Paige stopped as they walked through the lobby of the auditorium and then into the women's bathroom. Walter stood there still trying to come to grips with his feelings over the kissing scene. Happy walked on into the bathroom after a few minutes and found Paige at the sink.
"Everything okay?" Happy asked as the door closed behind her.
Paige looked over and smiled as she nodded. She turned and spit the mouthwash she brought with her out.
"I know germs don't really bother him, but I didn't want Walter to be worried about germs enough that it bothers him to touch me." Paige said as she blotted her lips dry and then reapplied her lipstick.
"Well it isn't germs that bother him. He touches you and most inanimate objects without concern. It is something to do with his emotions and what he feels from most people." Happy told her. "But, he'd probably be happier knowing you washed whatever contact with the dweeb off of you." Happy grinned even as Paige laughed.
"Probably." Paige nodded as she put the mouthwash and lipstick away. She turned and walked out with Happy to find Walter and Toby standing there waiting. She stepped into Walter's arms and stared into his eyes. She breathed out several times before she pushed in for a kiss. She wanted Walter to know what she had done.
Walter had smiled realizing what she had done even as she pushed in. He kissed her deeply as they hugged each other tightly.
"See, that's the kind of kiss we should be performing for the play." Drew said while pointing to Paige as he walked out with the director and a few people.
"Fat chance dweeb." Happy told him.
"What's a grade schooler doing here anyway?" Drew asked.
"Come on over here and I'll show you what I'm doing here." Happy told him as Toby pulled gently back on her shoulder.
Drew started to step over when two of the secret service men stepped up in front of Happy.
"We recommend you keep moving." The lead agent told him.
"Come on Drew, knock this off." The director told him before walking towards the other exit.
"Ms Dineen, please try not to start trouble like that." The agent told Happy as Drew walked off.
"Sis, thank you but that is enough. It has been dealt with." Paige told her.
"Bet me. The agents should have grabbed him after he did that to you. If you feel you need to use an antiseptic mouthwash after he has kissed you, then he went too far." Happy told her.
Paige rolled her eyes.
"I used it for Walter's peace of mind. Not mine. Let's go." Paige told them.
"Not to mention there are certain allowances we have to adhere to for something like that. If Ms Dineen had said or motioned for us, rest assured, we'd have intervened." The agent told Happy as they began walking for the exit.
Tuesday:
Walter took an earlier gambling cruise. It had been over a week since he last went gambling. He didn't see anyone he knew from the other time slot and so he relaxed a little. He had adjusted his losing algorithm to try and make it seem more natural. While he attracted a little attention, it fluctuated more and never became as focused on him. He was quite pleased when he left the ship.
Paige grinned coming out of her last period and saw Walter standing there talking quietly with one of the agents. She moved quickly into his arms and kissed him soundly.
"So, how did you do today? Or did you just go back home?" Paige asked as Walter took her book bag and they began walking to the auditorium.
"I went to the casino ship, at an earlier time slot. I did really well. No one there was from the other one. I deposited just over eighty nine thousand into the account today." Walter told her even as he held out the account slip to her.
Paige grinned as she read the numbers.
"I'm so proud of you Walter." Paige said as she kissed him while they kept walking. "Have you heard from Richard on the contract yet?"
"I heard from him but not over the contract. It is still with his attorneys. They had Mark arrested. The DA showed him the evidence they had on him and he quickly made a deal offering proof he was working under orders of Merrick." Walter explained.
"Really? He caved that easily?" Paige frowned.
"Well because of what I showed them, they had him on over ten million dollars worth of loss that they are counting towards sabotage charges. He was looking at some pretty hard time in prison." Walter told her.
"I hope he doesn't find out about you." Paige said as she squeezed his arm tightly to her side.
"I doubt that he will. Richard didn't disclose how they found out, other than his tech discovered it. And the tech didn't even know who I was. Richard kept it completely under his thumb." Walter squeezed her hand.
When they reached the auditorium neither Happy or Toby were there so they just walked on inside.
"Ah Paige, so good seeing you here. Drew is going to be delayed because of practice. I was wondering if you mind rehearsing the scene between Sandy and the Pink Ladies at Frenchie's house?" The director asked.
Paige paused for a moment as she tried recalling the script for the scene.
"It's okay if you need to read from the script. I was really impressed with your memorization last night. I certainly didn't expect it." The director offered.
Paige nodded before she kissed Walter and then walked up to join with the four ladies playing the other roles.
