Sunday afternoon, I was sitting in my room on my phone, when I saw a notification pop up.
Georgia:
Hey guys, do you guys, like, wanna come over and spend the night? Because a certain member of squad has been absent from school and needs her girls.
Abi:
I take it I'm the 'certain member of squad'
Franchesca:
SHE LIVES!
Josie:
Abi, you've been gone for like, a week. We need to hang.
Franchesca:
And you need to meet my friend
Georgia:
Ches, invite her!
Josie:
YES! I NEED TO MEET THE FAMOUS COLETTE.
Abi:
I'll ask my dad, he's being crazy overprotective right now, but, I'll ask.
"Dad!" I yelled from my room.
"Coming!" I heard him yell back, I then heard him stumble through the apartment before swinging my door open, "What do you need?" He asked.
"Georgia asked me if I could come over for a sleepover."
"Will there be anyone of the male gender present?" He asked.
"No!" I rolled my eyes, "well, Georgia does have a father, but other than that no."
"Okay. You can go. A couple things though. You can't get annoyed with my check in texts, and you have to respond to all of my check in texts. If any guy shows up, call me, if there is any form of alcohol, call. Me. If one of your friends does drugs. Call. Me. Also, let me know if you're going to leave her house for any reason." He listed off his string of rules.
"Okay, I can do that. Can I text Georgia back?" I asked.
"Of course Wayne Cilento." He patted my head.
"Lemme guess, A Chorus Line." I laughed a little. The fact that Lin called me Wayne Cilento because I said I Can Do That, just makes me happy.
"Yep." He smiled.
Abi:
My dad says I'm good to go!
Georgia:
YAS! Can you be here in 20?
Abi;
I think so.
"Dad," I said looking up, "can you drive me? Because I know the Subways crowded, because it's 6:00, and I know I can't take it alone."
"Sure I'll take you, just pack a bag, meet me at the door." With that he stood up, and left my room.
I was somewhat dancing around my room, shoving stuff into a bag, I left my room, grabbed my toothbrush, toothpaste and other toiletries, then took my bag into the living room.
"Sweetheart, you're gonna need to be home by at least, like, 5:00 tomorrow." Lin said opening the door.
"I'm probably going to be home before then, but why?" I asked following him out of the apartment.
"Daveeds taking you to Wicked tomorrow." He said, throwing his arm around my shoulders.
"Oh yeah!" I recalled, my mind had been quite preoccupied these past couple of weeks.
"He'll take you out to dinner too, you'll have fun."
"Okay." I smiled, that was definitely something to look forward to.
We got into the car and he drove me to Georgia's apartment complex. He pulled up in front, I got out of the car, and so did he. Lin grabbed my backpack, and swung it over his shoulder.
"What floor?" Lin asked, stepping into the elevator.
"12th." I said, punching the button.
"What time do you think you'll be home tomorrow?"
"I don't know, what time do you want me home?" I asked.
"I can pick you up at noon." He offered, "it's a Monday, so, no show. Wait, wouldn't your friends have school tomorrow?"
"I think it might be a work day, I'm not quite sure." I said, as the elevator made it to 12th floor, I got out of the elevator and made my way to her apartment, and knocked on the door.
"Okay kiddo." He said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. As he did that, the door opened.
"Abigail!" Georgia exclaimed, "finally! Come in!" She grabbed my hand, and pulled me inside the house. "And, Lin, my parents want to meet you." She added.
"Alright." He said, following me inside.
"Lin, these are my parents, Diane and Michael Grace."
"Hola." Lin smiled, "nice to meet both of you, I'm Abigail's father. My names Lin." I awkwardly stood to the side, watching. He shook both of their hands. They talked for a little while, apparently it was a work day tomorrow. "I'll be here at noon tomorrow Niñita, love you." He handed me my backpack, and kissed the top of my head.
"I love you too dad, see you tomorrow." I gave him a hug, and then he left.
"Well, Abi, dinner will be in a few minutes." Mrs. Grace said.
"Abi, come, Jo, Ches, and Ches's new pal are in my room. Come." She took my hand, and led me into her room.
"Colette right?" I asked, and Georgia nodded.
"Abi lives!" Franchesca got up and hugged me.
"I'm sorry, my dads been crazy overprotective lately." I said, sitting on Georgia's bed, "hi! My names Abigail." I turned to my right, a pretty blonde was next to me, who I assumed was Colette.
"Hi, I'm Colette, I'm an old friend of Ches's." She smiled.
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, I've heard a lot about you. Like, tons." She giggled a little.
"Do they talk about me?" I asked, spinning to look at my friends.
"Yep." Colette said.
"What was I supposed to do? Not talk about my wife?" Josie asked, and I broke out laughing. I had been calling Josie my wife ever since our Spanish teacher started hyphening our names on our assignments.
"Ah, my apologies my wife." I smiled at Josie.
"Anyways, you were talking about your overprotective dad." Georgia prompted.
"Yeah, uh, I see where he's coming from," I admitted, "I mean, with what happened with my birth parents."
"Yeah, babe, I'm sorry about that." Georgia said.
"It's alright, it was outright terrifying though." I admitted. "I mean, Luke got way too close." I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them.
"Uh, Abi, Luke?" Josie asked.
"Yeah." I shrugged.
"Uh, hate to be the one to break this to you, he's not in trouble, he was at school all last week." Josie said.
"What!" I yelled, "oh gosh. He wasn't in the room when the police got there, I thought my birth parents sold him out, oh gosh." Fear spread into my eyes, and my heart.
"Does your dad know?" Franchesca asked.
