Spa Day and the "Skimon"
"...Because I need a boat... I live in the Gulf... Didn't you say I needed to live like a millionaire?... Well, buying a boat makes me ACT like one, doesn't it?!... I've window shopped a bit online... Yeah... There's room in the marina close by... Do millionaires do their own maintenance?... I suppose a hundred grand give or take ten?... Wait... What'd you think I was gonna spend? I'm not buying a Coast Guard Cutter, Jimmy... Hmm... Yeah for that price, they can steer me in the direction of a comparable marina... I might pull it for maintenance or for a few months in the colder season, but we can still fish then, yeah?... What is your obsession with Florida?! Your Mom and Brother live in ALABAMA!... Okay, okay. Touche. She's gonna have to go out on it eventually, though, right?... I guess... You're the first of three or four other people I'd trust with it... Yeah, of course... Yeah, Buddy! Alright, Bro... Huh? Oh yeah, she came by yesterday... She said to fire my housekeeper. Bwah haha! She did?! What did Natalie say?... Get her fitted for a halo... Yeah, sure. Oh! Call TJ. To bullshit and talk about money, what else? Did he set up your Brick? He connected a Smart Board to it?! Nice! We should spec it for our offices, too, if he can do that! I don't know. What? Merle? They named it Merle? This is all our fault... Ha ha! Yeah. Okay. Call me on Monday... Before lunch is fine. Eleven o'clock yours, ten mine?... Yeah. Sure, sure... Yeah, Man... Bye." I clicked the Spyke window closed.
"Was that... Your brother?" Nikki asked, walking over to my desk.
"Yeah, why?"
"You were... NICE to each other!"
"I tripled his earnings from last year in the first quarter."
"That's not it. He's proud of you. You've impressed him."
"Meh..." I said with a shrug. She was right, though. We were getting along differently lately. We rarely talk about money now, too. "You guys all set for your "Ladies Night" tomorrow?"
"It's a "Spa Day". We're getting facials and seaweed wraps and shit." She stared at me.
"What?" I asked.
"No jokes? No corny comments?"
"Nope. Too easy."
"Oh. Okay. Yeah. Maybe. Even Mitch had fun with 'facials'."
"Mitch? Wow... Definitely waaaay too easy."
"Har, har." She snorted. She continued on. "We'll prolly close the night at the Gallery or Pontoon. No boys allowed, though." She replied, sticking out her tongue.
"I guess it's just me and the boys, then."
"Nope. Sorry. Mitch is working the graveyard all weekend, Rusty is going back to school to hang with his lacrosse buddies and John is playing golf with Jinx and her Father on Saturday and then they're all having Sunday brunch with her mother."
"Should we make funeral arrangements for John now or...?"
"He'll be fine! He's picking up all of your good habits." She cut me off to compliment me.
"And some of my bad habits, too."
"One of your good habits is concealing the bad ones." She said. That one had a sultry smirk along with it.
"Wow! Thanks! Wait... I'm paying for the "Spa Day" aren't I?" I said, seeing through the flattery with squinted eyes.
"You have two girlfriends that like to play together. It's worth it. WE'RE worth it." She said, cocking her hip.
"Good point." I couldn't argue that one.
She switched to business mode. "We're all done for the day. A little behind, but next week's schedule is mostly closed Beta, so we can catch up." She said while straitening up my desk. It was just a way to get close enough for me to smell her. My hand reached up to stroke her ass while she went about moving things back into place. I'm so happy she decided to wear her version of the "Yoga Casual" look the office ladies adopted. She wore an almost shear pair of yoga pants and a thin workout V-Neck. Her mostly flattering rather than functional sports bra peeked out of the "V" just a hair. Just enough. I really wanted to take her at that moment. I controlled myself.
Let's recap:
Nikki was really starting to own her dual life with me. She loved working with the team and really grew into her submissive "Li'l Girl" role with me and Sawyer. I was worried for a little while that she might crack subconsciously, but she's really happy. She keeps a stash of coloring books in her desk when she feels bored or too "Li'l" at work. Sawyer keeps her pictures in a thick folder, too.
