put a smile on your face (2/2)
Master Post
Part One
******
Greta wakes up suddenly the next morning, breathing heavily. She pulls out of the dream slowly, not quite ready to let it go but knowing that it's going anyway. She'd been dreaming of the guy, the one who played Adakias. But the things he'd whispered in her ear were indecipherable, and he definitely hadn't made any move last night to slip his fingers where they were in her dream. She rubs a hand across her face, trying to shake off the feeling. She doesn't even know this guy, and this was no time to get fixated on a stranger's charm.
She steps out of the shower a little while later, feeling much better. Of course, that's exactly when Aunt Sandy calls.
"Darling!" she says emphatically, as she always does. "I was just thinking about you. You had that lovely play last night, yes? Tell me all about it, dear. Meet anyone new?"
Greta swallows a sigh. Aunt Sandy, never change, she thinks. "All of my friends showed up, Aunt Sandy. They chipped in and all gave me flowers, and took me out for cheesecake before the party."
Aunt Sandy gives a delighted squeal and Greta wants to smack herself in the forehead. Why did she mention the party? "Ooh, a party! I'm sure you got to dance with some lovely new people!"
Trust her Aunt Sandy to make the word 'lovely' sound provocative. "Mostly just my friends, you know." The image of her mysterious co-star pops into her head in an instant, and she pushes it back down immediately.
"Oh, well that's too bad. You know, I bet there are plenty of guys just dying to take you out, Greta. Maybe if your friends weren't keeping you so occupied, you'd give him a chance to find you. You always were so picky."
Greta makes noises of agreement to keep her aunt happy, but she takes one aspect of that into consideration. Has she really given her mystery guy a chance to make an impression? She hasn't even sent a message back to 'A' since the story of her hula hoop record in grade school. She's just been too busy between practices and work, and now that she thinks of it, the letters really have stopped coming as often. Maybe she should do something about it.
After she gets her aunt off the phone, she takes a deep breath and calls her mom. Her voice is calming after her aunt's, and Greta confides in her a lot more easily than she ever could with Aunt Sandy. "So, there's this guy."
She finds it tough to explain the situation without making her mystery man sound like a complete stalker, so she mentions about 12 times that both Bob and Max have met him and given him the seal of approval.
"Well, Greta, dear. I think you already know what you want to do."
"I don't think so, mom."
"You just need to ask yourself, why haven't you asked your friends who this young man is?"
Greta pauses, considering. "I..."
The truth is, she doesn't know. She's had reasons here and there. Excuses. But when it comes down to it, she's just afraid to be let down when the guy doesn't measure up to her expectations. She says this to her mom, feeling guilty even as the words escape her, but her mom reassures her.
"Dear, you can't hide behind high standards forever. You turned down boys right and left in high school, and here you are on your own, and you haven't changed a bit. You don't even have any reason yet to turn this one down, but you're already expecting one."
She sighs, taking it all in. Her mom is right. It's the same reason she didn't try very hard to get Adakias's real name last night. She thrives on meeting strangers, on carrying their stories along and storing them in her books, but the truth is that she doesn't give herself enough time to develop her own story.
"Just give him a chance before you jump to conclusions," her mom suggests, voice soothing.
"Thanks, Mom. I'll try."
******
Greta doesn't go out at all on Sunday, even though several of her friends mention hanging out when they call to congratulate her again on her performance. She spends her afternoon with a cup of tea and a couple of her journals. She writes down the memory of her first performance in detail, adding in the exhilarating feeling of seeing all her friends after, of the hugs and the congratulations -- and okay, maybe the flowers, too -- that she received. The night is unforgettable, still vivid in her mind, and she hopes it never dims.
She moves then to another journal, the one that holds lyrics and drawings and ideas for the future. She writes down thoughts in a stream of consciousness, doodling things like music notes when she draws a blank before remembering the spotlight and the twirl that Adakias had led her through during their performance. She discovers that she's scribbled out the character's name in script below the music notes, but she makes no move to white it out. It seems fitting in the middle of today's inspired notes. She continues from where she left off, thinking of the thrill of singing and the thrill of playing piano for families in the park, and she finds herself humming as she writes down thoughts about the sky and freedom and how beautiful people are, all on their own.
She turns on her computer to finally download Max's band's CD shortly thereafter, and then finds herself looking for sheet music. If she gets that keyboard soon, she can possibly work on recording some stuff. She's sure that Max would help her with the recording process, and maybe she can develop vocals from some of the stuff in her journals.
After skimming through recent entries in her creative journal, unable to find anything she wants to work on, she decides to take a look at her day-to-day journal. She smiles at the pictures she had taped in, early on, wishing that she'd kept it up. A happy sort of nostalgia settles on her as she reads through old stories. The man on the street corner that recounted stories of his life for a quarter each, the little girl that had smiled like the sun when her mom had relented and bought her some Dippin' Dots at Max's stand, and... oh, she remembers this last encounter with fondness.
I was feeling restless this noon, so I went down to the carnival by the lake during my lunch break. They had this lovely fountain, with shoots of water that rose and fell like the walls of a room.
I'd have been content to stay there all day, moving in and out of the blocks of water, listening to the calming beat as gravity pulled the water back down. There was something so peaceful about the chill on the air and the rise and fall of the water. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the water room on the next drop.
I remember glancing at my watch, knowing that with the lunch rush, the train would get me back just in time. But I'm always on time, and Ryan would forgive my lateness just this one time. So I vowed to myself, one more time, as I stared at the column of water before me.
A voice carried over from across the sidewalk, muted by the sound of the water. "Fuck you guys, I'm gonna try it. Go ride the ferris wheel or something, I'll find you."
The wall of water dropped then, and I reveled in that moment where it was suspended in midair before crashing for good. I jumped over the line, then whirled around to reach out and touch that first blast of cold water.
"Whoa," I recognized the voice from a few seconds ago. "Sorry, I totally almost barreled into you," he said with a laugh in his voice. I turned to face him, and he was sporting a huge grin that I couldn't help but return. The sound of the water and the feeling on my skin reminded me of a song, but I never could place it. It's possible that it hasn't been written yet.
"It's alright," I told him, stepping forward to meet him in the middle. "My name's Greta. And I totally would have taken you down with me."
