Starr Fated (11 page)

I let his
insolent attitude pass, intrigued to discover what he could
possibly be offering by way of a solution.

“So what’s
this other possibility?”

“Sera’s been
working on her own designs, as part of a project for her university
coursework. Some of the ideas she’s mentioned sounded pretty good,
actually. They might be worth your consideration. If you’d be open
minded enough to consider other options, that is.”

“No, Rob, I
really don’t think Mr Starr would be interested…” Seraphina
protested.

“Show me,” I
demanded. So far this young girl had surprised me at every turn, so
who knew? She might just be the answer to my prayers.

“Go on, Sera.
What have you got to lose?” Rob urged, seeing her reluctant
attitude.

“I…I...haven’t
got anything here. I only work on them in the evenings at home. And
anyway, they don't conform to your brief, Mr Starr. In the
slightest, actually.”

“From what
you’ve been telling me, that sounds like a very good thing,
wouldn’t you say?” I asked her wryly.

“I suppose you
have a point there,” she conceded with a small smile.

I stood up,
and headed for the door.

“Well, come on
then, get your coat. I haven't got all day.”

“I’m sorry?
What do you mean?”

“Let’s go and
look at these designs of yours. Rob can hold the fort for the team
here. I need to make a decision one way or another today, whether
to cancel the whole project or push it through. Joy told me earlier
all my meetings for today have been cancelled, so come on, let’s
go.”

~*~

Of course I
knew the way to my brother’s house. The roads were only slightly
busier than usual as the morning rush hour had cleared, and we were
going against it anyway. I’d driven in to the office this morning
in my everyday runabout BMW X5 rather than risk my new Aston Martin
Vanquish in any potential traffic jams, but as I’d ensured I left
even earlier than usual, I really hadn’t encountered too many
delays.

I glanced over
at Miss Jones, sitting in the passenger seat. She hadn’t bothered
to try and make irritating small talk, which pleased me, as I can't
abide inane chatter.

“So, you have
just a week left of your placement with us?”

“That’s
correct.”

“And then
what?”

“Back to uni
to complete my final course work.”

“I think my
brother mentioned something about an exchange program you’d applied
for?” I wanted to get a clearer idea of when she’d be gone and when
he was likely to get her out of his system to get back to his
normal self.

“Yes, I’ve
been short listed, but I won’t know if I’ve been successful until
the results are out.”

“And if you’re
successful, where will you be located?”

“There are
several possibilities. My preferred location would be New York, but
Barcelona is another option. I’d take anything that offered me
suitable experience, because it’s crucial for me to build up my
experience and add to my portfolio, if I want to make headway in my
career.”

“So that’s why
you’ve been working on your own on my company’s design
project?”

“Well partly
yes, but it just so happened that it fitted in with my latest
course work assignment for university. I…I hope you don't mind that
I’ve being doing this, do you, Mr Starr? I have been completing it
in my own time in the evenings, not at work. Perhaps I should have
asked your permission first…” she suddenly looked worried, as a
frown creased her face.

“Yes, perhaps
you should have, Miss Jones. I’ll reserve judgement until I see if
we might be able to use anything you’ve produced.”

I wasn’t
entirely convinced this young female student could produce anything
worthwhile, when my own dedicated three man team hadn’t been able
to. It was a long shot at best, but I felt it warranted checking
out. I might be scraping the bottom of the barrel, but sometimes
that’s where you found the hidden treasure.

We pulled up
outside the house, where luckily there was a parking space
available behind Jamie’s car for once. Seraphina quickly jumped out
to make her way to the front door, fumbling for her keys while I
followed behind.

Having fought
our way through the usual tangle of dirty shoes and trainers piled
in the entrance hall, she started heading for the stairs, but then
stopped and turned to me.

“Could you
give me a few minutes to sort my work into some sort of a
presentation for you, Mr. Starr, because there is quite a lot to
get through? Maybe it would be better if you waited in the kitchen,
perhaps help yourself to a coffee, and then I could bring it down
to you?”

