I hate traffic.

But it's giving me a good chance to jam out.

I don't even know who sings the song. I just can't stop.

"Open up my mind with these spoken words,

Let this music heal like an overture,

She's the only one, one, one, yeah, yeah

And so I roll with her, ooh,

That's how it's supposed to be,

Living life with loved ones close to me,

Shh, ahh, this is the remedy,

And I got the recipe, I don't need no Hennessy,

Yeah, it's been nine months now,

Haven't had a drink and I'm starting to see clear now,

I'm putting all my fears down,

I can hear the cheers now,

Seeing peace signs when I look around

Hey, young homie what you trippin' on

Looking at life, like how did I get it wrong,

Life's too short, gotta live it long,

To my brothers and sisters, when will we get along,

Hey, young homie what you trippin' on,

Looking at life, like how did I get it wrong,

Life's too short, gotta live it long,

To my brothers and sisters when will we get along

Open up your eyes, look around

Homie, can you see how it's going down?

Brothers locked up, sisters knocked up

If you wanna build your love up, put your hate down

Ooh, that's the only way to live

Turnin' negatives to positives

"It's gonna be alright" Bob Marley said

F*ck the dumb sh*t, keep it movin', that's what time it is

Hey, young homie what you trippin' on

Looking at life, like how did I get it wrong,

Life's too short, gotta live it long,

To my brothers and sisters, when will we get along

Hey, young homie what you trippin' on

Looking at life, like how did I get it wrong,

Life's too short, gotta live it long,

To my brothers and sisters, when will we get along

Give peace to the war in the streets,

Give peace to the evil that creeps, yeah,

I just ride, put my hand to the sky,

Live life like I'm never gon' die,

See we be fighting and fussing over nothing,

So much destruction, looking like puppets,

Combusting like nothing, now listen,

It takes education, to change your reputation,

From bad to good, you're gettin' better now you're elevating,

They be singing, family's hanging, everybody's chillin'

Not gonna stop this, living on the feeling,

Man this is the real thing, tell me can you feel me,

Wait 'til they drop this, dancing on the ceiling

Hey, young homie what you trippin' on

Ah, what you really trippin' on,

Life's too short, gotta live it long,

To my brothers and sisters when will we get along,

Hey, young homie what you trippin' on,

Looking at life, like how did I get it wrong

Life's too short, gotta live it long,

To my brothers and sisters when will we get along

Young homie what you trippin' on?"

Damn good song.

Thank goodness for Venus Online Radio.

Hopefully the first interview for the new staff goes as well.

Last time I had a Deka rep with me holding my hand. Now I guess I'm a big boy that can take care of himself.

I'm glad that they trust me and have faith in me to hire good people. The only email I got is that they're paying for background checks.

Don't want to hire a serial killer after all.

I grudgingly pull into my parking spot in the parking garage with about a minute left in the song.

Needless to say, I sit in my car and jam out to the rest of it.

The base comes out good. Good thing too, these subs I bought cost about $800 each.

Funny story. Last winter, before Megan and I started dating but we were hanging out a lot. She had the brilliant idea to see if I could cause a frozen bottle of water to crack using just my base.

It took 4 songs, and eventually settled on hardcore dubstep but it worked.

Problem was, we forgot Newton's third law.

Each action causes a equal and opposite reaction.

The ice cracked. Causing energy to be released. It had to go somewhere.

Apparently ice doesn't transfer energy very well.

It's a good thing Megan and I decided to not be in the car, because it didn't give us a warning sign.

It just went "BOOM!"

She screamed and jumped into my arms.

I was more concerned with the sudden dent in the roof.

When I killed the music, I found that the bottle basically got vaporized, but the block of ice went everywhere. I had a couple of small cracks in the side windows and a dented roof and whatever you call the middle compartment between drivers and passenger.

But it was easily fixed and worth it.

It'll be a good story to tell my son, if I have one.

I don't think my daughter would enjoy it quite as much.

I take the stairs up to the conference room, and wait about 5 minutes before a guy in jeans and a polo came off the elevator.

He immediately came towards the conference room. I beat him to the door.

"Hey, are you Julian?" I asked.

