Fundraising

This is an extended version of one of the scenes from a 30-day writing challenge I completed late in 2012. In it Chance and Tobi help run a charity event to raise funds for an archaeological dig being headed by Chance's older brother, Adrian. It is the first appearance of Isaac, who unexpectedly became a recurring character throughout various pieces in this project.

Chance bit her lip, then looked Tobi in the eye. “Promise you’ll be well-behaved tonight,” she said to him, mustering all of her resolve.

He lifted his eyebrows. “I promise I’ll be well-behaved tonight,” he repeated. He watched her for a moment. “That’s the first time you’ve given me an order in quite some time.”

She sighed. “I know. I don’t like doing it, you know.”

“I know.”

“But this is for my brother. And I know you’ll be inclined to cause trouble.”

He hesitated. “It’s in my nature,” he admitted.

“Yeah.” She looked away. “We should get going. I have to be there on time.”

“Don’t forget your sweater,” he reminded her as they headed for the door. She nodded and scooped it up off a chair, pulling it on over her bare shoulders.

They took the elevator down to the lobby and headed out the front doors, turning right onto the street. The venue for the event wasn’t far away. Chance’s sensible sandals tapped against the sidewalk in a way she wasn’t used to.

“I hate these shoes,” she murmured after a while, partly just to break the silence.

Tobi chuckled. “You can’t go to a charity event in your skate shoes.”

“Easy for you to say,” she grumbled. “You wear loafers and dress shirts every day. All you had to do was put on a tie and you were ready to go.”

“Oh, it’s true,” he answered in a falsely wistful tone. “I am always classy. I just can’t really help it.”

Chance rolled her eyes and shook her head. There was no arguing with Tobi’s ego.

He leaned down close to her ear. “But you know I look sexy in the tie,” he growled, smiling mischievously.

Against her will, she began to blush. “You’re an ass,” she answered in annoyance, looking away.

“But I’m your ass, aren’t I?” Tobi began to laugh, unable to contain himself.

Chance rolled her eyes again. “Come on, hotshot. The hall’s right over there.”

He followed her across the street and into the small, brightly-lit banquet hall. A few other event organizers were already there, making last-minute adjustments before the guests arrived.

“Sorry we’re a bit late,” Chance said quietly to Melody.

Melody shook her head. “No, it’s fine.  Things are going really smoothly.”

“What can I do?” Chance asked.

“Do you wanna check with Isaac?” Melody pointed to the young man fiddling with a laptop and projector. Chance recognized him as another friend of her brother’s. “Just make sure he’s got everything set up?”

“Sure,” Chance answered, then headed toward Isaac, not bothering to check if Tobi was still behind her.

The curly-haired young man pushed his glasses back up his nose and leaned back from the laptop. “Theeeere,” he murmured to himself.

“Everything set?” Chance asked. Isaac glanced up in surprise, then smiled.

“Hey! You’re Chance, right? Adrian’s sister?” She nodded. “Awesome. Anyway, yeah, we’re set. High def and everything.” He scratched at his goatee, looking past her as he stood up. “So who’s this guy?”

Chance looked back and saw Tobi standing impassively behind her. “Oh, sorry! Um, this is Tobi, my roommate.”

“Oh, okay.” Isaac gave Tobi a warm grin, extending his hand. “Nice to meet you, mate.”

“Likewise,” Tobi answered, smiling politely as he shook the man’s hand.

Isaac stuck his hands in his pockets. “So have you ever met Adrian?” he asked Tobi.

“Can’t say I have,” Tobi admitted. “But I did overhear myself being described to him over Skype once.”

Isaac laughed. “Nice. Anyway, I’m done here until we need to play the video, so I’m gonna go see what I can do for Melody…?” He lifted his eyebrows questioningly, gesturing toward the tall brunette.

Chance nodded again. “Yeah, me too. She seems to have everything taken care of, though.”

The three of them strolled back toward Melody together. She looked up as they approached.

