Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Shot On Goal

December and January pass by in a whirlwind of holiday preparation, family drama and general chaos. Moss has never felt so relieved to return to his apartment after spending so much time with his family at his parent's house.

It is now February and everyone is back in the swing of things at the accounting firm.

Moss is sitting at his cubicle analyzing and contributing to yet another spreadsheet when he gets a call on his work phone. His boss greets him when he answers and asks him to stop by his office before lunch.

Wanting to get whatever conversation his boss has in mind over with, Moss heads to his office which is located on the other side of the floor by the coffee station. He knocks on the door and walks in after receiving permission to enter.

"Moss Kettler! Just the man I wanted to see!" His boss exclaims as he stands up and ushers him into his office.

He shuts the door and gestures to the chair across from his desk for Moss to sit in. Returning to his own seat, his boss makes small talk asking how his holidays went and tells a story about his youngest daughter making a mess with one of her presents from Santa.

He eventually claps his hands together as conversation winds down, "Enough with the chit-chat! I'm sure you're wondering why I called you in here today."

Moss nods his head in agreement.

"Well, Mr. Kettler, you have been here for almost two years now and I have been thoroughly impressed with your performance throughout that duration of time," his boss compliments.

"You especially stood out from the other young accountants when you took the time to fix the calculations on the internal control report a while back. There were some big-name companies impacted in a very positive way by those changes and they have asked me to personally thank you for your help," he continues.

His boss finally approaches the point of the impromptu meeting, "I would like to officially offer you the Accounting Manager position with the firm. This would, of course, come with a raise and a change of location in the office. You have until the end of the week to get back to me on whether or not you would like to take on the position. In the meantime, I'll get an offer letter sent your way."

Moss can hardly believe it.

"Th-thank you, sir. I just have a couple of questions-"

He is noticeably overjoyed as he stumbles over his own words asking his boss anything he can think of regarding what this opportunity means for him and his future with the firm. His boss is patient and more than happy to answer all of his queries until Moss has nothing left to say but "thank you" and "have a great rest of your day."

-

The water is starting to boil for the pasta that Moss is getting ready to make when Tye's ringtone goes off.

🎶'Cause, baby, there ain't no mountain high enough🎶

🎶Ain't no valley low enough-🎶

"Hey, did you visit the bean yet?"

"The team doesn't visit the the bean every time we're in Chicago. I told you that was a one time thing we did like three years ago," Tye is visibly fighting off laughter when he appears on screen. Moss has been running the same joke into the ground ever since Tye told him about the field trip to the bean that the team took back in 2021. He'll let himself choke to death before he gives Moss the satisfaction of getting him to crack over it again.

Moss props up his phone on the counter against a container of flour so Tye can see him on FaceTime as he cooks his pasta. Tye looks like he's walking around his hotel room in a dark blue Boulders t-shirt and a black hat that sits backwards on his head.