The guy's grin grew impossibly wider for a moment, and then he put a hand on his hip. "Well, Miss Greta, I guess I'll have to watch out for your ruthless spirit from now on, won't I?" There was something so surreal about the comfort he showed. When the wall of water collapsed, I didn't make a move to step out, but neither did he. "I'm Alex," he said, holding out his hand. I reached out to take it, but he turned his hand at the last second to guide mine up to his mouth. I know it's cheesy and I'll never admit this to anyone's face, but when he kissed my hand and looked up at me, I felt like a princess, just for a second.
"Alex, thank you for sharing this room with me."
The entry goes on as she describes their conversation and her ultimate 1 hour tardiness to work, but she can't read anymore, because. Alex. She knows now why Adakias had looked so familiar, and why her secret admirer had known to send her little trinkets and notes. It was all the same guy; it was Alex the Fountain Guy.
She trips over her chair in her haste to grab her phone. She sends a text message first to Max, then to Bob, both saying the same thing. I am such an idiot.
She receives a response from Max almost immediately. yes. Why this time?
Haha, very funny. You knew it was the fountain guy all this time, didn't you?
Her phone rings only seconds after hitting send, and she's still laughing at Max even as she holds the phone up to her ear. "Hello, Max, to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"So you finally found out. Did Bob tell you? I knew he couldn't keep a secret."
"Bob didn't tell me," she interjects before Max can start recounting tales of Bob's loose tongue. "I sent him the same message that I sent you, and either he's in too much shock over the proclamation to respond, or his phone's not on."
"Wait, really? So who told you?"
"I figured it out. I was reading through my journals--"
"Oh no."
"Don't 'oh no' me, Maxwell, you know my journals are my pride and joy."
"I just can't believe you didn't figure it out sooner. You talked about Fountain Guy for weeks, Greta--"
"Yeah, but he was always Fountain Guy! I forgot I even knew his name, and it's not like he mentioned ever actually meeting me in any of his surreptitious gifts."
"I can't believe you didn't figure it out when he was singing to you on stage."
"He had a mask on," she says with a slight pout. "And his hair is longer than it was back then."
Max laughs at her, which is no less than she expected. "So what's your next move, Salpeter?"
"I have no idea," she says honestly. Maybe she should figure that out.
******
6 months ago
"No, I know what you mean. Chance encounters are the best kind," Alex says, talking with his hands. "And my friends aren't even half as cool as you. They wouldn't even try out the fountain room."
Greta nods, then goes on to tell stories of some of her chance encounters. Somehow, she starts talking about relationships. "I just prefer to get to know people slowly, you know? That way, you get to know their great qualities at the same time as their faults, and you don't get too caught up on either one."
Alex nods. "The slow reveal. Yeah, I gotcha." His voice takes on that of a game show host, and he continues, "And behind curtain three, tell her what she's won, Alex! Thank you, Alex. Miss Greta has won... a brand new car! It only gets 15 miles to the gallon and pollutes our precious air, but think of all the cars she can run off the road! Congratulations, Greta! Aaand the crowd goes wild."
Greta lets out the laugh she's been trying to hold in, and Alex beams at her.
"Wow, you actually laughed at that. See, terrible sense of humor, now I know one of your faults."
She smacks him playfully on the arm. "And I know one of yours. Insulting strangers."
"But we're hardly strangers any more, are we? We shared a room, or have you already forgotten?"
Greta purses her lips, considering, then sighs deeply. "I'm afraid this is moving far too fast for me, kind sir. This sort of activity might lead to something scandalous, like hand holding."
"You're too right, fair lady. Hands where I can see them! I can't believe I was so trusting so soon."
Greta giggles behind her hand, standing from the park bench. "I'm afraid I really do have to go, though. I'm something like 45 minutes over my usual lunch break."
His mock-scandalized look melts into one of slight guilt. As he stands to face her, he says, "Oh, I didn't mean to keep you."
Greta waves off his apologetic look. "My co-worker will moan about it, but other than that I don't have much to worry about."
She gives him a smile which he returns, and then they say their goodbyes. She takes the El back to work, then repeats apologies to Ryan for her extended break, saying she owes him one. He forgives her, in the end. It's not as if he's always on time in the mornings.
******
Greta shows up very early for the Razia's Shadow rehearsal on Monday night. She checks in with Paul, then slips back to her dressing room. It's not a dress rehearsal, but she ties her mask on and waits. Bob had better be right about this.
Just a few minutes later, she hears footsteps coming down the hall. She straightens in her chair, suddenly feeling nervous.
Alex stops in the doorway, and they stare at each other for a few seconds. She has clearly surprised him, and his hands tighten around the piece of paper in his hand.
"The slow reveal, huh?" she asks with a slight smirk.
A tentative smile forms on Alex's face. "That was the general idea."
"You know this is cheating." The smile tries to edge onto her face, but she manages to keep it at bay. Her eyes betray her, she knows, but she's relying on the mask to hide it well enough for her purposes. "The slow reveal is about discovering your faults, too. Not just the nice things you send to me on paper."
"Ah," he says, the confident look she remembers so well edging back into his expression, "but that's where you're wrong. Go on, name anything I sent you. Every single one of them reveals my faults."
Greta shoots him a skeptical look. "The sheet music."
"A song I couldn't finish. Easy one. Next?"
She raises her eyebrows, or tries to behind the mask. "The umbrella keychain?"
"I walk around in the rain all the time. Usually get sick. That all you got?"
"Temporary tattoos."
"Can't draw. You know that, you've seen my drawings."
"Yo-yo."
He pauses. "Okay, I'm actually good with a yo-yo. But the hula hoop counteracts that! I try to use a hula hoop, it falls right off me. It's like I have no hips, seriously."
She has to smile at the mental image of him attempting that. "That's something I'd like to see," she tells him honestly.
He smiles, probably sensing his imminent victory. She curses him for that. "And as for the letters, well, obviously I like to ramble. About myself. Because I'm awesome. Ego, might be another one."
He tilts his head, feigning a shy look. She thinks it counts for something that she can tell it's a fake look. "Alright, fine. You've earned this."
She reaches up to untie the mask, holding it up with one hand. When she feels it loosen, she lowers it slowly, revealing her face.
The playful smile on Alex's face transforms as the mask falls away into a smile that is inarguably genuine. She reaches up to touch the smiley face she had Ryan paint on her cheek, as if to make sure it's still there. "For the record," he says, still beaming, "I'm pretty sure you have no faults."
