“We do?... That’s right! Congrats again on your upcoming gig at the Hollywood Theater.”
“Well, thank you again, but no. We are celebrating something else.”
“We are?” Maggie gave him a side-eyed smirk.
“Yeah! We gotta celebrate The Break’s first Help for the Homeless Benefit.”
“Really?” Maggie sat up.
“Yep. Once Grant realized how much positive publicity The Break would get, he was sold. I told him we’d do a lot of promoting on social media as well. The date is set for two weeks from Friday.”
“Chase, that’s amazing! Thank you!” Maggie leaned across the bar to hug him. She couldn’t help but notice he smelled like coffee and the deep woods.
Chase beamed. “Arlo said he’d line up some performers. We’ll shoot for three musicians or bands. How does that sound?”
Maggie’s stomach dropped as she realized she was planning to leave LA in about two weeks.I guess that’ll be a good send off, a final farewell to my time in LA.“That’s perfect.” Maggie managed, tapping her pen to her chin and forcing herself to focus on the present rather than the fact she had yet to tell Chase her plans to move home.
“Now we’ll just have to decide how we want to collect donations. Since I’m getting so good at lists, I’ll start a new one for the event. Love the name ‘Help for the Homeless’ by the way. Simple and to the point.” Maggie pounded a fist on the counter like a judge rendering a verdict.
“Yeah that was Grant’s suggestion. Figured we should let him feel like he’s contributing in some way so he’ll really buy in.”
“Ah, I’m so excited!” Maggie clapped her hands together in front of her face.
“So, now you see why we have a lot to celebrate. Let’s get you that drink.”
“I really don’t know anything about making drinks.”
Chase gave a small bow. “Lucky for you, you know a guy.” Chase swung the towel back over his right shoulder. “Are we doing alcohol or no alcohol?”
“No alcohol, please.” Maggie was a total lightweight and did not want any help doing or saying something embarrassing in front of Chase.
“Alright, then for the base we’ll use Sprite. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good to me,” Maggie replied.
Chase used a spray nozzle to fill up a glass halfway. “I’m just gonna go down the row. I’ll start adding stuff unless you tell me no.”
“Okay…” Maggie looked on skeptically.
First he squeezed in a lemon, then a lime. “So far so good?”
“I think so.” Maggie grinned.
“Cherries, grenadine, celery…” Chase stopped and held a piece of celery above the cup.
“No way. Good in my green smoothie—terrible in whatever this drink is.”
“Alright, alright…” Chase teased. “ How about some agave and a hint of vanilla?”
Maggie shrugged. “Go for it.”
Chase squeezed in a few drops of agave and then pushed down on the vanilla syrup bottle pump.
“Is this gonna be good or weird?” Maggie wondered.
“I have no idea, but you’re about to find out.” Chase placed a neon pink umbrella and a clear straw in the glass and set it gently on a drink napkin in front of Maggie.
“I’m down for this, but you have to make the exact same drink for yourself.”