Sawyer still works under Rory, but has taken on Jenn's role of Office Manager, too. We've actually started working harder and more efficiently and still manage to have even more fun during business hours.
Jenn has started to shine artistically and is nipple deep in concept art for several projects. She's even sharing a class with Ema for digital art stuff. I had to tell her that she's too far ahead of the rest of the game development. She often points out that that's why she's taking the class. She wants to start helping out with the graphic designs and applications in game. I'm not going to turn her down. She and Rusty are going strong. They seldom come around to "play" with me and the girls, but they do like partying still.
Rusty is going strong and surging through all the tough shit involved in the app game-making process. He's still struggling with the creativity, but Jenn is certainly helping him improve that. It's like she can see what he's thinking and translate it for all of us to see. It's probably why she's been drawing so much. We still don't have a name for his game yet, but the working title and Rusty's preferred name is "MyLantis," which the rest of us all agree is awful. I'm leaning towards "Fish Tank," but that name really under sells the product. I say it mostly in jest.
Jinx has taken on the task to make sure the game will be ready for all operating systems. With one of the three major competing phone types out there being so different from the other two, it's no small job. Her progress reports show she's ahead of schedule, though. A week of testing might drive her nuts. She'll prolly keep moving forward while the rest of us kick back.
John still does the majority of the testing, but has been promoted to programmer full-time. His testing has really mitigated some problems that would have been disastrous if left unchecked for too long. He's also been promoted by Jinx. He went from "Office Man Meat" to "Boyfriend". I heard that he's converting to Judaism, too. Good for him. Good for him and Jinx. I hoped, at the time, that he would survive the weekend with her parents. I assumed that Jinx's parents were just as scary and intense as she is.
Ema started dating the bouncer from the Pontoon, Tynie. They've been spending a ton of time together and Tynie has started helping out with some surprisingly helpful beta testing. He's a giant geek like the rest of us. Just don't tell him I said that. After a quick legal disclosure contract, he now tests for us part-time. Ema still pulls the work out of her ass, but her work only continues to improve.
Rory has taken on the role of being the face of the company to the media. She just got back from a gaming convention showing off all the shit that Axel has in store for the year and even presented a teaser trailer for "Project: MyLantis". It received massive positive feedback.
All caught up? Good.
We all decided to have dinner at the Pontoon before Jinx and John left that evening. They had a non-stop flight from Pensacola to Boston, so they weren't going to stay out long. They left their cars at the office and took a SuperTaxi from Jenn's place after dinner. Jinx managed to pack for them both in one carry-on, but packed that in an empty suitcase; a trick she learned from Rory. Jenn and Rusty took the honors of driving them to the bar. They were going to have an early night as well because Rusty's flight was early that morning.
After we ate, we went our separate ways. Sawyer and Nikki came home with me, as they do almost every night. They have pretty much moved in and I suddenly found myself severely lacking in closet space and parking. Sawyer has a lease and Nikki lives in her parent's vacation house. They both decided to not move in permanently until Sawyer's lease is up. Just a few short months away. I also bought a larger bed, which I didn't even know existed. "Ultra Kings" have been made popular by pro athletes and other celebrities.
We decided to call it a bum's night and vegged on the couch watching a new-ish horror movie on cable. Nikki watched through her fingers while I laughed maybe too much and Sawyer made "grossed out" noises and commented on the silly gore. We polished off a few beers each and indulged in some weed before turning in. The ladies were too psyched up about the "Spa Day" to focus on anything else, but Nikki managed to get me alone after Sawyer "fell asleep." After an hour, Sawyer "woke up" to discover us misbehaving and we needed to "make it up" to her. Four times.
I woke up to an island of an empty bed. The cameras also showed the house was empty. The girls had already started their day. I was alone. I was alone for the first time in almost an entire year. I would have felt lonely if I didn't feel a little relieved. I'm having a "Me" day. I'm buying a motherfucking BOAT! Cue air raid sounds. Brrr, brrr, brrrrrrrr!