Author's note: Hey y'all! Another chapter, just for you! This one doesn't have much in the way of the turtles, but there is some development with the show Abby's been working with, along with formally introducing another important character. We also get to know Ms. Jeralds, the neighbor, a bit here. I felt she needed to be brought in somehow, other than Abby just commenting about her furniture on the roof.
Thank you to those who reviewed! This means twilight-sweden, mela989898, and Funce!
Enjoy!
Game Changer
Chapter 11
It had been a long, grueling month of pain and frustration. Abby continued to help out in the theater and prepare for the upcoming show, but she was being treated like she was made of glass. They didn't want her lifting anything or bending over too much or even stretching upwards to help hang bits of the set. Here she was again, spacing out in one of the seats waiting for rehearsal to start because Danielle was and hour and a half late. Again.
"Abby!" Tyler called out from center stage, shielding his eyes from the lights.
"Yeah?" She responded, sitting up straight and looking up at him.
"You know all of Sophie's lines, right?" He questioned, looking over the sheet on his clipboard. "Why don't you come up and help out. The girls need to learn their blocking for 'Honey, Honey'."
"Uh, I don't know about that." She laughed nervously and shook her head, taking on a straight face.
"Don't give me that, get up here." Tyler chuckled, waving her up on stage. With a groan, she stood and moved up to the steps leading to where they stood. She was a bit awkward with the two other girls, not having really gotten to know them, but they were all smiles with her, practically radiating friendliness.
"I'm Tara." The girl with shoulder length brunette waves introduced, holding out her hand for Abby to shake.
"And I'm Cammy." Said the blonde with a pony tail. No wonder they had gotten cast for the girls, they matched them perfectly. At least, they matched the movie characterizations.
"Abby." She replied, her voice cracking a bit as she shook their hands.
"Okay, ladies. How about we take it from the top?" Tyler turned to her and pointed to a bright pink x on the stage. "Abby, you're there. Tara there-" the red x "-and Cammy there." He finished, pointing to a purple x. "Let's start with 'what my mom always said when I asked about my father'. Good?" The two girls nodded. When he looked to Abby, she gave a small smile and a nod. He passed her a book to use as a prop. "We're running the song too. Cool?"
"Woah, Tyler!" Abby's heart was racing now. "I'm not singing Danielle's part. Blocking is one thing; I'm not doing the song!"
"It's a part of the blocking, Abs! Calm down!" He gave her a pat on the shoulder and a wide grin. "You'll do fine." Her eyes pleased with his, but he wouldn't back down. She let out a sigh and nodded, shrugging her arms a bit and putting the book behind her.
"Are we ready?" He called out to them from below, turning to the sound booth and receiving a few thumbs up. "Whenever you're ready, ladies!" Abby took a deep breath and glanced at the girls who gave her smiles and nods of encouragement.
I can do this. I totally got this.
"Okay, so, you know what my mom always said when I asked about my father?" Tara nodded and looked incredibly interested. "It was as summer romance and he'd gone long before she'd even realized she was expecting me, and I've always kind of accepted that that's all I'd ever know." She paused and gave a small grin, trying to get into character. Tara and Cammy couldn't help but get a bit closer to listen. "Well, I was ransacking some old trunks and..." The petite redhead pulled the book from behind her back and held it up. Her heart rate had begun to slow finally. "I found this." The two girls looked confused. "It was the diary she kept the year she was pregnant with me!"
"Sophie!" Tara cried out, moving behind her to look over her shoulder, leaving Cammy giggling and moving along side her.
"'July 17th.'" Abby began, looking up at Cammy with a mischievous smile. "'What a night!'"
"I dunno if I wanna hear this." Cammy sputtered out nervously.
"Oh, I do!" Tara piped up, leaning a little closer and wrapping her arm around Abby to clutch the book.
"'Sam rode me over to the little island.'" She looked up to the girls. "That's here, that's Kalokairi." She looked back down to the page and cleared her throat, moving away from the girls and taking slow strides across the stage. "We danced on the beach and we kissed on the beach and' Dot, dot, dot." She stopped and looked over her shoulder at the two.
"What?" Cammy looked puzzled while Tara furrowed her brow. Abby turned around sighed.
"'dot, dot, dot,' that's what they did in the olden days." Tara and Cammy paused, looked at one another, and let out a collective "Oooh!" before running up behind Abby to read more. "'Sam's the one, I know he is! I've never felt like this before!"
"Okay, queue the music!" Tyler called out to the sound booth. The opening of ABBA's "Honey, Honey" began to play and Abby belted it out, matching the steps of Cammy and Tara and moving gracefully across the stage.
