Pathetic Ch. 02: Friendship

"Hi and good morning, I'm Lucca from the IT department." I said as I shook the big wig's hand. "I got an email that there was an issue with this meeting room's equipment?"

"Yes, I need to give this presentation that I have saved on my laptop. I have it connected to the cord for it show up on the TV, but the screen is staying blank."

I suppressed a groan as I instantly decided what the issue was. I really wish that they trained everyone on how to use the equipment. It really wasn't that difficult.

"Did you switch the input to PC IN?" I asked knowing full well he probably wouldn't understand the question.

"All I did was plug it in, OK? I don't have time for questions. This meeting is starting in a few minutes and the rep from the company we're working with is on his way up as we speak. So just get it done, son."

I kept from rolling my eyes as I picked up the remote for the TV and changed the input. The laptop's screen was instantly duplicated on the TV.

"There you go, sir. Anything else I can help you with?"

Before he could answer, there was the sound of a throat clearing behind us. As it reached my ears, I felt a chill run down my back.

"Oh! Mr. Miller, welcome! I'm sorry to have you waiting please come in," the jerk said. I assumed that his next statement was directed towards me, but I wasn't sure since I was frozen in place. "Son, say hello to Brett Miller and then we'll get started with our meeting."

I finally turned around and connected with those familiar, soul piercing eyes. They held a look that fit the smirk on his thick lips. I wasn't able to catch myself in time as I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.

"What the FUCK are you doing here?"

I could tell that Brett was trying to hold back from laughing as the big walrus of an oaf sputtered in shock. My heart was racing at a dangerous pace, whether it was due to yet another confrontation with the man that held such an influence over me or for the now shaky security of my job, I wasn't sure.

"Excuse me!?" The old man roared, snapping me out frozen stance. "That is not the way to greet a man of Mr. Miller's status. You WILL apologize this instant and then pack your things." He turned towards Brett as if I no longer existed. "Words can't express the regret I have for this employee's actions towards you, Mr. Miller. I want to assure you that we would never normally hire someone with such an uncivilized character. You won't have to deal with this trash again"

"Actually, Luch and I go way back. All the way to high school, in fact. What he said is... a running joke between us, of sorts. It's spirited people like him that a company should look for, not 2 dimensional soul suckers, such as yourself. In fact, I think this meeting has become meaningless. I'm not sure if our companies should continue to coagulate after what I've just seen. And if Luch is truly fired, as you stated. Then maybe I'll take this as an opportunity to obtain a truly unique employee. You're people won't be hearing from mine. Have a good one."

There was a full 10 seconds of silence as the big wig's face reddened until it resembled a tomato. His big wig (ironic I know) had slowly slid to the side of his head. His sputtering returned as Brett placed his hand between my shoulders and guided me out of the room. I offered no resistance as I was too overwhelmed with the sudden events that had taken place.

"So I guess now you can finally move on to something that is good enough for you, huh? What a crazy coincidence that we met again here, of all places. I guarantee that you'll be happy that I got you out of this hell hole and am giving you such a great opportunity. This will all be for the be-"

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" I spat. "You just lost me my job and now you actually expect me to hold some gratitude for you!? You arrogant asshole! Who the fuck do you think you are!?"

"I really can't decide if you're cute or hot when you're pissed off," he replied. " Honestly, I think it's a bit of both."

"Shut the fuck up! What is WRONG with you? Can't you even tell that I'm struggling to not knock you on your ass right now!?"

But Brett continued to act like he was deaf to my voice. "Are you going to lead me to your workplace or what?"

I huffed in exasperation as we stepped in to the elevator and I punched for the floor of my department. Brett just chuckled to himself the entire ride down. I stormed ahead at a fast pace and he had no issue keeping up thanks to his long, muscular legs allowing him to take huge strides. Holy shit, I thought, the guy gets me fired and I'm thinking of his body. I should really be asking what the hell is wrong with me!

As I stomped in, Maria was the first to greet me. "So what ended up being the huge catastrophe this time?" She asked without looking up. "Was it dead batteries or did they forget to hit the power button? I seriously don't get how these ass wipes manage to not drown themselves in a toilet each time they take a piss. Seriously, does it concern anyone else that these jackasses are the ones running this company?"