She makes a disbelieving noise. "Oh, please. I bite my nails," she says, waving her fingers in front of her. "I forget names. I steal people's stories away for my very own. Oh, and here's a good one: I sit on my hands and stop myself from trying anything new."
Alex takes a tentative step forward. "For what it's worth, I don't mind holding your hands. You know, to keep you from sitting on them."
She rolls her eyes affectionately, but lets him take her hands. She asks, with just a hint of sarcasm, "You'd do that for me?"
"You deserve the world, Miss Greta," he says, eyes sparkling.
"You see? This is the benefit of the slow reveal! You're supposed to know and accept my faults, skipping over the blind stage of puppy love, therefore--"
"Greta, please. You're ruining the moment."
She takes in his smile and the affectionate look in his eyes, realizing suddenly that they're both leaning in, just a little bit. She tilts her head back just slightly and parts her lips.
"Greta! Paul told me you were back--oh!" Brendon appears in the doorway just as she jerks back a half-step from Alex, who holds onto her hands. "Oh, god. I'm so sorry. I didn't think--You should--I'm so sorry," he says again, then flees.
She waits a beat, wondering if she should call after him, but eventually just laughs. Alex joins in right after, squeezing her hands softly. "Hey," he begins after she calms down, "did I hear you say just now that you love me?"
Greta looks up at him, wide-eyed.
"I totally did, didn't I? 'Puppy love,' you called it, but still. I can see it now. We'll buy a house. White picket fence, a dog and a cat, a garden all of our own, and would you relax? I'm just kidding," he finally says, laughing at her expression.
She tries to contain her sigh of relief, but Alex still catches it and laughs at her, not unkindly. "Maybe I should go find Brendon," she says. "He's probably beating himself up for walking in on us."
"You make it sound so scandalous," Alex says, attempting to look ashamed and failing miserably.
She squeezes his hands before letting them go, and he smiles at her until she is out the door and can't see him anymore. She has a feeling he's still smiling.
******
Alex insists on taking her to dinner and a movie for their first date. "I know you like Thai food. And coffee. Oh, you should totally add 'stalker' to my list of faults, because even though Bob and Jon told me almost everything I know, we still have a fair few coincidences that are pretty hard to believe. Or were you stalking me?" he asks, voice suddenly stern.
She laughs, shifting her cell phone to her other ear. "'Stalker' was already at the top of your list, Alex. And if I was stalking you, I probably would have figured out how you managed to stand by and watch me play in the park, then leave me a stack of temporary tattoos, all without me seeing you."
"Oh, that one was easy. You get into the zone when you play. It's fascinating. I'm pretty sure I could've danced around naked and gotten away with it, as long as I ran for it before you finished the song."
She blushes, glad he can't see her. "The screams and scandalized families would probably be enough to draw my attention."
"Fair enough," he admits. He makes a hmm noise for a good ten seconds before finally continuing, "Ah! What about Uncommon Ground?"
She makes an inquisitive noise, and he continues, "It's this little cafe down on Clark Street. They have some great veggie options. I guess I should mention, I'm vegan. You can put that under the 'good' or 'bad' column at your own discretion, but it's not going to change, so."
"I'm vegetarian!" she says excitedly. "I try to stay vegan when I can, but I'll admit to the occasional piece of cake."
"Wow, can you get more perfect? No seriously, can you? Because I think I'm going to have to prepare myself if you get any more awesome."
"I'll try to warn you," she murmurs, embarrassed.
His laugh warms her as it carries over the phone line. "So, I'll meet you at your place at 6? If you don't mind taking the El. I can borrow a car from a friend if you really--"
"Alex. No, I don't mind taking the El. Are you usually this neurotic? Because that's going to have to go down in the 'cons' column, and you're already showing a vast majority of 'cons.' The 'pros' are going to get jealous."
"Well try not to tally 'em up until after Friday night, okay? I'm not making any promises, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that might give the 'pros' a demanding lead."
******
After an agonizingly slow week, Friday finally rolls around. Brendon shows up at work just to join in with Ryan to tease her. That lull in the middle of summer is here, though, so their number of customers increases enough to keep either of them from bothering her too much. As soon as they close up shop, though, Max joins in to torment her over what she's going to wear and how much makeup she's going to put on and "oh, are you going to put out? You know what they say about girls who put out on the first date."
"Oh, don't give me that, Maxwell. You don't know anything about girls who put out on the first date."
Max stares hard at her for a few seconds, and then breaks. "I'm trying really hard not to make a 'your mom' joke right now."
She pushes him hard in the arm. "You're practically my mom, so don't even go there."
When she gets back to her apartment, Genevieve and Ashlee are waiting at the front door. She groans inwardly, because they seriously are going to want to know what she's going to wear and how much makeup she's going to put on and also, possibly, if she's planning to put out on the first date. Sometimes having guy friends is just so much easier.
They mean well, though, so she shouldn't really complain. Ashlee puts on her makeup for her, and they both approve of the outfit she's already picked out. She's prepared long before 6 o'clock, so they all three flop down on the couch and watch part of Aladdin on TV.
They both wish her luck and make themselves scarce at 5:45, which leaves her with 15 minutes to kill. Watching Aladdin is suddenly not enough to hold her attention, so she opens up her journal and scribbles down her thoughts until, finally, there is a knock on the door.
"I'm early, I know," Alex begins as soon as she answers the door. "I don't mind waiting on the couch for an hour if I've interrupted your whole process or whatever."
She gives him a dubious look, looking at her watch. "You're all of two minutes early. What do you think I have left to do?"
Alex shrugs, looking repentant. "I don't know how these things work. I don't want to rush you or anything."
She rolls her eyes. "Let's just go, Alex."
Alex grimaces. "Okay, not off to the best start. Can we start over? Hi! Greta! Wow, you look amazing, wouldn't change a thing. Shall we be off?"
Greta glares at him even as he holds his elbow out exaggeratedly, but he holds his hopeful smile for so long that she can't keep a straight face. She laughs and slips her arm through his, letting him lead her down the stairs.
The restaurant is completely charming, and then the sounds of guitar drift in from the other room, and she adds another 10 points to her mental score card. Alex sees her impressed look and says, "Yeah?"
"Alright, I'll give you this one," she relents, letting her teeth show through her smile. "This is the most amazing tea I've ever had at a restaurant. And the salad! I will never be able to eat a salad without strawberries again."
Alex grins around his fork, telling her a story about the guitarist playing now.