"About Luke? Of course he knows, he, when, when he came with the police, he just grabbed me, and pulled me into his car. He just wanted to get me away from everything, I think he just assumes they got Luke. Crap." I groaned.
"Okay, uh, let's get off this topic." Georgia said quickly. The four of them began talking about something else, when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.
Dad:
I forgot another thing, no R rated movies.
Abi:
Wasn't gonna but, got it!
Dad:
Also, no boys.
Abi:
Lin, I think you mentioned that.
Dad:
Did I? Oh, then it must be on my mind, and a VERY IMPORTANT RULE YOUNG LADY.
I laughed a little, then saw a notification pop up on my phone.
Leslie:
Abi, no boys,
As I was going to respond to Leslie, I saw another notification.
Oak Tree:
Abigail, no boys. Ever.
I think Lin texted the entire cast. Crap.
"A, what's going on?" Franchesca asked.
"Oh, uh, the entire cast is reminding me that I have to call Lin if any guys show up." I showed them my phone.
"Abi, not to be rude, why do you have a contact saved as Oaklander? Is that Oak?" Georgia asked.
"Uh, actually that ones Daveed, Oak is Oak Tree."
"I take it Cookie Monster is Thayne, and Queen is Andrew." She guessed.
"Yeah, I made the mistake of letting those two choose their own contact names." I said, taking my phone back.
"GIRLS!" I heard Mrs. Grace, "DINNER!" The five of us got up and went into the dining room. "Okay, we have several pasta dishes," Mrs. Grace started, "we have pasta e fagioli, ravioli, rigatoni con la pajata, and rosto." She pointed to each dish, "and we have salad." She smiled and looked at the neatly prepared food and table.
"Thanks mom." Georgia said, and the five of us sat down and they all started eating. I took some of the food and put it on my plate. I was sitting there trying to convince myself to eat it. I mean, it's disrespectful not to eat when offered food. I got lost in the dinner conversation, and lost focus on my food, that is until someone brought it up.
"Abi," Franchesca started, "uh, are you hungry?" She said pointing at my untouched food.
"Uh, no I'm fine." I whispered.
"Okay." She said, obviously not convinced, she turned back to Colette sitting next to her. She didn't say anything, they just smiled at each other. Oh, yep, I ship that.
"Abi. Eat." Josie said, from across the table, thank goodness Georgia's parents weren't eating with us.
"Josie, I'll be fine." I said, taking a sip of my water.
"Abi, I will call your dad." She said.
"You don't have his number." I countered.
"I will tweet to your dad. And to your mom, and to the entire cast, someone will see it." She threatened.
"Josie, I just can't eat right now."
"Your choice." She said whipping out her phone. I groaned and pulled mine out as well. I saw her tweets.
@JosiePDLoM - @lin_manuel call your daughter
@JosiePDLoM - @VAMNit call your daughter
@JosiePDLoM - @DaveedDiggs call @abigailleighmiranda
@JosiePDLoM - @PhillipaSoo call @abigailleighmiranda
@JosiePDLoM - @Anthony_Ramos1 call @abigailleighmiranda
@JosiePDLoM - @achapphawk call @abigailleighmiranda
@JosiePDLoM - @vegalteno call your granddaughter.
@JosiePDLoM - @thaynejasperson send @abigailleighmiranda cookies.
@JosiePDLoM - @cmbettiol call @abigailleighmiranda
"Okay okay, that's enough people!" I said, and my phone was violently buzzing in my pocket. "Gosh." I yanked it out. My home screen was a crazy mess.
Missed call from Queen
Missed call from Carls
Missed call from Oaklander
Missed call from Pippa
Missed call from Cookie Monster
Missed calls (2) from Mom
Missed calls (3) from Dad
As I scrolled through those, yet another call came in.
Incoming call from Abuelo
I glared at Josie and picked up the phone.
"Hola Abuelo." I sighed.
"Hola, Abigail, someone tweeted to me, told me to call you, are you alright?" He asked, "are you with your dad?"
"No, well, Abuelo, I'm not with Lin and Vanessa, I'm at a friends house."
"But, are you alright?" He pressed on.
"NO! SHES NOT ALRIGHT!" Josie yelled.
"Abigail, who's yelling?" He asked.
"My friend Josie."
"And, why aren't you alright?"
"SHE WON'T EAT!" Josie yelled again.
"Abigail. Please eat. It scares everyone, your dad freaks out, truth be told, he's probably freaking out right now. Sweetheart, please eat, if not for yourself, then for your family."
"Stop guilt tripping me." I whined.
"Well, it worked didn't it?" He asked.
"Yeah. Yeah it worked." I gave in.
"Okay, I'm gonna hang up now, I love you." He said into the phone.
"I love you too Abuelo." I smiled and hung up the phone.
"I hope you're happy." I said to Josie picking up my fork, and violently stabbing my pasta.
"Ecstatic." She replied smiling, I felt everyone watching me as I took a bite.
After about a minute of me eating my phone blinked on.
Dad:
Your abuelo called, said you weren't eating. Niñita, send me a picture of you eating or I will pick you up now.
I rolled my eyes, and handed my phone to Josie.
"Take a picture." I said, rolling pasta onto my fork and eating it. She got the picture then handed me my phone back.
"Thanks." I said sending the photo to Lin, then setting my phone back down. Hopefully that was the end of that conversation.
I guess it was, they didn't bring it up again. We watched several movies in the living room, and most of us fell asleep at about 3 in the morning.
Lin kept his promise with the frequent check in texts, they did their job, they made me feel safe.
•••
WHOOPS. ITS LIKE NOON THIRTY SORRY.
Thanks for reading!
- Abi