Right at the point that they were going to find out about Sam's engagement, a shrill voice pierced through the music, startling everyone in the audience and on stage.
"Why is my song playing, Tyler?" Danielle had arrived and, from the looks of it, she wasn't thrilled. "And what is shedoing singing mypart?" She moved immediately on stage and stood in front of Abby, shoving her back a bit leaving Tara and Cammy to catch her.
"You're late, Danielle." Tyler rolled his eyes and turned to the sound booth, motioning for them to cut the music. "You've been late every day this week."
"I have things to do, Tyler! You know that!" Danielle stomped her foot and threw down her arms.
"Like sobering up?" Tara whispered to Cammy and Abby, earning a grin from the blonde and a head shake from the redhead. The tall man turned back to the stage and folded his arms over his chest with a raised brow.
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't kick out of the the show, Danielle. Because I'm having a hard time finding one." He spoke with confidence and a sense of sincerity. He definitely wasn't kidding.
"I'm the best one in this theater, that's why!" She cried out, her arms extending outwards to gesture to everyone else. "No one can play Sophie like I can!"
"I don't know, Abby was doing a pretty good job." Uh oh. Why did Tyler have to say that? The bleached blonde tyrant turned slowly to glare hard at the small redhead. "And you know something? She shows up on time. Every day. And she has your part memorized better than you do! We can't have you losing it on stage again and doing your ad lib crap. This is a well known show, you can't do that!" Tyler was getting worked up by this point. Danielle's eye was twitching as she turned back to face him, fists clenched and body tense.
"Fine! You want her so much then I quit!" She stomped her feet across the stage loudly before stepping down and beginning to storm her way through the theater aisles.
"Fine! I see you in my theater again and I'll call security!" She turned back around at this and huffed loudly. When she was out of sight completely, the whole theater team basically gave Tyler a standing ovation.
"Danielle's in every show." Cammy explained to Abby, taking notice of her confused expression. "She's horrible at acting and singing, but she's wealthy. So when she's in the shows we get better publicity and better funding."
"But the brat drinks her money away." Tara stated with an amused grin. "Comes in hung over. She's come in drunk before too. Tyler put up with it for years. About time he finally snapped." Abby nodded and looked back out to the man who was finally starting to calm down.
"Abby, congratulations. You're Sophie. Check in with wardrobe and get everything fitted." He took a deep breath and slid his headset off his ears and onto his shoulders. "Let's just wrap up and take lunch. I'll see you all back here in an hour."
"Woah, wait Tyler!" Abby broke away from the girls and bounded off stage to follow Tyler as he walked to the sound booth. "What about the understudy? Why can't she do it?"
"She backed out." He said, dropping his clipboard down on the desk of the sound booth. "Didn't like being second to Danielle. I don't really blame her either."
"I can't!" She blurted out.
"Yeah you can." He turned and put a hand on her shoulder. "You were fantastic up there with the girls. You'll be fine."
"Uh, I bombed the audition, remember?" She was starting to shake a bit now.
"Because you were alone, Abs!" He laughed and shook his head. "You do better with other people. It's not uncommon. Trust me." She swallowed hard and stared at him with a red face. "You're Sophie. And unless you feel like throwing a tantrum, you're staying Sophie. Hell, throw a tantrum. You can't be worse than Danielle. End of discussion." He patter her on the head and walked away, leaving her slack jawed at the sound booth.
When she got home that night she was exhausted both physically and mentally. This was exactly what she wanted; a big part in a well known production in New York. It wasn't exactly broadway, but the fact that someone wanted her in their theater group was good enough for her, but not having the support of Sam or Emily bothered her. She found herself looking at the photos that she had hanging on her walls longingly, missing them desperately. She was in a world she wanted to be in since childhood, but it was lonely without her friends. Sure, April and the brothers were great, but she needed the companionship she had with the two girls from home.
Night had fallen and she found herself on the roof of her apartment, laying back in her neighbor's lounger and staring at the sky. It was clear tonight, but she still couldn't see the stars. It was all the light pollution, she knew this, but it made her feel even emptier than before.
"Abigail? Dear, is that you?" Came an older voice from the door that led downstairs. Abby turned and glanced back, taking in the form of her elderly neighbor, Ms. Jeralds.
"Hi, Ms. Jeralds." She said softly, sitting up and making room for the older woman to sit down.