"So do you know most of the people that play here?"
Alex shakes his head. "I only come here on special occasions, but a few of my friends play here when they can."
She pauses, wondering whether she should ask, before finally blurting, "Do you think they'd let a keyboardist play sometime?"
Alex looks pleased, so she doesn't feel too bad about asking. "See, I told you I'd keep you from sitting on your hands," he says, reaching out to lay a hand over hers.
She takes a moment to be surprised and impressed that he knew what she was referring to, then raises her eyebrows as if to say well?
"Of course, I bet they'd love to have you play."
She's enjoying the ease of their conversation, already giving him credit for a great first date by the end of dinner. He insists on paying, saying that she can get the movie if she really wants, and then he earns another stack of brownie points on the way out the door.
"Oh, I can't believe I forgot," he says, grabbing the door before it closes and slipping back inside. When he comes back out, he's holding a bouquet of paper roses. "I don't really approve of cut flowers. I hope you don't mind," he says, handing it to her.
"Of course not! I'm not a big fan of cut flowers, either. They die so quickly; it just seems unfair." She glances up at him after a moment of considering the intricacies of the flowers, and he's looking back at her with a soft sort of fondness that throws her completely off-guard. "What?"
He shakes his head, refusing to answer. "For the record, I have a friend that makes those, so you shouldn't give me full credit. But I did actually make one of them! Go on, you'll never guess."
She glances down and notices one crumpled rose arranged so that it's mostly hidden in the bouquet. She makes a thoughtful noise, pointing at that one and saying, "I really can't tell, but you know, I think this one is my favorite."
Alex wraps an arm around her shoulders and leads her on, past the restaurant. When they have to stop on the street corner, he darts in and presses one quick kiss to her temple. She turns to glance up at him a moment later, but the sign changes to allow them to cross, and Alex leads her forward with a smile.
There is a documentary on some guy she's never heard of playing at this small theater Alex loves. He tells her that he honestly doesn't know how the movie will be, but he knows that she loves documentaries and it at least looks promising, so--
And that's when she kisses him. She was kind of planning to save it for her doorstep on the way home, just to prove to herself that she's taking this slow enough, but to hell with it. She doesn't have to prove anything to anyone, and her expectations for herself are far too high.
She stops justifying it after Alex makes a surprised noise and places one hand between her shoulder blades, kissing back eagerly. When he parts his lips just slightly, she darts her tongue forward and sweeps it against his. He responds instantly, and finally she has to pull back before she lets their first kiss get a little too far in the lobby of a movie theater. He blinks back at her for a few seconds before breathing, "Wow."
"Yeah?" she asks, feeling a bit breathless herself.
"Come on, let's find out a little something about an architect named Joe."
******
She enjoys the movie, but when they leave the theater, she asks, "Did you hate it? Seriously, you can tell me."
Alex looks at her incredulously. "Why would I hate it? I mean, all the things that he accomplished, and he's what? 25? I'm almost 30 and what have I done?"
She blinks. "You're almost 30?"
He stops walking, leading her to stop too. "Yeah. Is that a problem?"
She thinks about it for a minute, then answers truthfully, "No. My mom will probably love it."
He doesn't smile when she looks at him, though. "I mean it, if it's gonna be weird for you--"
"Dude," she interrupts, smiling wider. "I am putting 'neurotic' down permanently in your 'cons' column, I don't care what you say. But 'age' isn't even on the list, okay? Let's just move on."
When they reach her doorstep, she does get to wrap up the night as planned. The kiss is more gentle than their first, but she can still feel it down to her toes. "I'll see you tomorrow night?" she asks, suddenly feeling shy.
"Of course. Even though I won't be playing your love interest this time, I don't want to see you give any less than 120 percent."
"Okay, but you're not allowed to be jealous when my chemistry with Thomas explodes off the stage."
His arrogant smile slips away. "Touché."
"Goodnight, Alex," she says, kissing him quickly, one last time.
"Goodnight, Greta."
******
Their sophomore performance goes well, overall. Brendon trips as he's heading offstage during the song change, but as he's in the dark, it's easily forgiven and forgotten. No one in the audience will know it was him. There is the occasional pause here and there as someone struggles to remember their line, but compared to last week, the performance is a significant improvement.
Greta never gets to find out if Ryan already knew it was Brendon who tripped, because as soon as she finds him after the show, Ryan is already hugging him and talking him down off the ledge.
"No, come on," Brendon protests. "I ruined everything. It was all running perfectly, a flawless scene change, and then bam! I send a stage prop flying. You could see me running after it, couldn't you? Don't lie to me, Ryan Ross, I can tell when you lie."
Ryan shakes his head at Brendon. "I don't know if anyone even noticed the noise, Brendon. And it was pitch black, so I know no one could see. They probably just thought it was part of the play."
When Greta sees the look they share, she makes herself turn around and walk back out. She was seconds away from interrupting, and her cheeks are still burning when she gets back to her dressing room. Alex is standing there, waiting for her with an origami heart. She takes it happily, noticing immediately that he is hiding one hand behind his back.
"Is there another surprise?" she asks, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She loves carrying the excited rush of being on stage around with her after the performance. It feels like there is a comforting wind following her around, making her feel more alive, and she silently wishes she could pass that feeling on to everyone she knows.
Alex smirks at her. "I'll never be able to hide anything from you, will I?"
"Never."
He draws his hand out, handing her a photo. "Fine. This was the last thing I was going to give you, before."
She recognizes the fountain instantly, but flips the picture over. Alex has scrawled out we'll always have... on the back, along with a new sketch of the letter A.
"The last thing?" she repeats, glancing up to give him an inquisitive look.
"Yeah, I uh. Well, I thought maybe you'd freak out when you found out I'd been learning the part of your love interest, and just so happened to play it on opening night, after all the other stuff I'd done."
"So you're saying you didn't poison Thomas during the rehearsal? That's so disappointing, I had such high hopes for my memoir--" She gets cut off and can't finish her sentence when Alex starts tickling her side, and she can't stop giggling long enough to talk.
"I'm just saying, you probably had your doubts about my intentions before that, and it seemed like you didn't remember me, so. This was going to be my last ditch effort, and then it was up to you whether to get a restraining order or, you know, this."
Greta takes his hand as he gestures between them, grasping it tightly. She smiles sweetly and says sincerely, "Alex Greenwald, you put a smile on my face."
