Tom DeLonge's Intern

Chapter 10: Us?

     Later that day, after I hastily agreed to join blink-182 on tour, I walked out of my office to see the rest of the building and see what my coworkers were up to. I went around and greeted the people I had been working with for the past year and a half, happy to see that my favorites were still employed and closeby to my office space. The building was a lot bigger than I had anticipated it to be; there was even an upstairs area that was pretty open that Tom was planning to use for laying out different shoe designs or doing photoshoots. As far as I knew, there was a recording studio somewhere in the building as well, rumored to be in the basement. Tom had yet to give me the full tour of the place, though. I figured he would have when he had me one-on-one, but he chose to invite me out on tour instead. Maybe he had planned to show me around, but he got distracted with something else.

     "Chloe! Hey!" my coworker Melissa said from behind me. I spun around as it had taken me by surprise ever-so-slightly.

     "Hey! This new building is like a maze. I'm trying to figure out where the break area Tom keeps raving about is. Looking for it is going to make me want a drink," I huffed out a laugh, darting my eyes across the large first floor of the building as I attempted to locate the snack area Tom had mentioned to me.

     "I know, right? I bet they spent a fortune on this place. The break area is near the back of the building, by the way, but it's kind of tucked away and is hard to see from here. You'll find it," Melissa said as she pointed in the direction I needed to go before continuing. "So, by the way, Tom said he was taking Macbeth reps on the road for the next blink tour. Did he ask you?"

     "Yeah, he actually just did a bit ago in my office. Speaking of, I don't know why he gave me a giant enclosed space. I'm a graphic designer, you know? All I need is a fucking computer and a desk and a board to draw on..." I began to realize I was ranting about my insecurity to my coworker and became self-conscious. "But, getting back to your question, yes he did ask me. He was kind of pushy. Either that, or he really wants me on board for whatever reason."

     "You're his favorite. He wants you along for the ride. I overheard him talking about it the other day, actually" She said, patting me on the shoulder and coaxing me to follow her to the back of the first floor so she could show me where the break area was. It was an attempt to move the conversation to somewhere quieter, I had imagined, and once we were there, she grabbed a bottle of water from the break fridge and continued her previous point. "Tom's not exactly quiet or subtle about what he wants. He's one of those people that once you learn to read him, he's like a book with size 900 font for the entire world to see."

     She was right. Tom was really up front about what he wanted. The only thing he liked to attempt to hide was his emotions, from what I knew about him in the short time we had been acquainted. For whatever reason, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Tom might have actually taken genuine interest in me. There was too much that I didn't know about him and that he kept a secret from me to really know, so I didn't want to get too ahead of myself, but from what my coworker was telling me, I thought that maybe there was something more to his feelings and actions towards me. Hell, for all I knew he could have been leading me on because he was having trouble with his marriage in shambles or something. Not only in his marriage, actually, but with his bandmates as well. Though him taking an interest in me would have been completely flattering and absolutely reciprocated, I didn't want to get in too deep.

     It had been about a month since I had seen or heard from Mark. He used to come into the old Macbeth building to check up on the business, but he hadn't been to the new headquarters yet. Nor had he been at the Christmas party the previous December. Travis was a no show as well, but I figured he had been too busy with the Transplants or his kids to come to a party. He also ran his company Famous, so I wasn't sure if he was ever super involved in Macbeth. Travis and Tom weren't as close as he and Mark were, so I worried more about Tom and Mark's relationship. They had to talk at least sometimes, I reasoned, because blink was set to tour the world coming up in a couple weeks. Their record Untitled (or more simply Blink-182) had been one of their best selling albums ever, and they had multiple singles that had earned airplay on the radio worldwide. The most popular song was I Miss You, which was a dark departure from their usual sound. The whole record was actually a way different sound from anything they had done before. Despite the differences, the fans had received it very well, and blink had sold out shows across the world.