Lucky Coincidence // Stuart Twombly

XVIII

"Goodmorning, everyone, and welcome to the Google Helpline." Lara welcomed the interns gleefully. "You will man the phone for exactly one hour and before you begin, make sure to click the record file button to make sure we can examine and review your work later," She said firmly, looking around the room to make sure everyone had heard her. 

A short moment of silence fell as Lara looked at the clock on the wall. Right as it struck 9, she said, "The Google Helpline... Is open." 

As everyone was helping the people on the other side of the line, Lara walked around, trying to hear as many conversations as possible. When she passed Stuart, she ran her fingers through the hairs in his neck. He turned to her with a smile and continued talking to the person on the phone. 

The hour slowly passed by but it had passed before Lara knew it. She saw three seconds were left and quickly called, "And... time's up!" She clapped her hands and the interns finished up their calls. "Please submit your log files so we can review your work later." 

Chetty walked up to Lara, he had observed the entire hour. "Good job, Lara. You're improving." 

A smile made its way onto her face. "Thank you," She grinned happily. 

"Mine's not blue, it's grey. Is anyone else's grey too?" Billy McMahon called through the room. 

"Mister McMahon, did you listen to Miss Atkinson's opening remarks?" Chetty asked Billy. 

"Yeah, I heard most of it but I was just... I was getting in the zone. I was pregaming," Billy muttered perplexedly. 

"Miss Atkinson was very clear that you had to log into your account so we could review your work later." 

No one said anything for a short while as the interns realized what had happened. 

"But the good thing is that you can review me now because you saw the touchdown live and in person," Billy tried hopefully. 

"I don't really get that analogy but I do know that attention to detail is of utmost importance here and miss Atkinson's instructions were explicitly clear. If there is no recording, it is as if you didn't even show up today," Chetty elaborated. 

"Except I did show up, I'm sitting right here. Lara, help me out here." He desperately eyed the blonde girl standing behind Chetty.

"I'm sorry, Billy. If there is no recording to review for us then it means your team didn't complete the challenge. You will, unfortunately, receive the score of zero," She sighed sadly.

"Lara, come on..." Stuart tried but Lara shook her head. 

"I'm sorry, Stu. I can do a lot of things but changing the rules is not one of them... Excuse me." She patted her boyfriend on his shoulder before walking off. 

"Good job, Mister McMahon. Maybe for the next time, more studying and less pudding," Chetty taunted. 

Lara retreated to her office and she sat in her desk chair, letting out a deep sigh and releasing her blonde hair from the tight ponytail. She ran her tired fingers through it. After collecting herself, she started up her laptop and logged into her mail. Then she opened a new document and started working on the last challenge. This challenge had to be something Stuart's team could easily do. What was something they were good at except being smart and good with computers? 

Lara frowned as she tried to remember Nick and Billy's majors at their university. Nick's was Physics and Billy's was Sales, she remembered. On their resumes, she read they had years and years of sales experience. 

That was it. A sales challenge. 

Right as she wanted to send the idea to Chetty, a knock on her door interrupted her. "Come in," She called cheerfully. The door opened to reveal a distraught looking Nick Campbell. "Nick, can I help you?" She asked. 

"Hey, have you seen Billy?" He asked her, looking around her office as he spoke. 

"Ehm... Can't say that I have. Not since the challenge this morning," She answered, folding her hands on her desk. "Why? Is something wrong?" 

"I don't think so, I just need to find him." He turned to exit the office. 

"Nick." He turned back. "He'll be okay, right?" 

Nick nodded softly. "Yeah, I hope so. He's a tough guy." He smiled but Lara could see that he was still trying to convince himself. 

***

"Ladies and gentlemen, it has been an impressive summer," Lara spoke as she slowly walked over the stage from left to right. She glanced at Stuart's team and saw the spot beside Nick was empty. Nick shrugged lightly and she let out a soft sigh before she continued. "Only one task remains." Behind her, the presentation skipped to the next slide. "Sales. Over a million companies advertise with Google. Find one that doesn't and convince them. The bigger the sale, the bigger the chance of your team winning this competition." She paused for a second as she sent a small nod in Nick's direction. "The winner will be announced at our final meeting this afternoon, so better get to it. Happy hunting!" 

The room erupted into chaos as everyone got to their feet. Before Nick's team could leave, Lara hurried over to them. "Hey, where is Billy?" she asked. 

Nick shrugged. "I don't know. He left." 

"He left? Why?" Lara asked, confusion lacing her words. 

"He thinks he blew it for us, so he took himself out of the equation to give us a chance at winning," Nick explained. 

"But that doesn't make any sense. Only one challenge is left and that's the one Billy's best at. You have to get him back," Lara pressed. "I came up with this challenge to give you guys another chance so you can't blow this." 

"We can go ahead without you. We'll text you where we are when you get back with Billy," Neha offered. 

"I can come with you, Nick," Lara said. 

"That's really sweet, guys, but I don't think it'll work. When Billy has his mind set on something, it's almost impossible to convince him otherwise," Nick sighed, dropping his head. 

"People say the same about Lara, so if she comes with you, she'll convince him," Stuart stated, offering his girlfriend a smile, which she gladly mimicked. "We're a team, and underneath all of those 80s references and inappropriate comments were, I think, life lessons that you tried to teach us." 

"I appreciate it, guys, but we'll have to do this one without him," Nick said. 

"Yeah," Lyle said. "But we don't want to." 

The team fell silent for a second. 

"So, what's the plan?" Lara asked. 

Nick chuckled and shook his head. "I think I know where I can find him." 

"Great. I'm coming with you," Lara stated firmly. 

He let out a laugh. "There's no stopping you, is there?" 

"Absolutely not. Let's go."