Business Talk

Chapter 7

Eve tied her curly hair back in a low ponytail before leaning over her drawing desk yet again. There lay an advertisement for Reed Technology's newest project, drawn and written by her pen. She deftly added a few more pen lines, shading in product a smidgen more, before moving her head further away and holding up the ad, making sure it looked decently profession. She paused for a second, approving it.

Then she ran.

"Gail! I need to use your fax machine! She said, gasping, as she ran into one of her apartment mate's room. Gail looked up, annoyed. There was a large, black pencil mark all over her English paper now.

"Do you always have to yell, Evie?" she complained. "You made me ruin another essay...again! And feel free to use the fax. Stop asking!"

"Thank you so much, G," Eve said, grinning, ignoring her flatmate's chastisement. "Take a look at this before I send it! Isn't it perfect?"

The sketch of the minicomputer floating on the end of a string, with a child holding the other end, was exquisite and got across the idea that the product was small, light, user friendly, and cheap. It would attract children and adults alike.

"Good job," Gail said, looking at it critically like she had at many of Eve's ads. "Diane!"

"What is it?" Diane's voice came a few seconds later, as she poked her head into the room.

"Eve finished another ad. Take a look," Gail invited.

After there was universal approval, Eve faxed the advertisement to her father. Then she looked at her two close friends.

"I still haven't started my psychology reading," she admitted.

"Eve..." the both of them groaned.

She always does this, Diane reflected, smiling fondly. And indeed, Eve always got caught up with a side job, agreeing to create an advertisement for a club event or even for her father, and then forgetting until it was completed that she had homework. As a senior in UCLA, she had one more class in each area to complete in order to finish her double majors of psychology and marketing...and both classes were the current quarter.

"You're such a pain," Gail said affectionately. "Go get reading, I'll make coffee in an hour."

"Thank you so much," Eve said gratefully.

"And I've already finished the psych reading," Diane offered. "If it gets too late, I can sum up the important bits."

"You two rock," Eve replied, hugging her roommates. "I have no idea what I would do without you."

"Fail UCLA but have a kickass job doing advertisements and making a crapload of money," Diane said bluntly. "Honestly Eve, I can't actually figure out why you're finishing up your degree instead of working in your dad's company."

"I told you before, I love Daddy and I love the marketing aspect of the company," Eve said patiently, "but I don't want to be restricted the rest of my life. And if I get out without a degree, the only person who will give me a job is Daddy, and even after that people will be hesitant to hire anyone without a degree. If I finish this last quarter, I can work anywhere I want, and if I decide I don't want to work with Daddy, I can leave and still have the possibility of finding a job."

"Whatever," Diane grumbled. "I'm going to bed."

"And I need to finish my paper. Go work, Evie," Gail added.

With that, the three flatmates went to their respective rooms and got down to work.

-*-*-

"Matt, son, you've done an excellent job," Richard said, looking at his son admiringly. "Your grandfather would be so proud...I am so proud."

"Thanks, Dad," Matt said, his cheeks turning slightly red.

"I think you're reading to take over, at least take a position at a high level. The next opening should go to you." Richard looked at his son carefully, seeing how he had reacted. Earlier summers, he had Matt oversee different aspects of the companies to learn everything about them. Now he was giving him a significantly lesser position, but one with slightly more merit in terms of work.

“Thanks, Dad,” Matt finally choked out. “I’ve done a lot of high level work, but I’ve been sort of just an overseer, an intern before. This is a real chance to work, to show that I’m capable.”

“Exactly,” Richard replied, pleased.

Matt beamed at him. “I won’t let you down, Dad.”

“You never have, son,” Richard said. Except for letting Eve go, he thought.

That was the time he was truly disappointed in his son. He heard the whole fiasco between Robert – while they were business rivals, they were friendly, and Robert was furious with Matt. Both men had been angered with the way Matt treated Eve.