"That's me. You Robbie?"

"That's me. Nice to meet ya man." I smiled.

"Same here. How are you sir?" He asked, causing me to try not to laugh.

"No need for sir man. And I'm good. This won't take long, I just need to ask one or two questions and you'll be gone."

He gave me a puzzled look. "Really?"

"Yeah, it's about the work, not solely the interview or interactions. So you just got out of Cal Business?" I asked.

He snapped into young graduate mode. "Uh, yeah. Graduated last spring, been looking for something in the industry ever since."

"Industry? Because this isn't exactly business." I pressed him.

I wanna see how he thinks on his feet.

"I didn't graduate straight business. It's management and scheduling primarily. That's what the ad said you were looking for."

"You seem to think this is what you want."

He smiled sheepishly.

"Well, yeah. I've been doing work at a bookstore waiting for something to come up. In my head it was a situation just like this. And here I am. I'm just trying to be thankful that I have a chance to put my degree to work."

Nice job man.

"How old are you man?" I asked out of curiosity.

"25."

"Sweet…what's your availability?" I asked.

He had to hide his smirk.

Confident.

"Basically all the time. I can switch shifts whenever if you need me to come in for another interview."

Wrong tree, but you're close.

"Can I see your resume?" I asked.

He quickly pulled out a copy and gave it to me.

"Can I keep it?"

He nodded.

"Sweet. Thanks man, that's it." I smiled, getting up.

"It is?" He looked surprised.

"Yep. Thanks for coming in man." I shook his hand.

I walked him to the elevator, then once the door closed I immediately looked at his requested salary.

The position he just aced the interview for is the most expensive one.

"30-39,000."

That's a lot less than the other idiots. Deka will like that.

Cross that position off.

Now I just gotta find 3 more people.

Good thing I have 200 people to choose from.

The ad got a ton of responses.

I put my earbuds in and put the song in again.

Now to the fun part.

I'm having lunch with cat.

No, Megan doesn't know. She's stressed out over midterms. And very bitchy.

She bitched me out over the weekend over my vacuuming technique. Said I was "missing half the shit I track in."

I'm not telling her that I'm meeting Cat for lunch because she very well could throw something heavy at me. That's what she does when she gets mad at people.

She throws stuff.

Luckily the restaurant is a short walk away from the building. It's a little café she said she's been to before.

I would have pegged her as a café type of girl. She loves intimate stuff.

Don't forget to tell her to meet me at my car afterward so I can give her the bunny Megan threw out.

I don't know why. I just found it in my paper recycle bin. On top. So it's no dirty.

She didn't notice I took it, so no harm no foul.

About two blocks away from the restaurant I spot a red head with her headphones in.

I can tell she's jamming. Her heel bounces, and she doesn't even know it.

I'm sure there's a telltale sign that I'm jamming too, but after watching her jam for years at school I just pick it up.

It's like seeing a cloud or the sun. Normal.

I take out my headphones about a block away from the restaurant and keep walking.

She takes them out a few feet in front of the door.

She asks the hostess for a table for two, and explains that I'm coming.

"I'm here." I say to the hostess, causing Cat to briefly tense up then whip around.

"Don't scare me!"

The hostess smiled, but disappeared to check if there's a table I assume.

"Sorry. Hi."

"Hi. Baby doesn't like being scared. The doctor said it's not good." She came for a light hug.

"My bad, sorry little one." I rubbed the top part of her stomach, causing her to giggle.

"Right this way." The hostess smiled.

We followed her to a small table near the window.

"She'll be right over. And congratulations." She smiled at us.

Cat blushed.

"You must be very happy." She asked me.

"I, uhh…I'm not the father." I mumble.

"Oh. Sorry." She mumbled, then dashed away.

Cat just looked confused.

"Why'd she go so fast?" She asked.

"She thought we were together." I frowned, grabbing the menu.

I don't want to be the father.

I have a life to live, and I want to have fun.

The fun part of Cat's life is over. She's going to have to take care of the baby until it's our age. Then what?

I think she messed up.

But that doesn't mean I won't help her. In the pregnancy.

I don't think beyond that is a option. Pretty sure Megan would break up with me on the spot. And I don't want that.