"I used to come up here to think myself, you know." She began, seating her old body next to Abby's young one and wheeling her walked to the side a bit. "I would stare up and wonder why the stars hid away from me when I needed them." Abby turned to look at her thoughtfully. The older woman turned to look up at the dark sky, a small smile forming on her lips. "Then I realized they weren't hiding from me on purpose and that they were always there for me, even if I couldn't see them." Her words hit home with Abby.
"How long have you lived here, Ms. Jeralds?" Abby inquired, leaning back a bit.
"Since it was built." She answered simply. "My husband and I were of the first few to move in. It was quieter then." She sighed and pulled her walker over, tugging a book of crosswords out of the fanny pack that had been wrapped around it. "I used to do my crosswords in the lobby. It's much too noisy now." Abby laughed a bit and nodded.
"Yeah, it is." The front desk attendant liked to play his music a bit louder than he should have, playing over the calming music of the lobby.
"That damn boy wouldn't know good music if it popped him in the nose." Ms. Jeralds commented, flipping to the page she was on and taking her pen in hand. "Wouldn't kill him to play some Elvis Presley or Johnny Cash."
"Dean Martin too." Abby added, earning a smile. "Or Frank Sinatra. Those would be fine by me."
"You are a fine young lady, Abigail." Ms. Jeralds complimented, causing Abby to flush a shade of pink. They fell into a comfortable silence, Abby helping her with her crossword puzzles for a few pages before her phone began to buzz in her pocket.
"Sorry." She apologized, removing the phone from her pocket and silencing it quickly. Mikey was calling her. "Excuse me for a minute?" Ms. Jeralds laughed and nodded, waving her off. Abby gave a grateful smile and pulled the phone to her ear, but not before hearing Ms. Jeralds speak.
"Kids and their phones, I swear." Abby giggled at her remark.
"Hey Mikey." She greeted, looking out over the rooftops.
"Hey Abby! How was rehearsal?" He asked, the sound of dishes moving around in the background.
"It was fine. The girl playing Sophie threw a fit and left. So, I'm Sophie now." She glanced back over her shoulder at the older woman, then went back to gazing out at the city.
"No way?!" He practically shouted it. "That's amazing! I knew it'd happen sometime!" She laughed and pulled the phone away from her ear a bit.
"Thanks Mikey. I didn't really want it, but-" she was interrupted by the sound of the roof door opening and heavy boots stepping out.
"Here you are, Ms. J!" It was the voice of a man with a heavy Brooklyn accent. "Was worried 'bout you. What're you doin' up here?" He was, quite possibly, one of the most handsome men Abby had ever seen. He was rough looking but, by god, it worked for him.
"Lemme call you back." She quickly hung up the phone despite Mikey's protesting and slid it back into her pocket, staying quiet.
"Doing crosswords, of course." He walked over to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek and receiving one in return.
"Yeah? You an' dem crosswords, Ms. J, I swear." He chuckled and glanced over to Abby. He had intense blue eyes and messy shoulder length dark brown hair and the t-shirt and jeans he wore fit him all too well. He had to be in his early thirties at most. "Oh, I, uh, didn't realize you had company." He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair.
"Oh yes, this is my neighbor Abigail." Ms. Jeralds introduced, waving Abby back over. She approached and smiled up at the man before glancing back to the older woman. "Abigail, I've told you about my friend Patricia, right?" She nodded. "This is her son. He's kind enough to bring my groceries and run my errands."
"Casey." He said, holding out his hand with a charming smile.
"Abby." She blushed lightly and took his hand. It was rough, but gentle. "Nice to meet you."
"Pleasure's mine." They let go and stood there for a moment just smiling to one another.
"Let's get those groceries downstairs, hm?" Ms. Jeralds interjected, breaking their silence and bringing them back to reality. "I'd rather not drink curdled milk."
"Oh, yeah, sure Ms. J." Casey chuckled and readjusted the sacks in his arms.
"Abigail, be a dear and help me down the stairs?" Ms. Jeralds requested as she stood and grabbed hold of her walker.
"Of course." Abby smiled and followed behind Casey as they made their way to the stairwell door. He held it open for her and the older woman with a smile and trailed behind them slowly.
"You're gettin' betta' with the stairs there, huh?" Casey remarked from behind as Ms. Jeralds stepped off the last step and onto the landing.
"Stronger every day!" She replied with a proud smile. Once they reached her door, she leaned down to pull her keys from her pack and attempted to pull the right key, but her hands were shaking a bit too much. Abby offered a hand and a warm smile, to which Ms. Jeralds gave her the keys and allowed her to open the apartment for her. Abby's eyes went wide at the decor inside the apartment. It looked like it hadn't changed at all since the building was built. Not that she could blame the older woman, but it was amazing.
