The Third Floor (48.23) Late Night

[mragland]

6.22.2048, Unincorporated Los Angeles County

Grant has been working late at the office with the door closed to keep out the sound of the vacuum robot, which is busy at work in the halls. Having put in his eight hours and wanting something to drink for the road, he heads out into the open area of the office towards the vending machines when he notices someone else busy at work as well. Jace is sitting at one of the cubicles set aside for the interns. He's staring at his monitors and appears to be wearing a pair of earbuds, and looks engrossed in his work.

They see each other at the same time, and Grant raises up both his arms to point at Jace, “Busted!” he says. The Stars front office is rather aggressively oriented towards work-life balance, so an intern working after hours is unusual.

Jace looks startled and white as a sheet.

Grant is taken aback by this and feels bad. What he intended as a joke looks to have hit Jace the wrong way, somehow. Grant knows that the workstations would lock out anybody not authorized to work at this time of day, so it's not like Jace is actually in trouble. Another thought comes to his mind. As he approaches Jace, Grant thinks, 'please don't be looking at porn.'

Jace takes out his earbuds and appears to recover from his surprise.

“Working at night, huh?” asks Grant, rhetorically. “I had a dentist appoint this afternoon. What's your excuse?”

“Not a great one,” says Jace, grabbing his shoulder bag. “Intramural flag football.”

Grant nods. “At least you've got your priorities straight.” Grant takes a brief look at what's on Jace's monitor. He's relieved to see nothing incriminating, just some player development reports. “I'm getting a pop, do you want one?”

“Sure, that'd be great. Just shutting things down here.”

Grant buys a couple of lemon-lime things and returns to see Jace wiping down his workstation with one of those disposable, sanitary towels. Grant is immediately reminded of his younger sister, whom he used to make fun of mercilessly for her cleaning habits back when he was a teen-aged knucklehead. Then she got her diagnosis and Grant felt pretty bad about how he had treated her. He feels like things still aren't great between them. Grant says nothing to Jace and hands him an unopened can when he's finished.

“Thanks,” says Jace.

“You drive up from L.A.?” asks Grant as they wait for the elevator.

“No, I take the train,” says Jace, putting up the hood on his sweatshirt.

“How long a ride is that?” asks Grant as they get on the elevator.

“About an hour and a half from the Magic Mountain – Dunn Field station to UCLA. Have to change trains at Union Station, then ride the D Line out to campus. Still beats driving on the 405, though, and I usually can get some reading done.”

“I don't doubt it,” says Grant, who hasn't taken the 405 into the city himself, but has heard tales.

As they leave the building something appears to catch Jace's attention in the lobby and he turns his head, but Grant doesn't spot it. Jace still seems ill at ease to Grant.

They part ways in the parking lot, the sun setting in the west, Grant heading to his car and Jace walking away towards the Metrolink station.

"See you later," says Grant, with a wave.

Jace looks over his shoulder and waves back. This is the last time that Grant will see him.