Welcome back to Abby's!
DISCLAIMER: Sound of Music isn't mine!
9:45 p.m., Saturday, Dormitory
Me: ABBA's Second Studio Album, Track 1, 0:32-0:36
[Sent 10:45 p.m.]
Marge [sparkle]: BAHAHAHA [evil smile]
[Received 10:50 p.m.]
6:45 p.m., Wednesday, Dormitory
"Mhm, so did you do it?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Maria raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes at Marge's comment. What an impertinent thing to say, really! She was glad that Marge was on the phone and not in front of her or she may – may – ugh.
"You know…"
"No, Marge, I don't know."
"...tell him that you love him?"
Silence.
She couldn't pinpoint exactly what she had felt – did she turn crimson, or did she turn as white as a sheet? Did she feel warm or cold with rage? Did she feel fear or did she feel – oh, I don't know!
Perhaps, she felt numb.
Yeah, that was it – numb.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I said – "
"I heard what you said! It's just that – "
"That what?"
"I – Why would I do that?"
"Why not? It's not as if he doesn't love you back," Marge said as-a-matter-of-factly.
As soon as Marge uttered those words, her world stopped for a second – then spun as fast as it could, leaving her breathless, dizzy – lightheaded. It's not as if he doesn't love you back. It's not as if – What?
"That can't be true!"
"Why not? He looks at you – "
"I don't want to hear it!"
"Oh, I know you don't, but you've got to!" Marge mimicked her, making her blush scarlet at the sound of an imitation of her voice. Cringey.
"Don't mock me!" Maria groaned defeatedly.
"I wasn't trying to mock you," Marge said calmly. "If that knocked some sense into him, I was hoping it would knock some sense into you."
"There is no sense to knock into! It's not true, Marge."
"And why not?"
"It just can't be true, you dummy!"
"What de-aging cream do you use? Because you've de-aged from the Queen of Genovia to a cringy teenager in a second," Marge murmured, making her scrunch her eyebrows. "Now, why can't it be true?"
"For – for one, he – he – uhm – "
"Cat got your tongue, honey?"
"Shut up!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Alright, maybe I'm being unfair to you."
"You are being unfair!"
"But there must be some way for me to make you see sense," she paused. "What about we make a bet?"
"What sort of bet?"
"Well, I have a gut feeling that he will ask you to dinner on Saturday – "
"He will not – "
" – and if he does, and he declares his love for you – "
"Which he will not – "
" – you will name your first-born child after me – "
"Certainly not!"
" – or a variation of my name."
"It's not happening, he won't – "
"But if he doesn't – "
"And he will definitely not – "
"I will stop teasing you and let you figure out your love life all on your own without any interventions whatsoever. Deal?"
Pause.
"Deal."
"I will win," she could hear the smile in Marge's voice.
"No, I will win. And you will find that my gut feeling is vastly more accurate than yours."
7:38 p.m., Wednesday, Dormitory
A wide smile played on her lips as she typed out a response almost immediately. Heart slightly racing. Giddy feeling. Warm hugs. She shook her head. A shy smile, coupled with a pink tinge, appeared on her face. She rolled her eyes.
Beep.
Check phone.
gEorGiE: Oh, I forgot to tell you! Liesl's birthday is on Saturday, are you free? Maybe you could have dinner here [blushing smiley] [cake emoji] Please?
[Received 7:40 p.m.]
No way.
She gulped as her lip caught between her teeth.
Nonononono.
gEorGiE: Really, Liesl would appreciate it if you were there :)
[Received 7:41 p.m.]
9:10 p.m., Saturday, Car
Her eyes were drooping, but the smug feeling that she was winning the bet against Marge was adding to all the good things that had happened today. He had only invited her to dinner for Liesl. And only Liesl, she reminded herself (and perhaps, the children, she added in her mind). And it was too late for him to say anything to her now – which meant that Marge's gut feeling had only been half-right.
Yes, half-right.
Perfect.
