POV: Dawn
"Yes! Here is it!" I cried out in triumph. Pulling my dad's old hand-me-down record player from one of the many boxes in my living room. Grinning from ear to ear, I sat it down beside Tucker, who was acting like he was sleep but I knew he was waiting for the moment the box I was currently unpacking to be emptied so he could claim it as his own. As soon as I got the rest of the wires out it, he "woke up" and bounded into it.
Heading into the kitchen for another cup of morning coffee, I stopped at the living room to open the windows to let in some fresh morning air and the sound of the birds chirping flowed in. It was so soothing, it almost felt like I was back in Georgia.
Spending most of last night getting my speakers hooked in the living room, all I had left to do was bring down the record player and I would be ready to listen to Greg's record in style.
'I wonder if he has a killer system too.' I thought.
I was just about to finish up plugging in the last of the wires when my phone started to go off. Looking at the I.D. I saw it was Mayor Dewey, a.k.a. my new boss.
"Good mornin' Mayor Dewey. What can I do for you?" I chimed brightly.
"Good morning to you too Ms. Bird. I was just calling to see if you would be able to start work today. I will be more than happy to show you where all your equipment is and of course brief you on your work today."
"I can start today. Thank you sir."
"Great! Come on down to my office when you are ready. See you in a bit Ms. Bird."
Walking back to my room with my second cup of coffee, I saw that Tucker was still having a blast with his box. Making a beeline for the boxes labeled 'clothes' I opened them and grabbed the first things I touched which consisted of a plain red tank up and black gym shorts. Thankfully I had enough sense last night to dig out my work shoes from this mess. Heading to the bathroom, I ran a brush through my knot infested hair and threw it up in a messy bun. Tucker jumped up into the sink, meowing at me, basically saying he was hungry.
"Don't worry big guy, I'll feed you before I leave." I scooped him up in my arms and headed back down stairs. I had set his food and water dishes in the kitchen and saw that he had indeed ate all of his food. Putting him down, I filled his dishes and headed out.
"I'll be back Tucker! Behave!" I yelled. He was too busy eating to even acknowledge I was leaving. Opening the garage door, I got into my truck and was on my way. The first day at my new job, I was excited and nervous. Steven had yet to show me around town so I was hoping that I wouldn't get completely lost.
Looking around the town on my way in I saw that it was a little bigger than what I originally thought but it still had a small town charm to it. After parking my truck, I made my way inside but before I could even get close enough to Mayor's office door to knock I heard a shouting match coming from the other side.
"You don't get to decide that!" A young man with glasses yelled as he threw open the door. He ran right past me, like I wasn't even there. Looking into the office, I saw that the mayor holding his head in his hands, looking quite tired.
"…Hello?" I called out in barely a whisper. Mayor Dewey looked up and almost instantly went from looking tired and worried to the confident man whom I had come to know.
"Come in, come in Ms. Bird." He smiled, gesturing my inside.
"Are you sure? Because I can come back if you need a moment." I took a step back just in case he would say yes.
"Don't be silly. Time is money. Let me get you the keys to the garage your equipment is stored in and we'll be on our way." He turned to a filing cabinet in the corner.
"Found them!" He cheered. "Just follow my Mayor Dewey van and we'll get you set up."
I nodded and smiled, trying to act as normal as possible but I could not help but worry about him. After how tired he looked after that kid left in a huff I had a sneaking suspension that that kid was his son but I kept my thoughts to myself.
Following him outside, I was wondering which van he was talking about until I saw one with a huge head of the man in question right on top of it. I did as he asked and followed him to a smaller part of town to a worn down looking, one story garage. I couldn't help but hope that the tools inside were in better shape than the outside. The mayor unlocked the door, flipped o the light and I was excited to see the tools were in great shape.
"Wow! You have a lot of great tools!" I exclaimed.
"I'm happy you approve because will all that goes on around this town you're going to need all of these tools at some point. So now that you know where you're work base is let me show you where you're first job is."
