Page 23 of Just for the Cameras
Graydon:You think they’re going to get on your side from watching you sit in shit? That’s laughable.
OC:You know what I mean. I thought this would be a vlog thing, but it doesn’t seem that way right now. It seems like we’re just doing dirty work.
Bennett:I mean, I wouldn’t mind a meeting with Gretchen.
I blow out a heavy breath because I feel like I know how this meeting is going to go, but then again, the last thing I want to do is cut out my training time to go wash dishes, so…what could it hurt?
Graydon:Fine. Set it up.
OC:It would be my pleasure.
Gretchen shifts on her heels, hip jutted out, looking at all of us in her office. Her lips purse, and her stare would probably wilt a lesser man, but I hold strong.
“Well, isn’t this a pleasure for me, seeing all three of you in here?” She sits on the edge of her desk, her villainesque stance revealing she’s ready to strike.
OC, wearing a goddamn necktie like he’s about to go on trial, sits taller in his chair and says, “We have concerns.”
Gretchen’s eyes shoot to me. “The same concerns I already spoke toSt. Johnabout?”
“It’s Graydon,” I correct her.
OC clears his throat, bringing her attention back to him. “I’m just going to say it. This assignment is bullshit. You know it, we know it, and the zoo staff knows it. We are glorified fetching boys for them. I don’t see how this is helping the way the public perceives us.”
She picks up her phone and flips through it. “It’s been…ah, yes, two days.” Her eyes find us again. “Two days and you guys can’t cut it. It’s no wonder we don’t have any championship titles.”
“Hey, this is our inaugural year,” OC states. “You can’t throw that in my face.”
“True.” She looks him up and down. “But from the way you’re crying about sitting in giraffe dung, it doesn’t bode well for your chances at winning.”
“How did you know I sat in giraffe dung?”
“Because.” Gretchen pushes off her desk. “We didn’t want cameras following you all the time, so we had some cameras installed around the facilities you’ll be working in with the hope that we can capture some real interaction and then bring it all together for the public.”
From the corner of my eye, I can see OC’s mouth drop.
“You don’t think we should have been told that?” Bennett asks in a calm voice.
“Well, if you had given me a moment to collect everything, you would have seen that I was sending you an email today about our goals for the zoo visit. Excuse me if working with someone unreliable like Phil has pushed me behind in delivering information. There seem to be a lot of moving parts with a lot of unintelligent individuals. Therefore, I’m chasing information.”
I have to hand it to her for at least telling it like it is, because I agree with the unintelligent individuals part, especially pertaining to Coach Keenan.
“Oh.” OC crosses his ankle over his knee and picks a piece of lint off his jeans. “Uh, care to elaborate, then?”
Gretchen folds her hands together and looks between the three of us. “Although it’s charming that you three came in here together as a united front, I don’t need to elaborate on anything. You can wait for my email.”
She pushes off her desk, then rounds it, sits down in her chair, and starts tapping away on her computer. After a few seconds, she looks up and shoos us with her hand. “You can be gone now.”
I guess that’s that.
Grumbling, we all stand like a bunch of fucking idiots and take off into the hallway, then make our way to the elevator.
I knew this was going to be a waste of time.
It was a waste of time when I brought it to Coach Keenan, and it was a waste of time now. No matter what, they have us in a choke hold because of our contracts. There really isn’t much we can do, yet I allowed myself to get sucked into possibly attempting another challenge to get the hell out of this nightmare.
The elevator doors part, and we all shuffle in, Bennett pressing the button for the lobby floor. When the doors shut, we stand there, leaning against the elevator walls as we descend.
After a few short moments of silence, OC says, “I think we might have pulled the protest card too soon.”