As they rounded the corner, and the car finally stopped in front of her dorm, she smiled widely.
There is no possible way now, she smiled.
Yet, there was an unmistakable little twinge in her heart that she couldn't explain. Perhaps – she shook her head.
She would say good night and this would all be over. She would win the bet, and she would hear the end of it all. Everything would go back to normal and –
"Shall I escort you to your unit?"
Beat.
Beat.
Beat.
Beat.
"You may, kind sir," she laughed at the silly expression on his slightly-tired face and at the sight of his slightly-mussed hair. She curtsied, and he merely shook his head, an amused smirk, she knew, made its way to his perfectly-sculpted face.
She would win the bet, she was sure, she thought as they made their way up the stairs. They were merely friends. That was it. That was the end of it. She would win the bet.
I think.
9:15 p.m., Saturday, Dormitory
He sighed deeply as walked through the dark, empty hallway, footsteps echoing. But a burst of light filled the hallway. His silhouette stared at him from the wall, larger than life, yet seemingly taunting him.
"You know?" her voice – warm, yet disoriented – echoed, encompassing him. Slowly, he turned to look at her.
She stood in the middle of the narrow hallway, left side illuminated by the slightly-yellow light of her room. Confusion was etched on her face, and her expression was bewildered and slightly horrified.
He gulped as she took a step closer to him, and he, a step closer to her.
"You know?" She repeated.
He took a deep breath. Perhaps, she didn't hear what he had said last. He prayed he didn't hear what he had said last.
"Yes."
"What – How – I – how? You were drunk, I – "
"How?"
"Employee of the month," he laughed, slightly, and she rolled her eyes.
"You were drunk!"
"Not as drunk as you thought. I don't remember a lot, admittedly, mostly the gist of what you said, but your eyes haunted me for months. Imagine my joy and horror when I found you in Abby's and then you accused me of being a hoarder."
"Could have been the wrong pair of eyes," she put a hand on her hip and jutted out her chin defiantly.
"But I wasn't wrong, was I?"
"But seriously, what if –"
"But I wasn't wrong," he repeated, slightly smiling as she slightly slumped in defeat. "Did you want me to be wrong?"
"No – it's just that – well–"
"Well?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"What was I supposed to say? Hi! I'm Georg von Trapp, and you might not remember me, but you yelled at me in a bar four years ago and changed my entire life. Trust me, Maria, it sounds creepy."
"In fairness, it does. But–"
"And besides, you didn't seem all too interested when I was telling you the story of the Sober Bar Lady and me shouting," he rolled his eyes. "You looked horrified," he laughed.
"I was horrified!"
"Why?"
"I don't know! Shouldn't I be horrified? A man I shouted at four years ago managed to hunt me down, and I don't know, maybe he'll murder me or something, I don't know!"
He laughed, and she rolled her eyes.
"I still think you ought to be proud of yourself."
"Why?" She said shakily.
"Because, Maria, you saved me. More than you have ever and will ever know. You… you changed my life. You made me want to be a better person. You made me want to see –"
"I didn't do a thing to –"
"And it's more than that," he took a deep breath. This was it, this was it, this was it. "Maria…"
He took a few shaky steps – then eventually powerful strides towards her, stopping approximately six feet from her (he was kind of scared that she would spray him down and drench him in alcohol again… for fun). He watched as her expression changed.
He took a deep breath. This was it, this was it, this was it.
"Look, I know that a narrow hallway is not the ideal place –"
"It hardly is –" she gave a shaky laugh.
" – for me to be telling you this but –"
"But?"
"But I want you to know that I love you –"
Beat.
Beat.
Beat.
"I think I'm in love with you. No – I know I'm in love with you. I don't know when I started loving you, exactly, but I do love you – and I love how you love my children, even if I haven't seen the full extent of it myself – how you protect Liesl and comfort Gretl and Marta, and how you make Kurt laugh, and how you encourage Louisa and Friedrich. I – it's weird because I've been spending four years trying to track you down so I could thank you because I wouldn't be like this with my children if it weren't for you. And it just seems like we've been stuck in this endless loop of meeting and almost meeting since then, and the way you cared for my children and –"
He took another deep breath as he watched tears fall down her cheeks.
