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Rhett detested many things, chief among those currently being flight delays and unexpected allergies. Their flight from Raleigh had taken three hours longer than usual thanks to last-minute engine repairs, and almost as soon as they landed in LAX, he fell prey to a sneezing fit and his eyes began watering. When Link asked him if he was coming down with something, he snapped that he wasn’t, he was fine, he’d probably just inhaled something on the plane. He stalked off through the crowds in the direction of the baggage claim, not bothering to see if Link was following him.
After collecting their bags, they headed for the rental car office to pick up their vehicle. The place looked as empty and rundown as Rhett felt, complete with dingy windows and a vague odor of old socks.
“You couldn’t have gotten us something nicer?” Rhett muttered as they waited at the counter for the agent to locate their order.
“We can’t afford it!” Link snapped, his jaw stubbornly set.
Rhett sneezed again.
“Bless you,” the agent said. “Santa Ana winds really getting to you, huh?”
“What are those, and do they always make people feel like they’re going to die?” Rhett grabbed for the tissues on the counter. His eyes were still watering, and he was still aching from having spent so much time jammed into his tiny seat on the plane.
The agent laughed. “They make the air dry enough to start a fire and the people cranky enough to start some shit.” He added quickly, “Pardon my language, but it’s true.”
“Well, we’ve already spent nine hours on a plane,” Link said. He was struggling to remain pleasant, Rhett could tell. “Things probably can’t get much worse than that.”
“Let’s hope so.” The agent peered at the licenses they’d handed him. “North Carolina, huh?” He took on a Southern accent bad enough to make Rhett want to cringe. “From down south, y’all. What brings you boys out here?”
“Business,” Rhett said. His patience was beginning to wear thin.
“An opportunity,” Link added. “We got a chance to pitch some ideas to the bigwigs at Universal.”
“Oh very nice, very nice!” The agent nodded slowly, his eyes still on his computer screen. “So what is it you guys do? Make movies?”
Rhett glanced warningly at Link, but his friend was already speaking.
“We make internet videos.”
“Internet what?” The agent’s head snapped up. “You can make money from that?” He leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Listen, how does that work? Only videos I’ve seen are the cat ones my daughter watches. Is that the kinda stuff you guys do? How does that work?”
“It’s a lot more than that–”
“But we don’t have time to go over that right now,” Rhett cut in with a weary smile. “Anything else you need us to sign before we can get to our hotel and rest a bit?”
“Oh sure, sure.” The agent looked back at his screen. “Let’s see…”
Rhett chose to ignore Link’s glare, but he couldn’t ignore the way Link had gone completely silent. At the same time, he almost didn’t care. All he wanted to think about was food and sleep.
Link didn’t speak until they were in the car – a Honda into which Rhett just barely fit – and merging into highway traffic.
“What was that about?”
“You were about to tell the guy our whole life story,” Rhett said wearily. “I could tell. We don’t have time for that, man. Listen, we were just on a plane for nine freaking hours. I’m hungry and I’m tired and my back hurts and we still have to review what we’re going to say tomorrow.”
“It doesn’t hurt to be nice,” Link said mildly.
Rhett sighed. His eyes were still watering too, and now he felt itchy all over. “Fine. I’m sorry. I just wanna… wanna lay down for a bit.”
~
After stopping at a drugstore to get some allergy meds for Rhett, they made it to the hotel. Finally, Rhett thought. Having to sit hunched over in the car hadn’t helped his back at all. He was grateful to get out and stretch while Link went ahead and checked them into the hotel.
Thankfully, this place looked and smelled better than the rental car office, Rhett thought. They took the elevator up to the third floor, spirits buoyed at the thought of a good night’s sleep ahead. Link asked if Rhett’s back was feeling better and Rhett thanked him for doing the driving. They were quiet again, but it was more of a companionable silence this time.
But Rhett’s mood instantly soured when he saw that their room only contained one bed.
“This was supposed to be a room with double beds,” Rhett muttered. “I specifically asked you–”
“We didn’t have the money for a bigger room.” Link dropped his bags and flopped across the king-sized mattress, arms spread wide.
“And you didn’t think this was important to tell me until now?” Rhett demanded, nudging Link’s foot with his knee. “Why don’t you get a cot? I need a real bed for my back.”
“What, are you worried I’m gonna spoon ya again?” Link rolled over, one corner of his mouth lifted teasingly. “Relax, man, it’s not that bad. This bed’s big enough to share.”
