Lucky

“Hey, Mikey,” Gaby said, walking up to the counter of the dance store to talk to the red-haired employee.

“Gabs! How’d the last show go?” the teenager asked.

“Well, considering I’m finally done, amazing. But you know how I came in with a hole in the bottom of my jazz shoe the other day? There’s a hole in the other one now, too.”

“Good job, then,” Mikey muttered. “Size 8 and a half, right? Tan, I know…” He stepped around the counter and ran a hand over the shoeboxes on the wall.

“Thanks for helping out again.” Mikey selected a box and handed it to her with a flourish. Gaby tried on one of the shoes, then grinned at the boy. “Perfect. You’re a magician, 

Mike.”

“Just doing my job,” he said, already ringing up the shoes.

It was a bit of a walk back to her car, parked in front of a Taco Bell three blocks away, but she made it. As she pulled her keys out of her purse to unlock the door, someone jostled her from behind and she dropped them. “I’m so sorry!“ Gaby spluttered as she reached down to get the keys and help the stranger pick up her belongings. Still scrambling to collect everything, she asked, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, are y- Gaby?” A spark of recognition lit up in the woman’s face.

Not used to hearing her name from random people, Gaby looked up and inhaled sharply. Suddenly, four years of loneliness and resentment fell away like nothing. Gaby dropped her car keys a second time, but not looking away for a second to get them. The stupid keys didn’t matter anymore. “Natasha.”

“How’ve you been? I heard from Julien that you were doing some Broadway stuff in New York, what are you doing out here in LA?” Natasha said.

“I sort of live here now.” Gaby shrugged and tried to laugh off some of her embarrassment, to no avail. “I ended up getting to understudy and be in the ensemble for the national tour of the Newsies revival, but the run just ended last night. Now I’m here for the next couple months while everything gets settled. Plus, an old friend asked if I would come and talk to the kids she’s directing about playing a dancing newsboy 8 times a week.” She turned back to her car, fumbling with the keys again to hide the blush spreading rapidly across her face. “I should actually be getting there now, it’s almost 3:30.”

“Oh, okay, yeah. Why don’t you call me later, and we can meet up for dinner? Catch up a little?” On the back of a napkin, Natasha wrote down her phone number and gave it to Gaby.

“Sure, that sounds perfect.” She tucked the napkin into her palm and nodded. “I’ll see you tonight, I guess.”

They went their separate ways, at least for a little while. Gaby climbed into her car and shook her head to try and clear her mind before starting the engine. She couldn’t believe it. It’s not every day you run into your ex-girlfriend outside a Los Angeles Taco Bell.

Two hours later, Gaby left the rehearsal studio with a smile stretching from ear to ear. The kids were great, and even though they were no professionals, she knew their show would be pretty good. If traffic wasn’t too bad, she could get back to her apartment and have an hour and a half to get ready, physically and mentally, for dinner with Natasha. Unfortunately, traffic in LA is never ‘not too bad,’ so once she got to her apartment, she found there was only 20 minutes, allowing time to drive to the restaurant through traffic too. “Crap,” she muttered, and decided to just change, take her hair down, and hope for the best.

“Hi, Gaby. You look great,” Natasha said when Gaby showed up, sat down, and promptly tipped her chair over a little too far and nearly fell.

“Thanks. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to the traffic here,” Gaby replied, stabilizing her seat bashfully. “I dunno. I already told you what I’ve been doing, what have you been up to?”

“Well,” Natasha began. “Technically, I wait tables. But I’ve auditioned for a ton of stuff, tv, movies, commercials- I haven’t gotten any jobs so far, but I’m up for a part right now. Actually, I went to my callback today.”

“Really? No way! I hope you get it,” Gaby said. She was about to ask another question, but she noticed Natasha was looking at her strangely. “Uh, hey?”

“Sorry, I just- I think you should audition. They asked me today if I knew anyone who might be good for a part, and I told them I’d get back to them… I think you’re perfect.” Natasha caught herself, realizing what she’d said. “For the role, I mean.”

