Reborn in 1994: Internet Empire

55 Returning to the Office

       After a few days of not being able to go to the art room due to their activities with 3D and the New York police, Max and Trae were finally able to return to the room that they had been so desperately craving to return to. Finally, after almost a week of being away from their safe haven, they were finally back in school and able to lay their hands on their computers once more. With a sense of nostalgia, Max opened the door and stepped through it to find everything was left as they were when they left.

       The room was frantic with calls coming for Jules, Charlie in a research frenzy, and Lina on the verge of a frenzied confused rage due to her designs not being read by the program. There were papers strewn across the room, and everything seemed to be in disarray. It was exactly how they had left it.

       “Mmm, it’s good to be home,” Max said to Trae.

       “We might be a little bit dramatic about this one don’t you think?” Trae replied jokingly.

       Jules, holding a huge stack of files, walked up to the two, who in her eyes had been shirking their responsibilities while the rest of them carried the workload.

       “Oh, dramatic?” she said, happy they were back but annoyed at the laid back demeanor that they were carrying. “What’s more dramatic is how much work had piled up while you were both meetings with that Detective guy.”

       She proceeded to walk over to Max’s desk and dropped the files onto his desk, making a loud thud that echoed through the room. Max looked at the stack and then looked helplessly at Jules.

       “Th-that can’t all be mine… right?”

       Jules smiled a wicked smile.

       “Better get crackin’ babe,” she said as she walked back to her desk.

       Trae was too busy laughing at the exchange to realize the glares that he was receiving from Charlie.

       “Trae, if you think laughing is going to get your work done, you have another thing coming,” he said, as he gestured to a pile of papers that was also stacked onto Trae’s desk.

       Immediately, his laughter stopped. The two both walked glumly to their desks and began to share in the chaotic workload that was dumped onto all of them. Eventually, everything was as it had always been in XMC tech’s base. Utter chaos. Max had to manage all of the finances, as well as make sure that everyone would get paid, leaving enough for their taxes that would be coming in the coming end of the quarter. As for Trae, he had to get on top of all of the research topics that Charlie had been compiling for new products. It was finally time for everyone to come down from their vacation mode, and get back to grinding again.

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      The day passed in an uneventful daze of work and breaks. Eventually, the exhausted fivesome decided to call it a day, and walked together to the usual place that they ate everyday after working. It was a weekday so it was a relatively slow night at the bar. It was perfect for the exhausted late night dinner that they had all gotten used to eating. And the fact that classes hadn’t returned from the Christmas break was even more reason for them to give their favorite restaurant some patronage.

       Brother Luke subbed as a waiter today since the other waiter had recently been let go due to hard times. He walked up to the group with a smile.

       “How’re my favorite customers doin’ today?” he asked with that brotherly smile.

       Everyone loved Brother Luke and always thought he was one of the best parts of coming to the usual spot to eat.

       “We’re great! Just came off vacation, Brother Luke!” Max said, before drinking the soda that was just handed to him.

       “Well that’s great to hear!” he said as he gave the others their own orders.

       Within moments, Brother Luke returned to the kitchen to get more orders out. Everyone ate kind of quietly, and enjoyed the food that they were given. There was nothing particularly special about the food they got. They were just burgers, fries, chicken and sausage gumbo, and the like. Definitely not as dazzling as the food that they had gotten while on vacation at Carlisle’s resort. But there was just something about the normal, everyday food that they would get from this normal, everyday restaurant. The food was mundane, in a sense that they could definitely eat it everyday without even noticing how simple it was. It was mundane in a good way.

       Eventually, Max noticed the silence and wondered out loud.

       “This thing that we got going on… It’s definitely going to become routine, isn’t it?”

       The group looked at him confused. Jules was the first one to speak up.

       “Well, I think so… But isn’t that kind of a good thing?”

       Max raised an eyebrow.

       “How so?”

       “Well, if you think about it. There are some things that you can’t really progress without hard work,” she added.

       “And without said hard work, there isn’t really a grind… is there?” Charlie added as well.

       Trae nodded along.

       “So if we wanna be able to evolve this company, then we gotta be able to put the work in,” Trae added.

       “And that comes with repetition,” Lina added as well.

       Max smiled at the group that he had come to love so much. He chuckled and smiled at all of them.

       “That’s right. My bad,” he said as he took his glass of soda and raised it. “Then cheers to the mundane and cheers to the routine. One day, when we get really big, we will be able to bust out of the routine.”

       “Cheers to the grind, babe,” Jules added.

       All of their glasses clinked together in a bit of an anti-climactic fashion. However, a cheers like this was appropriate, as for the next few months, they would be doing not much of anything else, besides studying and working to raise the identity of XeMillion and Co. As such, their efforts were silent, and their problems were shared. Eventually, the group ended up on the cusp of something that was further beyond where they dreamed their company would reach. And this happened in the year 1996, in Max’s sophomore year.

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       June 7, 1996 - New York

“So, Mr. Maxemilian.”

       “You can call me Max, sir,” he said with confidence toward a panel that was in front of him.

       It was kind of nostalgic. Being in front of a panel again. It was kind of like the last time that he had applied for a job. The company said that they needed more of an educational based background, regardless of how good of an IT person he was. But now it was as if the tables had turned.

       Now, it was the panel who seemed anxious and nervous. All the while, Max had his legs crossed, eagerly waiting for them to say something.

       “Is there a problem, sirs?” he asked.

       They all seemed to jump and proceeded to apologize profusely.

       “I’m sorry Mr. -err Max. We just had to run through our presentation for you one last time. Anyway here is our presentation on why you should merge with our tech company, and become one of the biggest powerhouses in the Tech Industry, in the United States!”

       Max smiled curiously as he brought his eyes onto the screen. He couldn’t help but relish this entire situation. It was almost what he had dreamed of. Those who had wronged him in the past seemed to be nothing but a distant memory. Right now, it seemed that he had several companies in his grasp, and practically begging him to become a partner. However, they didn’t have any of that oomph that he was looking for. So he told them the same thing that he told all of the others.

       “Thank you so much for your time. We will get back to you as soon as we are able, but for the moment, allow me and my associates to discuss,” he said with a plastic smile on his face.

       He walked out of the large doors of the room, and met up with Jules, who looked at him with a knowing smile.

       “They didn’t make the cut, did they babe?” she said as she cut the call that she had going on.

       Max shook his head.

       “Ooh, that’s too bad. They seemed pretty good,” she said as she clung to his arm.

       Their walk had an air of confidence that only came from the most powerful of couples. But more so, they were even more confident with how much their company had grown in mere months.

       “Yeah, well. What they had wasn’t what I was looking for,” he said, a bit disappointed.

       “Yes, yes. The whole ‘make my company better than ever’ thing. I know, babe,” she said as she checked her phone. “Oh! Charlie, Lina and Trae are waiting for us downstairs. They got off their own hearings with other companies.”

       “Good. God, I hope they brought the driver and the van.”

       “They did, don’t worry, Max,” she said, as she leaned her head on his shoulder lovingly.

       “Good, for now, babe. Let’s get back and hold a status report on our company’s growth,” he said with an eager smile on his face.

       She smiled with him, and hugged him tight, knowing that this was one of the things that he loved the most. She felt a surge of pride knowing that the one that she cared about above all else, was finally succeeding. When the group met back up downstairs, they all headed back to their office.