THE END
Part One
******
Greta wakes up suddenly the next morning, breathing heavily. She pulls out of the dream slowly, not quite ready to let it go but knowing that it's going anyway. She'd been dreaming of the guy, the one who played Adakias. But the things he'd whispered in her ear were indecipherable, and he definitely hadn't made any move last night to slip his fingers where they were in her dream. She rubs a hand across her face, trying to shake off the feeling. She doesn't even know this guy, and this was no time to get fixated on a stranger's charm.
She steps out of the shower a little while later, feeling much better. Of course, that's exactly when Aunt Sandy calls.
"Darling!" she says emphatically, as she always does. "I was just thinking about you. You had that lovely play last night, yes? Tell me all about it, dear. Meet anyone new?"
Greta swallows a sigh. Aunt Sandy, never change, she thinks. "All of my friends showed up, Aunt Sandy. They chipped in and all gave me flowers, and took me out for cheesecake before the party."
Aunt Sandy gives a delighted squeal and Greta wants to smack herself in the forehead. Why did she mention the party? "Ooh, a party! I'm sure you got to dance with some lovely new people!"
Trust her Aunt Sandy to make the word 'lovely' sound provocative. "Mostly just my friends, you know." The image of her mysterious co-star pops into her head in an instant, and she pushes it back down immediately.
"Oh, well that's too bad. You know, I bet there are plenty of guys just dying to take you out, Greta. Maybe if your friends weren't keeping you so occupied, you'd give him a chance to find you. You always were so picky."
Greta makes noises of agreement to keep her aunt happy, but she takes one aspect of that into consideration. Has she really given her mystery guy a chance to make an impression? She hasn't even sent a message back to 'A' since the story of her hula hoop record in grade school. She's just been too busy between practices and work, and now that she thinks of it, the letters really have stopped coming as often. Maybe she should do something about it.
After she gets her aunt off the phone, she takes a deep breath and calls her mom. Her voice is calming after her aunt's, and Greta confides in her a lot more easily than she ever could with Aunt Sandy. "So, there's this guy."
She finds it tough to explain the situation without making her mystery man sound like a complete stalker, so she mentions about 12 times that both Bob and Max have met him and given him the seal of approval.
"Well, Greta, dear. I think you already know what you want to do."
"I don't think so, mom."
"You just need to ask yourself, why haven't you asked your friends who this young man is?"
Greta pauses, considering. "I..."
The truth is, she doesn't know. She's had reasons here and there. Excuses. But when it comes down to it, she's just afraid to be let down when the guy doesn't measure up to her expectations. She says this to her mom, feeling guilty even as the words escape her, but her mom reassures her.
"Dear, you can't hide behind high standards forever. You turned down boys right and left in high school, and here you are on your own, and you haven't changed a bit. You don't even have any reason yet to turn this one down, but you're already expecting one."
She sighs, taking it all in. Her mom is right. It's the same reason she didn't try very hard to get Adakias's real name last night. She thrives on meeting strangers, on carrying their stories along and storing them in her books, but the truth is that she doesn't give herself enough time to develop her own story.
"Just give him a chance before you jump to conclusions," her mom suggests, voice soothing.
"Thanks, Mom. I'll try."
******
Greta doesn't go out at all on Sunday, even though several of her friends mention hanging out when they call to congratulate her again on her performance. She spends her afternoon with a cup of tea and a couple of her journals. She writes down the memory of her first performance in detail, adding in the exhilarating feeling of seeing all her friends after, of the hugs and the congratulations -- and okay, maybe the flowers, too -- that she received. The night is unforgettable, still vivid in her mind, and she hopes it never dims.
She moves then to another journal, the one that holds lyrics and drawings and ideas for the future. She writes down thoughts in a stream of consciousness, doodling things like music notes when she draws a blank before remembering the spotlight and the twirl that Adakias had led her through during their performance. She discovers that she's scribbled out the character's name in script below the music notes, but she makes no move to white it out. It seems fitting in the middle of today's inspired notes. She continues from where she left off, thinking of the thrill of singing and the thrill of playing piano for families in the park, and she finds herself humming as she writes down thoughts about the sky and freedom and how beautiful people are, all on their own.
She turns on her computer to finally download Max's band's CD shortly thereafter, and then finds herself looking for sheet music. If she gets that keyboard soon, she can possibly work on recording some stuff. She's sure that Max would help her with the recording process, and maybe she can develop vocals from some of the stuff in her journals.
After skimming through recent entries in her creative journal, unable to find anything she wants to work on, she decides to take a look at her day-to-day journal. She smiles at the pictures she had taped in, early on, wishing that she'd kept it up. A happy sort of nostalgia settles on her as she reads through old stories. The man on the street corner that recounted stories of his life for a quarter each, the little girl that had smiled like the sun when her mom had relented and bought her some Dippin' Dots at Max's stand, and... oh, she remembers this last encounter with fondness.
I was feeling restless this noon, so I went down to the carnival by the lake during my lunch break. They had this lovely fountain, with shoots of water that rose and fell like the walls of a room.
I'd have been content to stay there all day, moving in and out of the blocks of water, listening to the calming beat as gravity pulled the water back down. There was something so peaceful about the chill on the air and the rise and fall of the water. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the water room on the next drop.
I remember glancing at my watch, knowing that with the lunch rush, the train would get me back just in time. But I'm always on time, and Ryan would forgive my lateness just this one time. So I vowed to myself, one more time, as I stared at the column of water before me.
A voice carried over from across the sidewalk, muted by the sound of the water. "Fuck you guys, I'm gonna try it. Go ride the ferris wheel or something, I'll find you."
The wall of water dropped then, and I reveled in that moment where it was suspended in midair before crashing for good. I jumped over the line, then whirled around to reach out and touch that first blast of cold water.
"Whoa," I recognized the voice from a few seconds ago. "Sorry, I totally almost barreled into you," he said with a laugh in his voice. I turned to face him, and he was sporting a huge grin that I couldn't help but return. The sound of the water and the feeling on my skin reminded me of a song, but I never could place it. It's possible that it hasn't been written yet.
"It's alright," I told him, stepping forward to meet him in the middle. "My name's Greta. And I totally would have taken you down with me."