"You know I actually managed to nearly drown in a toilet myself once. I really felt bad for the guy that had to give me mouth to mouth." Brett answered.

Both Justin and Maria, instantly jumped at the deep, unrecognizable voice that filled the room. If I hadn't been so pissed at the douche, I may have been on the floor in tears, laughing at their reactions when they saw him.

"I- uh - That is you- er... Holy fuck." Maria rambled. I decided then that I'd write this date down.. This was the first I'd ever seen Maria at a loss for words. She was doing better than Justin, however. He just continued to stand there with his blue eyes resembling a Chihuahua's and his mouth opening and closing in an impressive interpretation of a fish.

"OK... maybe it's good that you guys work with computers and not people." Brett said, chuckling. " I usually don't stereotype but I guess tech geeks really don't have great communication skills. I thought it was just Luch here."

That snapped Maria out of it. "Did you just call him Luch?" She asked as her eyes narrowed. Oh shit, I had to intervene before this got bad. "That must mean you're-"

"Sure does!" Brett said as he stepped forward, holding out his hand. "I'm Luch's friend from high school, Brett. It's great to meet you-"

He didn't finish the sentence. As he replied to her, Maria stomped towards him and swung her huge, expensive, and extremely heavy keyboard upwards, connecting with Brett's jaw. He started to stumble back as she followed with a knee to the gut and baseball swing with the now defective keyboard right to the side of his head. Brett crumpled in to a sack as keys scattered the floor. The only sound that filled the room was Maria's heaving breathing as she calmed herself.

"This fucker owes me a new keyboard," She stated calmly as she dropped the board on top of Brett, turned, and walked back to her desk.

______

It started as it always did. The heavy footsteps echoing off in the distance. With each thud, the walls shook and the items on my dresser and desk fell and scattered to the floor. Each stomp caused my computer to jump, drawing my attention to the monitor which displayed a picture I had saved and viewed a countless amount of times that night. Two grown men engrossed in an erotic and lustful embrace. It wasn't the muscles or the nudity that drew my attention. It was the connection. There seemed to be a passion there that transcended all the other generic run of the mill porn photos I had found during my search. The moment I came across the picture, I knew that's what I needed. I couldn't survive if I didn't make that connection soon and deep down, in my heart of hearts, I knew the connection had already been made. my other may not have felt it, but I was certainly aware of the pull. Lucca was my light. I felt that it was my destiny to have him.

But as the stomping drew closer, the vibrations increased. The walls began to split and the monitor toppled to its side, creating a crack between the two men. The man had changed, though. It was now Luch and I that were embraced. The crack grew until we were split. My heart felt as if it split along with it. But I didn't have time to mourn, for fear that my room was about to cave in. Suddenly, the door exploded and chunks of wood flew everywhere, stinging my eyes. In the destroyed door way stood a dark figure, it possessed no features but I knew who it was. My tormentor, my fear, my step father. I tried to leave my chair, hoping to dive under the bed or run around him, given the chance. But I was cemented to the seat. He made one massive step in to the room, causing the floor to split and my chair to topple over and throw me on my back. As he towered over me, he grew in size. The massive figure let out an earth, trembling roar. I covered my ears, afraid that they would implode. I knew the message of the roar though. It was judgment and fury at my perversion. I balled up, cursing myself for being the freak that I was. As I cowered, I began to feel anger towards my light. It was his fault for the thoughts that I had now. He corrupted me. I felt a split in my mind as I had these thoughts. One entity grew in fury, cursing the boy who ruined my life. The other knew that this was all irrational. The boy was pure and innocent. He had no hand in this event. That side turned towards the monitor, hoping to find strength in the image of Luch. But the photo had changed again, now replaced with something warped and violent. Luch now possessed a face terror and pain while I had a look that only held fury and hatred. I wanted to smash the monitor, defend my love. But my other side continued to dig his grave, imagining all the terrible ways to exact vengeance. As I turned back to the scene enfolding in my room, I now had two point of views. The entity that had cursed Luch now stood in my step father's place. The other was on floor and continued to turn away from the monitor. Both saw Luch at the same time, curled in a ball and shaking with heavy sobs. The defender tried to reach for him and protect him. The accuser raised his foot slowly. Here I was again, the opportunity to protect my love and I was too much of a coward to move. My fear had chained me to the floor. As I screamed for Luch, I heard the scream of a woman telling me to get up, followed by wave of cold water in my face.