"Yes sir." I wanted to ask what he meant with his earlier comment of 'all that goes on around this town' but I thought it wise not to tick my boss off the first day. The place he showed me was a rustic looking theater that I could not help but fall in love with. It looked so grand with ivy inching its way up the sides and old ticket booth almost looked brand new.
"This is beautiful." I whispered, awe struck by the building's beauty.
"Why thank you. It took a great deal of man hours to build. My father, the mayor before me, had this place built to attract people to our humble little town but as you can probably guess it takes a lot of up keep to keep this place looking nice."
"I bet it does." I mumbled, not taking my eyes off the old fashioned theater sign.
"This is where you come in. You will be in charge of making sure that this place keeps looking just as good as it did the day it was built. If I were you I would make this place a weekly spot to check." He explained.
"What will my main job be exactly?" I asked, looking at him finally.
"I have already hired a cleaning service to redo the décor on the inside. What you will be doing is making sure the paint job on the building stays nice and clean. Also fixing any lose floor boards or anything of that nature. Understand?"
"Yes sir. I believe I do."
"Good, good. Well I leave you to your job. If you have any questions just call me office." He said while handing over the theater keys.
"Will do. Thank you sir."
Looking down at the keys I saw that thankfully each key had the door it opened etched at the bottom of each one. Walking to the set of double doors closest to me, pulling on the knob I found that it was already unlocked.
'The cleaners must have forgotten to lock up.'
Stepping in, I was once again in awe at how beautiful the lobby looked. It was almost like you stepped through a time machine and was back in the 1960's. The deep red maroon carpet that covered the floor, to the beautiful crystal chandeliers that hung in the high ceilings, everything looked flawless. The snack bar even had an old timey popcorn machine. My footsteps made a dull echo through the empty room as I made my way to the main theater. This time my breath caught in my throat.
The seats, that matched the carpet, were in perfect order but what got me was how wonderfully huge the stage was. In high school I was in the drama club so I could not help but admire it. Walking down the aisle of seats on both sides of my person, I looked up and saw the balcony seating and saw they were just as grand as the lower seats.
I felt my jaw drop when I saw that right above me hung another beautiful crystal chandelier except it was twice as big as the ones in the lobby. And above that was a stunning painting of clouds and blue sky. It was painted so flawlessly I could have sworn it was a sky light at first.
"A beautiful woman in awe of something like a painting is beauty within itself."
I jumped at the voice and saw a guy about my age standing in the center of the stage. His eyes were closed and he had a charming smile on his face. I didn't know what to say or what to think so I stayed quiet, waiting to see what he would do or say next. He opened his eyes and his smile turned into a look of worry.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I guess I got caught up in the drama zone there for a second." He explained with a nervous laugh. He was making his way down the side stairs on the stage and making his way towards the aisle I was in.
"You're okay. You just surprised me. What is a drama zone anyways?" I asked.
"Oh it's just something I picked up when I went off to Kansas." He chuckled. "I'm Jamie by the way." He said, sticking his hand out for me to shake. I took it and gave him a smile.
"I'm Dawn, the new girl in town. Nice to meet you."
"Oh yeah! I heard someone new was moving to Beach City. But that does not explain why you are here."
"You're looking at Beach City's new keeper. Mayor Dewey hired me to keep this town looking good. And my first job is getting this place looking great."
"Thank God! I am so happy to hear that. I will be putting on plays here soon and you know what they say, the play is only as good as the stage that it's performed on."
"Good point. But from where I stand it looks like your dressed to deliver mail not direct plays." I smirked. He was wearing what looked like a safari hat, shorts and mail bag was slung across his shoulder.
"Hey! If need be I could totally direct in this!" He said, faking a pout.
"Uh huh. Sure." I said, trying my best not to laugh. "Well listen mister director of the century, I have to scope out the rest of the building. If you want to, you are more than welcome to join me."
"I can't be director of the century without helping restore the place where my plays will be held." He told me dramatically, clenching his fist and closing eyes.
"Okay. Enough with the drama zone." I laughed while pushing his shoulder playfully. He acted like I broke his shoulder and I rolled my eyes.