"Wow...Um, do you want your keys back in your pack or on the key rack?" Abby asked, her eyes scanning the apartment.
"My pack, if you would dear." Ms. Jeralds smiled and scooted her walker inside and setting it next to her as she sat on her old couch. Abby entered and slipped the keys back into the pack and Casey closed the door behind them, moving to put the groceries away in the kitchen. He would sneak glances over to her and smiling. She would smile a bit and look away with a blush each time.
"I should probably get back." The young woman said, thumbing back at the door. "I've got rehearsal in the morning."
"Are you sure?" Ms. Jeralds looked a bit sad to see her go. "I could make some tea and we could chat. You're in 'Mamma Mia!', right?"
"Right." She confirmed. "I actually landed the part of Sophie today. Our lead quit."
"You act?" Casey inquired from the kitchen.
"Yeah. It's actually why I came to the city." She nodded with a shy smile.
"That's coo'." He grinned and went to the fridge to chill the milk, eggs, and produce. "Don't meet too many actresses who ain't stuck up."
"You watch your mouth, young man." Ms. Jeralds warned and Casey cringed.
"Sorry, ma'am." He apologized, moving to stand in the living room across from Abby.
"I actually really should go." Abby shifted uncomfortably. She should never be allowed in the same room with a man this attractive.
"Alright, dear." Ms. Jeralds said softly. "Thank you for helping me with my puzzles."
"Thank you for the company." She smiled and nodded to Casey before she turned away from them and toward the door.
"I'll walk you back." He blurted out.
"It's just next door." She laughed, looking over her shoulder at him, but waiting.
"Well, I'm heading that way anyway, right?" He bent down and said goodbye to the elderly woman and ushered Abby into the hall, but not before telling Ms. Jeralds to lock her door behind them.
"You really didn't have to walk me over." Abby stated pointing to her door.
"Seemed like the right thing t'do." He relied, looking her over. "So, what happened?" She gazed up at him in confusion. "You're walkin' with a bit of a slant. Hurt your ribs or somethin'? He looked genuinely concerned.
"Oh, yeah." She laughed and wrapped her arm around her mid section. "Couple of guys got the jump on me." His eyes grew hard and he shook his head. Something was off about him suddenly.
"Buncha thugs." He spat out, looking down to his feet. "Been hearin' stories like that a lot."
"It's okay, I'm fine. I'm healing just fine." Why was he letting this get to him? "Have you had runs ins with people like that?"
"Yeah. I live on the lower East side." He took a deep breath. "See it all the time."
"Oh." Abby was at a loss for words. She looked down at the distance between them and pulled her keys from her pocket, unlocking the door and pushing it open. "Would you like to come in? You know, since you walked all this way." She said in an attempt to lighten the mood. He laughed and shook his head a bit.
"Rain check? I got work tomorrow." He looked thoughtful for a moment then grinned. "Maybe lunch? I get an hour around noon."
"That sounds nice." She nodded.
"Cool. Lemme see your phone?" He held out a large hand and she pulled her phone from her pocket and presented it to him, allowing him to punch in his name and number and text himself to get her number. "I'll shoot you a text when I'm off. We can figure somethin' out then."
"I'm easy." She laughed, taking her phone back. Realizing what she said, she turned bright red and shook her head nervously. "No, not like that. I meant with food, 'cause, you know, you can bring me McDonalds and I'm fine and...I'm just gonna stop." He chuckled and programmed her name in his phone.
"I gotcha. It's cool." He dropped his phone back into his pocket and grinned brightly at her. "It was great meetin' ya, Abby. I'll see ya tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." He stood there for another moment before nodding and turning to the elevator. Once inside, he turned to give her a wave, to which she returned. Once the elevator doors closed, she closed her apartment door and locked it, leaning her back against it and looking at the number in her phone. It was rare that she was this attracted to someone. The last time it happened was with Tom. Once her eyes fell upon the new name in her phone, her heart jumped into her throat, then down into the pit of her stomach. She groaned and rubbed her face, laughing at herself.
"Goddammit. Of course it would be him." The name, in big bold black letters, stared back at her, mocking her. She'd just set a lunch date with Casey Jones. The Casey Jones that saved her. The Casey Jones that was destined to be with April O'Neil. She felt like an idiot, but she was glad it was him. With a sigh, she dialed up her favorite orange banded terrapin.
"Hey, Mikey. Sorry. I was with my neighbor." He brushed it off like it was nothing and just laughed. His voice was melodious and was just enough to lull her into a state of relaxation before she fell asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