______

As I sputtered, cold and drench, my mind spun its wheels to reorient myself and figure out what was happening. It took a few moments to grasp that my dream wasn't real and that I was staring at 3 pairs of legs: one cute, one unnatural sexy, and the other overflowing with rage (I know, that's a lot of insight from legs but I'm good at reading others). I looked up to see Maria stooped over me poised with her mangled keyboard above her head. I flinched and held my hands over my head. If I had been straight, this woman would have terrified me in to giving up all women permanently.

"Alright! That's enough, Maria, you've made your point!", the little guy said, grabbing her arm. She easily could have overwhelmed the cute kid if she had wanted, but he seemed to have some influence over her.

"It'll never be enough," She mumbled. "Not when this worthless piece of shit is in my sight."

She seemed to have more insults to spit out but Luch cut her off. "Did you forget that we already talked, Maria? I've forgiven him and we've moved on. That was suppose to be it until he showed up here and quit my job for me."

"HE WHAT!?" she shrieked, raising her keyboard once more. "How the fuck did he manage that!?"

"Like I said, he showed up. I said something that I shouldn't have in front of the big wig, out of shock at Brett's impromptu appearance, so he's kicking me to the curve. I may have been able to grovel to get it back but this idiot jumps in without giving me a chance to get a word in and seals the deal. I don't know what I'm going to do now."

"I was trying to tell you, I can either get you a job at my company or you can use me as a reference for another one." I said, forcing my way in to the conversation. I really hated when people talked about me as if I wasn't there, even if one of them was going for a second concussion by keyboard.

"I don't want your help, not after the shit you just pulled." Luch snapped.

"Well if you're going, we are, too. You're not getting rid of us that easily," Maria replied.

"I'm not going to let you quit for me," Luch said. "You two need to stay here. There's not point in-"

"I'll ignore the fact that Maria volunteered for me and just agree with her." the little guy muttered. "I wasn't planning on staying here for long anyways. I've been here as long as I have, more out of comfort and to be around you guys, than anything. This is a good chance for me to get out and grow."

"Where would you go?" Luch asked. "I mean, there's not much you couldn't do, Justin."

"Well, you know that I've always wanted to get in to the video game design field. Maybe this a sign that now's the time. I could work on some kind of demo and then maybe create something on Kickstart to get the funding I need."

"Are you serious!? That's perfect!! I'd love help you start that, if you'd have me." Luch said with a sparkle and hope in his eye that I hadn't seen since we had reunited.

"You're kidding, right? There's no way I'm letting you get out of working with me so easily. We could make a great team. You'd lead with the art and design while I can lead the programming. We can collaborate on story and script! Maria, you would be perfect for recruiting, hiring, project schedules, and budgeting. That is, if you're interested."

By this point, Luch and Justin had grabbed each others hands and were bouncing up and down like kids on a sugar high. I would have laughed at the adorable scene if I hadn't felt a twinge of jealousy.

"Of course I'm interested. You two would seriously crash and burn if I wasn't there to keep you on track. I'll have to talk to Drake first, but I doubt he'll tell me no." Maria said with a smirk. "The whole recruiting and hiring may be ways off without having a budget from the start, though. Will you guys be alright financially until we can make some profit?"

They both nodded eagerly. I was trying to gauge which of their heads would roll off first.

"Actually, if the three of you would accept it, I'd be more than happy to sponsor this. I have enough money put aside to help you hit the ground running."

Luch responded without giving it a moment's though. "We don't want your pity money. If we do this, we're going to do on our own, using only the founders' resources."

"That's just it though, I'd love to be a part of the company. I promise you it's not out of pity. I've been putting money aside for a long time for an opportunity just like this. One of my life's goals was to start a company from the ground up. I'll do more than just sponsor, too. I'd really like to lead the marketing and advertising if you'd allow me... Please?"

Luch studied me for a moment before turning to the other two. No words were shared but they must have understood one another because after a moment he turned back to me and nodded.

