I decided to go out to get breakfast today. Bringing my sister along, we sat down at a local bagel shop.
While enjoying our bagels, Amy asks,"Hey sis. I got a question."
"What's the question?"
"I've noticed that you have been signing some contracts recently, well, really just one. I was wondering if you should hire a lawyer to look over those contracts for anything bad looking before you sign them. Wouldn't that be something important?"
I look back at her in shock,"I had completely forgot about that! Thank you so much for reminding me! I had been focused on other things, so it must have slipped my mind."
With a flaw apparent in the way that I do things, I had to fix it. Sifting through my memories, I knew that one of my only friends studied to be a lawyer. 'I wonder how she is doing?' I think to myself.
My friend Natalie Swanter and I had used to be together in collage, often meeting each other in the dorms. This relationship quickly came to a stop when we realized that it interfered with our studies, and we both agreed, though Natalie took a lot of convincing, to just keep it on the level of friends.
Picking up my phone, I call her right away,"Hey Natalie, it's Natasha. How are you doing?"
Talking with her for a little bit, catching up on what's going on, I finally get to the reason I called.
"Hey Natalie, I have a little request for you. I am going to be signing a contract pretty soon, and I need someone there who knows what they are reading. Since you are a lawyer, I decided to ask you." Pausing for a moment, I continue,"So, are you willing to come over to my house to be my lawyer for a day?"
Giggling, she says,"Of course, silly. I would be happy to. I can be over there by 12:00."
"Thank you so much! See you soon!" After exchanging goodbyes I hung up the phone.
Getting up from the table, we throw away the remnants of our breakfast. When we arrive back home, it is already 10:30. I go into the living room, preparing it to be fit for a meeting. Thinking once again that I should get an office space, I arrange the living room.
While looking at my company's website on the computer, the doorbell rang. Looking at the clock, it is only 11:30. I head to the door and open it, only to be suddenly jumped upon.
"Oh my god Natasha! It's been so long!!!" I hear Natalie screaming into my ear.
"Hey Natalie, seems like you got here early." Taking her off of me, I tell her.
"Well of course I would. How could I wait any longer to see my Tes!" She tries to reach for me again, but I fend her off. She was always the type to never let someone go. Thinking on it a bit, I wondered if it was really such a good idea to invite her of all people to help me with something so serious.
"I'm really glad to see you. How are you coping with living on your own?"
"It's really boring without you around. I was so excited when you called! So, what is this business with you and signing a contract?" She finally gets a little serious when the subject turns to this.
After I explain the entire story to her, she grabs me by the shoulders,"I can't believe you didn't call me sooner! It could have been a disaster! Don't worry though, with me here, nobody will be able to harm you!"
Laughing at her antics, I decided to show her around the house, since she hasn't been here for awhile and I had replaced many things.
"Wow, you have so many cool things." As I look at her, I see her come to a sudden idea,"Hey, why don't I work for you as a lawyer, wouldn't that be fun!"
Thinking over it for a moment, I personally think that she would be the best person for the job. I can completely trust her, she would never let anybody hurt me, and she is qualified to be a lawyer. I remember that she was top of her class in collage. Although she seems like she would be on the lower end of the grades, whenever a challenge comes up, she puts her all into getting it done.
"Sure, you would be the perfect fit! I would love for you to join my company!" I say, letting her join. Little did I know what the future would bring.
--------------------------------------------
A couple hours later, a knock sounded against my door. Opening it, I find a man in a very professional business suit holding a briefcase. His suit was going in great contrast with my simple jeans and a t-shirt. I blush slightly at the fact that I completely forgot about this.
Ignoring my embarrassment, the man reaches out his hand,"Hello, I am Trevor McClond, I am hear to discuss a partnership between your company and mine, may I assume that you are Ms. Parker?"
Shaking his hand, I answer,"Yes, I am Ms. Parker, but you can call me Natasha. May I also call you Trevor?"
"Certainly." He responds as I let him inside, leading him towards the living room.
Already sitting there is Natalie, who I bemusedly notice is dressed in a very nice business suit. 'Looks like I am the only one who forgot this, and where did she even get a business suit, she didn't bring a suitcase or any bags with her?'
