Chapter 3

Dick Casablancas took a long puff from the vaporizer he was using to smoke marijuana and blew a large cloud of vapor into the air. "Check it out, I can make it look like a dragon! Hold on a second, just watch."

"Wait, are you trying to make the smoke look like a dragon or are you trying to look like a dragon with all that vapor?" Cassidy asked Dick as he waved away the cloud that had gathered around his head.

Dick looked confused. "I'm not sure. I kept watching all these YouTube videos, but now you've got me all confused." He took drew in another puff and blew it out. "What was that movie that just came out with the elves and the Hobbits and that bad ass looking dragon?"

"Are you talking about The Hobbit?" Cassidy shook his head and continued unpacking the boxes in the beach house he was now sharing with Dick. "You know, I really think you should cut that out. You're getting stupider by the day. How did you even get a license to smoke that stuff?"

Dick winked at him as he pulled up the wetsuit that he'd tied around his waist. "I told the doctor I had problems with depression. He knew who you were and I cried a blue streak about our dad abandoning us, it was easy peasy." Dick grabbed a handful of cereal from a box that had been sitting on the kitchen sink and popped it into his mouth. "Alright, I'm about to get wet. See you later, Beav."

Cassidy winced and glared at Dick. "Hold on, we need to talk about getting Phoenix Land Trust up and running again. I looked at the website yesterday and it's a mess. What happened? You haven't had anyone update it since it was created?"

Dick gave Cassidy a piercing look. "You mean when Ghost World created it for you?"

Cassidy pretended like Dick was making a big deal out of nothing and started to break down a box. "Yeah, since then. If we want people to take us seriously, we have to get that site updated. Do you have anyone working for us that can do that? Someone in the IT department?"

Dick choked on the cereal that he was still eating straight from the box. "IT department? How many employees do you think we have?"

Cassidy shrugged. "I dunno. Ten?"

"Right now, it's just me and this old lady that I hired as a secretary. I hired her because I was really starting to rack up the sexual harassment lawsuits."

Cassidy could feel his blood pressure starting to rise and he began to yell. "Are you kidding me? Two people work at the company? We should have had enough work for several employees! When I left, we were worth six million dollars! All my hard work is just down the drain?"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Cassidy. We'll do whatever we need to do to get the company back up and running. I don't want you to go jumping off the Neptune Grand again." Dick seemed to be serious about that statement. "Listen, we'll get Mac to do it again. I hear she still does that kinda stuff on the side."

Cassidy was surprised. "She doesn't do that for her main job? I kinda imagined she'd made a business of it."

"Nah, she got a job working for Kane Software recently. I think she still does some of the cyberstalking stuff for Ronnie too. You want me to call her?" Dick pulled out his cellphone and began scrolling through his contacts.

"Hold on, you have Mac's number?" Jealousy welled up in him. "Why do you have Mac's phone number?"

Dick looked up from his phone smugly. "She and I got to be very close during college. We still run in the same circles. She hangs out with Veronica, I hang out with Logan. Sometimes it kinda gets to be double date-y."

Cassidy decided Dick had to be messing with him. There's no way Mac would willingly hang out with Dick. He decided to call Dick's bluff. "Yeah, you should call her," he tried to say nonchalantly. "Go ahead."

Dick looked confused. "Right now?"

"Why not?"

"Cause she's at work. I don't want to interrupt her. I'll just send her a text message." Before Cassidy could press the issue, Dick had a composed a message and hit send. "There. She'll get back to me soon." Dick zipped up his wetsuit the rest of the way and plugged his phone in to charge while he was out surfing.

Cassidy opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. There was nothing he could say. He'd just have to wait and see what happened.

Sitting in her cubicle at Kane Software, Mac watched her phone light up and saw that she had a message from Dick Casablancas. She really hoped he wasn't sending her another dick pic. Looking at the phone, she saw it was an actual message: Cassidy is back in town. We should talk.