Emmett stops in mid drink and turns to Ben. “Brian does not lie.”

“Maybe he is mis-remembering something...” Ben shifts slightly.

“Nor does he mis-remember anything at any time. So, I am going to go with it was before you met Michael and he’s kept quiet all this time?” Emmett gives him his steely gaze. “Until you pushed him too far. Everyone has their breaking point, Benjamin. Try to find yours!” He turns to Steve. “Now another one of these each and Brian let us find a quiet corner, where you can tell me what he was like before he got sucked into the hive! He must have been something for you to want to fuck him since you always have exceptional taste!”

As we walk away, I chuckle at the loud, hectoring voice that is Michael demanding an explanation!