Longboard (Desk Surfing Series Book 1) (5 page)

              The last line was subliminally directed at Longboard.  If his conscious mind didn't grab it, I'm sure his subconscious could take a hint.  I'm a woman, so I'm not calling expertise on what guys are thinking.  But there's no way he could've been slamming me on his desk the night before and it slipped his mind twelve hours later.  I didn't sit because I wasn't standing.  But I got the equivalent of an applause.  It was a sit-down conference, so no one really clapped their hands.  But I got the equivalent.  One of the men, the oldest looking one, said he found my presentation informative.  His statements were echoed by two of his colleagues:  One male; one female.  Longboard had his turn next and he was a bit dry in my opinion.  But it was about the business, all business.  And that technique had worked for Longboard for his entire career.  The leader of the committee group, Mr. Hoshino, stood up.

              "Mr. Kiewei, we are very satisfied.  We normally get a lot of fluff.  But that was meat and potatoes," said Mr. Hoshino.

              "Thank you," said Longboard.

              "We are glad to have your company as part of our portfolio and we are interested to talk more about your products here," said Hoshino, "We are especially interested in the
Queen Assets Fund
as articulated by Ms. Krizman." 
Win
.  I tuned out after that.  I just nodded my head when my name was mentioned.  Longboard was the first from our side of the table to get up and open the door.  Everyone from the committee took their pens and paper tablets with them.  They all left the water bottles, all but one.  I stood behind Malia, as Longboard lead the train of committee members out the door.  Malia followed and I was last.  I was the caboose of the train all the way out the door.  Longboard, being the boss, had to supervise the business, so he didn't ride down in the elevator with the committee members.  Because my name was mentioned specifically.  And because I didn't want to be left standing next to Longboard, I made the executive decision to ride down in the elevator as well.  With seven people, it was a tight fit but we managed.  Hoshino was an old hand at business.  He didn't really add to his comments.  He remained silent.  As we reached the bottom, hands were shaken and the committee members left.

Chapter 3

             
The elevator left without Malia and me, so we had to wait before going back up.  Luckily, we got an elevator to ourselves.  As soon as the doors closed, Malia put her hand up flat.  I slapped it.

              "I open it up," said Malia, "You close it out."

              "We're like the Dynamic Duo of
Key Way Insurance
."

              "I think we are," said Malia.

              "We gotta celebrate."

              "For shizzle," said Malia.

              "You think they really meant what they said?"

              "They don't seem like the type to bullshit," said Malia.

              "I get that impression too.  Classy like, Hoshino had that man's man type of swagger.  Like John Wayne, shoot straight, talk straight mojo."

              "Maybe he played it up cuz of his stature," said Malia, "Short guys are always trying to walk tall."

              "They are.  You know what?"

              "What?" said Malia.

              "I'm meeting a girlfriend of mine for drinks at
Ginger Snap
on Friday, you should come through and join us."

              "I'm down," said Malia.

              "Awesome."  Somehow the moment required another giddy high five.

              "Good job today girl," said Malia.

              "You too."  The elevator door opened.  We both walked off the elevator, as if the committee members were still with us, chin up and back straight--like we worked in an office.  I went back to my quad and Malia went back to hers.  The rest of the day wasn't exactly primetime for getting stuff done.  As far as I was concerned, everything I had to do that day was done.  Malia seemed equally checked out.  It wasn't about clock management.  It was just clock watching.  I had four of them at my disposal:  the one on the wall; the one on my desk; the one on my desktop and the one on my wrist.  As soon as five o'clock rolled around, I grabbed my purse, wiggled my toes back into my ballerina flats and headed for the elevators out in the hall.  I was standing in front of the elevators, when I saw Longboard coming out of the door of the office.  There were only two firms on our floor,
Key Way Insurance
and
Edel Point Financial
. 
Edel Point
was a collection agency for people delinquent on their credit cards.  In fact, the office services room shared a wall with
Edel Point
and you could sometimes hear yelling and screaming coming from their side.  The elevators split the corridor between
Edel Point
and us.  But the restrooms were on
Edel
Point
's side.  Longboard had to walk passed me to get to the restrooms, which is where he was going.  I took in a long inaudible breath as he got closer to me.  My heart skipped a long beat.  I was waiting for the elevator to give me a reason to move.  The pain in my chest was sharp, even after my heart came back online.  I tried to hold my posture to look unsullied.

