Confessions of Fangirl

Title: Three-Million-Dollar Favor

Characters: Julia “Jules” Maddon, Bill Ingram

Pairing: Pre-Jules/Tobey

Summary: Tobey asks to borrow The Mustang, and Ingram consults with his most trusted adviser.

Fandom: Need for Speed (movie)

Rating: G

Spoilers: No more than the trailer spoils.

Warnings: I can't think of any.

Disclaimer: I’m playing in someone else’s sandbox, but I’m not hurting anything or making any money.

Jules reclined on the leather couch in Ingram’s office while he studied one of the latest investment reports at his desk. She was pouring over the information about the monstrosity Ingram had the audacity to call a “single-family home.” The thing was the size of an entire apartment complex, and then some, with the same amenities. Ingram paid her well; he paid all his people well, for which she was quite thankful, but she still couldn’t fathom spending this kind of money herself. He was calling the estate a “possible investment,” not a home for himself, but that usually translated to him adding it to his “collection” of outrageously expensive and flashy things. She negotiated where she could, talked him out of what she could, and accepted that there were some battles she’d never win.

“Well, what do you think?” Ingram pulled her out of her musings.

“I think the interior decorator should be shot.” She told him flatly and she wasn’t sure she was kidding.

“I’ll give you that the style they’ve gone with is a little eccentric,” Ingram hedged.

“Eccentric? I’m pretty sure I saw this house in a Ron Jeremy film.”
Ingram threw his head back and laughed. “You have a way with descrip--” Ingram was cut off as his secretary buzzed him.
“Sir, I think you’re going to want to take this call.” Jules immediately sat up at Nikki's words, placing the paperwork beside her as curiosity thrummed through her. Nikki, his very efficient and generally ruthless secretary never let anyone interrupt Ingram and Jules when they were reviewing investments, however casually the two of them might be about the process. And here was another thing Jules loved about Ingram--he trusted his people.
“Okay, put the call through.”
Had Jules not been sitting down, she might have collapsed, she was so startled by the caller whom Ingram had put on speaker. It was easy to see why Nikki had made an exception to her usual rule. Tobey Marshall wanted to race in the De Leon with Ingram’s near three-million-dollar investment. The two didn’t speak for long and Jules didn’t ask any of her questions. There were so many questions she had and yet at the same time, it felt as if she couldn’t think of anything to ask.

“I’ll think about it.” Ingram finally said and ended the call. He looked at her then and she found they were staring into each other’s eyes for a solid minute before Ingram spoke again. “So,” he said quietly. “On the one hand, that’s a very risky bet. On the other, Tobey Marshall is by fair the finest driver I have ever seen, bar none.”

“Being the best driver doesn’t mean he’ll win the race. The run is brutal, and if Dino is in it, well, you can’t cheat if there aren’t any rules, but he doesn’t care who gets hurt when he races.”

“You think Dino was the reason that poor young man died on that bridge, don’t you?” Ingram asked.

“Yes, I do.” Jules was almost certain of it.

“And you’d like to see him brought to justice, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, I would.” She couldn’t help wondering who wouldn’t, other than Dino himself.

“Okay, we have in the balance the risk of losing a three-million-dollar investment against winning another four million and seeing a sort of justice for a young man slain too young.”
“Pretty much,” Jules sighed, leaning back on the couch to stare at the white ceiling.
“I told Tobey I’d think about it, so, Jules… What do I think?”
“We’re lending him the car, but I’m going with him.”
Ingram smiled. “Mmm, and I’m sure the only reason you’re going is because you want to protect my investment, and not because he’s an attractive bad boy with a heart of gold.”

“Oh, shut up,” she scowled, but it was no use, she could feel her face was turning red, and Ingram was going to laugh himself to tears.

