And I don't need to hear, about how long it was taking.

Miraculously, everyone in the meeting agreed.

Without discussing much more, the meeting was adjourned. Every one had enough to go home and brainstorm on their own.

And just like that, my next project was gonna be about a cam-girl.

On my way out I stopped by to talk to Alex.

"About time man, what was all that about?"

"The next project actually. Had to brainstorm a few things, and looks like we got enough to go from there."

"Cool cool, that's all I need to know. Hey, ready to trade?"

"Ah shit man, I know I offered but I don't have my Switch on me. I'll bring it in on Monday, can Machoke last you until then?"

"Eh, Submission will do for now I guess. Take it easy man, see you on Monday."

When I walked out of the door, Rebecca got to me before I could get in my car.

"Yo."

"Hey Rebecca, what's up?"

"Where did you get the camgirl idea? Be honest."

"Uhh…"

Oh yeah, good idea asshole. Get clammed up on that question, that won't make it obvious you were trying to jerk off in the morning.

"You getting frisky or something?"

"Wha-what?"

"Frisky. Horny, Randy, in the mood, do I need to keep going?"

"No, but like…now?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Rebecca I'm gonna be honest, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Did you get the fucking idea when you were jerking off?"

"Oh my god, no! Ofcourse not!"

"Why the 'ofcourse not'? It's not like watching porn giving you porn ideas is some far fetched concept."

I could hear Alex chime in from the main entrance.

"'F'arfetched?!"

"Not that F'arfetched Alex!"

"Fuck!"

And without another word he left.

"Dean, I'm not trying to ask inappropriate questions. You were the only one that had an idea today, I'm just wondering how you got there."

"Alright well… honestly no. I wasn't. It honestly just came to me."

"How?"

"How did it just come to me? That's a loaded question."

"Dude come on. Like, what were the keywords that sparked it?"

"I don't know or remember Rebecca, I'm sorry."

"God you suck. I hate you, and you suck."

"I know."

"Well anyway, you have any vision in your head of the characters yet?"

"Nope, not even close."

"In that case, is it cool if I work on the male over the weekend? I'm assuming we are going Hetero here."

"Oh, yeah, absolutely. That actually sounds good, that'll help me a lot."

"Permission to splurge?"

"Permission granted."

We have a weird work dynamic here.

Too weird that I know if I don't explain that, it's not obvious enough to figure it out.

Permission to splurge meant Rebecca had full control of whatever she was splurging.

So I basically gave Rebecca complete control of the male character for the duration of this project.

Which was fine by me. Less responsibility on my shoulders, the better.

"See you on Monday dude."

"See you on Monday."

I got into my car, and she got into hers.

She made just as much money as I did, and yet she still drove her grandmothers old beige Corolla.

That she lovingly covered from bumper to bumper in stickers.

The engine was ticking, and the serpentine belt was squeaking.

But you are making a big mistake if you try telling her to fix those things.

'I don't tell you to fix your core beliefs you fucking squid.'

Is what her response always was.

And man, you don't realize how much it hurts to be called a squid until you get called one by a tiny thrifty artist.

So everyone dubbed it the Sticker-Rolla and left it at that.

I made it home, and it was about one o'clock.

I started cleaning up the mess from last night, which reminded me I didn't get that much rest last night.

Passing out is not the same as sleeping, brain trauma not included.

I gathered the bottles into bags, and forced any food bits into the pizza box.

One overstuffed garbage can later, I was one yawn away from falling asleep on my feet.

My perfectly undisturbed bed was waving a sultry finger at me.

I got undressed and dove right in.

It really didn't take much before my subconscious said 'chill homie, I got this one' and I slumbered away with out much a thought.

Then again, that's not exactly true.

I remember thinking about Nikki briefly.

When I woke up, only the city lights were shining into my apartment.

The sky and horizon were black and blue, and speckled with dots of orange.

As picturesque as this sight was, that meant I slept in way longer than planned.

I checked my phone and was slapped with eleven p.m.

"Holy…..fuck. I hibernated."

A couple obnoxious yawns and stretches later, I laid my head back down into my pillow.

"Yup. What a fucking waste."

Laying there in bed barely reminded me of coming back to life this morning.

And that reminded me of Commander Johnson.

I tilted my head to look down towards my feet, and alas Commander Johnson wasn't camping today.

No tent. No pitched tent. That's what I meant.

And I was weirdly relieved. Guess I didn't want the company right now.

I scraped my legs out of bed, and slowly rebooted.

I followed the lights of the city towards my fridge.

One bottle of water and a slice of cheese was the peak of my culinary prowess at the moment.

Nibbling the cheese like a Mouse, I took a look around my apartment.

I was mostly looking for trash I may have forgotten to clean up, but my attention brought me to my work table.

Yesterday it was empty.

But now, there was a shred of potential there.

I was now nibbling the cheese with insight.

We were full steam ahead with a cam girl. Two characters, and a slow build.

I didn't have to worry about the male character for the most part, so those few stipulations is what I had.

So what did I have here?

"Hmmm."

My groggy head starting unsticking it's gears.

I looked around my entire environment.

I saw my apartment, and for some reason I was comparing what it looked like now to what it looked like this morning.

I looked out the window.

The night scape was gorgeous, but the sun this morning was awful.

I thought about the cheese I was eating.

It was good.

And then in a way I could never explain, my ideas started flowing.

Damn, this cheese is good.

Scribbles and dabbles cluttered the table.

Ideas and outcomes from corner to corner.

You'd think I was chasing down a serial killer with the lines and notes I was taking.