They spent the rest of the evening reviewing their plans for the next day’s meeting, pausing only to order pizza and call their wives. And when they were finally ready to go to sleep, Rhett set up their extra pillows down the middle of the bed.
“If you climb over this fence of mine,” he told Link before switching off the light, “I’m gonna smack you.”
Link raised his head to give him a puzzled look over the pillows before rolling over, pulling the covers up with him.
“I’ll smack you back,” he yawned.
Rhett didn’t remember feeling drowsy, but he must have fallen asleep because he awoke a few hours later to Link tossing and turning.
“Link?”
The bed went still.
“You got ants in your pants?”
“No.” Link’s voice was muffled. There was a long silence, then he added quietly, “I’m worried.”
Oh. It was easier to be vulnerable in the dark, where no one could see or judge facial expressions, easier when it felt safest to speak in whispers.
“Me too,” Rhett said.
“Will we be okay if this doesn’t work out?”
“Yes.”
A bitter laugh from the other side of the pillow fence. “You always say that so quickly.” There was a note of wonder in Link’s voice.
Rhett frowned into the darkness. It was times like these that he wished Link would just believe him instead of constantly questioning and commenting on the things–
“Hey.” The sheets rustled as Link moved again, his hand groping up Rhett’s arm to squeeze his shoulder. “Hey Rhett?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m… I’m glad we’re doing this together. Really glad.”
The words brought an unexpected lump to Rhett’s throat. “Me too.”
~
Rhett’s first thought as he and Link entered the executive building of Universal Studios the next evening was that they didn’t belong there. Two gawky country boys in dark slacks and button-downs didn’t belong in a place where real movies were made. The security guard who signed them in at the front desk directed them to the tenth floor for their meeting.
As they waited for the elevator, he began feeling itchy and restless again, his emotions mirrored in the way Link fidgeted.
“Stop that,” he snapped when Link began pacing. “You’re makin’ me agitated.”
“How do you think I feel,” Link muttered, but he came to a stop before the elevator doors, tilting his head back to watch the light above illuminate descending numbers. Even then, the tension in his stance and the way he deliberately kept his hands still at his sides made Rhett nervous. He clutched the binder he held more tightly and closed his eyes, offering up a quick prayer for… what? He reopened his eyes, scowling at the scuff marks on the floor. He didn’t know what he expected to gain from the meeting, despite it being a miracle that they’d been able to schedule this meeting in the first place. All he and Link knew was that they wanted to start pitching their ideas to bigger companies, to get their stories and songs spread to a wider audience, and this was their first opportunity to do so.
At the ding! of the arriving elevator, Rhett looked up to find Link already scrambling into the car and pressing buttons madly.
“Wait for me!” He scrambled inside just as the doors began to close.
He felt a little better once the elevator began to move, worries contained by the proximity of the four walls. Link stood in the middle of the space, head bowed, arms crossed, legs split in a wide stance.
“What are you doing, man?” Rhett asked after a moment.
“This is supposed to help your confidence.” Link raised his head, flexed his thin arms. “If you stand like you’re in a position of power, it’s supposed to help you feel less nervous. Act like you’re full of hot air or something. That should be easy enough for you.”
“Oh be quiet.” Rhett took a similar stance. It did make him feel as if he could exert some kind of power over their situation if he pretended that he owned the elevator. “Where’d you hear about that?”
Link shrugged. “In one of those stupid ‘useless facts’ things you keep emailing me.”
Rhett bristled at that. “I thought you thought those were interesting.”
“No, you thought they were interesting,” Link corrected. “I thought they were annoying.”
“Well, obviously you thought they were interesting too, if you took the time to read them,” Rhett snapped.
“I read them because I knew you wanted me to.” Link retreated to one side of the elevator, running a hand absently up and down his shirtsleeve as if he’d just been slapped. “Let’s not argue right now, man. Please.”
Rhett crossed his arms and settled for glowering at the floor. He didn’t mean to agitate Link – at least, he didn’t mean it this time. Since they’d started working together, he’d noticed that some things he said upset Link more than he expected, but he wasn’t sure how to fix that. So he said nothing and scowled at everything until the elevator stopped at the tenth floor.
The receptionist in the office told them to sit down and she’d tell Ms. Genessee that they had arrived.
“Oh look, they got Reese’s Pieces!” Link reached for the small dish at the center of the coffee table.
“No candy.” Rhett slapped his hand away. “Gonna make you even more riled up.”
Link spread his arms, exasperated. “Why are you in such a bad mood?”
