Chapter 26

I awoke the next morning at 5:30am to finish up my suits before I had to go to work. It took about an hour to finish the sewing, beading, trimming, and lacing. Once all the work was done, the suits came out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. I wiped the sweat off my forehead, neatly folded the suits, then carefully placed them back into the cardboard box. I looked at the time, 6:45am, then peeked into Rachel's, well actually my, room to see if she had woken up. She was sleeping peacefully, purring quietly into my pillow. I chuckled, then headed into the small area of my apartment I designated as the kitchen. I took out some pancake batter and a frying pan. I figured I'd surprise my new roommate with breakfast in bed. I adjusted my glasses and followed the instructions on the back of the box exactly as they were written. I flipped the pancakes and sang softly to myself as I did so.

"Will you still love me, when I'm no longer young and beautiful? Will you still love me, when I got nothing, but my aching soul? I know you will, I know you will, I know that you will. Will you still love me, when I'm no longer beautiful..."

"Oh, most definitely!" I gasped, almost knocking the pancakes onto the floor. I turned and saw Rachel all dressed up in a black and white checkered blouse with black heels and skirt to match.

"Oh my god, Rachel," I said with a sigh of relief, "you scared the crap outta me! I almost got your breakfast everywhere." She giggled and sat down at my small round kitchen table. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Well," she said with a smile, "I was awoken by the sound of angels singing. But then I realized, 'that's not an angel singing, it's just my beautiful friend, Elliott!'" I blushed lightly and half-smiled.

"Aw, thanks, Rachel." I said with a smile, placing her pancakes on the table in front of her. "I'm sorry I woke you, though."

"Oh don't even sweat it, Elliott," she said, "I needed to get up early anyway. It's my day off so I want to have as much time as I can to rehearse as possible."

"Oh," I nodded, a little intrigued, "well, cool! Have fun with that!" Rachel giggled and bit into a piece of one of her pancakes.

"I will!" She said with her mouth full. "Why were you up?"

"I've been up since 5:30," I replied, "I needed to finish the suits for my job. I'm gonna go get dressed then head out."

"Mmm!" Rachel's eyes practically popped out of her head and she ran to the bedroom. I was a little confused, but then she ran back in and handed me a tiny piece of paper.

"What's this?" Rachel swallowed and sat back down at the table.

"Just a list of things I'd like you to do for me, as a friendly favor of course." The list looked decent enough, so I shrugged and nodded.

"Sure, I'll get these done." Rachel smiled and I put the list down on the counter near the door, so I would remember to grab it before I left the house. "I'm gonna go get dressed. Just yell if you need me." Rachel nodded and continued to feast upon her plate of pancakes. I moved Rachel's suitcase away from the closet and opened the closet door to grab my clothes for the day. The outfit I decided on was a red t-shirt with an olive green long-sleeve shirt to put over it. I opened the buttons on the olive shirt to let my red one show and I rolled up the sleeves of the shirt so that my tattoos were showing. I loved my tattoos. Each one was a reminder of something special to me. A past love, a lost loved one, a period of inspiration in my life, and the occasional drunken stupor. I chuckled as the memories of each tattoo flushed through my mind, then I proceeded to dress myself. I grabbed a pair of dark grey jeans and slipped them on. I also grabbed a pair of silver earrings and carefully put them on, along with some rings to match. I slipped on my favorite pair of boots, then looked in the mirror to fix my hair. I hadn't been shaving the past few days and now it was starting to show. I thought about going into the bathroom to shave, but I just shrugged it off. I wasn't going to waste time and energy shaving after working so hard early in the morning, plus it didn't look half bad. To finish off my outfit, I grabbed my brown cadet cap and perfectly placed it on my head, making my hair come down on my forehead like bangs just a little bit. When I came out of the bedroom, Rachel was gone. I looked around, calling her name, but no answer. I shrugged and grabbed my satchel off the floor. As I did, I noticed an envelope on the kitchen table. I opened it up, revealing a letter and a wad of cash on the inside.

"My dearest Elliott," I rolled my eyes at that, "I am so very thankful to you for letting me stay the night and be your roommate. Inside this letter, I have placed 1,000 dollars." My eyes widened and I read faster. "I didn't know how much your rent was, so I just placed in the average amount for a New York apartment. If it is too much, please keep all that you need. Signed, your friend, Rachel." My jaw dropped as I held the 1,000 dollar wad of cash in my palms. I smiled in complete joy and laughed in astonishment. It was half the money I needed to pay my rent. Now all I needed was to get my paycheck and combine it with my savings and I'd be ready to pay.

