Free Longboard (Desk Surfing Series Book 1) by Davila Eggert Page B

sounded like a very skinny chick.  Whoever she was, she had a good voice.
                  I just focused on the no-name singer because I needed something to orient myself.  It wasn't my first time at Osmi but it was the same thing as any night club, every night was different.  That's why it's called a club.  I just wanted to locate the office people to get the hellos out of the way.  The rest of the night would be like a game of Jenga .  Things could collapse based on how things shifted.  With that in mind, I surveyed the place.  Not much had changed since my last time.  Osmi had a stage not so much a dance floor.  The stage had two ways to access it, steps on each side.  The stage was visible from just about anywhere in the main room, even the tables upstairs.  Downstairs had some couches for the people who were tired of dancing on stage.  But all the paid-for parties were upstairs in the loft area.  Longboard was pretty tight with cash but he realized it couldn't be all work and no play.  The man wasn't stupid.  And that was always on my mind, the fact that I didn't hold that many cards.  And Longboard knew how to play his.  He wasn't a billionaire by accident.  The idea that my job could be on the line was always at the forefront of my thinking.  Longboard was a shrewd businessman.  Whatever became of the situation, I didn't want to become a liability for the company.  I didn't accept Jessie's analysis that it was just a bang, somehow stress-related.  I thought of Longboard as someone more method.  I didn't think he was the kind of person that would let himself get so overcome by business.  And he wouldn't incidentally have sex with one of his employees in his office cuz he needed an outlet.  But then I didn't know Longboard outside of work.  That was also on my mind.
                  The upstairs loft was like the downstairs stage, it had two access stairs on either side.  I didn't know which table was for Key Way employees so I just took the stairs closest to me.  The light was low and there was a green and purple laser strobe gyrating.  It made it hard to see faces clearly, unless they were stung by the lasers.  I saw Dave, an actuary.  He sat in the corner of one of the couches, in front of a table with two ice buckets and some glasses, but no bottles.  It was nice to see Dave because I didn't really see much of him at the office.  He worked on the other side, with the number-crunchers.  Not that number-crunchers and marketers don't mix, but we didn't.  Dave was sitting next to someone from actuarial services whose name was either Stacey or Stephanie but I wasn't sure.  I played up Dave's name because I knew it.
                  "Hi, Dave.  I'm Dawn from Marketing. I'm not sure if you remember me."
                  "Of course," said Dave, "This is Stacey, she works with us on the other side.  I'm not sure if you've met."
                  "I think so," said Stacey.
                  "Definitely.  At a Christmas party or so."  It was one of those encounters that had to be short because there was no point in screaming over loud music with people you didn't have frequent contact with. 
                  "Are we waiting on drinks?"
                  "They should be bringing the bottles in a moment," said Stacey.
                  "Ok.  Mind if I sit?"
                  "Not at all," said the duo.  I sat on the couch next to Stacey.  The loft area had the feeling of a smoke room.  There was metal railing all around to prevent a happy-go-lucky from falling to the second floor, creating a third entrance to the dancing stage.
                  Apparently, the three of us were it as far as the cast of characters from Key Way .  I felt oddly disappointed.  My idea of being fashionably late was like uncooked casserole.  I didn't wait long enough.  But the bottles came,