“Me?” Rhett hissed, glancing quickly to make sure the receptionist hadn’t heard. He leaned across the armrest of his chair to say quietly. “Look ,you’re the one who’s been giving me a hard time ever since we’ve–”
“Why is it always my fault when we have a hard time with something?” Link said quietly. “It would be nice if you took some responsibility for your own actions once in a while.”
“My actions?” Rhett’s eyebrows shot up. “Listen, man–”
“Excuse me?”
Two heads snapped up at the receptionist’s voice.
“Ms. Genessee will see you now,” she told them, gesturing behind her. “Straight back through those doors and to the right.”
“Thank you,” they said together as they hastily got to their feet, argument temporarily forgotten.
“How do I look?” Link asked quietly, hands nervously mussing his carefully brushed hair.
“Got something on your glasses. How about me?”
“Your tie’s crooked.” Link wiped his narrow frames clean on his shirt before putting them back on. “Let’s do this.”
They hesitated briefly just outside the meeting room, the weight of their expectations momentarily overwhelming. Rhett finally gave his friend a nudge – go ahead – and Link opened the door.
~
Ms. Genessee, dressed smartly in a gray pantsuit and heels, insisted that they call her Linda. She shook their hands, commented on how tall Rhett was, and thanked them for being willing to meet at such a late hour for business.
Rhett knew she meant that they weren’t important enough to merit a regular pitch meeting, scheduled during office hours with an entire roomful of dark-suited executives. They were lucky to have this meeting at all.
As he and Link got into their pitch, explaining the videos and music they posted online and how they were trying to bring both to a wider audience, Rhett could almost see Linda’s eyes start to glaze over. She didn’t get it. She asked them multiple times what exactly it was that they did. Finally, after hearing their pitch and nodding along politely, she told them that it wasn’t exactly what Universal had in mind, but she would definitely keep them in mind for future opportunities.
Rhett felt all his enthusiasm drain away at her words.
They were being rejected. Again.
Less than an hour after their arrival, Rhett followed Link out of the office, the terrible weight of yet another disappointment on his shoulders. His nose was running again, but it was only partially because of the weather this time. He used the tissues he’d swiped from the office and tried to think of what he was going to tell Jessie.
Link was silent during the elevator ride back down and as they headed back out to the lot, but his purposefully casual stride told Rhett that he was looking for something.
The golf cart garage was ahead, orderly rows of little white vehicles waiting to be used the next day. Rhett said nothing as Link slowly veered towards it. It took Rhett a moment to figure out what Link wanted to do. From the corner of his eye, he saw Link peering into each one as they passed. Finally, he stopped.
“Hey Rhett.” Link pointed at a golf cart, where a set of keys hung from the ignition. “You wanna take a ride?”
Rhett’s first instinct was to say no, but then he sneezed again and he realized he didn’t care anymore. He hated California, he thought wrathfully. He hated California and its ridiculous weather and its bored-looking executives who didn’t understand the internet. They had already been turned down. What was going to happen if someone saw them riding a golf cart? No one else was around anyway.
“Yes,” he said, clamoring to get in the passenger side. “You drive first.”
He gripped the sides with one hand as Link took off across the backlot, past rows of parked golf carts, and back into the cool night air. They came to a stop at the entrance to what looked like a downtown area. Link glanced over at Rhett, his face alight with mischief for the first time in days.
“Should we go in?”
Rhett nodded.
Driving down New York Street felt almost surreal, as if they’d happened upon a ghost town during a cross country trip. Link finally cruised to a stop and turned off the ignition. They were beside a building that could have been a bank, if not for the shut doors and empty interior that Rhett saw when he got close enough to see through the glass.
He turned back to the golf cart, eyes wide. “Link!” He was whispering, as if the city really was asleep and raising his voice might disturb its residents. “This is what it’s gonna be like after everyone evacuates for the zombie apocalypse!” Just saying the words sent chills up his arms.
For once, Link didn’t laugh. He joined Rhett at the dark window, hands back in his pockets.
“This is… it’s what every freaking company’s gonna be like if they don’t get what the internet can do,” he muttered.
Taken aback by his tone of voice, Rhett could only shake his head. “Tonight was pretty bad, wasn’t it?”
“She didn’t care, Rhett.” Link sounded truly angry now. “She didn’t care about what we were trying to show her. She might as well have said, ‘Come back when you matter.’”
“Yeah.” Rhett bowed his head. He tried to think of something comforting to say, but came up empty as always. “Yeah,” he said again. “Let’s walk around a bit.”
