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       #Post#: 1214--------------------------------------------------
       The Piece That Was Formerly Apron Strings
   DIR By: Maggie Flannery
       Date: July 15, 2012, 10:15 pm
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       Alrighty, here's the first banner of my newest creation. That
       darn idea fairy is in over drive over this one and it's not
       helping that I've had the song Apron Strings stuck in my head
       for the past week, thank you so much Mr. John Hughes, haha. I'll
       gladly post a video link to youtube for you. Along with a little
       summary, although I stink at summaries, haha.
       Author's Note : *Disclaimer* - Please know that this is a work
       of pure fiction. I'm but a humble writer and I don't make a cent
       from these works, I just write them for my own and the enjoyment
       of others. I do not mean in anyway to infringe upon the famous
       individuals/characters that are mentioned within the work. I
       only own the original characters unless otherwise stated. If you
       would like to post my work please contact me and I will gladly
       grant permission as long as my name is mentioned and the
       disclaimer (above) is posted along with the piece. I don't bite,
       I promise. :-)
  HTML http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/rmbarrettchase/grey-repeating-background-5.jpg
  HTML http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/rmbarrettchase/grey-repeating-background-5-1-1.jpg
       [center]He was an artist she was a dancer, both were
       tempremental to a fault. Both a thorn in the other's side until
       a little thing called deportation threatened to tear their nit
       picking but joined at the hip existence apart. What would they
       do without each other? A deal is struck between the two of them
       and a scheme is hatched, until a little thing called fate steps
       in and gives them a bit of a shove in the right
       direction.[/center]
       #Post#: 1215--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Apron Strings
   DIR By: Maggie Flannery
       Date: July 16, 2012, 2:01 am
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       New York City  (Summer)
       "Deep stretch, back straight." I thought to myself as I leaned
       over the barre and stretched my legs and then proceeded to dig
       through my gym bag for my pointe shoes and my toe spacers. I
       glanced at the clock while I put in my toe spacers and laced up
       my shoes.
       "Finally, some peace and quiet..."
       I muttered to myself as I set down the needle of the record
       player to one of my favorite warm up pieces and took a deep
       breathe. As the music started I went up onto my toes and did a
       quick turn while gently raising my arms into the fifth position.
       A few more quick steps and another leap and I was air born. I
       managed to land smoothly, unlike some of my other attempts and
       started into a pirouette as the music built to a slight climax.
       "What do we have here? A nimble woodland fairy or Shakespeare's
       Dark Lady?"
       My trance was broken as my eyes snapped open and let out a
       strangled scream before breaking my pose and smacking my back
       off the barre. I wasn't sure if I should blush a brillient shade
       of crimson or give this rather good looking man a good tongue
       lashing. I simply smoothed my hair back into place and stretched
       again while locking eyes with my new guest.
       "There's a new one I haven't heard before. I'm flattered you
       think of me as such a graceful person but sadly I am neither
       woodland fairy or the Dark Lady of Shakespeare. I'm just Katrina
       Sutton. Oh, wait you already know that, don't you Jeremy?"
       I brought myself up on my toes once more and checked my form
       before locking eyes with Jerry who was leaning against the
       doorway looking at me quizzically.
       I checked my form once more before going back onto the marley
       wood flooring in an end pose. I noticed that Jerry was sporting
       a bit of paint splatter and looked as if he had come straight
       from his studio  given that the curly mop of dark hair was all
       about his head and all but screaming for a good combing and his
       clothes were splattered with streaks of paint.
       "I usually reserve this room for three hours on Fridays. I
       thought that you'd surly be back in that tome of a classroom of
       yours jotting down names for over due assignments, my dear."
       I laughed as I sat down on the floor and took off my pointe
       shoes and flexed my toes a bit.
       "Oh you still don't know me that well, do you Jerry my dear? I'm
       not all about over due home work assignments and ten page
       reports on Hamlet. I could say the same thing about you and
       those paintings you do. The smell of turpentine finally get to
       you?"
       The almost unflappable Mr. Hadley looked at me and gave a curt
       nod before reaching over into his own gym bag for his own dance
       shoes.
       I chastised myself for  catching a glimpse of a rather toned
       behind and found myself turning beet red in the process.  Once I
       gathered myself back up into my thoughts I heard the ripping
       sound of the needle coming off the record player and another
       being put down in it's place.
       "Hey! I was using that!"
       I snapped as I stood up mid flex and gave Jerry the evil eye
       which made him flash me that usual Cheshire cat grin of his.
       Jerry Hadley and I went back ages it seemed. We had been paired
       up together in college to work on the background sets and
       choreography for various student theater plays. We were both
       double majors in English Lit and Theatre so we seemed to click.