“I’ll take
things as I find them. No point in hauling it all down, because if
memory serves, you’re in the attic room. We’ll be here all bloody
day otherwise.”

“Okay, just
give me a minute to get things in order, as obviously I wasn't
expecting you to come round,” she replied.

As she went
upstairs, Jamie appeared at his bedroom door, yawning and
stretching, all messy hair and barely decent in just his pyjama
bottoms. Clearly the lazy sod had only just got out of bed, even
though it had already gone eleven in the morning.

“Hi, Babe.
What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work, busily making
cups of tea for all my brother’s minions?” He grinned as he grabbed
hold of her to try and kiss her.

“Not now,
Jamie,” she hissed, as she tried to push him away, clearly
embarrassed as she glanced over her shoulder at me.

“Good morning,
Jamie. Shouldn’t you be at a lecture or studying hard for your
finals?” I asked, as Seraphina extracted herself from him, and
quickly scooted off up the small second set of stairs to her
room.

“I was being
productive. I was catching up on some vital sleep. Anyway, what the
hell are you doing here?” Jamie looked at me curiously. I couldn’t
actually remember the last time I’d been in this house – dirty,
messy student houses held no appeal whatsoever for me. That’s why I
always had Jamie come over to my place for a decent meal in clean
surroundings whenever we got together.

“I’ve come to
see some designs your girlfriend has apparently drawn up, seeing as
my creative team have failed miserably to come up with anything
remotely suitable.”

“Really? Well
she’s spent hours and hours working on the wretched things, I do
know that, meaning she’s had has even less time to spend with me
recently. She’s always bloody working, one way or another.”

“Maybe you
should take a leaf out of her book, Jamie. Maybe you should get on
with some studying rather than lounging around in bed half the
day,” I pointed out to him.

“Just chill,
Liam. It’s all under control. Once I've had a shower and something
to eat, I’ll be studying hard all afternoon.”

“Glad to hear
it.” I left him to it, and climbed the second narrow set of
stairs.

“Oh, mind your
head,” he called out, just as I cracked it against the low sloping
ceiling at the entrance to the attic room. I cursed loudly as I
rubbed my head.

As I entered,
Seraphina was standing back looking at a whole series of boards,
obviously trying to decide how best to display them. I glanced
around the oddly shaped room. It was crammed full of art work of
all sorts, everywhere I looked – on the small wonky desk, the bed,
the floor, propped up against the sloping walls – everywhere.

“Christ, how
the hell do you work in such a disorganised mess?” I said,
appalled. I hate clutter; I have to have clear work surfaces.

“It’s not
cluttered. It’s all totally organised, I know exactly where
everything is. I need to have it all out on show, to visualize and
compare. It’s the way I work. You can't tidy everything away out of
sight all the time if you want to be creative,” she told me as she
rearranged some things. “Why don’t you take a seat before you hit
your head again, Mr. Starr,” she suggested helpfully, as she
pointed to the chair she’d placed in the middle of the room, the
only place where the ceiling was normal height.

I sat down on
the rather wobbly chair, and looked around. I noticed a clothes
airer in the corner that had an assortment of her washing on it,
but as it already felt cold and damp in her room due to the
unseasonably chilly spring weather, I couldn’t see how it was ever
going to dry properly. I certainly didn't feel like taking my coat
off.

“It’s bloody
freezing in here. I’ll just get Jamie to put the heating on,” I
said as I made to stand up.

“Oh I think
you’ll find it’s already on. It usually is if Jamie’s in. It’s only
the radiator in here that doesn’t work properly.” she muttered
distractedly, as she sorted through some large folders to retrieve
yet more sheets of art work.

Then I
remembered. Months ago, Jamie had told me about the problem with
the radiator in this attic room, but I’d refused to pay for any
repairs, telling him it was his responsibility. Clearly my brother
had not managed to get it sorted yet. I glanced at the window, and
saw a piece of cardboard clumsily taped across a hole in it, but I
could still feel a cold draught blowing in through it. On her desk,
there was a thick woolly scarf, a body warmer, a hot water bottle
and some fingerless gloves. Apparently she just wrapped herself up
and carried on working that way. Shit. She wasn’t even complaining
either.