“Seriously? You don’t think it’d be weird, to work together if we both get it? You know, considering how we left things in high school?”

Natasha sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Speaking of. Are you okay with everything? I want to apologize.”

“Oh, no, that’s fine… But I- I have a boyfriend now, Nat.” Gaby watched Natasha’s face fall a little, but the moment of weakness didn’t last very long.

“I have a girlfriend, it’s not a problem. Tell me about your boyfriend, though,” she said, a little defensive.

“Um, his name’s Bryce. He’s a junior at NYU, majoring in theatre. I actually met him at my first Newsies audition,” Gaby recalled, remembering how he had slipped on a prop newspaper and almost knocked her over.

“He sounds like a great guy, Gabs. I’m really happy for you.” Natasha smiled and looked down at the table then back up at Gaby. “I still think it would be a missed opportunity not to audition. At least go in and read for it.”

“I actually might. I think it sounds pretty cool,” Gaby said, and placed her hand cautiously on top of her old friend’s. “Thanks.”

“Here, I’ll send you the producers’ contact info.”

The next morning, Gaby rolled out of bed and texted Bryce good morning as usual. What was unusual about that day was instead of going to work her part-time job teaching dance to 11 year olds, Gaby was going to read for a part on a tv show. She took a deep breath and walked into the room, expecting a bunch of scary older guys staring her down, but instead there were two women and one man who looked around her age sitting at a folding table, looking bored.

“Are you Gabriella Miller?” the woman in the middle asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “Here’s my headshot, and if you look at the resume attached, you’ll see a lot of community theatre and I just wrapped up a national tour-“

“Yeah, we’ll go over that later. I’m Brandon. You can just read this side for us and then you’ll be done. Quick and painless,” the man joked.

“Okay, great.”

“Here. Whenever you’re ready,” the other woman said, and handed her a few pages. “I’m going to read Frank, and you’ll be Bree, alright?”

“Awesome,” Gaby agreed, trying to settle her nerves. After countless auditions for plays and musicals back in New York, she knew she probably shouldn’t be this scared, but this audition felt different.

They began, but only one page in the first woman cut Gaby off. “I’m going to stop you right there.”

“Oh, yeah, okay,” she breathed. It’s over, Gaby thought. I must have screwed up.

“Welcome aboard,” the man said after a very quick discussion with the other two producers.

“What?”

“We start filming in five weeks, on the 18th. We’ll call you,” the woman who had read with her said, closing her notebook and putting it in her bag.

“Wait, really?” Gaby asked, confused. “I’m in? Just like that?”

“Yeah.” Brandon stood up from the table. “We’d already made all our casting decisions, I’m sending out the emails to everyone later. We just needed someone for Bree.” He squinted at her resume. “And you were in Newsies, right? I saw that, you were fantastic.”

“Ah- Thank you. Thank you!” For the second time since Natasha had ran into her the day before, Gaby was speechless, and couldn’t believe her luck.

“Your friend is Natasha Lawson, right?” he asked.

“Uh huh.”

“Tell her to keep an eye on her inbox this afternoon.” He winked and reached out to shake her hand. “I’m sure it will be a pleasure to work with you.”

“Again, um, thank you so much.” Gaby walked out of the room, and as soon as the door swung shut she punched the air and let out the breath it felt like she’d been holding for a decade.

“Natasha! I got it,” she practically shouted into her phone as soon as Natasha picked up.

“Oh my god. Wait, just like, on the spot?” her old friend replied on the other end.

“Yep! He told me to tell you to check your inbox later- I think you’re in too. Filming starts on the 18th.” Reminding herself to slow down and try to speak coherently, she asked Natasha to come over to her apartment to talk everything over.

“Sure, I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Natasha said, and hung up.

“I got an email as I drove over here. I’m scared to open it… will you read it to me?” Natasha asked when she walked in.

“Of course. Here,” Gaby said, and opened the email. “Natasha Lawson- Congrats! You’ve been cast.”