“All set?” she asked. Isaac nodded, and she smiled. “Great. The guests should start arriving soon, so you guys can head toward our tables, I guess. The ones right up next to the stage.” She pointed.

“Thanks,” Chance said with a smile. Isaac led the way, weaving through tables and chairs. They found their name cards on the front table and took their seats.

Chance couldn’t sit still, fidgeting with her hands, toying with whatever her fingers found on the tablecloth. Tobi watched her for a few moments, his face unreadable.

Isaac had been watching, too. “You’re gonna do just fine,” he said.

Chance looked up and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I don’t do anything like this very often.”

“I know.” He smiled warmly. “But you know, your brother has already done most of the talking for us. You don’t have to say much up there.”

She swallowed, doing her best to put on a brave face. “Yeah. Thanks.”

The three of them watched in silence as guests began to trickle in and find their seats. By seven o’clock, the room was full, and Melody was ushering Chance up onto the stage. Nervously, she smoothed the skirt of her dark blue dress as she waited behind the microphone for the guests to quiet down. At Melody’s signal, she began to speak.

“Um. Excuse me, everyone, we’d like to begin now,” she said nervously. She glanced back to her table. Tobi was watching her expectantly, and Isaac offered her an encouraging smile.

“Um, yes,” she began as the guests fell quiet. “Hi, everybody. Um, for those who don’t know me, I’m Adrian’s younger sister, Chance. He’s asked me to speak a few words for him tonight. Luckily, he got his friend and colleague Melody to arrange this whole event, since I have all the organizational skills of a spoon.” She gestured at Melody as she spoke. The audience chuckled at her quick joke, so she swallowed and carried on.

“Listen, I’m no expert in archaeology. Frankly, I have very little understanding of what exactly he’s up to right now. But I do know my brother pretty well – after all, he’s been there since the day I was born. And these days he’s not so different from how he was as a kid.” Chance glanced at her friends again, then continued. “He’s always loved old things. It probably started with dinosaurs – what kid doesn’t love dinosaurs? Then our parents took us on a trip to Greece, and he fell in love with everything: the architecture, the ruins, the history. It’s only grown from there. The older it is, the more excited he’ll be.

“And he’s always been very driven. There’s nothing in the world he’s ever wanted more than to do what he’s finally doing now. He’s living his dream. The dig he’s working on holds a lot of promise, and he’s so happy to be there. I’ve never seen him so excited over anything. He’s determined, he’s enthusiastic, he’s intelligent, and he’s a great leader. He’s also dashingly handsome – and yes, he bribed me to tell you that.” Chance smiled nervously as the crowd laughed.

“There’s not much more for me to say, really. I think he’s really worth investing the money in. But I guess I’ll let you judge for yourselves.” She stepped back from the microphone and off the stage. Isaac, who had moved to stand behind the projector cart, uncovered the projector and started the video.

Adrian’s smiling face was projected straight onto the screen at the back of the stage. “Hi, everybody. Most of you probably already know me, but if you don’t, and hadn’t figured it out yet, I’m Adrian Bower.

“I just want to start my video by apologizing for not being able to talk to you in real time. By the time you see this it’ll be past midnight where I am, and I need my sleep…”

Chance dropped back into her seat, sighing with relief. Silently, Tobi reached over and lightly squeezed her shoulder. His tiny display of support brought a small smile to her face.

Chance didn’t pay much attention to the video; she’d already seen it a few times. She focussed, instead, on calming her nerves. She breathed carefully and sipped from the glass of ice water in front of her. When her cup was drained, Tobi silently refilled it from the pitcher in the middle of the table.

Chance managed to get herself in control by the end of the video. She looked up at the stage and listened for a few minutes as Melody gave the audience a few concluding words and said that she would answer any questions they had.

The lights were turned back on then, and guests began to rise from their seats and mingle. Several began to gather around Melody, while others headed to the table where donations were being accepted.

Chance turned to look at Tobi and found that he was watching her. “What?”