       Jerry was a gifted painter and I could sketch out a bare bones
       set design, he had a knack for pairing music to certain key
       movents of a dance and I fleshed out the rest. To quote our
       classical drama professor "We were equal parts of the same mind,
       in seperate bodies." For a time we made quite the team and even
       thought of going together. Sadly, we found that we just couldn't
       be together because we were too different, or too much alike
       depending on which one of our mutual friends you asked. We still
       found time to nit pick at each other and we both knew that we
       could depend on the other for a sympathic ear or a shoulder to
       cry on. We were never too far from one another on any given day,
       eternal friends but never lovers...well, only on occassion but
       we never let anyone else in on that little secret. As our lives
       progressed they were always intertwined, I got a job at NYU
       teaching a class on the works of Shakespeare and he was right
       down the hall conducting an art class on the classical form and
       technique of the old masters. I moved up town, he was right
       behind me moving into the apartment next door. He asked me my
       opinion on what tie went best with what shirt and I asked his on
       what shade of blue I should paint my bedroom. He was off taking
       weekend cooking classes and I was the willing guinea pig on
       which to test his newest recipes out on, so long as I could test
       new stage make up ideas on him for our little fledgling theater
       company. We were each the yin to the others yang and just didn't
       know how to accept it. We just didn't question that a day would
       go by without the other being just a phone call away.
       Two Hours Later
       "Cad!"
       "Wench!"
       "Cross eyed git!"
       "Whiney little prima ballerina!"
       "Bow legged heathen!"
       "Clawing little succubus!
       "You quite enjoyed the use of my claws if I remember correctly
       you lily livered Van Gogh wanna be."
       Jerry sighed and looked up at the ceiling for a second as we
       prepared to leave the dance studio together.
       "I forgot about...alright, a truce. Dinner and drinks, on me
       this time my dear."
       Jerry offered as he held the door for me while I attempted to
       manuver my oversized gym bag through the door.
       I grinned as I swept my bangs away while we made the trudge down
       three flights of stairs.
       "Thought you'd never ask, Jerry. The usual place then? I'll
       cover the cab."
       As I hailed the cab Jerry fiddled uneasily with his own gym bag
       as if he were looking for something of some sort of importence
       that was only known to him. I flagged him over as a yellow cab
       stopped along the curb and I gave directions to our favorite
       city haunt on the upper east side. It was a little hole in the
       wall place we always seemed to meet up at when we were each
       going through something or just needed a common place to talk to
       each other. It was our sort of safe haven from the outside
       world, not to mention their pub burgers and two dollar drafts
       were to die for.
       "What are looking for? You look like you're about to have a
       heart attack or something, Jer."
       As we settled into the cab Jerry looked me in the eye before
       dropping his tone a bit.
       "I've got a very pressing matter to discuss with you when we get
       to Riley's."
       A shiver of fear went up my spine because I could tell his
       normal joking self wasn't on display. My mind was spinning as to
       what kind of problem was weighing on Jerry's normally care free
       shoulders. I'd soon find out while we waited for our meals and
       drinks to arrive.
       "Well, are you going to tell me or not? You know I break out in
       hives when something this urgent is waiting in the wings."
       I whispered as we all but sank lower into the worn out cushions
       of our usual booth and all but stared at one another. I watched
       all but frozen in fear as Jerry slid a very official looking
       envelope across the worn table top of the booth to me and looked
       like he was going to either scream or cry.
       "I can't even bring myself to open it, it's from that damned
       immigration office, Kitty. What the hell do I do if they send me
       back to England? I've got a home here, a thriving business...and
       you. You'll be lost without me."
       I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my water before reaching for
       the envelope with a smile.
       "You're right you jerk. Who else would wake me up at two in the
       morning to come look at his latest masterpiece? Do you want me
       to open it then?"
       Jerry fidgetted before nodding and biting his lip in
       anticipation that made him look like he was going to explode. I
       gingerly picked up the letter and tore it open. my hands
       shaking. My eyes scanned the letter until I came to the middle
       part announcing why it had been sent out in the first place.
       "We regret to tell you that your green card is nearing it's
       experation date and in order for you to stay within the country
       you are required to file again for temporary citizenship or
       become a fully fledged citizen of the United States of America.
       Please contact our offices for more information."
       My eyes welled up with tears as I folded the letter up and put
       it back into the envelope.
       "Oh god, I can't go back to England now! I've got too much on my
       plate as it is and my Father's never going to let me live it
       down.."
       Jerry muttered as he passed me a napkin and got the waiter's
       attention.
       "Two glasses of your finest wine..."
       I cut him off with a sob and looked at the waiter still
       sniffling.
       "Just bring a bottle of brandy and two glasses."
       Jerry looked at me through that mop of drooping curly hair of
       his and wide eyes and reached for my hand.
       "We'll think of something, Kitty. Between the two of us we'll
       think of something."
       
       It took the two of us three days and many phone calls to
       virtually every lawyer within the borough to get some sort of
       semblence of a plan. Which after some fact checking and a few
       runs to the local clerks office we hatched a plan. As we found
       ourselves walking back to our dear sweet apartment building on a
       rather humid day all thanks to a public transit strike Jerry
       looked at me for a second and then shook his head.
       "Are you alright? You keep looking at me and then shaking your
       head. What? Do I have something on my face?"
       I asked as I shifted my leather satchel I used to carry my never
       ending sea of papers and my ever expanding grade book while I
       pressed the button for the cross walk.
       "I've been looking at those requirements for my citizenship and
       I was thinking...I know this a really big stretch and a huge
       favor to ask...but...uh do you think you could...uh."
