Mari & Ilna-you're the best.
McRollers-thanks for reading.
Leveling Up (1/1)
"I really needed this today," Carrie sighed as she and Catherine settled into a quiet corner table at Sidestreet. "Work has been insane. The new directives for my department need to be up and running by the end of the year and it feels like my CO just realized that's only a month away."
Catherine chuckled. "What is it about the end of the year that makes people think they need to rush to get things done? Would it really make that much difference if it got finished in January instead?"
"You know the military." Carrie closed her menu and placed it on the table beside her. She really didn't even need to look. She was having the biggest, greasiest burger on the menu with both fries and onion rings on the side. She knew she'd felt lethargic all afternoon but it was a trade-off she was willing to make. "You know what I can't believe?"
"What's that?" Catherine asked.
"That somehow I'm the one in charge of making sure the new rules all get implemented." She chuckled. "When did that happen? I was sitting in a meeting this morning looking around for someone to take the lead and suddenly realized … It's me. I'm the one everyone is looking at for guidance."
"You're gonna do great," Catherine said confidently.
"I may need you to keep telling me that over the next few weeks." Carrie smiled as a waitress who waited on them quite often approached the table. "Hi, Allison. How are you today?"
"Pretty good," the pretty brunette smiled. "How about you two?"
"Very hungry. I want a double bacon cheeseburger with both french fries and onion rings on the side," Carrie said. "I think you should make that a regular menu item. Call it the trash panda special."
Allison barked a laugh. "I'll talk to the manager about it. What about you, Catherine?"
"I'll have a chicken club and an iced tea," Catherine said.
"Sure, make me feel bad about eating like an unhinged frat boy," Carrie teased.
Catherine grinned. "I'll help you eat your onion rings."
"That's why you're my best friend." Carrie beamed. She started to hand her menu to Allison then rethought it and placed it on the table beside her. "I'll just keep this. We're definitely having dessert."
"So, tell me all about your meeting with Angie's gymnastics coaches last night," Carrie said after the food was delivered.
"It was pretty much what we expected," Catherine said. "Both Karen and Elena think Angie is ready for a little more."
"Of course she is." Carrie placed an onion ring between her burger patties. "She's a prodigy."
Catherine smiled. "And you're not at all biased."
"Not a bit." Carrie took a bite then hummed with pleasure. "Worth every calorie." She savored the taste for a few seconds then asked, "What do they mean by ready for more?"
"They think she's ready to start working on creating actual routines as opposed to just working on the separate elements," Catherine explained. "Still age appropriate, of course, but just a step up from what she's been doing."
"That sounds like the logical plan." Carrie wiped her mouth with a napkin. "What do you and Steve think?"
"There's no question she's ready for the next step," Catherine acknowledged. "And she still loves gymnastics as much as she did the day she first started. Maybe even more. But Steve and I were both worried about her feeling pushed into more than she really wants to do."
"Were worried?"
After so many years of knowing each other Carrie had learned to pick up on her bestie's always precise word choices.
Catherine smiled. "Were. Until we met the new teacher."
"What happened to Ms. Karen?" Carrie asked.
"She's still there." Catherine took a sip of tea. "Which is good because Angie adores her. But there's a new teacher in the gym named Ms. Theresa. Elena thought that, because of her background, she might be the perfect fit to help Angie transition to the next level."
Carrie nudged the plate of onion rings toward the center of the table. "What's her background?"
"She's been a competition gymnast since she was eight years old," Catherine said. "She competed on a D-1 team for all four years at college."
"Sounds like she knows her stuff."
"She does." Catherine popped an onion ring in her mouth. "Steve and I were worried she might be a little too competition-focused but once we got to talk to her we realized she's exactly the opposite."
Carrie retrieved a tomato that had slid off her sandwich and placed it back inside the bun. "How so?"
"She's got a really great head on her shoulders," Catherine said. "Gymnastics has always been a big part of her life, and she has always loved it, but it never became her entire life. She said that there were times in her pre-teen and teen years where she developed other interests and her parents and coaches always encouraged her to pursue them. She never lost her interest in gymnastics, but sometimes it was at the center of her life and other times it took a back seat to something else."
Carrie nodded. "That does sound like a healthy attitude."
"She showed Angie some pictures from competitions she did when she was young. Angie got one look at the gold medal hanging around Theresa's neck and she was all in." Catherine's eyes sparkled at the memory of her daughter's excitement.
"She'll have a trophy case full of them in no time," Carrie predicted.
Catherine snorted. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now we have to get her through her first tumbling pass without Steve having a heart attack."
As they were waiting for their desserts Carrie's phone buzzed several times in quick succession with incoming text alerts. She picked it up and read the messages.
As she did, a wide smile covered her face.
"Good news?" Catherine asked.
"I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure." Carrie grinned. "With the way things have been going at work lately I figured it might be a long shot."
"What is it?" Catherine asked.
"John and I both got our leave approved." Carrie clapped excitedly. "We're doing a long weekend in New York City. We're gonna get tickets to see Wicked on Broadway."
Catherine picked up on her bestie's excitement. "When are you going?"
"We're leaving on December 26th. Back on the 29th," Carrie said.
Catherine rubbed her hands together in delight. "You'll be there at the same time we're in New Jersey. Nonna will absolutely insist the two of you come over for at least one dinner."
"We don't want to intrude," Carrie said. "She's already gonna have a house full."
"This is Nonna we're talking about." Catherine smiled fondly. "There's no such thing as too many people to cook for."
"I'd love to see Danny's sisters again," Carrie admitted. "They were a hoot at the wedding."
"They'll be thrilled to see you," Catherine said. "They're determined to win the snowball battle this year and they'll be looking for any tips you might have on how to throw Steve off his game."
"My success in that department has been limited over the years," Carrie smirked. "But I'm always willing to give it another try. I'll text them tonight. We'll start developing a strategy."
THE END
Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll
Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com
You can join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with: Add me, please! in the subject line. Or just drop us a line to say hi! We love hearing from our readers.