Page 90 of Advanced Chemistry

“Thank you for meeting with us again,” I said.

“I appreciated your follow up.” He laughed to himself. “Very clever.”

Hollis handed over a picture of himself next to the singing telegram we’d hired, dressed up as one of his favorite actors that he’d mentioned in an old magazine interview I dug up.

“You boys sure do your research.”

“We felt there was more to this conversation,” Anton said. “We know you’re in a bind with your current contract, and we wanted to make sure you had all the facts before making a final decision that you’d be locked into for years.”

Anton and I took our seats.

“Listen, boys. I appreciate your passion and drive. I did before, and I still do. But my concerns remain the same.” Hollis leaned back in your chair and teepeed his fingers together. Did people learn how to do that hand motion in business school?

“We understand. We’re young, and young people change their minds all the time. Every time I try to arrange a party with our buddies, it becomes a march of the flakes.” Anton let out a chuckle. “But the thing is, we do have attachments and roots.”

Hollis leaned forward in his chair and raised a curious, bushy eyebrow. His chair squeaked in response.

Usually, Anton was the smooth talker, but I jumped in before he could. I wanted to be the one who said this.

“Anton and I are in a relationship with each other, and a third guy. Chase. We love each other very much.” I glanced at my friend and boyfriend who responded with a nod that told me he wasn’t going anywhere. “Our relationship is real and serious.”

To his credit, Hollis maintained a stone face. Whatever shock he was experiencing, he kept to himself.

“We’re also looking into leasing bigger office space for Beverage Solutions in the future.” Anton handed over a letter from the bank approving a business loan.

“I didn’t know you two were…you were athletes, right?” Hollis stumbled over his words.

“Yes,” I said without correcting his stereotypes. Gay guys can play sports.

“Although our other boyfriend Chase has zero athletic ability. It’s cute,” Anton said.

“Uh huh. This is a funny joke, gentlemen. It’s not business appropriate, though. You’re going to scare off clients with your sense of humor.”

“It’s not a joke. We are in a very modern relationship, but it’s real, and we love each other.” I reached out, and Anton squeezed my hand.

“I see. You and your third person? Chuck?”

“Chase,” Anton hissed out.

Hollis shook his head, more confused than disdainful. “Your generation…y’all love to do things your way. Doesn’t make it the right way.”

I was tired of trying to play into some image that Hollis or anyone else wanted for us. If people wanted to leave, then that was their problem because we’re awesome.

“If you decide not to work with us, that’s your choice,” I continued. “And if you want to stick with your current vendor, who is overcharging you and increasing customer dissatisfaction which will lead to greater turnover in your buildings, that’s also your choice. Or if you want to go with Main Street Vendors, where you’re just going to be another mid-level customer to them who will get ignored in favor of servicing their enterprise clients, that’s also your choice. You’ve done a remarkable job of building your company into a formidable business. Your kind of success is what Anton and I are trying to create. We don’t know much about office real estate, but we do know vending machines, and we know that if you’re going to continue with your status quo, all because of issues you have with our personal lives, you’re only going to wind up hurting your customers and your bottom line.”

“But hey, you do you,” Anton said. “We’ve gone over the numbers. You know we’re the better choice. You don’t want to let fear dictate this decision for you.”

I took out a copy of the contract we proposed and placed it on his desk. “The deal we offered expires at the close of business today. None of us want to drag this out, so if you’re not interested, we don’t want to waste anymore of your time. As we said before, we would love to work with Hollis Management.”

“We’re hungry. We’re smart. And we will work hard for you and your clients,” Anton said, emphasizing the word smart. Anton was smart, and thanks to Chase and me, he was starting to believe it. He had a social intelligence and a perceptiveness that he never gave himself enough credit for.

Silence hung in the air as Hollis took all this in. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but I felt better. We came clean. We had nothing to hide about our relationship. And most importantly, Beverage Solutionswasthe better choice. If Hollis was going to let pride and prudishness get in the way, that was his problem.

“Thank you for your time.” I stood up and shook his hand. Anton followed.

We waited one final beat before turning to leave. We didn’t want to seem desperate.

The air changed when Anton and I entered the hallway. The energy we had leading up to the meeting dissipated. Anton gave me a chin up look.

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