Isaac Charles
Cindy Rogan was utterly charmed by Isaac Charles and the modern building he had designed to be the new MCA (or Memphis Center for the Arts).
She went on and on about how much his "breathtaking building" added to the cityscape of downtown Memphis.
The whole project was the brainchild of Courtney Cole. She had purchased a piece of land in the heart of the city and demolished the dilapidated, abandoned building that was on it so that she could build the new art center. She was America's pop sweetheart and had spent about seven years recording albums and playing to sold out arenas. She was young, but she had flourished financially during her career, and she was incredibly generous.
The MCA would have offices, classrooms, studios, and venues. They would offer low cost lessons in music, theater, dance, and visual arts, and they would host art shows and live performances by local and national acts.
Isaac was truly connected to the idea and honored to be a part of the team that made it come to life. He loved the project, and for the better part of the last four months, he had poured his heart and soul into designing the building. His favorite rooms were the two live theater venues—one of which would seat three hundred people—and the other which would seat two thousand. Both of them were carefully designed for ideal acoustics and atmosphere, and he absolutely couldn't wait to see them come to life.
He had an artists' rendering of what they would look like when they were finished, but he chose not to bring them along when he came to the station for his interview. He was glad he hadn't because the anchorwoman was overly enthusiastic as it was. She asked Isaac the five planned questions and then three or four additional impromptu ones, smiling from ear to ear the entire time.
She was the personification of a newscaster. She had perfect posture and straight white teeth that sat in her mouth in a neat row. She had on a professional looking business suit with slightly too much jewelry, makeup, and hairspray. Maybe it was just right amount for newscasters, but it was slightly too much for Isaac's taste. The segment was seven minutes long, and Isaac was relieved that it went by quicker than he anticipated.
Cindy stared at the camera and said a few parting words before they cut to Greg who was still at the desk. She sighed and let her shoulders slump, smiling at Isaac as she adjusted something in her ear. "My monitor had some feedback," she said, to one of the producers before handing over her earpiece.
The guy apologized to her before taking the offending earpiece and turning to walk away.
"That was great!" Cindy said, smiling at Isaac.
"Am I good to get up?" he asked stiffly as if uncertain that the cameras were done filming.
"Oh, yeah," Cindy said with a dismissive wave. "We're all done. They're still covering sports and weather, but we're done here."
Isaac stood up, extending a hand to shake Cindy's. "So, I guess that's it," he said. "I believe Paul's gonna take care of getting the model back to my hotel for me."
"Or I could drop it off," Cindy said with a little smile and shrug.
She stated it as enough of a joke that Isaac got by with laughing it off.
"I think it went great," she added. "You're a natural. You should come back and do it again once the building's done."
"I'm definitely not a natural, but thank you. You're kind for saying that. And you made it easy."
"It really was very intriguing, Mister Charles. I'd be interested in learning more about what you do."
Cindy gave Isaac her very best smile. She tilted her head to the side and batted her eyelashes, grinning playfully at him. Isaac had been around enough women to know what that smile meant. She was up for anything, which was not Isaac's style at all. He had wanted to get out of there right after the interview, anyway, but her advances gave Isaac the urge to leave even more quickly than he had planned. She was beautiful and everything, but she wasn't his type.
She reached up, playing with the ends of her blonde shoulder-length hair as she continued to stare at him. "Some of us are going out for a drink tonight after the ten o'clock if you want to join us."
"On a Tuesday?" he asked.
She shrugged one shoulder as if the day of the week was of no consequence.
"Thank you, but I can't," he said. "I have to work."
"At 10pm?" she asked.
"At 6am," he said.
"What about this weekend?" she asked.
"Maybe," he said, hating to be rude. "Is there a number where I could reach you if I have some free time?" He didn't really plan on following up, he just couldn’t think of a better way out of the situation—the one where she was standing in front of him, blocking his way.
"I thought you'd never ask!" she said, playfully pushing at his shoulder. She took him by the arm and drug him over to the off stage area near the place where he had been sitting to have his hair done. The girl who had fixed his hair was busy straightening her station, and she looked up as they approached.
"Shelby, do you have a pen?" Cindy snapped like she had a better idea before Shelby could answer. She turned and held out her palm, flexing her fingers as if she expected Isaac to hand her something. "Just give me your phone, and I'll put my number in it," she said.
"Oh, you guys are going out?" Shelby asked looking somewhat amused as she turned to stare at them.