              "Way to go today, Dawn," said Longboard.

              "Thanks." That was an automatic response.  Longboard kept going but he walked unnecessarily close to me.  He didn't touch me, but I could feel the stir in my blouse and skirt.  Longboard was kind of a big guy.  He made waves as he walked by.  You only noticed if you were standing still and he passed by close enough.  I walked beside him a lot.  But that was the first time I registered him passing behind me.  I had no excuse but to stand there and let it happen.  Ironically, the elevator came right after he passed by.  I felt like I had to say something.

              "See you tomorrow."

              "See you tomorrow," said Longboard, disappearing around the corner.  It was the most bittersweet day in my recent memory.  I started my day running to the conference room to make sure impressions of my boobs weren't smeared on the whiteboard.  The meat of my day was getting a mention by name from Mr. Hoshino, Chairman of the O'ahu Division of the
Hawaii State Coastal Resource Commission
.  And the icing on the cake was Longboard telling me I did a good job.  It was like being texted after a hot date, instead of being called.  But I've learned not to read too much into a text message.  That's why I didn't.  I just guessed Longboard was happy with the Committee's reaction to our presentation.  Even though I was mentioned by name, Malia and Longboard presented as well.  I'm guessing Malia had a good open.  I was tuned out and tone deaf to Malia's voice.  I don't know why but I didn't like her presentation voice.  It was like she was asking,
Do you want me to suck your dick?  Do ya? Do ya?
  Maybe it was just the jealous bitch in me.  Malia had never done anything to me personally and we worked well together, when we had to.  But she wasn't one of my girls like in high school and college.  I was cliquish and when I had my girls around me, I felt invincible.  Every time Malia was around my instincts said
Halt!  Friend or Foe?
  I didn't know.  That was my problem with her.  But I wanted her to be on my team.  Because my clique had all but split up.

              My girls from high school all had island fever and left the Island after graduation.  That was the thing to do back in the early aughts, to go to school outside Hawaii.  My friend, Mallory, got accepted to the Air Force Academy and shipped off to Colorado Springs.  She became all about her Air Force career and travelling all over the world.  We still emailed every once and a while.  She was my girl, tall and athletic.  I used to love yelling
Go Mallory!
at track meets.  She was good, always near the front.  That was my girl.  But they all left:  Mallory, Amy and Erin--my crew--all but Jessie.  So I hung out with Mainland girls in college at Manoa.  I figured if people arrived on the Island from somewhere else, they were likely to stay.  And I could be the Alpha of the group because I was local and none of them knew a thing about Hawaii.  We were just three:  me, Nicole and Bridget.  Jessie stayed in Honolulu but she went to
Honolulu Community College
so we didn't see each other as much.  It was kind of an out of sight, out of mind thing.  She was around but I was going to parties with people from Manoa.  I could have invited her but I guess I always felt like it would be awkward with me knowing everyone.  I was a social butterfly.  Jessie was more introverted but she socialized.  So I guess I just assumed she found her fit at
HCC
.  I did show up with gifts for her birthday though, always.

              Jessie was on my mind as I drove home.  Since I invited Malia to
Ginger Snap
for drinks with me and Jessie, I had to tell Jessie what I wanted to tell her over the phone.  I couldn't say it, in front of Malia.  I pulled in my carport with an orange skyline reflecting off of my bedroom window.  My bedroom was just above the carport.  I liked it because if I needed to escape because of a fire or intruder, I could just grab my keys and jump out the window on top of the carport and jump down from there.  I'd be gone, no close call at all.  I rang Jessie, as I walked up the wooden steps to my deck but she didn't answer.  I made a smoothie while I waited:  bananas, plain Greek yogurt, peanut butter, cinnamon and unsweetened cocoa powder.  That was my jam.  And I didn't have to call Jessie back she ended up calling me back. 

              "Hey."

              "What's up?" said Jessie.

              "Hey, let me call you back from the house phone, so we don't have any connectivity issues."

              "You're home?" said Jessie.

              "Yep, just got here."

              "Cool, call me back," said Jessie.

