“Holy fuck.” Meyer rubs his hand over his mouth and chuckles gleefully. “Vin! Come look at this.”
Lucky takes his sweet time as he finishes dressing the espresso and then strolls to the table. He sets the espresso cup and saucer in front of me, and I cut a confused glance at his face.
“Oh,” I utter, crinkling my brow. “Thank you.”
He still doesn’t acknowledge me and stands behind Meyer, resting his palm on the back of his chair and peering down at the screen. His brows furrow, and his eyes narrow.
“You made this?” he asks after a moment.
“My colleague, Zoey Campos, is the developer, so she built it,” I clarify. “She’ll add your branding and any other kind of graphics you’d like to feature on it as we continue to develop it.”
“Huh,” he mumbles.
“Yeah, look.” Meyer starts pointing at different items on the screen. “They can click here for merch, and here for Facebook, andlook.” He chuckles again. “There’s even a friggin’ chat box so they can talk to each other.”
“Huh,” Lucky says again, brows still furrowed.
I pick up the espresso to take a sip, noting with surprise that Lucky managed to guess exactly how I take my coffee. The two men go back and forth with each other for a span of moments, speaking in hushed tones and New York slang.
Finally, Lucky turns to me. “Why aren’t we paying you for this?”
“Well, you’re paying Zoey for the development.” I clear my throat. “But this is just a favor I’m doing for you guys. I don’t need—”
He arches a brow at me. “This is too much for a favor, Ava.”
“It’s honestly not,” I insist, keeping my tone neutral. “Zoey’s fee is plenty, and I’m leaving soon anyway. I’ll get you in touch with a project manager who can pick up where I leave off and run with the rest of it.”
“You’re not leaving soon,” Lucky deadpans. “The governor just extended the lockdown.”
I slump in my seat. “For how long?”
“‘Til the end of the month.”
It’s like a punch in the gut, and my eyes instantly burn with tears. I slump deeper into my chair, covering my face with my hands and holding my breath to stave off sobbing.
“Ava,” Lucky murmurs. “Sweetie.”
I suck in a deep breath and rub my face, immediately pulling myself together and sitting up straight again. “That’s fine, but that’s still only a few more weeks. You’ll need someone else after that. I’ll connect you with someone, and you can paythem. The site will be ready for the first show on April 30, so now you need to start promoting it.”
“Where we gonna do that?” Meyer cuts in. “Just on Facebook and shit, or what?”
I shrug and fold my arms across my chest, and Lucky reaches across the table to nudge the espresso closer to me. “Yeah, maybe just some casual videos of him hanging out with the band and the dancers.” I pick up the espresso, cupping it in my hands to warm them. “Everyone’s stuck at home, so it’s okay to embrace that vibe. Maybe even shoot it with a cell phone.” I nod at Lucky. “Maybe he even does it in selfie mode. That’ll make it more personable.”
Lucky stands up straight, hands in his pockets, and just stares at the espresso.
“Did you poison this or something?” I can’t help teasing him.
He squints incredulously, and I wink at him.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like that idea,” Meyer chimes in. “Like unscripted style. Like, ‘Hey, we know you don’t got nothing better to do, so come hang with us.’”
I smile at Meyer. “Exactly. And then we can run them as ads across all of his platforms.” I clear my throat. “I mean,youcan run them as ads.”
“I kinda likewebetter,” Lucky mumbles, now staring at my face.
At that, there’s a knock on the front door across the house. I check the time on my phone and stand up. “That’s the grocery delivery. It’s my turn to help sanitize them, so I think we’re good to go unless you’ve got any questions.”
Meyer shakes his head and clasps his hands together, resting them on the table. “I’m good.”
