mary jane | stuart twombly ✓

chapter 18

"Ladies and gentlemen, it has been an impressive summer", Chetty was saying, looking around at all the interns. "One final challenge remains: sales. Over a million companies advertise with Google, find one that doesn't. Convince them. The bigger the sale, the more chance you have to take this competition. The winner will be announced this afternoon at our final meeting. Good luck, happy hunting!"

Team Lyle got up with the rest of the interns, heading out. With Billy and Nick on their team, they could crush this challenge.

"Sales, son!", Neha shouted as they went down the hall, heading to their usual meeting room. "Man, those other bitches are going down!"

"We totally have this one in the bag!", Mary Jane agreed, giving the other girl a high five. They were both confident that they could get this done, especially with Nick and Billy both with them. It was the men's specialty after all. "Wait, where is Billy?", Mary Jane asked, just now noticing her tree like friend's absence.

"Yeah, we cant do this without him", Neha frowned.

"He left", Nick said bluntly, brushing past them all to go lean against one of the tables. Everyone stopped where they were.

"He what?!", Mary Jane squeaked, beginning to pace around the room. "Oh no, oh no, oh no."

"Whoa, MJ, calm down", Lyle frowned, looking over at where the girl was hyperventilating. She was really taking this last challenge seriously.

Nick began to explain the situation while Stuart helped Mary with her breathing. "Go to your happy place, go to your happy place."

"Did you not hear what he just said? We're screwed, man, we're worse than screwed!"

"I think we broke MJ", Yo-Yo said. He had begun pulling out his eyebrow hairs the moment he realized that Billy was missing, so his right eyebrow was practically nonexistent at this point.

"We gotta get him back", Neha said immediately. Even she was beginning to get nervous about this one.

"She's right. We're all a team, that's what you guys taught us", Yo-Yo agreed, nodding his head.

"I mean, it might have been buried under a mountain of obscure eighties references, and you know, just a ton of other inappropriate bullshit that I guess were supposed to be life lessons? But you guys taught us how to come together, you taught us that", Stuart said, still patting Mary Jane's back.

"We broke MJ", Yo-Yo repeated.

"We did not break MJ", Lyle scoffed. But that was before the redhead went out into the hall and let out an ear splitting scream. All work ceased as everyone stuck their head out their doors to look. "Oh."

"Yeah, think we broke her just a little bit", Nick said, pinching his thumb and forefinger together.

The redhead then stomped back in, a relieved smile on her face. "That felt so good", she sighed before straightening her back. "But we really can't do this without Bill. Stop shaking in your panties, ladies, we've got work to do. Starting with you, Nickelodeon. Go get us our tree!"

"The problem is: when he makes his mind up about something, old Billy has a tendency to really dig in. We're gonna have to get ready to do this one without him", Nick said with a sigh, making a hand gesture at one point. He knew his best friend well enough to know that Billy was probably long gone by now.

"Yeah, but, Nick, we wouldn't wanna do this without him, right, guys?", Lyle asked, looking around at his interns. They all nodded.

Nick made arrangements to go get Billy while the others tried to figure out what business to target. "We should do— actually, you know what?", MJ said, standing straight up. "One of you guys decide." Mary Jane had realized, after Stuart had called her bossy, that, when no one else stepped up, she always immediately took over. She didn't wanna be bossy anymore.

Neha whirled around, placing her hands on Mary Jane's shoulders. The girl was dressed very business like today. Her red hair was pushed back with a black headband. She wore a white button down that was tucked into a black pencil skirt and matching black heels. "You're gonna wrinkle my shirt!", Mary Jane huffed.

"MJ, I love you, but don't turn into a little bitch now! You are not a kitten! Be the proud lion momma that yells at her cubs when they're mean to each other and still tucks them in at night when they get too drunk!"

"Thanks for that, by the way", Lyle called out. "I wasn't able to roll out of bed in my sleep, plus I stayed all toast and warm."

"Momma lioness ain't here. Ya broke her, remember? You just get too chilled out Mary Jane."

"Well, you bring her back here right this second", Neha shouted, shaking the girl's shoulders.

"Alright, alright, damn", Mary Jane huffed, taking a step back so that Neha had no choice but to let go if she didn't wanna fall. Mary Jane took off her shirt so that she was just in her tank top, tying the material around her waist. She then removed her headband, pulling her hair back. "Let's get this bread, ladies", she grinned, making Neha roll her eyes.

"Neha, get started on a presentation. We can't do this if we try and go in and do it on our own — we'll flop", Mary Jane instructed. "Yo-Yo, baby, please stop pulling out your eyebrow hairs and help us with statistics. Stuart, help us find our business. Lyle, work on your people skills bud and help Stuart." She sighed, but it was more of a happy sigh than anything. "Feels good to be back."

She went over to help Neha with her presentation. After a moment, Stuart looked up. "What about this place? Rocky Mountain Pizza? They don't advertise with Google, but they have some great reviews."

The group leaned over to look at his laptop, nodding. "Perfect." Mary Jane continued to bark out orders. It felt like she was back in high school again, being captain of the cheer team and having everyone listen to her. She felt needed.

February 26, 2019