I just hope that she doesn't need or want me past then.

Probably won't. The only reason we're back in touch is the baby.

"She didn't have to do that…" Cat said, frowning.

"It's fine."

"But you aren't the dad. If you were I would have kissed you when just came in."

"And instead you bitched me out." I shot at her, looking down at the menu.

"Robbie!" She said scandalously.

"What?" I asked wearily.

"Not in front of the baby." She said sternly.

"It can't hear me Cat." I reply.

"So? Everything that goes thru me goes to it, and I don't want you giving bad habits."

"Ok, geez…" I say, annoyed by her bad mood.

"Hi, I'm Allie and I'll be taking care of you guys…Can I get you something to drink?" She asked.

I perked up and smiled. "Lemonade please."

"I'll have milk please." Cat replied, and Allie sauntered off.

Don't you dare look Robbie.

She wore those jeans well from what I could tell.

"How are you?" Cat smiled suddenly.

"I'm fine…how are you?"

"I'm great! Hungry, but great. It's such a pretty day out isn't it?"

Back to the ball of sunshine.

I say something in agreement and pull my phone out of my pocket.

"Hey mom, do pregnant women have rapid mood swings? Miss you. Love, Robbie" I send off to my mom.

Gotta stall with Cat.

"Congrats on not getting fired." I joked, causing her to giggle.

"Thank you."

"Told you." I teased.

Buzz Buzz.

"Yeah yeah…" She began, but I checked my phone.

"Yeah, did you not tell me that Megan was pregnant Robbie? You tell me this instant." –Mom.

"Geez Mom, no. It's Cat. I told you this when you had us over for dinner last week. It's Cat that's pregnant." I reply.

"—keeping half my salary so I can keep things going and above water. But I have to work until the doctors says I can't anymore…"

Buzz buzz.

"Oh, ok. Don't scare me like that sweetie. I don't want to be a grandmother yet. My body's too fit to be a grandma."

"Lol. Later Mom." I send back.

"—but I'll have to get back in as soon as they clear me after the baby's born."

"That's rough." I say simply, disguising my lack of real interest.

"Not really."

"Demanding on you." I reply as Allie gave us our drinks.

"I'll be right back." She smiled.

I smiled back.

"Not really." She said again.

"But your body will still be healing. Even if you get C section." I reason.

She quickly looked revolted at the mention of C section.

Buzz Buzz.

"Have a good day Robbie. Love you." –Mom

"Love you too." I reply.

I hear Cat end her sentence.

"Why do you have to stop singing at all?"

"The vibrations from my voice can hurt the baby."

Allie popped back up and took our orders. She looked shocked at the amount Cat ordered.

She's a food factory. Processes it.

Our conversation while waiting for our food was about her preparations for the baby. Right now it's all diet based. No soda, but extra dessert to make up for the sugar. Very healthy.

She snapped at me again when I joked about French fries.

I couldn't help but check out whenever I got a text.

As expected she devoured every bite of her food.

The only bad thing was she got on me again for paying the bill and tip.

"Why didn't you listen to me?" She badgered me as we walked out.

"Cat, I don't want you to be short on money when you need to pay for baby stuff ok? I'd rather pay now so you can buy diapers or formula or something."

I heard her say something about formula, but then we got to her car.

"Thanks for meeting me Robbie." She smiled, coming for a hug.

We barely touched.

"No prob, text me if you need something." I smiled, then bid her farewell and popped my headphones in again.

That really wasn't fun.

Not worth getting yelled at by Megan.

I know it's not supposed to be fun, but if she's going be such a ice cube then why am I doing it?

I'm not benefiting, and I'm going to end up getting pushed out by the baby.

I unlock my car and plop inside.

While adjusting my mirros I spot th bunny.

I'll give it to my niece or something.

Cat wouldn't care.

If she doesn't care, then that bears a important question.

If I'm not benefiting, then why the hell am I doing this?

Maybe that's why Beck and Andre backed out. They saw the writing on the wall.

Of course they did.

I was always the last one to pick up the joke.

Tori always laughed.

Don't think about that bitch.

This isn't worth it if I'm just going to get yelled at by Megan.