AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For himself, Channon shook hands, smiled politely, and pocketed business cards. Jack had told him to photograph and annotate the cards at the end of the day to remind him who he’d met and why they might be useful in the future. While this seemed like good advice, Channon had to wonder if it was really necessary. When was he ever going to call any of these people for a favor?
Nate wasn’t speaking until after lunch, so he kept Channon company for the morning. Or maybe it was the other way around; Nate suggested Channon come with him to the elective sessions he’d chosen, and Channon was happy to oblige. Two of the sessions were interesting enough, and Channon took notes. One seemed very impressive until Channon noticed Nate had got his phone out and was furiously texting. When he saw Channon watching he angled the screen so Channon could see: it was to Ewan, outlining the basic premise of what the presenter was saying in blunt, dismissive terms. Ewan’s response was a lot of angry cursing. This seemed to have been the point, because Nate smiled indulgently and tucked his phone away again.
There was a buffet lunch. Nate silently handed Channon a single piece of lettuce with a pair of tongs, which Channon accepted with equal solemnity. When Nate saw how much actual food Channon put on his plate, he laughed at himself.
“Well, you’re not starving,” he said.
“Protein,” Channon told him, “is important for building muscle.”
Nate grinned. “Mmm, well, whatever you’re doing is working, so I’ll mind my own business.”
And then it was time for Nate's keynote, which meant they had to split up.
Nate handed Channon his phone. “Hang onto this for me, will you? It’s on silent, but I have this recurring dream where it starts ringing in the middle of a speech, and then I realize I’m wearing assless chaps.” He grinned. Channon didn’t know if this was actually true, but he pocketed the phone and found a seat in the back of the hall where he was out of the way.
It was one of those typical conference halls with a stage at one end and round tables ringed with chairs. Channon’s table slowly filled with people he didn’t know, which meant he had to introduce himself.
He did it the way Jack had drilled into him: eye contact, firm but not jerk-ish handshake, confident smile. “Channon Beaumont, JNNS Tech.”
“JNNS?” said one of the women, perking up. “Do you work directly with Nate Scott?” She had the program of events open to the page with Nate’s corporate headshot on it.
“Not directly. But he’s at the top of the reporting chain,” Channon clarified.
The woman seemed disappointed. “So there’s absolutely no chance you can introduce me?”
“Uh…I mean, what for?” Channon asked, a little confused.
The woman gave him a wry look. “Networking,” she said. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”
“I’m fulfilling my professional development hours,” Channon told her. “HR gives us a quota to meet every year, so I’m trying to get it out of the way.”
The woman leaned in, smiling. “Ooh, tell me more.”
It was clear that she was interested in working for JNNS. Channon gave as good a summary of what that was like as he could.
“Does Jack Nash ever come down to the dev pen?” she asked eventually.
Channon felt his face heat. “Not often. But he drops by sometimes. He’s, uh, pretty busy.”
“I’ll bet!” She looked like she was about to say more, but then someone stepped up to the mic and began welcoming them all to the conference.
Channon was used by now to dull or trite industry speeches. He braced himself for the potential tedium. The man at the lectern was reproduced at 10x scale on the screen behind him, and Channon found his attention distracted by the guy’s novelty tie. It had little colorful computer chips on it. The computer chips had big cartoon eyes. Channon tried to imagine Nate or Jack wearing it and couldn’t. Ewan, though…
He had to wipe the smirk off his face. Ewan would hate that tie. Channon should get him one for Christmas.
The guy at the lectern was now introducing Nate, listing Nate’s history and accomplishments. It was nothing Channon hadn’t heard before, but there was a kind of pride in hearing it again. Not quite the pride he felt when someone did the same thing for Jack at one of his speaking events. But still, there was a sort of possessiveness in hearing it now, about Nate. Our Nate, Ewan called him sometimes, and while Channon was fully aware that (as much as Nate belonged to anyone) Nate belonged to Ewan, Channon still felt some kind of satisfaction in hearing him lauded like this.
When Nate walked out onto the stage, the room erupted into applause. It made Channon smile a little, because Nate looked…well, he looked good up there. He was handsome, well-groomed, his gold stubble rakish rather than sloppy. He’d had a haircut recently. And he matched the audience’s energy with a bright, white grin.
“Wow,” Nate said into the mic. “Thanks, Dave. You know, whenever someone introduces me by listing stuff I’ve done, it feels like they’re talking about someone else. Because, sure. I did all that, it’s true. But it’s in the past, and honestly, I find it hard to live in the past. I’d rather focus on the future.”
Channon dutifully made notes. Nate seemed to be a good public speaker, for all he claimed to leave that kind of thing to Jack. He had a nice voice. Channon imagined Nate would make a good narrator. Maybe reading dirty books. He grinned down at his notes; he could suggest it as a backup plan in case the billionaire thing ever fell through.
His pocket began to buzz angrily—not the single buzz of a message but the persistent throb of someone calling. He tried to ignore it, but then he realized that wasn’t his phone. That was Nate’s phone.
He hesitated. Should he check? Was that invasive? What if it was important? An emergency? What could either of them do if it was an emergency? Nate was on stage. Whatever it was would have to wait, right?
Thankfully, it went still. Channon breathed out.