The guy's grin grew impossibly wider for a moment, and then he put a hand on his hip. "Well, Miss Greta, I guess I'll have to watch out for your ruthless spirit from now on, won't I?" There was something so surreal about the comfort he showed. When the wall of water collapsed, I didn't make a move to step out, but neither did he. "I'm Alex," he said, holding out his hand. I reached out to take it, but he turned his hand at the last second to guide mine up to his mouth. I know it's cheesy and I'll never admit this to anyone's face, but when he kissed my hand and looked up at me, I felt like a princess, just for a second.
"Alex, thank you for sharing this room with me."
The entry goes on as she describes their conversation and her ultimate 1 hour tardiness to work, but she can't read anymore, because. Alex. She knows now why Adakias had looked so familiar, and why her secret admirer had known to send her little trinkets and notes. It was all the same guy; it was Alex the Fountain Guy.
She trips over her chair in her haste to grab her phone. She sends a text message first to Max, then to Bob, both saying the same thing. I am such an idiot.
She receives a response from Max almost immediately. yes. Why this time?
Haha, very funny. You knew it was the fountain guy all this time, didn't you?
Her phone rings only seconds after hitting send, and she's still laughing at Max even as she holds the phone up to her ear. "Hello, Max, to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"So you finally found out. Did Bob tell you? I knew he couldn't keep a secret."
"Bob didn't tell me," she interjects before Max can start recounting tales of Bob's loose tongue. "I sent him the same message that I sent you, and either he's in too much shock over the proclamation to respond, or his phone's not on."
"Wait, really? So who told you?"
"I figured it out. I was reading through my journals--"
"Oh no."
"Don't 'oh no' me, Maxwell, you know my journals are my pride and joy."
"I just can't believe you didn't figure it out sooner. You talked about Fountain Guy for weeks, Greta--"
"Yeah, but he was always Fountain Guy! I forgot I even knew his name, and it's not like he mentioned ever actually meeting me in any of his surreptitious gifts."
"I can't believe you didn't figure it out when he was singing to you on stage."
"He had a mask on," she says with a slight pout. "And his hair is longer than it was back then."
Max laughs at her, which is no less than she expected. "So what's your next move, Salpeter?"
"I have no idea," she says honestly. Maybe she should figure that out.
******
6 months ago
"No, I know what you mean. Chance encounters are the best kind," Alex says, talking with his hands. "And my friends aren't even half as cool as you. They wouldn't even try out the fountain room."
Greta nods, then goes on to tell stories of some of her chance encounters. Somehow, she starts talking about relationships. "I just prefer to get to know people slowly, you know? That way, you get to know their great qualities at the same time as their faults, and you don't get too caught up on either one."
Alex nods. "The slow reveal. Yeah, I gotcha." His voice takes on that of a game show host, and he continues, "And behind curtain three, tell her what she's won, Alex! Thank you, Alex. Miss Greta has won... a brand new car! It only gets 15 miles to the gallon and pollutes our precious air, but think of all the cars she can run off the road! Congratulations, Greta! Aaand the crowd goes wild."
Greta lets out the laugh she's been trying to hold in, and Alex beams at her.
"Wow, you actually laughed at that. See, terrible sense of humor, now I know one of your faults."
She smacks him playfully on the arm. "And I know one of yours. Insulting strangers."
"But we're hardly strangers any more, are we? We shared a room, or have you already forgotten?"
Greta purses her lips, considering, then sighs deeply. "I'm afraid this is moving far too fast for me, kind sir. This sort of activity might lead to something scandalous, like hand holding."
"You're too right, fair lady. Hands where I can see them! I can't believe I was so trusting so soon."
Greta giggles behind her hand, standing from the park bench. "I'm afraid I really do have to go, though. I'm something like 45 minutes over my usual lunch break."
His mock-scandalized look melts into one of slight guilt. As he stands to face her, he says, "Oh, I didn't mean to keep you."
Greta waves off his apologetic look. "My co-worker will moan about it, but other than that I don't have much to worry about."
She gives him a smile which he returns, and then they say their goodbyes. She takes the El back to work, then repeats apologies to Ryan for her extended break, saying she owes him one. He forgives her, in the end. It's not as if he's always on time in the mornings.
******
Greta shows up very early for the Razia's Shadow rehearsal on Monday night. She checks in with Paul, then slips back to her dressing room. It's not a dress rehearsal, but she ties her mask on and waits. Bob had better be right about this.
Just a few minutes later, she hears footsteps coming down the hall. She straightens in her chair, suddenly feeling nervous.
Alex stops in the doorway, and they stare at each other for a few seconds. She has clearly surprised him, and his hands tighten around the piece of paper in his hand.
"The slow reveal, huh?" she asks with a slight smirk.
A tentative smile forms on Alex's face. "That was the general idea."
"You know this is cheating." The smile tries to edge onto her face, but she manages to keep it at bay. Her eyes betray her, she knows, but she's relying on the mask to hide it well enough for her purposes. "The slow reveal is about discovering your faults, too. Not just the nice things you send to me on paper."
"Ah," he says, the confident look she remembers so well edging back into his expression, "but that's where you're wrong. Go on, name anything I sent you. Every single one of them reveals my faults."
Greta shoots him a skeptical look. "The sheet music."
"A song I couldn't finish. Easy one. Next?"
She raises her eyebrows, or tries to behind the mask. "The umbrella keychain?"
"I walk around in the rain all the time. Usually get sick. That all you got?"
"Temporary tattoos."
"Can't draw. You know that, you've seen my drawings."
"Yo-yo."
He pauses. "Okay, I'm actually good with a yo-yo. But the hula hoop counteracts that! I try to use a hula hoop, it falls right off me. It's like I have no hips, seriously."
She has to smile at the mental image of him attempting that. "That's something I'd like to see," she tells him honestly.
He smiles, probably sensing his imminent victory. She curses him for that. "And as for the letters, well, obviously I like to ramble. About myself. Because I'm awesome. Ego, might be another one."
He tilts his head, feigning a shy look. She thinks it counts for something that she can tell it's a fake look. "Alright, fine. You've earned this."
She reaches up to untie the mask, holding it up with one hand. When she feels it loosen, she lowers it slowly, revealing her face.
The playful smile on Alex's face transforms as the mask falls away into a smile that is inarguably genuine. She reaches up to touch the smiley face she had Ryan paint on her cheek, as if to make sure it's still there. "For the record," he says, still beaming, "I'm pretty sure you have no faults."
