Ash
So far, Ash is still waiting for what Meena said about majorities and how they believe in her to come true. Or maybe she's waiting to prove her wrong. She isn't quite sure about that one.
Fact is she still hasn't written any new songs. Yet.
Yes, the yet is important here.
However, helping Johnny with the work in the garage is helping her, too. That way, she can put all her frustration and anger into something useful.
Although she did slam her hammer down onto that plank with such force yesterday that she put a notch into that plank.
And although she hauled off so energetically that she sent her hammer flying once. Okay, more than once. But no one got hurt. Yet.
Ash thinks that maybe the yet is important here, too.
Quickly, she drowns the rest of her coffee. It's time to get to the theater. A little practice won't hurt. She hates to admit it, but Mike did have a point there yesterday.
It doesn't change the fact that for a moment she wished her flying hammer would have hit him.
Maybe she should try to take aim next time. Or maybe not.
Probably not.
There, that's better.
There's no use in hurting anyone.
It could make her feel better, though.
Maybe she should start kickboxing or something.
With this thought, she grabs her guitar case and starts out, sending a text to Johnny on the way to remind him to get her for Meena's interview training.
Because, really, if she can't hurt anyone to make her feel better, at least seeing Eddie in that tiger mask should do the trick.
She's a bit late for the interview training, but not because Johnny forgot to get her - he'd never do that -, no, because she had to finish that song she's been playing because, well, just because.
Johnny set off without her, interpreting the nod of her head correctly.
She doesn't know why it has been so important to finish a song she's been playing three times already that day, but that's how it was.
Hopefully, she isn't developing some sort of a quirk there.
That'd be just what she needed right now with her writer's block and all.
She rolls her eyes before she enters the audience area.
She looks around and finds Johnny and Cia sitting in one of the front rows. With a smile she joins them, greeting them quickly.
The stage is still empty, well, except for the exact copy of the studio of News in the Afternoon which she is only a little bit amazed by. Okay, a lot amazed by, but she doesn't show it.
She cranes her neck to catch a glimpse of Eddie in his tiger mask, but can't find him.
"Hey, where are they?" she asks the others.
"Oh, they're doing this whole introduction-thing now," Johnny replies.
"Okay," Ash says, not sure what he means.
It all makes sense when a few moments later she hears the opening jingle of News in the Afternoon, and Eddie enters the stage.
It's the moment she has to dig her fingers into the armrests and bite down her lip, like, really, really hard or she would have burst into laugher.
Eddie? In a purple suit and wearing a tiger mask? Has she ever seen anything more hilarious than that!?
She really can't say she has.
And when Eddie does the whole "Welcome to News in the Afternoon! I am your host Richard Stripes, blahblahblah"-thing in an perfect impersonation of the real Richard Stripes, a little giggle escapes her lips.
Johnny shoots her a warning glance, and she bites down her lip a little harder.
Yes, she knows she shouldn't laugh, but really, it's Eddie acting like Richard Stripes! And since when did Johnny miss an opportunity to laugh?
She gets it when Meena enters after Eddie invited her on stage. She walks so slowly and carefully and stumbles nonetheless all while fumbling with her fingers in this nervous gesture that the urge to laugh evaporates in the blink of an eye.
Ash lowers her eyes for a second.
Maybe she should have thought a little more about it.
Yes, it's funny to watch Eddie play Richard Stripes, but the even more important thing is that it's Meena up there. Meena, her friend. Meena who's this close to freaking out and fleeing from the stage.
She doesn't need anyone laughing in the audience even it'd be because of Eddie and not because of her.
These things don't matter to Meena. Laughter is laughter, and it's always embarrassing for her. Ash has learned that much so far.
When she looks up again, she finds Johnny looking at her from the corner of his eye.
"Sorry," she whispers, and Johnny concentrates his attention on the stage again. And so does Ash.
Half an hour later, Ash feels like anything, but laughing. She's torn between the urge to run up there and pull Meena into a hug or drag her from that stage into safety and just leaving the audience area in silence because she can't see her friend suffer like this any longer.
The way Johnny and Cia sit a little too straight in their chairs shows her that they must feel something similar.
Maybe they should build a Meena-rescue squad. Although that wouldn't help Meena at all.
Or maybe Ash could ask Mr. Moon to let her give that interview instead. Meena could be sick or something and Ash could take over. Anything's better than the massacre this interview is going to turn into for sure from what Ash has seen on that stage so far.
Meena keeps stuttering her replies even if Eddie asks her the same question three times, and from what Ash can tell, it's only getting worse the longer this training goes on.
She bites down her lip again, this time because she has no idea what else to do.
If only Meena could sing her replies, she thinks. Meena never stutters when she sings.
Ash's eyes widen.
Meena never stutters when she sings!
Ash jumps to her feet as if stung by an adder and runs up the stage.
"Time out!" she calls out.
Eddie stops mid-sentence and looks at her.
A little laughter is bubbling in Ash's chest again, because really, this tiger mask! But she fights it down.
"Ash, what's wrong?" he asks, but Ash ignores him.
Instead she walks straight up to Meena.
"Meena, you realize you never stutter when you sing, right?" she says.
Meena replies with the tiniest nod of her head.
"Then sing your answers!"
"What?" Meena looks at her with wide eyes.
"Oh, come on, Ash!" Eddie calls out. "She can't sing her answers!"
"Oh, but she can, Eddie! She can sing them in her head before saying them." She turns back to Meena. "What do you think? Wanna give it a try?"
Meena nods again.
"Good." Ash smiles at her.
"Okay, okay, whatever!" Eddie says. "Let her sing her answers in her head! Now off the stage with you, Ash!"
He sounds so annoyed, he reminds Ash of Nana Noodleman. Which makes sense. They are related after all.
So just in case Ash gets off that stage as fast as she can.
Back in the audience area, Johnny and Cia watch her as she takes her seat again.
"What?" she says with a shrug. "It's worth a try."
And then Eddie asks Meena another question, and the three of them turn to the stage.
There's a little pause, and then Meena replies, the words flowing from her mouth in one whole sentence. Granted, it does sound a bit like sing-song, but hey, it's a start!
Before Ash knows it, she jumps to her feet and cheers, Johnny and Cia joining her applause.
And when Meena looks down at her from the stage, Ash gives her a thumbs up.
Meena just smiles, slowly opening the curtain she has built for her face with her ears.
This makes Ash applaud a little louder.