Richard internally sighed. It was a cruel thing for Matt to do, a thoughtless one. Eve only recently had become involved with Reed Technology, and he felt that she had only done so to spite Matt in a way. Earlier, when Matt and Eve were just children, Robert would joke at business gatherings that Eve despised anything to do with his business and would start her own competing company.

He kept tabs on Eve now, wondering if there would ever be a chance of her and his son getting together again. During those two months, Matt had no longer been an absolute workaholic, but he had learned to relax and take life easy. He had laughed a lot more, worked more efficiently yet less, and had noticed other people and been more considerate. Not that he was normally inconsiderate, but he was almost a better, softer person around Eve.

He knew she was graduating this coming year and planning to work at Reed. And he also knew Reed was selling out and that he was intending on buying it.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea occurred. In a year, maybe two, Reed Technology would probably belong to Clements Enterprises. And Reed would clearly need new management...

-*-*-

“Hey Vince!”

“What’s up, Mr. Reed?”

“I was wondering if you were interested in working at Reed this upcoming year. We have an open position in the sales department, and your mother told me you were looking for a job.”

“I’d love it, Mr. Reed! The economy’s awful, it’s been horrible trying to search…”

“Yeah, I know,” Mr. Reed interrupted, not wanting to hear excuses. He liked Vince quite a bit, but sometimes the boy wasn’t self confident enough for his tastes. “It’s starting at the bottom of the chain, mostly grunt work, but there’s a lot of opportunity for you to work your way up and learn. And you’ll be working near Eve.”

“I’d like to discuss it with you in person and in more dtail later, but right now, that sounds excellent. Thanks so much,” Vince thanked his best friend’s dad. “You won’t regret this.”

“I know,” Roebrt chuckled. “Hey son, I got to go call Evie. But email the office and send your resume. We need all those formalities taken care of.”

“Yes, Mr. Reed. Talk to you later, have a good day.”

“You too.”

As Vince hung up, he started beaming. Mr. Reed was an old and great family friend now, and this was a huge favor. He had no doubt Mr. Reed had offered him the job after both his mom and Evie mentioned that Vince was having a hard time getting a legitimate, challenging marketing job – he wasn’t into advertising but more into the technical, mathematical sales side. Hence at the moment there wasn’t much demand for his job skills.

He was about to call Eve, before remembering that her father was probably talking to her. He smiled softly, thinking about her.

It had taken him years to get over her. Even though he had cheated their freshman year, he had still liked – no, loved – her through junior year. However, after Matt, she had become supremely disinterested in men as datable beings.

Indeed, the one conversation they had had…

“Evie, do you ever think about…us?” Vince asked, twisting his hands nervously.

“What do you mean, Vince? I always think about us, how great we are as friends,” Eve said easily, turning to look at him. “We’re best friends.”

“No, I mean like us, like what we used to be in high school.”

Eve sighed.

“Not anymore, Vince,” she said softly. “Not to be a bitch, but you broke my heart that year. And then Matt…well, I don’t know what the hell happened with him. But burned once, shame on you. Burned twice, shame on me. And I got burned twice, so I think I’m finished, at least for a while.” She smiled sadly.

“That’s not the Eve I know,” Vince protested.

Eve’s eyes lit up with fire. “Yeah, well, the Eve you knew was judged for her own worth. She wasn’t judged by her family, thought about for her connections. She was herself. This Eve is aware that people don’t just look at her for herself, but look at her connections as well.”

“Eve, that’s stupid,” Vince said, raising his eyebrows. “Do you think I dated you because your dad owned Reed Technology? Seriously? Because in case you don’t remember, my dad is a VC and is a millionaire as well.”

Eve sighed as some of the fire went out of her eyes. “Yeah, no, I know Vince. But would you still have dated me if I was dirt poor, if people saw me as mooching off you?”

Vince stilled. He had never thought of that – half the reason he and Eve had dated in the first place was that she was the girl he liked the best of the “socially acceptable” girls. He didn’t know what exactly made them that, but when he looked back, they were all wealthy. Suddenly he felt ashamed.