She makes a disbelieving noise. "Oh, please. I bite my nails," she says, waving her fingers in front of her. "I forget names. I steal people's stories away for my very own. Oh, and here's a good one: I sit on my hands and stop myself from trying anything new."
Alex takes a tentative step forward. "For what it's worth, I don't mind holding your hands. You know, to keep you from sitting on them."
She rolls her eyes affectionately, but lets him take her hands. She asks, with just a hint of sarcasm, "You'd do that for me?"
"You deserve the world, Miss Greta," he says, eyes sparkling.
"You see? This is the benefit of the slow reveal! You're supposed to know and accept my faults, skipping over the blind stage of puppy love, therefore--"
"Greta, please. You're ruining the moment."
She takes in his smile and the affectionate look in his eyes, realizing suddenly that they're both leaning in, just a little bit. She tilts her head back just slightly and parts her lips.
"Greta! Paul told me you were back--oh!" Brendon appears in the doorway just as she jerks back a half-step from Alex, who holds onto her hands. "Oh, god. I'm so sorry. I didn't think--You should--I'm so sorry," he says again, then flees.
She waits a beat, wondering if she should call after him, but eventually just laughs. Alex joins in right after, squeezing her hands softly. "Hey," he begins after she calms down, "did I hear you say just now that you love me?"
Greta looks up at him, wide-eyed.
"I totally did, didn't I? 'Puppy love,' you called it, but still. I can see it now. We'll buy a house. White picket fence, a dog and a cat, a garden all of our own, and would you relax? I'm just kidding," he finally says, laughing at her expression.
She tries to contain her sigh of relief, but Alex still catches it and laughs at her, not unkindly. "Maybe I should go find Brendon," she says. "He's probably beating himself up for walking in on us."
"You make it sound so scandalous," Alex says, attempting to look ashamed and failing miserably.
She squeezes his hands before letting them go, and he smiles at her until she is out the door and can't see him anymore. She has a feeling he's still smiling.
******
Alex insists on taking her to dinner and a movie for their first date. "I know you like Thai food. And coffee. Oh, you should totally add 'stalker' to my list of faults, because even though Bob and Jon told me almost everything I know, we still have a fair few coincidences that are pretty hard to believe. Or were you stalking me?" he asks, voice suddenly stern.
She laughs, shifting her cell phone to her other ear. "'Stalker' was already at the top of your list, Alex. And if I was stalking you, I probably would have figured out how you managed to stand by and watch me play in the park, then leave me a stack of temporary tattoos, all without me seeing you."
"Oh, that one was easy. You get into the zone when you play. It's fascinating. I'm pretty sure I could've danced around naked and gotten away with it, as long as I ran for it before you finished the song."
She blushes, glad he can't see her. "The screams and scandalized families would probably be enough to draw my attention."
"Fair enough," he admits. He makes a hmm noise for a good ten seconds before finally continuing, "Ah! What about Uncommon Ground?"
She makes an inquisitive noise, and he continues, "It's this little cafe down on Clark Street. They have some great veggie options. I guess I should mention, I'm vegan. You can put that under the 'good' or 'bad' column at your own discretion, but it's not going to change, so."
"I'm vegetarian!" she says excitedly. "I try to stay vegan when I can, but I'll admit to the occasional piece of cake."
"Wow, can you get more perfect? No seriously, can you? Because I think I'm going to have to prepare myself if you get any more awesome."
"I'll try to warn you," she murmurs, embarrassed.
His laugh warms her as it carries over the phone line. "So, I'll meet you at your place at 6? If you don't mind taking the El. I can borrow a car from a friend if you really--"
"Alex. No, I don't mind taking the El. Are you usually this neurotic? Because that's going to have to go down in the 'cons' column, and you're already showing a vast majority of 'cons.' The 'pros' are going to get jealous."
"Well try not to tally 'em up until after Friday night, okay? I'm not making any promises, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that might give the 'pros' a demanding lead."
******
After an agonizingly slow week, Friday finally rolls around. Brendon shows up at work just to join in with Ryan to tease her. That lull in the middle of summer is here, though, so their number of customers increases enough to keep either of them from bothering her too much. As soon as they close up shop, though, Max joins in to torment her over what she's going to wear and how much makeup she's going to put on and "oh, are you going to put out? You know what they say about girls who put out on the first date."
"Oh, don't give me that, Maxwell. You don't know anything about girls who put out on the first date."
Max stares hard at her for a few seconds, and then breaks. "I'm trying really hard not to make a 'your mom' joke right now."
She pushes him hard in the arm. "You're practically my mom, so don't even go there."
When she gets back to her apartment, Genevieve and Ashlee are waiting at the front door. She groans inwardly, because they seriously are going to want to know what she's going to wear and how much makeup she's going to put on and also, possibly, if she's planning to put out on the first date. Sometimes having guy friends is just so much easier.
They mean well, though, so she shouldn't really complain. Ashlee puts on her makeup for her, and they both approve of the outfit she's already picked out. She's prepared long before 6 o'clock, so they all three flop down on the couch and watch part of Aladdin on TV.
They both wish her luck and make themselves scarce at 5:45, which leaves her with 15 minutes to kill. Watching Aladdin is suddenly not enough to hold her attention, so she opens up her journal and scribbles down her thoughts until, finally, there is a knock on the door.
"I'm early, I know," Alex begins as soon as she answers the door. "I don't mind waiting on the couch for an hour if I've interrupted your whole process or whatever."
She gives him a dubious look, looking at her watch. "You're all of two minutes early. What do you think I have left to do?"
Alex shrugs, looking repentant. "I don't know how these things work. I don't want to rush you or anything."
She rolls her eyes. "Let's just go, Alex."
Alex grimaces. "Okay, not off to the best start. Can we start over? Hi! Greta! Wow, you look amazing, wouldn't change a thing. Shall we be off?"
Greta glares at him even as he holds his elbow out exaggeratedly, but he holds his hopeful smile for so long that she can't keep a straight face. She laughs and slips her arm through his, letting him lead her down the stairs.
The restaurant is completely charming, and then the sounds of guitar drift in from the other room, and she adds another 10 points to her mental score card. Alex sees her impressed look and says, "Yeah?"
"Alright, I'll give you this one," she relents, letting her teeth show through her smile. "This is the most amazing tea I've ever had at a restaurant. And the salad! I will never be able to eat a salad without strawberries again."
Alex grins around his fork, telling her a story about the guitarist playing now.