Thinking over this for just a moment, I push this thought out of my mind. Natalie had always been like this, pulling useful things from out of nowhere. It was always very mysterious, and I think that she does it just to act mysterious, but I just think it is funny.
Siting down, Trevor proceeds to open up his briefcase."So, to start off this discussion, I want to clarify some things." He says as he pulls out some pieces of paper.
"Natasha, you say you are willing to be in a partnership with Macrosoft to include your Virtual Reality Helmets in a special gaming bundle and future bundles, correct?"
Not knowing where he was going with this, I respond,"Yes, that is correct."
He continues,"Okay, we talked over the phone that we wanted to make 500 special, exclusive helmets for the game. Although the extra, physical sensations are an add on that you can buy, people would also have to buy the helmet to experience it. Buying the helmets from you for $5,000 each would mean that we would have to sell it for more than the normal value of the helmets, so few people would be willing to buy them. What do you think of lowering the price of 500 helmets from your normal price of 2.5 million for the helmets to 2 million?"
Thinking it over, it did seem like a good deal. I would give them 500 helmets for 2 million dollars instead of 2.5 million dollars, which is what it would normally cost. Although I don't sell it for as much, I would still be selling a large amount of helmets. It would normally take months for me to sell 500 of them.
As I was about to agree, Natalie cut in,"What you say sounds reasonable, but there is something that you fail to point out. If these 500 helmets are colored in an a pattern that will be exclusive to that batch of 500, then the price for those helmets would naturally be much higher than the normal price. You could sell those helmets to the market easily for 50% more than the normal price for one. I think that you should pay the original price of the helmets for 2.5 million, which will be deducting the price of coloring all 500 helmets."
As Natalie said these words, I could see Trevor's face getting redder and redder from embarrassment. He had obviously not been prepared for his little trick to be pointed out. Right now, I was really glad that I had decided to have a lawyer.
Trying to recover from this being pointed out, Trevor responds,"I am afraid that we haven't yet been acquainted. Who might you be?"
With a voice full of seriousness, Natalie calmly says,"I am Ms. Parker's lawyer, Natalie Swanter."
"I see. Well, now that you point it out, how about we buy it from you for the normal 2.5 million then, but on future orders, we would like a 10% discount on helmets."
I just sat back at let them have at it. Natalie was obviously more qualified at dealing with things like this.
--------------------------------------------
Shutting the door, I let out a long sigh. The discussion had gone on for three hours, during which I had mostly been quiet. Still, it was tiring just watching. Looking over at Natalie, she seemed as energetic as ever. 'How does she do it?' I wondered, looking over at her.
In the end, we had come to a consensus, signing a non-binding contract. The first batch of 500 specially colored helmets, the coloring of which he had given me, was going to be sold for 2.6 million. Proceeding shipments, which would be colored a different way, would be bought at 96% the normal price for each one.
I marveled at Natalie's abilities. Not only was she an amazing lawyer, but she was also great at haggling, successfully increasing the profit that I made.
Approaching me from behind, Natalie says,"I better get an amazing paycheck."
"Yes, obviously you will get a huge paycheck." I tell her.
She then wraps her arms around me, grabbing my breasts in the process."What are you doing?!" I quickly question her.
"It's just my employee benefits." She says with a mischievous smile.
"What employee benefits! Hey, where are you touc... NO, STOP IT!"
Giving me a sultry smile, she whispers in my ear,"We don't have our studies getting in the way now."
Blushing fiercely, I push her away from me,"Not now, we have other things to do, also, my sister is here."
"Damn right I am, but you two can keep going at it, let me enjoy the show!" We both look up at the top of the stairs to see my sister sitting there, eating a bag of popcorn from who knows where.
"It's like you guys set this up just to try and embarrass me!" I yell
"Partially, yes. Your sister wanted to get you back for something, but I also wanted to do it too." She says, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
"You two! Ugh! You're both out to get me, aren't you!" I exasperatedly scold them.
Unabashedly, they both respond in unison,"Yup!"