Eleven O'Clock Number

MUSICAL #24: GREASE

24: I NEED SOMEONE TO HELP ME SURVIVE JOHN TRAVOLTA

« the only man a girl can depend on is her daddy. »

 "SO."

"SO," LAURA looks up from her lunch, mouth quirking upwards. Lydia's off working on her project with Emmett, and it's the third time in as many days Allison's sat with Laura at lunch, because her company is easy and simple and friendly and just generally good.

"I was wondering..." Allison shifts, picking at her chicken and not willing to look at Laura, because no matter how comfortable she is around her, this is just downright embarrassing. Still. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And she still hasn't called or texted Toby. So this is a desperate time.

"You were wondering...?"

"IfyoumaybehadacopyofGrease," Allison says quickly, the words falling out of her mouth.

Laura raises an eyebrow, mouth still dangerously close to breaking out in a smirk. "Sorry, could you say that again?"

"A copy of Grease," Allison says, trying to be calm about it.

Now, Laura does smirk. "Not a musicals girl, huh?"

Allison glares. "Shut up. Do you have a copy or not?"

"Do I live under a rock?" Laura snorts. "Of course I have a copy."

"Can I borrow it?"

"Wait, hold up," she shakes her head. "You mean you don't have a copy of Grease?"

Allison thinks she probably did - or, at least, her mom did - once upon a time. But when they moved to Manhattan, they were going to a much smaller house. And her mom sometimes got really upset and threw stuff out that reminded her of Allison's dad. So it's likely that John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John found their home in the trashcan along with several other things that were too painful to look at.

"No?"

"You're despicable," Laura mutters into her food. Then, louder, looking up at her: "Yeah, sure, I'll lend it to you. I'll bring it in tomorrow?"

"Come watch it with me," Allison blurts out suddenly, because she doesn't know if she likes the image in her head of her sitting alone in her house watching songs like Hopelessly Devoted to You being performed.

Laura studies her closely, then takes a drink of her water. "Are you asking me out?"

"What? No - I mean, not that you're not - I just - I don't -"

Laura lets out a snorting laugh into the neck of the water bottle. "Oh, God," she splutters, putting it down and taking a look at Allison's burning cheeks, only to burst into laughter once more. "You're so gullible."

"You're horrible," Allison scowls in response. "I can't believe - you're horrible."

It takes a long time after that for Laura to stop laughing, but as soon as she gets her giggles under control, she manages to say in between them: "Okay, yes, sure, I'll watch it with you," she says, still snickering. "Any reason you need company? And is tomorrow good?"

Allison thinks that the question Laura should actually be asking is probably "Any reason you're watching this at all?" but maybe Laura is more accustomed to people who just casually watch musical films for no reason, so she says: "I need someone to help me survive John Travolta. Tomorrow is great, but I've got swim until five, so -"

"Oh my God," Laura looks ridiculously excited for reasons Allison cannot begin to fathom. "Can I come watch?"

"Watch swim practice?"