"Alright, we'll let you in." He made it sound like a club when he worded it like that. "You can participate just like you said, but you try ANYTHING that goes against any one of us or hurt one of these two, you're out and the money stays with the company."

"Deal! I promise I'll be of value to you guys. I won't let you down." The last part was only for Luch. I let him know that by the look I held with him.

He nodded in response. " Great. Come on Justin, let's get our stuff packed up and your resignation ready. There are some boxes in that extra conference room that's never used." They ran out of the room, nearly trampling over each other in process due to their excitement. I'm guessing someone would normally would be nervous to be left in a room alone with a woman like Maria, especially when she had made it clear that she wasn't a fan, but I was happy to have this opportunity. I knew that if wanted to be in Luch's life in anyway, I'd have to get Maria to except me first. She must have had other thoughts, however.

"I'm going to start unloading my stuff from my desk so we can leave this shit hole as soon as possible. I'm sure one of us will be getting a hold of you soon when we're ready to start."

"Actually, Maria, I was hoping we could talk. It's obvious you don't want me around and I don't fault you for it. I'd have the same stance if I were in your position. I was hoping I could convince you to give me a chance, though."

She had already started on her desk as I talked, but after the last statement, she stopped and looked up at me. She gave an intense glare as if studying me under a microscope. I felt like she she could see right in to me. She must have liked what she saw because she finally gave a nod.

"Alright, I guess I can give you one shot, for Luc's sake. But not right now, since we don't have enough time. Let's meet up at our group's usual spot tonight. Ever heard of O'Donnely's?" I shook my head no. "Alright give me your number and I'll text your the address. We'll meet there at 7?"

"That's perfect!Thank you so much!" I gave her my number and then hugged her before I realized what I was doing. I couldn't be sure but I thought I heard a groan. "Sorry, I tend to get a bit expressive with my feelings." I sheepishly added.

"No problem. I just hope I don't end up regretting this."

Me too, I thought. Something told me that everything was on the line depending on how tonight went.

______

"Brett's definitely something. I don't think many men or women would have been able to resist someone that charismatic. You definitely have some strong will power, Luc."

"It wasn't too difficult once I reminded myself what I'd gone through because of him." Justin handed me another collapsed box he found that seemed sturdy enough to hold our stuff. As I took it from him, I saw him holding a face of pity that I become all too familiar with. "I didn't say that to get sympathy, Justin. I've moved past all that. I just hope this time around he doesn't hurt either you or Maria. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

"You don't have to worry about us. There's no chance of either of us getting close. You know how loyal Maria is to her marriage, and I'm... well, you know... already preoccupied."

I froze at that comment and turned away form the pile I had stocked to face him. "Are you dating someone, J? Why haven't you mentioned it until now!? Maria's going to be pissed when she finds out you have a girl and she didn't know."

"I'm not dating anyone. My interest's been caught but I haven't made my move yet. That's why I haven't said anything. I'll let you guys know when it happens, though."

"You've got nothing to worry about, buddy. Any girl would be lucky to land someone like you."

"Yeah, we'll see." Justin mumbled and looked done while picking at a corner of a box. "What about you and Brett? You aren't going to give him another chance to be with you, are you? Being friends is one thing, but Luc, I can't stand the thought of him reopening your wounds that are still healing."

"They're fully healed, Justin, I promise you. I've got too thick of a shell now to let him back in. You guys need to be careful, though. We can't trust him yet."

"So you think we'll be able to some day?"

"I'm not sure, J. I'm not sure if I even want that to happen."

______

As I stepped in the dark, sultry atmosphere of O'Donnely's, I glanced around to take in the scenery. I could definitely understand why Maria would designate it as the usual spot. It seemed like a popular place, but not overcrowded. It was a spacious area, with a dark wooded floor and couches to lounge out at. There were also some bar tables scattered around with parts of wooden barrels used as the backs of the chairs. I could really see Luke and myself hanging out here to talk on a date night after a movie and dinner. I paused for moment following that thought. I couldn't allow myself to start thinking like that. There wasn't a point in expecting anything past a friendship to blossom between us. I'd only be setting myself up for heartbreak, not that I didn't deserve it.