“You okay now?” he asked, looking her in the eye.

She smiled weakly. “Yeah, I’m fine. I dunno why it was such a big deal.”

He relaxed a bit and shrugged. “Public speaking is a common fear. I think you did well.”

“Thanks.” Then she looked at him oddly. “Why do you care?” she asked, a bemused smile on her face.

Before Tobi could answer, Isaac slid back into his seat, a bowl in his hand and a smile on his face. “I think that went really well,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of business over at the donation table. Looks promising. Grape?” He pushed the bowl toward the other two, popping a grape into his mouth.

“Sure, thanks,” Chance said with a smile, forgetting her question to Tobi. She took a few, and the demon took a couple as well.

They stayed at the table for a while, chatting idly and watching the guests interact. By nine, most of the guests were gone, and Melody slipped into her chair at the table, smiling. Her simple green dress shone in the light.

“I’d say this has been a very successful evening,” she announced. “Adrian should be pleased.”

Isaac flashed her a knowing grin. “And he has you to thank,” he pointed out.

Melody looked flustered, and a bit annoyed. “He has all of us here to thank,” she countered. Isaac’s grin only widened.

“Will you be needing help with cleanup?” Chance asked.

Melody shook her head. “Denver and Alexa are wrapping up the donations and what not,” she said, gesturing to the two friends at the donations table. “And the hall staff has most of the rest covered. You guys can go.” She smiled.

Isaac stood, pulling absently at the hem of his turtleneck. “Cool,” he said. He looked up at Tobi and Chance. “You guys want a ride? My car’s right out front.”

The pair exchanged glances. Tobi didn’t look like he cared either way, so Chance said, “Yeah, we’d appreciate that. It’s not far.”

“Great.” He smiled broadly. “Come on out.”

They followed him out to his old black Honda. He held the door open for Chance to climb into the passenger seat, then went round the other side to get in. Over the top of the car, he mouthed a quick ‘sorry’ to Tobi for leaving him in the back seat. Tobi shrugged.

They pulled into the road and Chance began to direct him towards the apartment building. The drive was only a couple of minutes, and soon they were parked on the edge of the road just outside.

Once again, Isaac hopped out quickly and went around to get Chance’s door. She chuckled and thanked him. Tobi waved a quick thank you to Isaac and began to head for the door, but before Chance could follow, Isaac caught her by the arm.

“Hey, so, um,” he started, smiling awkwardly. “Look, I know we kind of just properly met, but you seem really cool and I don’t know when I might get to see you again, so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime?”

Chance lifted her eyebrows, surprised. Under the circumstances, she might not normally agree, but he was a friend of her brother’s, and she had always trusted Adrian’s judgment. And Isaac seemed like a pretty nice guy. Her eyes flicked, ever so briefly, back to Tobi. He was standing outside the lobby door, waiting patiently.

She smiled. “Yeah, that would be cool,” she answered.

“Awesome,” Isaac said, grinning.

“Oh, but by the way,” Chance added quickly, “The furthest I can go from the apartment without Tobi is the café next to the building.” She pointed over her shoulder. “It’s, uh, a legal thing. Kind of.”

Isaac looked confused, but he shrugged and put a smile back on. “Okay, sure. No problem. See you sometime soon then?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Great. Anyway, I’ll let you go for the night.” He climbed back into the car. She waved as he shut the door and pulled away.

She walked back to Tobi, smiling. She pulled out her key and let them into the building.

“So what was that?” Tobi asked as they headed for the elevator.

“He just asked me to hang out sometime, that’s all,” she replied.

“Like a date?” Chance looked up into Tobi’s face, but she couldn’t quite read his expression.

“Nah, not really,” she said carefully. “Neither of us mentioned the word or anything.”

“Hm.” Tobi looked away from her.

Suddenly Chance felt uncomfortable. As the elevator stopped on the third floor, she said, “You wanna watch a movie tonight?”

“Yeah, sure. It’s my turn to pick, though.”