They walked down the street, glancing around for security guards every now and then, but the place was deserted. They talked a little, low voices punctuated by their footsteps on the silent street. The conversation turned to their plans once they got back to North Carolina. They began throwing ideas around about what videos they wanted to make, what songs they wanted to write, what sponsors they needed to contact. Rhett felt the weight on his shoulders lift some, and he could tell by Link’s faint grin that he felt the same way. Planning for the future always made him feel better.
At one point, Rhett suggested climbing to the top of one of the buildings to get a better view. Link protested, but eventually followed.
“If we get arrested,” he said as they climbed the fire escape attached to the side of an apartment building, “I’m tellin’ the cops this was all your fault. I was just an innocent young internetainer corrupted by your evil charms.”
The top of the building was higher than Rhett had expected, but he was glad for Link’s presence beside him. The set stretched out before them, as solid as a real city if he ignored the palm trees hemming them in. There was a camera crew scurrying around a little ways off on a different set, lights trained on what seemed to be an Old West scene. As they watched, one of the figures detached himself from the edge of the lights and began yelling commands through a bullhorn. Rhett could just hear the edge of colorful phrasing being used, but they were too far away to make out actual words.
Is this what flying feels like?
Rhett felt suddenly dizzy, as if he was both watching events unfold from afar while still participating in those events himself.
“Too high up for you, man?” Link asked teasingly, but there was genuine concern in his voice. A hand pressed gently at the small of Rhett’s back. “I’m here for you if you need someone to carry you back to the car.”
“I’m all right,” Rhett said quickly. “And please, you couldn’t carry me if you tried.”
They watched the director yell at the crew for a while longer.
“Look at that, Link.” He put an arm around his best friend’s shoulders and squeezed, much like Link had done to him last night. “That’ll be us one day. Each of us is gonna have a bullhorn, and we’re gonna be yelling at a crew together.”
Link snorted. “I don’t think any crew is gonna want to put up with two people yelling at them all the time,” he said. “Maybe you should let me do the yelling.”
“But what if I want to yell?”
“Just… I don’t know.” Link’s shoulders lifted in a small shrug. “Whisper in my ear or something.”
They both laughed at that, and for a moment, everything felt a little better.
~
Back in their hotel room, Rhett found himself stumbling over his words as he tried to describe the backlot to Jessie over the phone. He glossed over the meeting, admitting that it hadn’t gone well, but adding that their excursion afterwards had made it all worth it. When he finally hung up, he realized how exhausted he was. Link was already on his side of the pillow fence, his hair the only thing visible above the covers, when Rhett climbed into bed and turned off the light.
“Hey Rhett?” he said after a moment.
“Yeah?”
“Tonight ended up being a lot of fun.”
Rhett grinned. “Yeah.”
“Even though we’re right back to where we started now.”
Rhett’s smile faded. He reached across his pillow fence and nudged Link’s shoulder. “We’re not doing that bad, man.” When Link didn’t respond, he began violently tousling his friend’s still-damp hair.
“H-hey!” Link squirmed away, but he was giggling now. “Don’t mess with my hair!”
He moved to retaliate, but Rhett was quicker, seizing his wrist in one large hand. Link struggled halfheartedly for a moment.
“All right, you win,” he said with a sigh, and Rhett let him go.
“We’re not doing that bad,” he repeated, rolling onto his back and tucking a hand under the pillow beneath his head. “We still get to do cool stuff. How many people can say they work on the internet? How many people have pitched ideas to a major studio?” He felt his own excitement mounting at the thought. “How many people can say they’ve gotten to drive through the Universal Studio’s backlot after hours?” Link said nothing. “We’re not right back to where we started. We have a foundation that we’ve been building on. Who knows, ten years from now we might…” Rhett waved a hand as he tried to think of something. “I don’t know, we might decided to forget the internet and open a restaurant on the beach in Florida or something. But for now, this is good, okay?” He reached for Link through the pillow fence again. “Okay?”
Link let out a long sigh. “Okay.”
“And I’m…” Rhett ran his tongue over his lips. “I’m sorry about arguing earlier. That wasn’t the time for it.”
A surprised noise from Link. “Is that an apology I hear?” He laughed at Rhett’s exasperated huff. “Nah, I’m kidding. I’m sorry too.”
“It was all the wind, like that guy at the rental car place said,” Rhett said.
Link chuckled, his voice light and teasing. “I doubt it.”
Rhett yawned. “Why?”
“You’re always full of hot air.”