But I was coming up with combinations of things I personally never seen, to how to improve things I've seen millions of times.

At this point, I was about to have an encyclopedia of possible outcomes this story could reach.

I went up to get another bottle of water and slice of cheese, but then a faint glow from underneath the window curtain caught my attention.

I drew them open, and the sun was just beginning to rise.

The yellow and orange began infecting the black of the night, ready to take over.

"Jesus…"

When the sun isn't sneaking up on you and blinding your hungover ass, it really could be beautiful.

But then another realization hit me.

"God, my sleep schedule is fucked."

I went back over to the table and started gathering all my notes and papers into as coherent of piles as possible.

But once most of the papers were cleared, one labeled 'Cam girl' stuck out.

"Oh shit, Nikki!"

-Good Morning Nikki. It's Dean.

"Oh shit Dean, you actually came."

-Ofcourse, why wouldn't I?

"I don't know, I'm just impressed."

-I'm a man that keeps my promises.

"Definitely seems like it. So how did yesterday go?"

-You won't believe it, I got called into a super secret meeting.

"Oh yeah?"

-Yup. Big brainstorm session. We actually have our next direction.

"Oh that's awesome! What is it?"

-Well…

"Dean, you are willingly choosing to type like that. Why so ominous?"

-So, I may, or may not, have suggested something.

"What?"

-Something uh… topical.

"If you dot dot dot one more time, I'm leaving."

-Okay, sorry. I actually suggested the story be about a Cam girl.

"Are you serious?"

-Depends on how mad you are.

"What if I'm not mad at all?"

-Then Uber serious?

"Dean, I'm flattered. Can't believe I actually I have that influence on someone."

-You should have seen it. It was a room full of rich and creative people but everyone was drawing a fucking blank.

"Man, did porn really stump you guys that bad? How did you eventually reach cam girl?"

-We were at wits end. But then I brought up the points you gave me. Two characters and a slow build. And since I was thinking of you, I suggested cam girl.

"And everyone liked that?"

-Yup.

"Damn, I can't believe that's really how shit works at places like that.

-At least how we work. I doubt we share a lot of things in common with other publishers.

"Like?"

-Well our lead artist is as eccentric as they come. She's allowed to curse at people, wears hoodies despite the dress code, etc

"Wow. Sounds like me. Is she a bitch?"

-Honestly, no. From the outside looking in, absolutely. But once you learn her quirks and her way of speaking, she's actually harmless.

"Charming, I guess. Does she have any socials where I can see some of her work on?"

-As much as I would love to share them with you, that would give away who she is and our project.

"Right, top secret. Actual cam girl doesn't get to know, you got it."

-I really mean it when I say no offense. I don't even tell my mother what we work on until the first chapters out.

"You take your work very seriously, don't you?"

-Yes I do. Is it that apparent?

"Well I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but man, do you really think no one else is telling their friends and family when they get home?"

-I honestly never considered that. But we've gotten lucky with leaks so far so I'm gonna assume no.

"Or, hear me out on this, or, they actually trust other people."

-Oh come on, that's not fair.

"Calling it like I see it."

-Ofcourse I trust you Nikki. It's just engraved into my head to not reveal anything. Like if I did, I'd be breaking some forbidden rule and I'll burst into flames on the spot.

"Okay, I hear you. I hear you. So let me ask you this, are you proud of your work and your company?"

-Ofcourse I am, one hundred percent. Why wouldn't I be?

"Do you see yourself working there the rest of your life?"

-Yes(?)

"Why the supposed question mark?"

-That's kind of another thing I never considered.

"Why not?"

-I don't know.

"What else do you see in your future?"

-Work wise?

"There you go, I knew it."

-Knew what?

"All I asked was your general future and you can't help but think about your job."

-We were on the subject!

"Pipe down mister, you know I caught you."

-I care about my work, so what? Don't you?

"Absolutely not, and you're missing the point."

-not what? What point?

"You are too obsessed with your job, it's not good for you. I ask about the future and all you see is work."

-And I'll assume you don't care about your job?

"Oh man, is it that obvious?"

-If you don't mind me asking, why not? Why do something you don't enjoy?

"Can't be picky to pay the bills."

-I won't disagree with you there, but there's bound to be other options.

"Ofcourse there is. But I'm not gonna bog myself down for some boring lifestyle."

-So you stream just because it's not boring?

"Well…no, that's not the only reason."

-So what other reason is there?

"None of your business."

-Ouch.

"Look, Dean, my bad."

-You're good.

"No, I'm not. I'm here asking you all these questions, I should be able to answer the same ones."

-There's no pressure, you don't have to.

"You know what, no, I need to. Ask me a question, ask me anything."

-Alright, want me to you?

"That sounds horrible, don't put it like that."

-Fair point. So why not something basic, like, what did you use to want to do?

"For a long time I wanted to go into game development. Video games were all I used to do with me free time."

-Well that's awesome, how come you didn't pursue it?

"Honestly, I didn't have the money for it. I was stuck working this miserable barista job, but it really wasn't enough and life just seemed more and more pointless by the day."

-Man, I'm sorry Nikki.

"For what?"

-That sounds horrible.

"It's not like I was the only depressed barista on this planet. Shit happens."

-Just because someone might have it worse, doesn't mean you don't have it bad.

"Alright Dr. Phil, I know that. Which is why I tried changing things for myself."

-Tried? How?

"Well, kind of."

-How do you 'kind of' try?

"Well, I met someone."

-Oh?

"Yeah."

-Who was it?

"Umm…"