The five ladies had a good time reinterpreting the roles they were playing. The director sent them through several different variations before they found the sound he wanted. Paige had scribbled furiously as she tried to ensure she got the changes the director wanted.
Paige grinned as she winked at Walter but then climbed the steps to the stage to sing "Hopelessly Devoted To You". Paige looked solely at Walter as the piano player began.
"I guess mine is not the first heart broken." Paige began singing to Walter.
Walter just grinned as he was enraptured by her voice. He struggled trying not to clap as she finished the first rendition. Instead his hands were over his heart and he was flexing his fingers causing his hands to collapse to his chest and then puff out away from it.
Paige grinned seeing the action.
"That was really wonderful Paige." The director nodded before he had her note a couple adjustments to the words and asked the pianist to slow the pace down a slight bit.
They both nodded and then he began playing again.
After the fifth time the director nodded as he grinned.
"Excellent! Let's lock the song down at that performance." The director told them even as he made notes on his clipboard.
Happy was out at the baseball stadium where Drew was practicing his pitching for the game on Saturday. She saw quickly the only reason he was better than the other players was he was several years older. His fastball was actually quite slow. She'd analyzed his mechanics on the first pitch and he sucked as far as she was concerned. And then Drew spotted her in the bleachers.
"Couldn't get enough of me last night little girl?" Drew called out at her.
Happy was smoldering inside but she just grinned outside.
"I just wondered if you sucked as bad at being a pitcher as you do at acting and the truth is…You do, maybe even worse." Happy laughed which caused a number of his teammates to laugh at him as well.
"Well if you think you are so good, why don't you come out here and see if you can get a hit off of me." Drew dared her.
Happy grinned.
"What's in it for me if I do?" Happy asked.
"I'll leave your sister alone, but if I strike you out you need to stay away. Deal?" Drew asked.
Happy laughed.
"Deal." Happy told him even as she got up and walked down to the field.
"Are you sure you know what you are doing here Ms Dineen?" Her lead agent stopped her.
Happy just nodded before she walked over to examine all the bats trying to find the perfect one.
"What are you doing man?" The catcher asked as he walked out to talk to Drew.
"Relax, just having some fun with this nerd. I'll strike her out and send her home crying." Drew told him.
"You're supposed to be getting ready for the game Saturday afternoon." The catcher reminded him before walking back to the plate. "Jerk." The catcher said under his breath as he stood behind the plate.
Happy walked out after putting on a helmet and stood in the batter's box. The mechanics of baseball were so simple to Happy as she planned her strategy. At first she had thought about letting him get two strikes and then getting a hit but decided she shouldn't tempt fate. She needed to get the hit as soon as possible, just in case.
Drew decided to have some fun with her first and threw wildly right at her.
Happy hit the ground before the ball got to her.
"So, you want to play dirty do you?" Happy thought as she got up and dusted herself off. "Two can play at that game." Happy thought as she stepped back up.
"Must be terrifying for you if you can't even play fair." Happy shot back at him with a glare on her face.
"Keep it fair Drew, you started this." The catcher said before throwing the ball back to him.
Drew just nodded before he got into position. He stared at the catcher's glove and wound up and threw his fastest ball.
Happy's eyes had analyzed his form over and over and she knew what he was doing. She had calculated his profile with this pitch and knew he had an eighty seven point three percent chance of throwing just outside the other side of the plate. The ball would pass right at three and a half feet off the ground. She quickly ran through the math and angles as the ball flew down towards the plate at just over seventy four miles per hour. Happy adjusted her feet and hips. Using kinetics to amplify her swing, she then swung just a bit early to get the result she wanted.
There was a loud crack as the bat made solid contact with the ball. Drew was so shocked at the sound, knowing it meant she had hit it, that he froze for a moment. It was just enough of a delay that his left hand didn't get the glove out in time. The ball was driven straight back out at him in a hard line drive. It slammed into the back of his right hand. There was another loud crack at impact.
Drew screamed out in pain as two knuckles broke and his pinky was jammed back into the socket.
Happy grinned inside her mind as Drew threw his glove off and began cradling his right hand. He was cursing even as he stomped around. Tears ran down his face at the sharpness of the pain.
"Just great." The catcher said bitterly even as he threw off his mask and glove. He began walking out to the mound along with several teammates and the health care student who sat in on their practices in case of injury.
Happy walked out slowly after the catcher and the medical student began trying to examine his hand.
