A Conference for Swayze

Normally, a change in staff was nothing that caused much disturbance in his world. Dozens of faces came and went in his company and his life still flowed unperturbed. He was a firm believer that everyone was replaceable; friend or employee, whatever you needed from a person statistically you had every chance of finding someone that could do their job exactly the same or play the same role in your life.

So now why was he so irate that one no-name barista had been absent for the past three days? He chalked it up to his obsession to never leave anything unfinished; even if it was a bizarre mystery that probably had a less than Oscar-worthy backstory.

At first, he thought that she might have changed her shift hours. But he was there during mornings and lunch hours, and he saw neither hide nor hair of the girl. And going around and asking if she had been fired or quit wasn’t an option.

‘She probably resigned. It’s not as if waitressing doesn’t have a high turnover rate.’ Satisfied with the forced closure of his dilemma, he began the most relaxing part of his day – reading emails.

After delegating 20 or so emails to their respective departments, an email of a different nature was found in his inbox. It was an invitation to a tech conference in their city. While the invitation in itself was not something unusual, as he scrolled through the keynote panels and events, his expression changed from bored to slightly amused.

‘Well, at least I’ll have another anomaly of life to entertain myself with.’

As much as he abhorred these types of events and the idiots that actually paid to listen to other idiots drone on and on about their latest tech ‘innovations’ and ‘insightful’ business advice, he was actually curious this time. His interest had nothing to with the presentations scheduled today though.

From his corner of the bar area, he could spot two familiar figures. The two men looked the same as they did six years ago when they finished university.

‘Ah, Victor and Max. The dimwit of decoding and the bonehead of backend development. Fated to be each other’s midwives as they continuously birth inane ideas. Surprised they amounted to anything, but yet again, they bring almost anyone as filler nowadays.’

Victor was animatedly chatting away with Max, blue eyes expressing almost any minute change in his speech modulations. You didn’t need to hear what he was saying to know what he felt about whatever subject they were discussing. Max ran a hand through his short brown hair and shook his head at his friend’s antics.

“Calm down, Vic. Jeez, this isn’t our first run, y’know?” Even though he shared Victor’s enthusiasm, he knew that it could get out of control quite easily and make him lose focus.

“Yeah, yea. I’m just psyched about this release. Let me have my moment in the sun, will ya?”

“Like you could handle a tan, blondie.”

“Jealous of my golden locks as always.”

“Like I give a…” Max suddenly stopped his riposte and squinted his eyes, which made Victor slightly turn and look over his shoulder to see what had derailed them from their banter.

Across the room at the bar area, he could see a familiar profile. Victor raised an eyebrow and slowly turned his head back to face his interlocutor, all traces of excitement gone.

“That’s him, isn’t it?” whispered Max.

“Yep. His frigid unholiness in the flesh.”

“Wonder why he’s here… Was he in any panel?”

“Who cares why fjord lord decided to grace us plebs with his attendance.” Replied an irritated Victor. “I’m gonna go full Patrick Swayze this fine evening and have the time of my life.”

“Just don’t go flinging any girl in the air for your finale.”

“I think the crowd would love a grand climax.”

“Good luck in finding a willing female participant.”

“GUUUUUUYS!” Both heads snapped in the direction of a small brunette that was quickly making her way towards them.

Victor’s face bloomed into a full grin. He leaned slightly toward Max and whispered “I think Baby found me.”

Max shook his head and also turned to fully face the out-of-breath girl before them.

“Yo, Tai. Still enjoying public transport, I see.”

“Can’t really afford to be dilly-dallying with taxis all day on my paycheck, Vic.”

“Is one more meager transport expense more important than seeing your boys make it?” interjected Max while feigning a sorrowful tone.

“Oh, stop your moaning. I said I would be here, and regardless of my methods, I have materialized before you. Now, where’s the buffet?”

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‘Why did I expect this to be actually entertaining? Wonder what the dunderheads are doing.’ Looking up from his drink, his eyes scanned the room for Victor and Max. The boredom was violently knocked out of him when he found the two and their newest companion.

‘What the hell is the café girl doing here?!’

Things suddenly got bizarrely interesting again.