Take A Chance On Me ☆ [Mamma Mia - Bill Anderson X Reader]

☆34☆

Your POV

You finish doing your tie in the mirror and switch your focus from the tie to your face, and smile widely.

This is it! Your first day as manager, eight months after the incident with the skeeveball and the cafe. You've climbed slowly up the ladder, gaining respect from your peers and navigating through every obstacle and issue there is, before your manager announced to everybody one day that she would be retiring and you would be taking over. Everyone was surprised and delighted - including you, dileriously so. This new job meant more money to go into buying your old childhood house for all the homeless people of London to take shelter and keep refuge.

Your toes curl in excitement. Just look at how far you've come!

Something catches the corner of your eye, just a grey sort of flicker, but you focus on it as it buzzes faintly and grows until it turns into your favourite non-blood relative, the woman who said she'd see you but has rarely taken up the effort, the only person whom you would ever be willing to meet from beyond the grave... Aunt Sophia.

I whip round to see her in all her fuzzy grey glory, hovering just a few inches off the ground, another mysterious look on her face, and exclaim excitedly: "Aunt Sophia! You came! I thought you wouldn't."

The dead old lady simply nods slowly. "Well done my love; I told you that you'd become rich from your own adventures, now didn't I, and look at you - a manager."

"And not just for the cafe," you add with an ear to ear grin, "I'm manager of all of the cafe's stores across Australia, and they want me to look into opening more in the UK and USA! I'm at the top of my game! Isn't this amazing Sophia?"

She doesn't reply, just looks at you mysteriously again, and you pause before saying more cautiously, "Sophia?"

The lady sighs and adjusts her looking glasses, glancing down before looking straight into your eyes.
"Y/N... Billy is with someone else."

Your face momentarily drops as something sinks to the pit of your stomach, before you draw a deep breath and plaster on a businesslike smile. "Is he now? Well, good for him. I hope he's happy."
Happy that he's finally shagging someone who won't leave him, more like.

You don't want to continue the conversation about a dickhead you swore to leave in the past, so you turn around to pick up your brush and restyle your already-perfect hair so your hands can have something to do.
In the mirror's reflection, you can see the ethereal form of Aunt Sophia crossing her arms and shaking her head so much she just seems a giant blur.

You frown at her. "What?"
"Don't pretend you don't care about Billy anymore, in the part of your heart that you've locked away in order to not get hurt again."
You huff, the only time you've behaved like a child in front of your aunt. "Stop it, Sophia. Just don't. Wait." You turn round and ask her accusingly, "Is that the only reason you've appeared? For the first time since you've died? To tell me that Bill is in a relationship?!"

"Y/N," your aunt tries to consolidate, but you've had enough for today. One of your favourite people promises you she'll return to you after her death, doesn't show up for years, then only does to tell you about your ex?
No way.

"I don't wanna talk," you bring your arms out in a display of weariness, and Sophia's face falls as you sing further.

"About things we've gone through,
Thought it's hurting me,
Now it's history,

I've played all my cards,
And that's what he's done too," you sing whilst recalling that fateful day you got into that rowboat and left; why you swore to never let yourself be that vulnerable again.

"Nothing more to say,
No more Ace to play,"

"The winner takes it all," you sing whilst looking into Sophia's eyes - she doesn't look away, but her eyes become darker with grief.

"The loser's standing small,
Beside the victory,
That's her destiny,

Against your better judgement, you can't help but remember him - Bill Anderson, the man who made you feel for the first time in your life like you weren't just second best, and the words tumble out of your mouth:

"I was in his arms,
Thinking I belonged there,
I figured it made sense,
Building me a fence,
Building me a home,
Thinking I'd be strong there," you sing forlornly, and then your tone changes to anger against him and yourself.

"But I was a fool,
Playing by the rules,

The gods may throw the dice!" you gesture to Sophia, in that emotional instant focusing on the fact that she was the one who told you that her nephew doesn't know how to love.

"Their minds as cold as ice,
And someone way down here,
Loses someone dear!

The winner takes it all,
The loser has to fall,
It's simple and it's plain,
Why should I complain?!" you scream as you sing, but your tone softens as you look into her eyes. For once in this conversation, you think about how much you actually miss him. Deep down, in the part that won't let go of the past, no matter how much you want to.

"But tell me, does she kiss,
Like I used to kiss him?
Do you think it feels the same,
When she calls his name?
Somewere deep inside,
I know I miss him,

But what can I say," your voice cracks a little as you remember all the good times, and how you know you can't go back because you're scared you'll go back to being second best,
"Rules must be obeyed,"

You snap out of the overwhelming sadness enough to sing angrily again:

"The game is on again!
A lover or a friend,
A big thing or a small,
The winner takes it all!"

And from that burst of anger you feel sad again - it's as if everything has been used up; all the anger, all the facades have ebbed away to portray unfiltered sadness. On your first day as manager, you've given up trying to manage your feelings over this man.
You focus on Sophia, and register how upset she is for you.

"I don't wanna talk,
Cuz it makes me feel sad,
And I understand,
You want me to shake his hand,

But you see,

The winner takes it all!" you belt in the hopes she'll see how angry, how upset, how devastated you are that she told you about the man you swore to leave in your past. Until now.

You draw out the last syllable until you run out of breath, and lean backwards against the dresser.
Aunt Sophia doesn't say anything, just watches you with a near-neutral expression.
"Well?" you ask, a tad defensively, "What do you think of telling me now? You really think you needed to tell me?"

She continues to be silent, completely still. You both regard each other, you still breathing heavily, her not breathing at all.

She eventually opens her mouth, and you hear her strong Greek accent after such a long time of missing it.
"Bill's soul is slowly travelling in the wrong direction. I came to you because, for once, I do not know if destiny is going to stay or stray. For yours and his sakes, I hope that it will stay."

And in a blur of grey, Aunt Sophia gradually disappears, leaving you leaning against your dresser with a head full of Bill Anderson.

What do you do about this information? Nothing, you think as the clock strikes the work hour, apart from to do your job.

You walk to the door, open it, and start your new life as manager and go-getter.

Well... you try.