mamma mia | jeremy jordan

18. the last night

Ana was in the middle of sticking coins in the machine of a random arcade game when the butt pocket of her jean shorts began buzzing wildly. She furrowed her eyebrows and pressed her thumb against the slot quickly so that the metal coin would fall through.

Ashley, who was leaning up against the machine, looked up from her own phone as she noticed Ana straighten up and step back. She knew for a fact that Ana still had three more coins until the game would start, so she offered her one, thinking that she was out.

"Oh, uh, nope! I have enough, I'm just getting a call." Ana laughed slightly as she slipped her phone out of her pocket and checked the ID.

Jeremy Jordan.

Ashley went to peek over to see who it was, but Ana pressed the power button so it would deny the call.

"Who was it?" Ashley tilted her head in curiosity.

Ana shrugged, "Just work. I'll call them back after this game."

Ana's knee began bouncing up and down with anticipation as she stepped up to continue what she had been doing. There was definitely something wrong, considering Jeremy knew she was on vacation and unable to come over.

So, her palms began sweating. She didn't understand why, but she was very anxious while she played, wondering why the hell he was bothering her.

And the fact that Ashley was standing right next to her didn't help her anxiety.

With Ana's luck, she ended up winning the 2,000 tickets that were offered as the grand prize and it took another twenty minutes before she could step outside.

She found a seat on one of the empty benches right outside the arcade, goosebumps grazing her skin as the lake-cast breeze rolled over the strip.

Laura was off buying her and her significant other t-shirts, and had left not even a minute before Jeremy called Ana. And Ashley was cashing in her tickets, so Ana had plenty of time alone.

She called Jeremy back with her thumb nail between her teeth.

"Hello?" He huffed down the phone line, the loud noise behind him fading out as he obviously found somewhere more quiet to be.

"Hi? Why'd you call? Ashley almost saw your name on my phone. Give me a warning next time, please." Ana's facial expressions went all over the place as per usual, though he could not see her.

"Er- sorry? I didn't think you'd be flashing everyone your phone screen. But-" he cut her off before she could start an argument, earning a quiet groan, "speaking of Ashley. Ben told me earlier that if she finds out about us, she can sue me because we're still married."

"Slow down, Jeremy." Ana's knee immediately stopped bouncing and her hand dropped to her lap. "First of all, Ben knows?"

"Yeah. He found out a month ago. He didn't tell you?" Jeremy let out a soft chuckle, but Ana didn't find it funny.

"Jesus, he probably thinks I'm a slut."

"He definitely doesn't think you're a slut. He actually cares a lot for both of us- which if why he told me about that thing I just told you." Jeremy quickly guided the conversation back to the main topic due to the rush he was in.

Ana's mind circled to the 'thing' he told her, and she gasped. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. And, I hate to say it, but I think we need to take a short break. Hopefully not for long. Maybe just for the rest of the summer. Just until she signs the goddamn papers." Jeremy, who was stood outside of 54 Below in NYC, was rubbing the back of his neck in agitation.

"Yeah, uh, I understand." Ana's eye were boring into the ground, her mind racing with a million thoughts.

Jeremy sighed, "It's going to be okay. You're probably stressing out so much, and it's all my fault. God, I'm sorry, Ana."

"No, no, Jeremy. We've both been making the conscious decision to do what we've been doing. Don't apologize. It's both of our faults."

"Okay," he replied, "Well, I'm going to try and call Ashley after you guys get back tomorrow. I'll update you after. See ya."

"Bye, Jeremy."

Ana set her phone in her lap and crossed her arms. She moved her eyes to the sinking sun in the sky, now glaring at it instead of the floor.

"Why were you just on the phone with Jeremy?"

Ana jumped out of her skin when she heard Laura's voice speak up from behind her. She pressed a shaky hand to her chest as she stood, facing Laura with a forced laugh.

"Oh, my God, you scared me, Laur."

Laura's eyebrows were knitted together and she held tightly to a bag of t-shirts. "Why were you on the phone with Jeremy?"

"What?" Ana cocked her head and played dumb.

"You were on the phone with a Jeremy, and I'm just gonna assume it was Jeremy Jordan, because you know no other Jeremys. Are you guys finally setting up a date to get some prints done up?" Laura leaned against the bench Ana had been sitting on.

Ana let out a deep sigh, the tips of her ears a light pink color, "Oh! Oh, oh, yes. Yes we were. We were gonna do some new, uh, new headshots because, ya know, Newsies is over and all that. So, uh, yeah next weekend, he's gonna come over, and we're gonna do some headshots."

"That's cool!" Laura didn't seem at all suspicious of anything between the two of them.

Ana didn't know why she was so worried about her thinking there was. She hadn't been a flake, nor had she had ever let any clues about there being a guy in general. Plus, Laura absolutely loved Jeremy- the side of him which wasn't a cheating drunk.

Ana grinned, slipping her phone into her pocket. All of a sudden, Ashley jogged out of the arcade, her hand gripping her phone and tears welled up in her eyes, "Jeremy just called."