We made our way outside and walked around the building. Weeds were everywhere, peeking through the concrete and around the ticket booth which meant I would have to spray them as soon as possible. There was also that icy on the sides of the building, I would have to cut it back but that was the main issues on the outside.
Driving back to the garage I grabbed the spray for the weeds, a ladder and clippers for the ivy. Jamie was waiting outside the theater waiting for me, asking if he could do anything to help. I explained to him how the sprayer worked, he strapped it to his back and he looked like a ghostbuster which I told him and he started acting like Billy Murray.
Leaning the ladder against the wall with the most ivy, I securely put the clippers in my back pocket and climbed up. Starting with the tallest ivy I started cutting and had to get on my tip toes for a small bit I could not reach. I was about to get the last of it when my foot slipped from under me and I started falling. I didn't even have time to scream because I landed in someone's arms. Peeling my eyes open, half expecting Jamie but I looked up and saw a woman with glasses and an afro.
POV: Garnet
"Watch your step." I said to the pale faced woman in my arms. Placing her gently on the ground I watched as the color slowly started returning to her face. For some reason, since the day before I kept having a vision of this young woman falling of a ladder and I was the one who always caught her. I don't know why she looked familiar to me but something told me it had something to do with Rose.
"Thank you so much! I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up." She said, her voice still shaking.
"It's no problem." After a few more deep breaths she looked half way back to normal, color wise anyways.
"My name is Dawn Bird by the way."
That's when it hit me. The name, her face, this was the girl that Rose told me about. She was going to help heal Greg's heart. At the time Rose had even asked me to use my future vision to make sure the lovers' stone was right. And almost like always my future vision was right, I just didn't expect things to happen this soon.
'Are you sure this is the right girl?' Ruby questioned.
'Of course. Can't you see the lovers' stone around her neck Ruby? This is her.'
The stone was indeed around her neck, looking at Dawn's face I saw she was waiting for me to introduce myself.
"Garnet."
"It's nice to meet you Garnet. You're a true life saver." She laughed.
"Hey Dawn. I thought I heard something. Are you okay?" Turning around I saw Jamie walking our way.
'Oh great! What's that bozo want?' Ruby asked angrily.
"Don't be rude. Didn't you hear, he's here to help Dawn.'
"Oh hey Garnet. What are you doing here?" Jamie asked.
"She's just busy saving my ass. I fell off the ladder and if Garnet wasn't here when she was it would have gotten ugly." Dawn explained.
"Oh my gosh!" Jamie exclaimed, worry written all over his face. I wasn't sure if he liked her more than a friend but there was clearly something there but I kept it to myself. With both of them distracted I made my clean get away. Taking my time getting back to the temple I let myself wonder back to the promise I made Rose fourteen years ago.
14 years ago-
"I used the lovers' stone to find Greg's second chance. Please try to understand Garnet." Rose pleaded.
"I understand why you did. You truly love him but you know that even with that stone there is a chance they won't fall in love."
"That's why I'm asking you to use your future vision and tell me if she and Greg is even possible."
Giving her a single nod of my head, I glanced into the future. A young woman with long curly looking hair was standing on the beach, leaning against an older version of Greg. They both looked happy and filled to the brim with love that I could feel tears come to my eyes. Coming back I saw Rose was waiting patiently for my verdict.
"That's why I came to you. Use your future vision and tell me if she and Greg are remotely possible." Nodding in agreement I glanced into the future.
"There is a chance." I stated.
"Oh thank you Garnet." She gushed, hugging me tightly. "Can I ask one more favor of you?"
"Anything Rose."
"Please, please make sure that no matter what Greg is happy. And if this Dawn girl and him fall in love make sure nothing ruins their happiness. Promise me that."
"I promise."
I never knew promising Rose something like that would be difficult but looking at the way Jamie was looking at Dawn, it was possibly going to get very difficult indeed.
I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter. And thanks again to everyone that took the time to read, leave a review, favorite or follow it means a lot. In the next chapter we are going to see a little bit more of Greg and Dawn, with Steven on the side lol Well until the next chapter, all reviews are welcomed :)
