Ravel and Michael separated from Donna Sue as they left their lunch. As usual Ravel rode with Micheal since the small-town hardware store she worked at was only two blocks away from the law office Micheal where was working as a secretary. The two made their way to Micheal’s modest, smart, grey, car. It was the car that got him through college and the part of law school he could afford. Needless to say, he did not currently have the money to replace it, not that he needed to. The car was still young and incredibly reliable.

Ravel sighed as she sat down in the passenger seat, with Micheal taking his spot in the driver’s seat. No one was eager to get back to work after a brief break, and Ravel was no exception.

“Cheer up the day’s half over,” Micheal half-heartedly tried to cheer Ravel up. Ravel sighed as her response as Micheal started driving his car back to his office.

Ravel took the time during the drive to check her phone. As someone with a growing social media influence, some might say that Ravel was addicted to her social media, but it was an occupational hazard. After quickly scrolling through relevant notifications, she moved on to her email and absent mindedly began delete countless pieces of junk mail, barely noticing as she deleted an email from Stuffies diapers.

With a bit of a panic Ravel was able to save the email from her deleted mail box and proceeded to actually read the email. She didn’t expect it to be important per se. She expected a polite refusal from any further collaboration considering how mixed the last sponsored segment went. Even if it was bad news though, it would be worth it to read. Ravel found herself surprised when she read the contents of the mail:

To: Ray Bandsy

From: Theo Mallory, Stuffies Viral Marketing

Stuffies would like to cordially thank you once again for accepting or advertisement offer. We are satisfied with the outcome of our agreement, and so I am reaching out to you in the hopes of securing another. If you would like, please respond to this e-mail with your Chaos Messenger information to facilitate easier communication.

As a small note, though we appreciate your own recommendation and their desire to remain anonymous, we can secure you an official recommendation. As it happens, I was able to secured such a recommendation from CryBabyCereal. She has agreed to give your stream specifically a recommendation for our Stuffies discrete fit pull-ups. Feel free to use her recommendation with confidence in the future.

I hope to hear from you soon back from you soon to discuss details. Also, if you would rather continue to talk over e-mail that can be arranged as well.

Regards, Theo Mallory

Ravel skimmed over the email twice, and a sudden implication stuck out to her. Regardless of whether the first one was or not, this offer was decidedly not a mistake. If it wasn’t the fact that they offered again that gave it away, it was definitely them securing a recommendation for her. They also referenced a specific part of her stream after the advertisement where she mentioned CryBabyCereal. Not only was this offer not a mistake, but they had also watched the stream where she read her advertisement, and the resulting conversation afterward. After all that they were still willing to sponsor her.

“No shot,” Ravel spoke her disbelief out loud.

“What?” Micheal glanced over curiously at Ravel’s remark.

“I got an e-mail from Stuffies,” Ravel’s disbelief propelled her past her usual concern for what her friend might say.

“Oh? Did you get scolded by the diaper company?” Micheal guessed.

“No. They want to sponsor me again,” Ravel replied simply. There was a bit of silence as Micheal focused on the road for a moment before speaking up again.

“No shot,” Micheal’s disbelief echoed Ravel’s.

“They said they want to talk over Chaos,” Ravel explained.

“Is that normal?” Micheal questioned.

“I don’t know,” Ravel said back quickly. “I haven’t had a sponsor before so beats me. It’s definitely easier than e-mail though.”

“True,” Micheal agreed. “Should make it easier for you to negotiate with them too. They say anything about the stream?”

“No, but they did watch it,” Ravel looked back to the e-mail. “They mentioned CryBabyCereal, even got me a recommendation from her.”

“Really?” Micheal said interested.

“Mmmhmm,” Ravel answered. “They didn’t say how they felt about it though. Maybe that’s why they want to talk over chaos.”

“What are you gonna do?” Micheal asked.

“I dunno,” Ravel locked her phone screen. “I’ll have to see after I talk with them, I guess.”

“I think you should take it,” Micheal said quickly. “If that’s an option.”

“I mean, Donna’s kinda right,” Ravel debated out loud. “It’s all a bit dishonest. I don’t really wanna lead my audience with a product I don’t even use.”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” Micheal reasoned. “And it’s just an ad you know. I think maybe you’re overthinking it.”