“Is that really what it says? Let me see.” She took her phone back and saw the grin on Gaby’s face. “I’m in. We’re going to be on tv.”

They squealed and danced around the apartment together, repeating “We’re going to be on tv!” just like they were back in high school, forgetting for a minute that everything had changed and they weren’t in high school. Natasha squeezed Gaby’s hands tightly and laughed. Still giddy, Gaby hugged her and jumped up and down.

“Listen. We have almost five weeks until filming starts, and my cousin has this cabin that’s, like, an hour away. I think we should go, and just have fun for a week or two,” Natasha proposed.

“Wait, so, just drop everything and hang out with you in the woods for a week?” Gaby said skeptically.

“That’s the plan,” she replied, cautious.

“Sounds like a great plan to me,” Gaby responded and high fived Natasha, who looked relieved.

So they went, and an hour and 45 minutes later they arrived in Natasha’s car at the cousin’s tiny cabin in the middle of the woods. Even though it was small, it was pretty. On the outside, it was rustic and charming, surrounded by picturesque trees and Inside, rugs littered every inch of the floor, creating a cozy atmosphere. The walls were covered with white-and-blue wallpaper and framed photos of the woods in various seasons hung at random intervals. Two doors led to the bathroom and bedroom, both with the same wallpaper. Everything seemed perfect.

“One bed, huh?” Gaby observed.

“Guess we’ll have to share,” Natasha casually answered. Gaby looked at her and smiled. Nat shrugged. “Just like high school.”

“Just like high school,” Gaby agreed.

“So, we could go walk in the woods, or fish- but we have all the time in the world for that. I want to show you my cousin’s DVD collection.” She smirked and motioned to a cabinet. Gaby raised her eyebrows so far they disappeared into her bangs. “Oh no.”

“Not that kind of DVD, Gabs. There are 139 films released under the Disney banner in here. This is a grown man who collects Disney movies.” Nat opened the cabinet and sure enough, rows and rows of Disney classics and Disney Channel originals stared back at them.

“Wow.” Gaby picked on out at random. High School Musical 2. “I love this movie.”

“Then let’s watch it,” Natasha said.

Gaby put the disc in the DVD player and sat down on the bed. “Why does he keep those in his bedroom, I wonder?”

“I don’t know,” Natasha said, and hit play before settling in next to Gaby. Not even ten minutes later, Gaby looked down and Natasha was asleep, curled into her side. Gaby laughed softly through her nose and wrapped a protective arm around her sleeping friend.

Hours later, when the early morning sun peeked through the bedroom window, Natasha finally woke up, to find Gaby holding her close, dead asleep.

“Did I fall asleep? How long?” Natasha gently shook Gaby awake.

“You know you drool when you sleep,” Gaby murmured in her ear.

“Damn, why didn’t you wake me up?” 

“You looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to disturb you.” Her voice was still sleepy, which made Natasha smile in spite of herself. Gaby checked her phone and winced. “It’s 5 AM.”

“So we slept for 14 hours.” Natasha stretched and groaned. “Fantastic.”

“It was nice,” Gaby said. “I haven’t slept like that in a long, long time.”

“Not since high school.” They didn’t realize how close together their faces were until Natasha’s nose bumped Gaby’s. Natasha tried to say something, but before she could, Gaby pressed her lips softly to Natasha’s.

“Wrong,” Natasha breathed.

“Right,” Gaby responded, brushing her mouth along Natasha’s neck, kissing her again, and rolling over on top of her.

Late that afternoon Natasha wiped the sweat from her brow and looked into Gaby’s cornflower blue eyes. “I guess I’m pretty lucky that I’m in love with my best friend, huh?” Gaby didn’t answer, just kissed her again. Natasha kissed her back for a moment, then pushed her off. “I’m going to go shower.”

“Guess that means I am too,” Gaby replied, and they walked into the bathroom together, not caring about boyfriends, or girlfriends, or the future. Just like high school.