"Oh god... Jesus, why?" Arnia shook her head wildly about, exiting the stall and washing her hands at the nice, marble sink. She looked at her face in the mirror and tried to fake a smile with her pink lips. Today was just not her day. She was a generally happy soul who rarely got agitated; when she did get upset though, she didn't know how to handle it. She took pride in the fact that she couldn't, believing it made her better at games because she had more focus on things when she was angry. Either way it went, she needed this one win, if nothing else for the day. She only wanted a little taste of victory, just enough to eat in front of Franklin.
Cautiously, she tip-toed out of the bathroom to hear the whispers of various girls, 'I bet Frankie and Toby are going to hook up!' 'Yeah, right.' 'Seriously, they seem like a good couple.' 'He's so hot and she is too. Think about it.' Arnia sneered softly. She knew it was probably true, but it kind of irked her a bit. Toby was a funny, cute guy who liked pretty girls, why would it concern her who he screwed? She was just a contestant in a competition that had gotten in to a small accident before hand. She shook it off and put on her war face, concentrating her energy into focus as she prepared for the first rounds by doing a few breathing exercises.
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Toby sat by a hot dog vendor, watching the girl of his dreams play the hell out of Halo with her opponent. She was hot, affectionate, and she loved the crap out of him. He pondered to himself quietly, "I wonder if she'd go on a date with me.." He reached for his phone and saw a text from his accountant, stating Toby should get a hold of him. He dialed the number and walked outside so he could focus on Shaun, "Hello? You told me to get a hold of you?"
"Yes! I have great news!" Shaun was a little too happy for comfort.
"That's... Well, great! What is it?" Toby smiled, noticing a small huddle of people off to the side doing something he couldn't see which made him lose focus.
"You're almost in good financial standing! As long as you sponsor some more tournaments, you'll be back better than ever!" Shaun spun around in his cubicle upon an office chair, "Isn't that great? ... Toby? Are you even listening?"
"I'd love to hear more about your tortoise, Mint but I have to go.. Catch you later." with a click, Toby was walking toward the group of strangers, oddly drawn to the mystery of it.
Shaun sat there for a minute, confused, "... He didn't boop." Toby approached the group slowly, not trying to get himself mugged and/or beat up.
"Man, Williams already dropped out, you lost your money." A man with a thick voice plucked a few bills from another person's hand, laughing.
"That's no fair, I didn't know Williams was already out!" Another man dropped his money and promptly left. Toby had a light bulb go off in his head, signalling that this was where the bets were placed. Of course, it wasn't a very legal practice, so it had to be done outside the convention center. It all made sense as he inched closer to the group, putting a twenty dollar bill in.
"Who you betting on?" The thick voice came at him before he had said a word about who he was betting on.
".. Uhm, well, I was thinking Franklin-" Toby was cut off by a loud chuckle.
"Man, you new here, ain't you? Franklin ain't here to game. She just eye candy. Nobody has the heart to tell a pretty white girl no." The thick voice came from a tall, hispanic-looking fellow who looked to be about in his twenties, "My advice, bet on one of the more ugly ones."
"Well, there's this one in a pick up who has this hoodie on, think her last name starts with an H... I didn't really catch her name but I crashed into her car earlier. Might as well give her the benefit of the doubt." Toby scratched the back of his neck and looked down at his money. The hispanic fellow looked at his circle of companions, shrugging his shoulders to signal if anyone knew who it was.
A shorter guy spoke up, "You mean Arnie Hendricks? about five five, dark hair, and always looks like she's about to blow up? I mean, if you're a gambler I guess... Definitely better than Lidbit."
Toby shrugged, "It's only a twenty. How much damage is it? I'm feeling lucky." he then handed the twenty to the hispanic fellow who then tipped his fedora and smiled.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Toby. By the way, if you need me, I go by Tipster." With that, Tipster made his way back into discussing with his group. Toby saw this as a sign to leave and walk back into the tournament.
"I really hope I didn't just get ripped off... I've done this millions of times, shady guys are sadly pretty trustworthy with bets." He shrugged and walked back over to the bench by the Hot dog stand. Before he sat down, he saw a pikachu crying on said bench, signalling him to go the other way.
"Toby! Oh goodness, thank god you're here!" Franklin grabbed on to his back and cried into it, "I lost to some friggin' nerd, I can't believe this! I planned to stay until like five o' clock when the winners are decided but now I don't even have a chance!" She sobbed even harder, making his green shirt start to saturate with salty tears.
Toby felt awkward, but he tried to comfort the bawling girl, "There, there... It's just a tournament." He patted her little hooded head, "It's okay. As long as you had fun playing, it'll be alright." He smiled down at her.
"But I want to win! That's all that matters!" She slightly punched his back, now crying into the back of his shoulder, "... Can't you do something about it?"
He, at this point, no longer felt comfortable with the current situation, "I mean, I wish you could win every competition. I wish all my fans could."