I haven’t had a lot of time or energy for personal writing. I’ve done a bit here and there. I have been hosting a “young writers” group at work once a month, but that’s only been two sessions so far and now those are canceled for a while. But with school and work, I just haven’t felt the creative urge much. I know there have been times I’ve opened a word document, written a sentence, and then totally spaced or gotten distracted or called to work on something else. It just hasn’t felt worth it to write. But with this virus, my work is shut down which means I have more time for writing. 

Now I still have school, and I’ve been working on a big project that’s due tomorrow night so it’s not like I’ve had nothing to do. I also had a week off of work because I was sick. So far as I know I had a cold, and then lower left lobe pneumonia. I was on antibiotics for two weeks, four days of one type of antibiotic before switching to another because nothing was getting better. I never had much of a fever, though I did have a low-grade one here and there. I also had shortness of breath, which was a little worrying, but again, with taking sick leave for a week--one that thankfully coincided with my school’s spring break--I felt much better. I went back to work for two days before they decided to close my library. We have emergency pay for two weeks, and then we’re not sure what’s going to happen. Right now they’re working on ways for people to work from home. I know I can work from home and I have so many webinars and online training sessions saved as “to do” that I could fill up at least a month or two of days working from home, never mind the projects for my Reader Advisory Team that I said I would do that I just haven’t been able to do because of the customer demand at our branch. They also want to know what kind of stuff we’re good at, including if we’re good at customer service via chat, phones, and social media. I haven’t used social media in a professional setting, but I did answer account and technical support questions via email, chat, and phone for two years back before I started working at Scholastic. Everything I did with Scholastic was via phone and email too. And I’ve created multiple pieces of training and presentations for coworkers and customers alike at my last two or three jobs. I feel like there is plenty I could be doing that would be honestly productive during my time at home. Although part of me is really enjoying this time off. 

I’ve had way too much time on my hands in some ways. I’ve been for a few walks and read a book. I’m working on my homework, though that’s slow going because I have way more time to do it than is good for my sense of urgency when it comes to getting it done. That is what I should be doing right now. I guess I’ll get back to it, but I am hoping that I’ll get a little bit of creative writing done while this quarantine goes on. I don’t want to miss out on my paycheck which likely means I’ll be working from home, but part of me does kind of like the idea of not working for a little while and just getting to mostly stay home and do nothing. I definitely need to start washing my hair more though...

I sort of tripped. It was like a roll of my ankle or a turn of it which is super unfortunate because it was the same damned ankle I was whining about just last night. Of course, the good news is if I decide to go back to the doctor I can say, “yeah I turned it again…” I know that sounds crazy probably, but sometimes I feel like doctors don’t listen to me when I say “something is still wrong.” Especially since it’s been so long since I injured it originally. Now if I go back to the doctor, I sound less like a hypochondriac. Not that I have plans to go to the doctor outside of my physical early next year, but it might help me get another type of test or examination--one I haven’t had yet. Because I still swear that something isn’t quite right. Even before the roll this evening.

Onto other whining things that I’ve whined about a hundred times before but that I need to hash out some more.

I don’t know if I’m going to make my final word count for the year. I still have about a week left to make it and it isn’t impossible, but it’s definitely going to be tough and I feel like I’ve been having a rough time with motivation and concentration. I never thought I’d say this, but I think I may need to remove Solitaire from my phone. I feel like I’ve become increasing addicted to the game recently. I’ve been playing it almost as compulsively as I’ve played Pokemon. I’ve also been continuing with my Pokemon obsession. Plus, I’ve been in one of my “scroll endless through Facebook!” modes again which is such a problem. Not only does it suck all my time into a meaningless vortex of pointless posts and dumb memes, it also damages my creativity and focus. Which is already pretty low. It’s an absolute waste. Which means I may have to erase Facebook off my phone. Again.

I wish that I could use it in moderation without deleting it all time, but so far I’ve had a hell of a lot of trouble doing that. My writing is suffering for it. So is my reading. I haven’t read nearly so much since I started playing Pokemon Go again either, but I’m not ready to give that up. I’m just going to have to find a way to better balance all the things I want and need to do. Especially with school starting in two weeks!