“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “I have no way of knowing. I doubt I would have, but right now I can’t imagine a past with anyone but you. And I’d like to think that I would have noticed you and we would have dated anyway. But even so, you can’t change who you are. And you are a kid brought up in a wealthy environment. My point is, people who like you do like you for you, not for your wealth, not for you dad’s company. I mean, Matt didn’t know who your dad was and he liked you.”

“And the moment he found out, he hated me,” Eve spat. “Vince, I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t want to date you, I don’t want to date anyone until I’ve established myself in this world independent of my father and family. When people think of Evelyn Reed, I want them to think of that awesome magazine ad, not ask if her dad owns Reed. Okay?”

Vince backed off. “Fine, Eve. Have it your way. Avoid any relationships now, avoid all of them in the future till you feel you’ve established yourself,” he said, a slight sneer in his voice. It then softened. “I’m your best friend, I’ll support you in anything. But I hope you realize, one day soon, how ridiculous you’re being.”

Eve just shrugged, and he sighed. The two continued to make their way to the coffee shop in silence, both immersed in their own thoughts.

There was no doubt in his mind that if Eve gave him another chance, he’d take it. But he no longer got angry at her going with dates, no matter how platonic they were, to dances and such. And that was a major improvement.

-*-*-

Eve was halfway done with her reading when her Dad called.

“Evie, sweetheart, I know it’s late. Are you sleeping?”

“Nah, Daddy, I’m reading. What’s up?”

“I offered Vince a job and he’s probably going to take it.”

Eve sat up. “Thanks Daddy,” she said, relief tangible in her voice. “He was going crazy, he had been to ten interviews and they all seemed really sketch.

“Whatever,” he sounded gruff. His voice then hesitated.

“Evie, do you follow news about Reed?”

“Not really, why?” Eve immediately was worried – her dad’s tone was extremely serious.

“The company’s not doing too well,” Robert said. “Your mom and I are thinking it’d be a good time to give up our ownership, the title at least. We want to keep the shares, but no longer have the majority. I don’t want to be head honcho anymore.”

“I understand that,” Eve said, her voice trembling. As far as she could remember, Reed Technology had been a large part of her life. The idea of her dad starting to dissociate himself from it was as strange as it got.

“We’ll have a family discussion when you next visit home, but I just wanted to give you some warning, some time to think about it.”

“Okay Daddy,” Eve said, before looking at her reading. She groaned. “Daddy, I have two hours of reading ahead of me. Did you get my fax?”

“Yeah, I did, I forwarded it to the marketing advisor. He had nothing but praise for it,” Robert said, pride apparent in his voice. Eve was talented in both art and creativity. She had a way of drawing out an idea so it conveyed all it needed to: happiness, simplicity, affordability – she could capture any idea on paper with a simple drawing.

“So you’ll be using it?”

“We’ll see, but think optimistic,” Robert said, smiling at his daughter’s enthusiasm. She had stayed away from Reed for so long, and was finally opening up to it, something he was happy about.

“Oh, I have to go read!” Eve exclaimed. “I keep forgetting,” she added sheepishly. “Bye Daddy.”

“Bye darling.”

He listened to her click the phone down and sat back. Right now it looked like the most likely buyer of Reed was Clements. He had kept tabs on Matt after he had dumped Eve. For two months, Eve had been on top of the world, and then for the next year she had crashed.

While Robert respected Richard, he was determined to keep Eve away from his son. If Clements did buy out Reed while Eve was working there, Robert was going to keep Matt far, far away from Evelyn.

AN:

PLEASE REVIEW!

Here’s the next chapter  I know it was a bit of a filler, but I thought it was also necessary in some ways. Filling in some time blanks and such.

Thanks to those who started reviewing  I really appreciate it, I definitely felt funky because this was getting alerted and favorited but no one was saying anything about the story and I was sort of sad…