Baby Makes Three

When we met in college, I planned to just work on software, and maybe develop my own. But he stepped in and showed me how to brand myself, and how to make a fortune with my brain. I was opposed to starting out with investments like the gym and coffee shops for undergrads, but it was what built us. Now, we could pretty much do whatever the hell we want. And a lot of that was due to his attitude.

“Right.”

He geared for another rebuttal but then there was a knock, and Jana told us number one was here. Jake didn’t hide his ‘I’d rather be anywhere else’ groan. But he knew why we do this. Mentorship is a big deal, especially when you can make someone loyal to you at a young age, and become their spring board.

These younger people have great ideas…some of them. Jake and I were both almost thirty, we had lost touch with what was trending, and selling. So, these hopeful college students come in and tell us what we we’re missing, and we give them an offer they can’t refuse to capitalize on it. It’s fool proof.

“Who is this guy?” Jake grabbed the roster, and found his file in the large stack of thirty.

We had a team vet all these applications before we even looked at them. We get almost two thousand proposals, and they narrow it down to thirty before they subject us to hours of unpreparedness and entitlement. Seriously, it gets worse every year.

The school specifically might be the problem, it was no Ivy League, but UCLA had a lot of pretentious students, fueled by family money and entitlement. Only a rare gem actually deserved what we have to offer, and I doubted I would even see one today.

“Something about sustainable agriculture?” Jake asked. I chuckled softly and shook my head.

“No, recyclable agriculture. He is an Ag student, so that’s probably why we have never heard of it.” I told him. Jake shook his head and frowned.

“Hopefully it’s good.”

It was not good at all. I could see the bits and pieces, but they just did not fit together. I wondered why he was even so nervous, it was just the two of us. How could he ever make it in our board room, full of ten power suits worth more than the school’s endowment? Those are the kind of things I look for as well. Can we send them out into the business world sharks, with our names on their resume saying that we taught them?

Hell no.

“Thank you, we’ll be in touch.” I offered my best poker-faced smile as he took down his presentation.

He even had graphics set up, but he never got to explaining the big ass graph he sat right in front of us.

“We have got to get someone else to do these.” Jake leaned back in his seat, rubbing his face in frustration.

“Then we wouldn’t know who’s walking in our office, or who we are buying.” I said.

“Uh huh. Maybe you should do it alone then, since you are so damned good at it.” He retorted.

I shook my head. Jake could be a real trip sometimes. Honestly, when it came down to it, he was still responsible. The gym we have is what he tends to focus on. Not only does he operate it himself, he trains there too. In other days, he planned to be an MMA fighter, but somehow that plan got lost in the wind.

He doesn’t talk about it, and I don’t ask. But I know it has something to do with his parents. When we met, they had recently died. I think that was why we took to each other so easily, and why we work so well as business partners. I grew up with my aunt, so we both know how to appreciate shit before it’s gone.

Most business people don’t do that, and that is why most businesses fail.

“We should make this more exciting?” Jake flashed a devious smile and looked at the files again for the next person.

“How so?” I asked. He shrugged, telling me to just wait and see. Oh boy.

Jake can be a real prick. He could moonlight as a prison guard if he wanted, always playing bad cop of course.

“Next one is coming in.” Jana peeked in, and then went back outside.

“Does she have a date?” Jake asked me. I furrowed my brow in confusion.

“No, why would you think that?”

“I’ve never seen her wear a dress is all.” He eyed the space she just left. I shook my head and hid a yuck sound.

“Uh, she dresses like that all the time. What is with you?” The next applicant was in now, setting up her presentation. I didn’t pay any notice to her, but Jake was flashing his sizing up look.

“Nothing. Just haven’t gotten laid in a while is all.”

“Seriously?” I asked, in a way I was asking how he could be talking about that right now.