"Thank you!" I whispered to the sky, then put the wad of money into my satchel, grabbed my cardboard box of suits, placed Rachel's list on the top, and headed out the door.

It took me about two minutes to get to Broadway Bottoms from my building by taxi. My driver was nice and fast that day. I kicked open the door and smiled brightly. "Good morning, Broadway Bottoms!" I sang happily. Elpha giggled from the behind the counter.

"What are you so happy about?" I placed the cardboard box of suits onto the counter and chuckled.

"Oh, nothing special," I said, sarcastically, "just that I finished all the suits on time and I almost have enough money to pay my rent!" Elpha beamed and put the box on the shelf behind her.

"That's wonderful news, Elliott!" She said, pulling out a tiny envelope from her pocket. "I just hope I can make your day even more wonderful!" I gasped and took the envelope from her hands, ripping it open as quick as I could. The contents...450 dollars. It wasn't as much as I expected, and I guess the disappointment showed on my face. "Elliott? What's the matter?" I fake smiled to hide the sadness I felt inside. With my savings, I would only have 950 dollars...that would leave me just 50 dollars short.

"Nothing," I said, "everything's good. Thank you for my paycheck." Elpha half-smiled and nodded.

"Okay, if you say so." I nodded and looked around the shop.

"Do you need my help with anything today?" Elpha shook her head.

"Nope! Damian's offered to take all the work we have going on today." I tilted my head in confusion.

"Really?" Elpha nodded and started stacking Broadway Bottoms souvenirs on a nearby shelf.

"Yeah, he's been really solitary lately. I think something's going on. If you ever have free time, I'd talk with him."

"I promise," I said, "I'll text him later, okay? Right now I gotta go do some favors for a friend of mine."

"Ooo!" Said Elpha sassily, "A boy kinda friend?" I laughed.

"I wish! No, my new roommate. She's also in Kurt's band and she's kinda in a tough place right now."

"Aww!" Said Elpha sarcastically, "And you graciously chose to take her in out of the kindness of your own heart?" I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

"Don't be like that. I do need the rent money, but either way I wasn't going to just leave her out on the streets by herself." Elpha leaned over the counter and ruffled up my hair.

"You're too kind!" I blushed and shoved her away playfully.

"Stop it! Hahaha! And, I guess if that's all you need me for, I'll be heading out."

"Bye Elliott!" I tucked my paycheck into my satchel and waved as I walked out the door. I looked down at Rachel's list to see what the first favor was.

"Okay, first thing on the list to...pick up her rehearsal clothes from the laundromat. Hmm, sounds easy enough." The note gave a detailed list of instructions on how to get to the laundromat, making finding it child's play. A bell chimed as I entered. "Excuse me?" I said as I looked around. "I'm here to pick up an order for Berry." The man behind the counter rolled his eyes in annoyance at the fact that he had to put his newspaper down to do his job.

"Wait just a minute," he grumbled and walked into the back of the store. I tapped my foot and nodded my head to the music that was playing on the radio in the shop. A few seconds later, the man came back and handed me two plastic-wrapped dresses. I smiled in a friendly way, but it was not returned. I chuckled awkwardly and headed out the door as quickly as I could.

"Okay, check on that one. What's next?" I scanned down the list. "Get tea for Rachel, deliver it at NYADA conference room 3." I whined, "NYADA's so far away from here," then I sighed and continued on with the errand anyway. I went to a nearby Starbucks and ordered myself a chai latte and Rachel a green tea with honey and lemon. She didn't specify what she wanted, but that's always what I ordered before a performance. When I left Starbucks, a hardware store caught my eye. A sign in front of the door read,

"WE COPY KEYS FREE WITH EVERY PURCHASE OF DUCT TAPE." I was a little confused as to what duct tape had to due with key copying, but then I remembered that Rachel couldn't get into my apartment without me. What if she wanted to go back to the apartment? I would have to leave whatever I was doing behind to go and open the door for her. That would've been such a pain. I decided that for my best interest and hers, I would go into the hardware store, buy some duct tape, and get my apartment key copied. It didn't take long, about 3 minutes. The cashier was really kind and we talked a little bit about social affairs like the weather or weekend plans. Once the key was done, I left the hardware store and it took me about 15 minutes to get to NYADA.

"I hope this is the right conference room," I said quietly to myself, "The last thing I need is to get lost right now."