"Hey, I'm really sorry about that." Happy told them, even as she continued grinning inside.
"You did this on purpose." Drew screamed.
"Right, you think as a "child" I'm capable of calculating all the necessary angles and timing in order to cause that ball to strike you?" Happy asked. "But thanks for the compliment anyway." She said grinning.
"No, he's just being a baby. Accidents happen, young lady. Why don't you go ahead and take off? Drew knew better than to bring someone that is not on the team in, to try and play." The catcher told her.
Happy nodded.
"Hope nothing is broken." Happy told Drew even though she could see the swelling already. She nonetheless turned and walked off the field to meet up with her sister and Walter.
"You're an idiot." Happy heard the catcher tell Drew. "I'm a math wiz and there is no way for someone to calculate the angles and speed of your pitch in the few moments the ball is thrown." Happy just grinned as she walked away hearing the catcher call himself a math wiz.
"If he can't do that little bit of math he is at best a math adept." Happy thought.
"Where were you?" Walter asked as she joined him.
"Oh, I went to watch Drew practice. He's an even worse ball player than he is at acting. I don't think he'll be playing ball for a while though. Be a shame if he loses his scholarship from the accident." Happy told him.
Walter just nodded as his attention was mainly on Paige as they rehearsed the introduction scene between Sandy and the Pink Ladies again. Since Danny wasn't needed in it.
"What happened that he might not get to play?" Walter asked not really interested in the subject.
"I hit the ball he threw right back at him. The impact broke his right hand." Happy told him as they watched.
Walter frowned as he looked at Happy.
"What were you doing that you were able to hit one of his pitches back at him?" Walter asked with curiosity.
"Oh, he insulted me and then dared me to try and get a hit off of him. If he holds true to his word then he has to quit being obnoxious to Paige." Happy told him.
Walter just grinned.
"Happy!" Paige said in shock. "You have to be careful." Paige said as they sat down for a late dinner at home.
"It isn't me that needs to be careful." Happy shrugged as Veronica brought out the supper dishes after reheating everything for them. "Drew hasn't a clue about mechanics or geometry. Not to mention how to throw a ball. If he had, he wouldn't have gotten hurt."
Ralph was grinning the whole time she told them the story of what happened on the field.
"That's my girl." Ralph said.
"Ralph Dineen." Veronica said in shock. "She seriously hurt this boy."
"Well he tried to actually hit me with the ball on the first throw. But I was quicker in analyzing the pitch and hit the ground first." Happy explained. "That's when I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine."
Ralph just laughed some more at that.
"Well since you didn't come home for your piano lesson. How did you do today Walter?" Ralph asked Walter.
"Oh yes, sorry about that. I had a call with Richard today. But I did really well. None of the people who knew me from the other time slot were there. I banked just over eighty nine thousand dollars." Walter told them.
"Man, you are so amazing Walter." Ralph said as he continued to play with Emmett. "So if Drew wasn't there I hope that means the rehearsal went better." Ralph looked at Paige.
Paige nodded before taking a sip of her drink and then explained what happened at the rehearsal.
"So what is going on with Richard?" Ralph asked finally.
Walter explained what he'd been told about Mark Collins and both Ralph and Veronica breathed a sigh of relief.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Railman - hehe Yup, Walter's art has certainly moved people! Would my Muse make a twist happen? LOL
Guest197 - So good hearing from you! Glad you enjoyed it, thank you! Looks like Drew might have other concerns than his grades at the moment...if he was ever really worried about them. lol
Pearliegirl - So glad you loved it! I'm not sure you could get Walter up on stage to sing in front of everyone or not. Though maybe if it got rid of Drew he would. lol Unfortunately not being a student, he wouldn't qualify to be part of the play.
LouBe - hehe That happens sometimes! And if you think last chapter was "Not good." Perhaps this chapter helped? lol Funny you should mention plaster...LOL Please remain behind the safety pillow until the pilot has turned off the seat belt sign. lol Close...it ended in a family discussion! lol Oh 66 will definitely let you know what Toby thought! LOL Happy had the benefit of sitting across from Walter, so she could see it in his face as he contemplated telling them. So, no, nothing to read there, this time. hehe Toby wasn't sure if it would bother Paige knowing it was his idea. He was sure she'd love that he took to it quite wholeheartedly though. Yep, he learned it by watching Veronica play it. He mimic just about everything she put into it. hehe Thank you, so glad you liked the reveal and reactions! You are most welcome!
To the Adventure! -Tim