"So do you know most of the people that play here?"
Alex shakes his head. "I only come here on special occasions, but a few of my friends play here when they can."
She pauses, wondering whether she should ask, before finally blurting, "Do you think they'd let a keyboardist play sometime?"
Alex looks pleased, so she doesn't feel too bad about asking. "See, I told you I'd keep you from sitting on your hands," he says, reaching out to lay a hand over hers.
She takes a moment to be surprised and impressed that he knew what she was referring to, then raises her eyebrows as if to say well?
"Of course, I bet they'd love to have you play."
She's enjoying the ease of their conversation, already giving him credit for a great first date by the end of dinner. He insists on paying, saying that she can get the movie if she really wants, and then he earns another stack of brownie points on the way out the door.
"Oh, I can't believe I forgot," he says, grabbing the door before it closes and slipping back inside. When he comes back out, he's holding a bouquet of paper roses. "I don't really approve of cut flowers. I hope you don't mind," he says, handing it to her.
"Of course not! I'm not a big fan of cut flowers, either. They die so quickly; it just seems unfair." She glances up at him after a moment of considering the intricacies of the flowers, and he's looking back at her with a soft sort of fondness that throws her completely off-guard. "What?"
He shakes his head, refusing to answer. "For the record, I have a friend that makes those, so you shouldn't give me full credit. But I did actually make one of them! Go on, you'll never guess."
She glances down and notices one crumpled rose arranged so that it's mostly hidden in the bouquet. She makes a thoughtful noise, pointing at that one and saying, "I really can't tell, but you know, I think this one is my favorite."
Alex wraps an arm around her shoulders and leads her on, past the restaurant. When they have to stop on the street corner, he darts in and presses one quick kiss to her temple. She turns to glance up at him a moment later, but the sign changes to allow them to cross, and Alex leads her forward with a smile.
There is a documentary on some guy she's never heard of playing at this small theater Alex loves. He tells her that he honestly doesn't know how the movie will be, but he knows that she loves documentaries and it at least looks promising, so--
And that's when she kisses him. She was kind of planning to save it for her doorstep on the way home, just to prove to herself that she's taking this slow enough, but to hell with it. She doesn't have to prove anything to anyone, and her expectations for herself are far too high.
She stops justifying it after Alex makes a surprised noise and places one hand between her shoulder blades, kissing back eagerly. When he parts his lips just slightly, she darts her tongue forward and sweeps it against his. He responds instantly, and finally she has to pull back before she lets their first kiss get a little too far in the lobby of a movie theater. He blinks back at her for a few seconds before breathing, "Wow."
"Yeah?" she asks, feeling a bit breathless herself.
"Come on, let's find out a little something about an architect named Joe."
******
She enjoys the movie, but when they leave the theater, she asks, "Did you hate it? Seriously, you can tell me."
Alex looks at her incredulously. "Why would I hate it? I mean, all the things that he accomplished, and he's what? 25? I'm almost 30 and what have I done?"
She blinks. "You're almost 30?"
He stops walking, leading her to stop too. "Yeah. Is that a problem?"
She thinks about it for a minute, then answers truthfully, "No. My mom will probably love it."
He doesn't smile when she looks at him, though. "I mean it, if it's gonna be weird for you--"
"Dude," she interrupts, smiling wider. "I am putting 'neurotic' down permanently in your 'cons' column, I don't care what you say. But 'age' isn't even on the list, okay? Let's just move on."
When they reach her doorstep, she does get to wrap up the night as planned. The kiss is more gentle than their first, but she can still feel it down to her toes. "I'll see you tomorrow night?" she asks, suddenly feeling shy.
"Of course. Even though I won't be playing your love interest this time, I don't want to see you give any less than 120 percent."
"Okay, but you're not allowed to be jealous when my chemistry with Thomas explodes off the stage."
His arrogant smile slips away. "Touché."
"Goodnight, Alex," she says, kissing him quickly, one last time.
"Goodnight, Greta."
******
Their sophomore performance goes well, overall. Brendon trips as he's heading offstage during the song change, but as he's in the dark, it's easily forgiven and forgotten. No one in the audience will know it was him. There is the occasional pause here and there as someone struggles to remember their line, but compared to last week, the performance is a significant improvement.
Greta never gets to find out if Ryan already knew it was Brendon who tripped, because as soon as she finds him after the show, Ryan is already hugging him and talking him down off the ledge.
"No, come on," Brendon protests. "I ruined everything. It was all running perfectly, a flawless scene change, and then bam! I send a stage prop flying. You could see me running after it, couldn't you? Don't lie to me, Ryan Ross, I can tell when you lie."
Ryan shakes his head at Brendon. "I don't know if anyone even noticed the noise, Brendon. And it was pitch black, so I know no one could see. They probably just thought it was part of the play."
When Greta sees the look they share, she makes herself turn around and walk back out. She was seconds away from interrupting, and her cheeks are still burning when she gets back to her dressing room. Alex is standing there, waiting for her with an origami heart. She takes it happily, noticing immediately that he is hiding one hand behind his back.
"Is there another surprise?" she asks, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She loves carrying the excited rush of being on stage around with her after the performance. It feels like there is a comforting wind following her around, making her feel more alive, and she silently wishes she could pass that feeling on to everyone she knows.
Alex smirks at her. "I'll never be able to hide anything from you, will I?"
"Never."
He draws his hand out, handing her a photo. "Fine. This was the last thing I was going to give you, before."
She recognizes the fountain instantly, but flips the picture over. Alex has scrawled out we'll always have... on the back, along with a new sketch of the letter A.
"The last thing?" she repeats, glancing up to give him an inquisitive look.
"Yeah, I uh. Well, I thought maybe you'd freak out when you found out I'd been learning the part of your love interest, and just so happened to play it on opening night, after all the other stuff I'd done."
"So you're saying you didn't poison Thomas during the rehearsal? That's so disappointing, I had such high hopes for my memoir--" She gets cut off and can't finish her sentence when Alex starts tickling her side, and she can't stop giggling long enough to talk.
"I'm just saying, you probably had your doubts about my intentions before that, and it seemed like you didn't remember me, so. This was going to be my last ditch effort, and then it was up to you whether to get a restraining order or, you know, this."
Greta takes his hand as he gestures between them, grasping it tightly. She smiles sweetly and says sincerely, "Alex Greenwald, you put a smile on my face."
THE END