              "K...Hey, can you hear me?"

              "Loud and clear," said Jessie.

              "Lucky I'm like the only person in O'ahu with a landline still."

              "My grandma still has a landline," said Jessie.

              "Thanks.  Maybe she'll finally let me in her bridge club."

              "Careful what you wish for," said Jessie, "She'll kick your ass at some bridge.  Grandma don't play."

              "I know."

              "What story was this you texted me up about?" asked Jessie.

              "You know Hank, my boss, right?"

              "Yeah, I know of him," said Jessie.

              "Ok, so last night I was working late, like really late because it was...w-we had this presentation today with these committee members who have an insurance policy that we reinsure.  So we had to give them the breakdown on our business and revenues and that.  But I had to make the pitch for our
Queen Assets Fund
.  It's an investment fund of local companies.  So last night I'm at the office going over my slides for my
PowerPoint
.  I'm so serious about this presentation that I don't even really notice how late it is or that no one else is in the office.  Hank invites me into his office cuz he says he wants a second opinion on these new logo designs because the current design we have is from like 2001 and he wants to change it up.  So I'm like it'll only take a second to tell him which one I like best right?  I'm almost oblivious but while I'm looking at the logo designs he starts rubbing the back of my leg.  At first I'm like, it's an incidental thing.  But he keeps going and then he rubs his hands over my butt.  Then he stops.  I guess he's like giving me this subliminal window that I can run through but I don't.  I go with it.  I'm still looking at these logos cuz he's my boss and I genuinely want to give him a valid opinion on what the logo should be.  Plus, this thing is gonna be big on the wall like where the one is now and I'm gonna have to stare at that shit, while I'm at work so I'm not leaving shit to chance.  And then he undoes my bra through my blouse which is just hot as hell.  I don't flinch, I just turn around and say
either the second or fourth one but I would go with the second it's more class--
and I don't even finish because he starts kissing me.  And I've seen him walking so many times and I've seen how his pants are always resisting something between his legs.  You know what I mean.  They're just folding and finding ways around it.  So I'm not gonna let him verify what his eyes see without me doing the same, so I just grabbed his junk.  And I held my hand on top of his shit and I could feel this thing growing in my hand like shaving cream when you spray it on your legs.  You see how it grows when it comes out.  It felt like that looks---why you laugh?"

              "I don't use cream.  I use gel," said Jessie.

              "Well, cream is cheaper.  I use the shit guys use.  I just grab a can o'
Barbasol
from the bottom shelf and get done with it.  We already pay more for products in Hawaii, why pay more than you have to for being a girl?"

              "You do what you gotta do," said Jessie, "But what happened with Hank?"

              "It happened on his desk."

              "Seriously?" said Jessie.

              "Absolutely."

              "Woooooow!" said Jessie.

              "He wasn't done there.  We went to the conference room and he used a red marker to paint my boobs red.  Then he did me from behind against the whiteboard.  When it was done he was staring at the impression my boobs made on the board.  There were like these red smear marks on the board and he was just fixated on them."

              "Weird," said Jessie.

              "There's weirder guys out there."

              "Oh, for sure," said Jessie.

              "Plus, this one's rich."

              "For sure," said Jessie.

              "So then I was like
deuces
and just left."

              "He didn't say anything?" asked Jessie.

              "Not last night, and today the only thing he said to me was that I did a good job on the presentation."

              "Well, obvi he's not gonna say you did a good job last night," said Jessie, "I mean there was no last night."

              "What do you mean there was no last night?  I had my legs spread open on his desk."

              "Yeah, but that's so off the record it's just gone.  It's going, going, gone," said Jessie.

              "You mean like it's not gonna come up again?"

              "I'm not him but why would he bring that shit up again?" asked Jessie.

              "Then what the fuck was that?"

              "You just answered your own question.  It was just a bang.  He had to get it out of his system," said Jessie.

              "It was
just a bang
."

              "I don't want to hurt your feelings but I know you're a big girl and you can take it," said Jessie, "I don't think there's anything much more to it.  He's wealthy and powerful and all that.  Those guys are used to getting what they want.  My dad's the same way.  Maybe he had a bad stock trade that day and had to let off some steam.  And we know there's no wife in the picture."