       I noticed poor Jerry was shifting from foot to foot in some sort
       of ants in his pants type dance while trying not to turn a
       really ugly shade of grey green.
       "Take a deep breathe and then try to tell me, Jer. It's ok."
       Jerry looked bewildered and mumbled something to me as I all but
       grabbed him by the shirt sleeve and pulled him across the cross
       walk to the front of the building.
       "
       Uh...marry me? I mean just so that we can pass that visitation
       from the immigration office. After that we can just be...room
       mates of sorts?"
       My eyes bugged at the prospect of marrying Jerry just so he
       could stay in the country. My initial answer was going to be no
       until I did myself the stupid favor of looking over at him.
       There he stood eyes hopeful and cheshire cat grin plastered on
       his face all but ready to pounce on me. I thought it over for a
       milisecond. Jerry was the closest thing to family I'd ever had.
       No matter what was going on in life he was there to offer
       advice, bring a smile to my face, and make a snarky comment
       about someone I couldn't stand, and then offer to help me pick
       up the pieces of what I would think would be the ruins of my
       life. I couldn't let him down, not after all he'd done for me
       and what we'd weathered together. He was there when my mother
       passed away and helped me try to cope, he was there when I had
       flu or always held my hair for me if I over indulged at an after
       show cast party, countless Christmases, Birthdays, New Years
       Eves, and the dreaded Valentine's Days. I had to help him even
       if it meant marrying the man.
       "Ok, I'll marry you."
       Jerry let out a whoop of joy before picking me up and swinging
       me around and then setting me back down and pulling me in for a
       kiss.
       "You realize that we're going to need a bigger place, right?"
       I asked as we hauled ourselves up the endless stairwells and up
       to my apartment for an early dinner. Jerry looked at me and
       sighed as I passed him the well worn chinese take out menu and
       waiting for him to decide.
       "Well, we'll find a place. They've got to rent to us, we're two
       well to do college professors for God's sake. Ooh...Dim sum!
       Want to split an order?"
       I rolled my eyes as I jotted down the order and scanned the menu
       myself.
       "Ofcourse, you know how I am with dim sum. But seriously, who
       would rent to us? Besides, are you really sure you want to live
       with me? You know I snore...and I take forever in the
       bathroom...I can't cook...and I'm a neat freak."
       Jerry chuckled as he ventured into my kitchen and brought out
       one of my many bottles of wine and two glasses.
       "I'll get used to it, cross my heart, Kitt. Besides, you're
       telling me things I already know about. You're talking to the
       man that's seen almost every side of you imaginable. Drunk,
       sober, irrate, calm, hyper, sleep deprived, morning after, mid
       way through. I've even witnessed your strip teases and the
       concussions you've sustained from them. I've also seen you on a
       cleaning spree and driven you to hospital after you got Ajax in
       your eyes. You've seen every side of me as well and ok most of
       the time you find something to laugh at but I know I can trust
       you. We've known one another for twelve years, most people we
       know are getting divorced. What have we got to lose?"
       I shurgged and then opened my mouth to think of something but
       couldn't. I'd be damned but he was right. At thirty I was ready
       to take the plunge for better or for worse and I'd think that
       twelve years was plenty of time to get to know someone. It
       couldn't be that hard if people half our age were doing so could
       we.
       #Post#: 1217--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Apron Strings
   DIR By: Wolfy
       Date: July 16, 2012, 6:16 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       I want to comment first on your banners, they are both beautiful
       and I love the character names you've chosen. Jerry isn't all
       that common and it's always nice to hear something fresh.
       I love the first update of this story and can't wait for the
       next one. Bits and pieces made me think about Kate & Leopold
       momentarily and I just loved that. I don't suppose you meant to
       have it happen as such, but it's wonderful nonetheless. It also
       reminded me of Two Weeks Notice in parts too! I think I'm really
       adoring this story so far xD and so far, I love them together
       and how they can be smitten with each other one minute and
       clawing at each other with words the next. I also love that she
       said yes to marrying him! :]
       #Post#: 1219--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Apron Strings
   DIR By: Maggie Flannery
       Date: July 17, 2012, 1:34 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Aww why thank you my dear! I tried to go for something
       different. I'm so glad you're enjoying this! I honestly didn't
       mean to tie in Kate & Leopold or Two Weeks Notice but I suppose
       it made it's way in there by some divine right, haha. Does it
       seem that the plot is moving too quickly? Or is it just me going
       nutty over here? I'll be working on the second update for you so
       never fear! :D I can't thank you enough for taking the time and
       reading and replying, it makes writing that much more fun to do.
       I know I've said it before but I really appreciate it!
       #Post#: 1220--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Apron Strings
   DIR By: Wolfy
       Date: July 17, 2012, 4:18 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       It is a wonderful story so far and I don't think it's going too
       fast at all :] it's all going splendidly so have no fear! I
       cannot wait for the next update. I shall be working on my Ardeth
       story again shortly so hopefully that too will be updated soon.
       You're most welcome :D I'm not sure if I say this often or not
       but I truly love your work. Your style of writing is remarkable
       and it keeps me very entertained!
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