mamma mia | jeremy jordan

27. heart of gold

"So, what exactly are we doing today?" Jeremy spun around to face Ana, coffee cup in hand and an eyebrow quirked. 

Ana grinned cheekily at him, nodding her head to her camera bag wound around her shoulder. "I'm supposed to design the website for my new job and I have no good pictures to display."

"Tell me again why you have to design a website? Is the company new or did your boss just live in a hermit shell before you came along?" Jeremy put a hand out to stop Ana from crossing the street as she was focused on balancing her own coffee cup while she fixed her strap.

She squealed at the sudden stop and looked up to regain focus on Jeremy. "Her husband died ten years ago and she kind of gave up on her business, but when she found out her daughter was pregnant, she decided she wanted to start again. Before, her and her husband were really famous, so Laura's agent got me in touch with her when he heard about the company upstarting again."

Jeremy nodded in response and jerked his head to motion Ana to move across the street. "And where exactly are we going for these photos?"

"Everywhere."

Ana moved ahead of him, her eye on the look out for strangers looking beautiful during the New York City morning. Jeremy watched after her, making sure she didn't run into anybody or cross paths with dangerous situations. Most importantly, he was admiring her: biting her lip in concentration, eyes dark but sparkling with adoration of the city life, thumb rubbing against the zoom scroll of her turned-off camera. 

The first picture Ana took was of a group of homeless persons. They were tucked away inside the nook of a building, all asleep except for one, who was watching over their layers of rugs, blankets, and belongings. They had two dogs, asleep next to them, both of which looked well-fed and comfortable. They were most likely just happy to be with people who loved them, as were the people. To them, people brought love and happiness to their lives, something everyone could learn from.

Ana asked the one man if she could take their photo and he allowed her to. Afterwards, Ana reached into her bag and pulled out her wallet. She went to give him money, but he pushed her hand away.

"Bring me a copy of the photo when it's printed. You can find us right here."

Ana smiled and stood from her squat. She looked up at Jeremy, a look of pride across her shimmering face. He nodded at her, a silent agreement of appreciation. 

They moved on from the street corner and Ana decided last minute to go down into the subway. Jeremy followed her as she caught a group of tourists attempting to buy one-ride metro cards. They nodded and she stepped back to take their photo as they continued to struggle. They must have assumed that she was just going to leave them there as they were shocked when she pushed them aside and bought them a ten-ride metro card. She asked them where they headed to and pointed them towards the correct subway, which as announced to be arriving in 5 minutes. It was to continue downtown, towards ground zero.

Ana waved goodbye to them as they swiped the  card back and forth. The subway car pulled up right then and she quickly grabbed Jeremy's arm and they got on just as the doors were closing.

They ignored every stop for the next twenty minutes, sitting alongside in silence, until the car got extremely full with people headed to the ferry. Ana tugged Jeremy up as they offered both of their seats to an elderly couple joined at the hip. Jeremy grabbed onto the pole just as the train jolted forward and he hugged Ana to his side as she jerked back. 

She blushed, jokingly shoving him away and holding on herself. Ana received the permission of the couple to take their photo, so she did. Soon after, they stepped off of the cart and into ground zero. The sun was hot as they walked up the steps from the subway station, so Ana tugged off her zip up hoodie and tied it around her waist. She lazily pulled her hair into a ponytail, making Jeremy's heart eyes expand. 

He didn't notice her move forward, so he was surprised when she grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her. She didn't remove her hand from his until they reached the Staten Island Ferry. Ana quickly took a picture of the public workers hawking tickets to the ferry specifically meant for the Statue of Liberty. They weaved their way through them and finally, they boarded the ferry. 

Because Ana was so small, Jeremy led them through the crowd of tourists and actual citizens in order to get to the top, left-hand deck of the ferry. As they reached the Statue of Liberty, Ana approached another group of tourists to ask to take their photo as they were being photographed by someone else in front of it. She soon realized she didn't even speak their language.

Ana stumbled over her words in an attempt to communicate them when the woman said, "Je ne parle pas anglais." 

A light bulb seemed to go off in Ana's head and she thought before replying, "Puis-je prendre une photo de vous?"

Jeremy sat back on a bench planted on the ferry, leaning forward in astonishment at her interaction with people. He knew she had a heart of gold, but watching her kindness and hard work and raw talent unfold before his very eyes only made him believe more that she was much too good for anyone. 

Too good for him.