"If you're lying, I swear –"
"Would I lie to you?"
"You didn't tell me about the eyes-shouty-bar-whatever thing!"
"I'm terrible at lying, and you know that!"
"I –"
"Cat got your tongue, darling?"
"Oh, shut it, you!"
"I love you more," he smiled widely, and he almost laughed when she rolled her eyes.
He took a few steps towards her, and he heard her breathing hitch slightly.
"May I kiss you?"
Beat.
She sighed softly.
"Maybe we can throw COVID guidelines out the window just this once," she shrugged her shoulders. She removed his face shield gently, and then helped him remove his mask, muttering a small "I'll replace it later."
Then ever-so-slowly, he pressed his lips against hers softly – it was sweet and yet dizzying, still. He felt so immensely lightheaded as euphoria coursed through him as he held her in his arms. Her arms snaked around his neck, and he felt her tiptoe slightly. He smiled against her lips.
As they broke the kiss, he smiled wider at the sight of her eyes slowly fluttering open. A smile was gracing her face.
"Georg?"
"Yes?"
"I love you, too."
"I know."
(It turned out so right for strangers in the night.)
4:58 p.m., Monday, Abby's Mart
A giddy smile was on her face as she twisted the two rings on her finger. She took in a deep breath as she emerged from the restroom. Closing her eyes for a moment just to bask in the moment for a while, she looked around, and then saw Georg carrying their groceries with both hands.
As they made their way to the door, she waved at Emelia, who had since taken her position at Counter Five when she decided to leave Abby's to finish her degree, then onto get married.
"Are you alright, love? You were gone for some time," Georg's concerned voice filled her ears.
"Quite," she felt her lips quirk. "Well, actually, something has been bothering me, and I want to ask for your opinions on something," she cocked her head to the side and scrunched up her eyebrows.
"Is something wrong?" He stopped, and his eyebrows seemed to knit themselves further.
"Well, no, not really. I just, well – " she sighed loudly, and slumped her shoulders. "I've been thinking..."
"Yes?"
"I wonder if Marge would approve of the name Marjorie."
Beat.
Blink.
Beat.
Blink.
Smile.
"Are we – "
"I think we are," she smiled widely as tears began to stream down her cheeks. "I bought a test just now and… I think we are."
"I would scream and hug you but the groceries – " tears started to form in his eyes, too, she could see. She pecked his cheek, and she felt his dimple under her lips. Pulling back, she found him laughing lightly to himself.
"What?"
"Nothing," he shook his head. "There's something so funny about us finding out about the existence of our baby in the place that got us together in the first place."
"Full circle," she smiled at him as they slowly walked to the exit. And as they walked out of Abby's, she couldn't help but smile wider as she heard the familiar voice of Abby over the speakers.
"Thank you for shopping at Abby's Mart! We hope to see you again soon."
END.
A/N
*Maria's text to Marge is "Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war," hehe.
*Also, please forgive me for making references to other Julie movies, but they were too good to resist!
*Song is Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra! :)
Hello!
Gosh, I apologize if this chapter is kind of jumpy, but I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless!
Ahhh, I can't believe that this little experiment has finally come to an end. Abby's actually came up, (as I mentioned) as we were entering our 10th month in lockdown, and I had just finished watching Fleabag and I had read quite a few quarantine fics from the fandom, and thought that it was a jolly good idea to do it to our fave couple, too. It's been such a wild ride, really, and everyone's been so supportive. I couldn't be grateful enough!
I thoroughly apologize for not answering your reviews (and PMs) as of late, but please know that I'm eternally grateful for them, and they mean the world to me! You all mean the world to me!
Sending virtual warm hugs and schnitzel with noodles [heart]
Stay safe and please go follow quarantine guidelines,
H :)