“Yeah maybe,” Ravel said unsurely. “I’ll at least hear them out though.”

The conversation lasted long enough for Micheal to reach his destination, the locally owned hardware store that Ravel worked at. Ravel didn’t really notice until the car stopped and groaned when she realized where she was.

“I doubt you’re going to have a quick rest of your day with that e-mail on your mind,” Micheal reveled playfully in Ravel’s anxiety.

“Yeah, you got that right,” Ravel’s every word was a sigh as she clipped her name tag back onto her oversized sweater. She quickly got out of the car and started to make her way inside the store before Micheal stopped her.

“Hey. Seriously, you should give this Stuffies thing a consideration,” Micheal advised.

“I will,” Ravel said with a smile, shutting her door. With the door shut Micheal mozied on to his own office to get back to work.

The tiny bell on the door jingled as Ravel walked into the store and made her way to her small chair behind the counter. The only other people in the store were a pair of gentlemen in obvious work clothes, debating each other over the quality of different of pipe. Ravel politely ignored them on her way to her spot. She gave a quick wave to the owner who was taking his own usual spot at a small table next to the checkout counter. He gave no response other than a grunt as he didn’t even look up from the newspaper he was reading.

Ravel fidgeted anxiously, and immediately went to her phone. Michael was right, the potential of the Stutffies e-mail was already distracting her from her work. She couldn’t resist the urge to respond to the e-mail, curtly but efficiently giving her Chaos information. With that done she slammed the phone in her pocket and became acutely aware of phantom vibrations as she anxiously awaited a response.

Ravel sighed, annoyed that the impatience of waiting for a response from Stuffies was already getting to her. She was almost eager when one of the men from earlier approached the register with the other behind him.

“We’re going to need a lot of these,” he said gruffly holding a sample of pipe.

“I can help with that,” Ravel said in a cheery voice. A moderately lengthy conversation commenced with this customer as he detailed the lengths and types of piping he would need ordered. The conversation made frustratingly longer as he questioned if Ravel, the young woman, was actually up to the task of helping him. Ravel was used to brushing this subtle bit of misogyny off, though it did make her more eager to end the conversation. She became aware of the more watchful gaze of the owner as she continued. In a lot of ways Mr. Leeroy, the owner of the store, was just as problematic, but Ravel had to give him credit because he didn’t put up with that kind of disrespect toward Ravel. She was confident that if this man ever got to dismissive Mr. Leeroy would step in, but Ravel had gotten used to assuaging this particular concern and was able to get this man his pipes ordered.

In the process of ordering Ravel felt a phantom phone rumble, that turned out not to be a phantom rumble this time. As soon as the customer left the store Ravel immediately got her phone out. Amongst another batch of junk email was a replay from the Stuffies representative, Theo, suggesting a meeting that night at eight, and Ravel quickly confirmed.

“Something important?” Leeroy asked noting Ravel gravitating to her phone more than usual.

“Yeah,” she answered quickly. “Might be getting a sponsor for my streaming thing.”

“A sponsor?” Leeroy asked for clarification.

“It’s like a commercial,” Ravel explain in a way he would understand. “Only it’s me doing the commercial.”

“Heh,” Leeroy chuckled. “All that work and ya caint get away from commercials.”

“You’re more right than you know,” Ravel agreed.

“You make good money with that?” Leeroy pried.

“Not enough for me to leave. Don’t worry,” Ravel assured.

“Good,” Leeroy grunted. “Cain’t hardly find good help these days,” he complained before going back to his newspaper.

With the conversation over Ravel looked back to her phone and the confirmation of her sent e-mail. Eight that night seemed so soon for such a potentially important conversation, and it was just soon enough to keep her on edge throughout the rest of her shift.

Thankfully there was no one staying in the store past closing, and Ravel was able to leave on time. Early enough that she had to wait a bit for Micheal to arrive to pick her up in his car. She wordlessly got into the passenger seat of the car and Micheal started to drive away just as wordlessly as the routine had gotten pretty standard.

“So, hear anything back?” He asked simply.

“We’re supposed to chat at eight,” ravel said with a tinge of nervousness.

“Oh,” Micheal let silence permeate for a moment. “Good luck.”