“Surely there
must be a heater you can borrow to warm it up in here?” I
suggested. “And why don't you use the tumble dryer for those wet
clothes instead of making it even damper in your room?”

She looked up,
giving me a puzzled look.

“What for?
Heaters and dryers use a lot of electricity. It’s fine. I’m not
bothered – I'm used to it. Right, I think I’m all set now. Shall I
make a start?”

“Please
do.”

“Do you want
me to run through all the options I considered, or just the ones
that I personally think work the best?”

“Seeing as I'm
here, I think I might as well have the full presentation, don’t
you, Miss Jones?”

Not having the
least clue about what she’d come up with, I wasn’t sure that her
idea of what would work best was going to come close to anything
I’d be prepared to accept, so I thought I might as well see
everything.

“As you wish.
I just thought you might prefer the abridged version, as I
appreciate that you’re a very busy man. But I’ll take you through
the whole process if that’s what you want. So, initially, I came up
with nine options,” she began.

“Nine! My team
could only come up with three.”

“Oh, I could
have come up with far more, there were so many possibilities. I had
to really limit myself, actually. But of course, as I told you, in
my version of the brief, I was given free reign.”

“No
overbearing, controlling boss to spoil your fun, eh?” I
interjected, softening my words with a slight smile.

“Exactly. And
I have been having a lot of fun with it, actually,” she smiled
back.

Here was
someone who clearly enjoyed what they were doing – that made a
change.

“Is that why
you’re happy spending hours working on it rather than going off
enjoying yourself with my brother?” I asked. Or, I couldn’t help
wondering, was she using work as an excuse to fob him off because
she was gay but didn't want to fall out with him and be thrown out
of the house?

“I think Jamie
understands why I need to focus all my attention on my work at the
moment, Mr Starr. This is a very critical time for me. I’m very
aware that I'm extremely fortunate to have been given an internship
in your company, and I have no intention of wasting this
opportunity.”

“Even if it
largely comprises of making tea for all my minions?”

Seraphina
blushed a deep shade of red as she realised I knew she must have
been grumbling to Jamie.

“Of course I
never expected to walk in to your company and just be let free in
the department. I’m more than happy to just listen and learn.
That’s why I’ve been coming home and using what I’ve learned on my
course work,” she explained.

“Okay. So show
me what you’ve got. Give me your best pitch.”

“Well, let me
kick off by saying that the obvious logo for Starr Capital Ventures
is, of course, a star, so that was my starting point. And I'm very
well aware that you consider this to be too obvious and rather
tacky, and to a point I agree,” she quickly silenced my unspoken
protest. I was about to let her know that I’ve always hated the
whole childish idea of a big star.

“Just hear me
out. You did ask for the full pitch, didn't you, Mr. Starr?”

“I suppose I
did,” I conceded.

“As I said, to
a point I agree with you. So I dismissed this first option as being
too close to the ‘My Little Pony’ school of branding, and too
similar to some Cath Kidston images. Certainly not the correct
branding for your company.”

Seraphina held
up a board depicting a large bright blue shooting star with SCV
inside the star.

“That’s
dreadful,” I scowled. I hoped she was going to come up with
something better than this rubbish or I’d wasted my time coming
here this morning.

“The next two
options were variations on this theme, so I dismissed them out of
hand too. I don't like them any more than you, but I wanted to be
sure I’d considered all options before dismissing them. But I was
happy to eliminate this avenue, having thoroughly explored it.”

“What next
then?”

“I went to the
other extreme. No stars whatsoever. Just plain, clear, bold fonts
pretty much as you have now, using various combinations of your
company name and initials. Starr Capital Ventures. SCV. Liam Starr.
LJS. Starr. Starr Capital. I came to the conclusion that on their
own, any of these were just too boring and lacked the necessary
visual impact. Also, any changes in how you wish the company to be
known would have to be discussed and agreed before anything could
be settled.”