"So I'm just a fan!" Franklin was starting to make a scene, "What about that make-out session earlier?! Did that mean nothing! I let you get to first base! Not many people have been there!"
"You're a friggin' psycho!" He raised his arms, softly brushed her away, and continued on, "I'm done, this is nuts." He put a hand to his temple and rubbed it, "What was I thinking? It's been so long since I've gotten hit on by a really attractive girl, I just lost it... Ugh, I need to get my brain together." He knocked on his skull, "Stop causing me problems!" He then looked to his trouser area, "You too!"
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"Next up for tonight! Hendricks vs. Williams! Players, competition starts in five!" The loud speakers had slight electric interference as they clicked off. Arnia was once again wandering around, now ingesting a hot dog before going to her match. Before she got there, she saw Franklin crying on a bench. It felt mean to be happy about it, but she didn't have time to stop and chat with her.
"Good luck..." Franklin wiped her nose with a yellow sleeve, "Hope you win.." . Arnia was confused, but she continued on.
"Is that a bad omen..?" She shivered slightly, not needing the bad luck on her side as the day had already been terrible. As she approached the large TV and picked up the controller, she saw Toby leaning against a wall not too far away with Tipster, the bet-taker for the whole tournament. Arnia was suprised that Toby would even associate with someone like him. Toby seemed pretty innocent, maybe he had just bumped into him and they started a conversation. Tipster was pretty up to date with all the youtubers. He even got his Bro-fist T-shirt signed by Felix Kjellberg at one of the bigger conventions up in California.
She sighed, knowing that eventually she was going to have to cough up some dough if she didn't want his fancy-pants lawyers to take her to court. Now wasn't the time to think about that though, it was game-time. Meanwhile Toby leaned over to Tipster, whispering, "Didn't Williams drop out?"
"Hm... Suppose he did. Wonder what they'll do about it..." Tipster rubbed his black goatee, "This doesn't happen much."
"Alright, Gamers! Take your positi-Oh. Seems like there's been an issue. We'll report back in a moment." The anouncer was interrupted by a whisper on the microphone, "Langley Williams has been disqualified for not clocking into the convention center... Meaning Hendricks moves on to the next round, what a lucky strike for her!"
"... You're kidding." Arnia threw her controller on the ground, "This is like getting an award for participating." She groaned and sat down on a near-by bench once again, "I guess this is alright. Could be worse, I suppose... I got all worked up for a big nothing."
Tipster signalled for Toby to follow him, walking outside with a small grin on his face, "Congrats, you and Flip get the biggest parts of the pool." Tipster then reached into his jacket pocket and deposited one hundred-fifty dollars into Toby's hand.
"I think you might have given me too much." Toby pointed to his money.
"Nah." Tipster tipped his Fedora and went on, "May luck be ever in your favor."
"Hm..." Toby pondered for a moment. Maybe it was time to get to know Arnia, since she was now his good luck charm. A vibration from his pocket stirred him from his thinking, "Hello?"
"Hey man, I got some extra cash, wanna go to the club?" His friend, Gabe asked in a hopeful tone.
Toby sighed, "I'm not even in California right now. They've got me at a convention... I think I got here a day early because they don't have a booth set up for me or anything."
"Oh, that sucks man. I'll drink a few for you." Gabe laughed.
"Alright man. By the way, how's Gryphon?" Toby smiled.
Gabe laughed, "He pooped on your carpet, but he's fine. I rented a rugdoctor and cleaned up the floors."
"... Oh. Well, just let him out more I guess." Toby giggled, "See you in a week or two. Boop!" Right as he hung up, he was bumped into and dropped his phone, "Dang it!"
"Oh my gosh, I'm so-... Crap."Arnia picked up his phone and looked at him in shock, "You again?"
"Hey, this time you bumped into me." Toby jested a little bit, "Look, I would really appreciate if we could at least exchange information. Would exchanging it over dinner help?"
"... Like a d-" She was interrupted.
"No, not like a date. Like, uhm... A friendly business exchange." Toby shrugged.
Arnia looked down at her cheap shoes, thinking about the oppurtunity to be had here "Well... I am kind of hungry."
"Finally... You're not crazy, right?" He half-jokingly eyed her.
Arnia laughed softly, "Couldn't be even if I wanted to." She opened her phone and looked at him, "Can I go home first and clean up then meet you somewhere?"
"Uhm, sure. I'll give you my number." He handed her a business card, "You better not try to get away this time."
"Like I'd ever run away from you, Toby." She giggled and began walking off, blushing feveridhly afterward when she realised what she had said.
"Did you just hit on me?" Toby raised an eyebrow.
"No-nope." She smiled at him nervously before walking out the door. She was halfway to her truck before she realized what had happened... She was having dinner with Toby Turner and she was going to the next stage in the competition. She hit herself in the face and sank a little bit, "What am I doing with my life..."