Isaac held her gaze for a few seconds as Cindy continued to gesture for him to hand over his phone. It was honestly the last thing he wanted to do, but she was so forward that he found himself digging into his pocket. He put the phone in Cindy's hand, and she stared down at it, pressing buttons like she owned the thing.
Isaac found himself making eye contact with Shelby again.
She seemed to be entertained by the whole thing because she smirked at his stunned expression. He tried to convey without saying a word that he wasn't interested in going out with Cindy, but Shelby didn't seem like she really cared. She just grinned at Isaac as he stood there, looking dismayed.
She was nothing like Cindy.
Her unruly curls were pulled into a big messy bun that sat right on the top of her head. There was literally a makeup brush sticking out of it. She had on torn jeans and a plaid shirt that was haphazardly buttoned and halfway tucked in, revealing the white tank top she wore underneath. Her stylist's apron hung low on her hips and was filled with all sorts of clips and brushes.
Isaac widened his eyes slightly, trying with one last-ditch effort to signal to her that he didn't approve of Cindy's advances, and to his surprise, Shelby's face morphed into the silliest expression he had ever seen. She scrunched up her face, exposing her front teeth in a way that made her look a bit like a cartoon rabbit. Isaac smiled instantly at her silliness, but before he could say anything or even decide how he felt about her display of playfulness, Cindy looked up, and Shelby wiped that expression off of her face, opting for a sincere smile that seemed hilarious in contrast to the previous expression.
Isaac wasn't accustomed to women making nonsensical buck-toothed expressions at him—he was, on the contrary, used to them smiling and making their best pouty-lipped duck-face at him like they were posing for a picture. He realized that this lady called Shelby did not care about impressing him at all, and that was what impressed him the most about her.
"There you go," Cindy said, handing him his phone.
"Thanks," he said.
Shelby went back to straightening her station, looking like she was giving Isaac and Cindy privacy to wrap up their conversation.
"How long are you in town?" Cindy asked.
"A few more weeks," he said. "But I'll be back and forth after that until the project's done."
Isaac wouldn't have added that last detail about his plans—only he wanted Shelby to overhear. He wanted it to be her number that was programed into his phone and not Cindy's.
"You should definitely call me and come out with us," Cindy said.
"Do you go out with them?" he asked, specifically talking to Shelby, who now had her back turned toward them.
"Who, Shelby?" Cindy asked, giggling. "No, she never comes out with us. She's too good for us."
Isaac expected Shelby to defend herself or contradict Cindy, but she just glanced at them from over her shoulder and said, "Yep."
She gave Cindy a little wink, but Isaac had no idea what it meant. Was she just being nice, or was she saying that she really did go out with them? Isaac was intrigued by her simplicity and nonchalance. He wanted to ask questions, learn more, figure out what made this Shelby girl tick… but he couldn’t find the right words. The moment was all wrong. Cindy had gone and confused it all with her flirting.
Isaac was about to excuse himself so that he could grab some lunch before heading back to the worksite, but one of the producers walked up, talking to Shelby in hurried hushed tones.
"You need to get your stuff packed up," he said. "We're going to Midtown to cover a robbery. The owner of the store's gonna give us the exclusive, but we need to get down there before Stan and the crew at Channel 8 sweet-talk him into giving them the interview. The crew's already in the van. We're just waiting on Amanda. She's on her way."
"Okay, I'm ready when y'all are," Shelby said. "I'll head out there now."
The producer gave her a thankful nod and turned to head in the other direction in a hurry.
Shelby closed one of her boxes and picked it up by the handle, smiling at the two of them.
"So, you just have to pick up and go work on location?" Isaac asked.
Cindy let out a dismissive laugh. "No way," she said. "I stay in the newsroom. My days of darting around the city, trying to fight for a story were over way back before I worked for ESPN."
Isaac knew she wanted him to pry when she mentioned ESPN, but he didn’t take the bait. He had been talking to Shelby when he asked the question, anyway, but he was too nice to clarify that.
"Do you go on location?" he asked, looking straight at Shelby.
She shrugged and smiled as she started to head past them toward the door. "Not every day," she said. "Most of the time, I'm here at the station and I just get them ready before they head out, but I do go on location when they're in a hurry to get a story."
"Are you leaving now?" he asked. "Because I was leaving too. Maybe you could show me out."
"Sure," Shelby said with a nod.
"It was fabulous meeting you," Cindy said, touching Isaac's forearm as he started to walk away. "And please do get in touch. I mean it. I wouldn't mind showing you around Memphis."