Chapter 2: Decision:
Meanwhile, at Live Corp..
"Did you make your decision yet sir?" Barb asked sitting in her usual spot. Chester looked at her with a hint of aggravation and exhaustion. It was hard being the CEO of a global empire, which is why he drank so much coffee every day. It was pretty much the only thing that could get him through the day. Of course, he didn't consume nearly as much as his employees did, but he's never had anyone die from that, at least not yet. Not like he cared, he just didn't want to have any lawsuits on his hands. He sighed before giving his response, "No, I haven't. I haven't even gotten through everything yet. Ugh, why did you let me do this?! This whole thinkquanot thing!" Barb just rolled her eyes and said, "Ugh, not this again. I keep telling you not to push yourself, but do you ever listen?! Nope! You never listen to me or anyone for that matter! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're starting to get too old for this." That made Chester really angry. Standing up from behind his desk, he snapped, "How dare you! I am not old! How dare you say such a thing!" Before Chester could complain anymore, Barb suddenly snapped back with, "With all due respect sir, you're 60 years old! You have at least 30 years left at best and I know for a fact that at one point during those 30 years, you won't be able to run this company anymore!" Now Chester was furious, "Excuse me?! For your information, I plan to run this company until the day I die! For 30 years I've been doing this and I have zero intentions of ever quitting! I brought this company to life! I was the one that made all of this possible! And may I remind you that if it wasn't for me you'd never be here!"
That made Barb go silent. He was right, if it wasn't for him she wouldn't be here. She wouldn't even be intelligent. After that, Barb just sat quietly in her chair while Chester finished his job. She'd never thought of that before. She thought, "If Chester never would've come into my life, where would I be? Would I be in a zoo or somewhere worse?" She didn't know, nor did she want to know. After she was done exploring her thoughts, she looked up at Chester with a sad expression and watched him work.
She never meant to make him angry, she was just looking out for him and thinking about his well being. As Chester was working, he felt like someone was watching him, of course he knew it was Barb because she was the only other person in the room. When he looked up at her, she turned away. She didn't want him to see her trying to fight back tears. She couldn't think of anything to say to him until he was about to resume his task. "I'm sorry." She said still turned away. That made Chester focus his attention back on her. He'd never heard anyone say that to him before. "W-what did you say?" She turned back towards him. "I said I'm sorry. I was just looking out for you, because I care about you." He didn't know what to say. He never had anyone actually care about him before. "Barb I-" He couldn't figure out how to complete his sentence. "It's okay sir, I know you're not one for words and emotion." Barb said trying to smile.
Chester could tell she was still upset though. He sighed, "I know I'm not exactly the friendliest person in the world if you could even call me friendly at all. I do apologize for the way I am. Sometimes I wish I was a better person." "You used to be…what happened to you?" Barb asked. Chester then diverted his gaze. "I don't know…" He wanted to change the subject so he went back to the decision of who's going to be Live Corp's newest thinkquanot. "So, about who's going to be this year's thinkquanot, I think it's going to be a tough decision." Barb was surprised by the sudden change in subject, but decided to just go along with it. "Huh, well I was thinking it should be Flint." Chester was shocked. "Lockwood?! But why?" "Because, that party in a box thing he made is amazing! And you love parties! Come on, you've gotta admit that party in a box is pretty awesome." She said. Chester had a hard time agreeing with that, even though he did love parties. "As true as that may be, that still doesn't make it thinkquanot worthy." Barb disagreed. "Well I think his invention is more worthy than that stupid zero emission car. He deserves to be a thinkquanot, it means the world to him." Chester disagreed, but maybe he could benefit from having Flint closer. He thought about it for a minute before responding. "You know what, I'll do it. You've Swayed me." Barb was shocked beyond belief. "R-really sir?! You're gonna choose Flint Lockwood?" He then grinned and said"Yep, that way I can keep an even closer eye on him." Barb was starting to get frightened. "Um…okay." "Barb, I'm just kidding." He said reassuringly. "I'm choosing him for the same reason I always do." He was lying of course, but Barb didn't know that. Everything was going according to plan, at least for now.