Freetime shenanigans
“You do realize that could mean I’d be your plus one at some events, right?” Lando said to Oscar, while driving him to his meeting with Rodney in London.
“Oh my, reversed roles, what would my father think?” Oscar said, smiling widely, holding a backpack on his lap. He was wearing jeans with a white shirt and a dark blue sports blazer, wanting to look serious, but not too serious.
“Alright, we’re here. Oh look, there’s Robert already.” Lando said, waving to their lawyer standing on the sidewalk.
“I’ll see you later.” Oscar said, giving Lando a quick kiss and exiting the car. Lando drove to the fitness studio before driving home, taking a long shower. He had hoped Oscar would be back by then, but he had to wait. At 7pm he heated up some of the leftover chicken from the day before, turning it into a wrap with salad, tomato and bell peppers. He started getting worried an hour later, but his call was declined and Oscar wrote a quick message, saying he was still with Rodney and Robert and that it would get late. He finally opened the appartement door around 10.30pm, walking silently, being scared Lando was already asleep.
“I’m still here.” Lando said to him. “Was a good meeting, huh?”
“It was amazing! One thing led to another, we only wanted to get the contracts done, but then the company lawyers tried the snacks I took and called marketing, telling them it won’t fit. As it is, the marketing department already started to roughly draw up the packaging and marketing and posters and all of that, but apparently ‘it doesn’t match the product’ or something like that, I didn’t really get it, but Rodney said that’s okay, I will know what they mean when I see the next sketches. Then he showed me some pictures of the factory and where they would start producing the snacks. We we it’s we I still need to get used to that. We are planning on selling the snacks in different ways. Three types of lentil crackers, two kinds of energy balls and three with chickpeas. There will be a sample package, as well as the snacks in singles, although we are not sure yet if we want to divide them in three little packages as a bundle, or just make one bigger bag. When you called, we saw the time and Rodney invited us to dinner. We went to the Ritz. It didn’t even have prices on the menu.” Oscar said while Lando smiled bigger and bigger.
“I’m going to love being your plus one, seeing you this excited and all.” Lando said.
“Oh, just wait until you will see our bank account.” Oscar said, showing him the contract, letting Lando’s jaw drop.
“That’s your payment?”
“Well, that’s what I’m getting for ‘providing my knowledge and talent into the company’ I’ll also get a part of the snack company and with that a share of the profits, see the third page.” Oscar said, taking a sip from the water he took from the fridge.
“Sooo, I can retire.” Lando said.
“No, you can’t you love it too much. Plus, nobody says this will work long term. It might not work out at all, maybe it will start great and blow over in a year, we will have to wait and see.” Oscar said, sitting down on Lando’s lap. “Did you eat?”
“Of course I did. I didn’t cook, but I heated up the chicken from yesterday, ripped some salad, cut bell pepper and made a wrap. It was very good. Although a little bland, I forgot to season it.” Lando admitted and Oscar chuckled.
“I’m still really nervous, what if it flops?” Oscar asked.
“You have more than 4 million followers, people are begging for recipes, suggesting you to sell your stuff … it will work, Oscar.”
“Why are you here again?” Chloe asked.
“Because your mother invited me over, good afternoon, Chloe.” Daniel said, balancing the cake he brought.
“Chloe, I told you not to open the door for strangers!” Nicole yelled from the back.
“It’s just Daniel … again.” Chloe said, half bored, half annoyed and walked back upstairs, letting Nicole look after her.
“I think she starts to warm up to me. She didn’t slam the door closed this time.” Daniel said with a smile.
“You always see the positive in things, don’t you?” Nicole asked.
“I don’t see any use in concentrating on the bad parts. I finished the race, I got good points, my race was good. That’s positive. I didn’t get on the podium. That’s what I want, I want to win, be on the podium every single time, but I’m not. That’s negative thinking. I don’t always manage to do it, but I’m giving my best.” Daniel said. “I brought cake … I’m not sure it should be eaten, though. In retrospect, I should have just bought ice cream, dump it on a plate and call it an ice cream cake.” He admitted and handed the cake to Nicole. She looked at the cake critically.
“Let’s see.” She said, carrying it to the kitchen. “Well, but first of all, thank you, you didn’t have to make a cake.” She said while taking a knife out of a drawer. She cut the cake and lifted a piece onto a plate. “It does look good, it’s baked through.” She said, taking a piece on a fork and chewed twice before swallowing it down with a groan. She turned around and took the box with salt and a little bowl out of the cabinet. “Show me what a pinch is.” She said and he started pouring salt into the bowl, approximately three table spoons.
“Somewhere like that.” He said, shrugging and putting down the box. “Is it not enough?” he then asked.
“This” Nicole said, picking a pinch of salt from the bowl “is a pinch.” She said, pouring the salt back into the box.
“Oh, maybe we shouldn’t eat it then.”
“We can’t eat it, give it a try!” she said laughing and Daniel tried a fork of the cake, choking. “We’ll just eat mine.” Nicole said, pulling a couple of tartes from the fridge.
“Why me, though? Why not Charlie?” Max asked Arthur, sitting in the boy’s room on the floor.
“Because they will worry all the time and tell me to be careful.” The little boy answered, letting his little remote car race around the plastic track.
“And you think I won’t tell you to be careful and worry?”
“You will, but not like them. I think you’ll be honest. Tell me what was good and what not. They will cuddle me after each lap and tell me I did good.” Arthur explained.
“Okay, let’s make a deal. I will go to the karting track with you, ONLY if it is fine with your mom. If she says no or wants to come with us, I will not stop her. When we are there, you will listen and you will not throw tantrums, deal?” Max asked, laying down his controller and holding his pinkie towards Arthur.
“Deal, I’ll ask her.” Arthur said with a wide smile, hooking their pinkies.
“You ask her in English so I will understand!” Max said loudly, hurrying after the boy to the living room, where Pascal was sat with a book. Arthur groaned, annoyed.
“Mommy? Dear mommy?” Arthur asked, climbing onto the couch and into her lap.
“Oh dear, what did you do?”
“Why?” Arthur asked surprised while Max sat down on a chair.
“Because you are only saying dear mommy if you did something I won’t like or you want something.”
“Oh. I didn’t do anything bad, promise.” Arthur said with a cute smile.
“Then what do you want?” Pascal asked him.
“I want to go karting with Maxie.”
“Oh” Pascal said, looking at Max “And Maxie would be okay taking you?”
“Only if his mother is okay with it.”
“Hmm. Well … I allowed Charlie to do it, I would only be fair if I let you go as well, right?”
“Really? I can go?” Arthur asked, smiling with his whole body.
“Yes, you can go. You’re off school today, anyway. Do you want me to come?” Pascal asked.
“Not really.” Arthur said honestly, looking down.
“Alright then, but Max will take pictures and videos and send them to me.”
“Okay!” Arthur yelled, smiling again. “What do I need?” he then asked Max, jumping off the couch.
“A rain jacket, rain pants and something to drink, I’ll take care of the rest.” Max said, getting up from the chair and watching Arthur zoom out of the room and Pascal chuckle. “I’d need his car seat.” He then said to her.
“The car keys are on the little table next to the door.” She said, getting up. “And you should leave quite quickly, Charlie will be home any moment and I’m not sure how he would like it.”
“Understood.” Max said, giving a little salute and went to get the car seat from Pascal’s car.