Behind the Curtains

+Two+

"That is NOT the note at all!"
"I can't play piano! I can only read the music."
"Well, you can play Our Love Is God."
"Yea, but that's because I begged you to teach me for ten minutes and then you spent two hours after that doing so."
"Two hours well spent, I think."
"Yea, yea. Alright, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for actual food. Got any ideas for dinner?" Annabelle stood from the couch and stretched a bit before walking over to her kitchen. A.J. continued playing softly while she searched for something to make.
"Depends. What do you have?" he asked.
"Uh, I could make... wow, I thought I had more food. Looks like we're just gonna have to order something," she shrugged, shutting the cabinets.
"We could do pizza. I'll pay, don't even worry about it," he suggested, looking up from his keyboard. He stopped playing and took out his phone. "Alright, what do we want?"

"Large hawaiian, small chicken garlic, breadsticks, and... ginger ale," Annabelle listed, sitting back down next to A.J. He laughed a dialed the number as he jokingly pushed her arm. "That is so much. You're lucky I like you," he laughed. She smiled and gave him a small side hug before getting up and running to her room, returning shortly after with two blankets and as many pillows as she could carry. "Movie marathon."~~~~~~~ Annabelle and A.J. were doubled over with laughter, each of them clinging to the other to maintain some semblance of balance. Annabelle had practically fallen off the couch, and A.J. barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground. "Oh, thank god. I almost dropped my breadstick," Annabelle sighed, taking a bite as she sat back up on the couch. A.J.'s eyes widened. "THAT'S what you're worried about?!" he exclaimed. She laughed, laying her head on his shoulder. "Breadsticks are important, A.J. If I die with a breadstick in my hand, I die happy." They sat together on the couch, practically smothered by each other and all of the blankets and pillows surrounding them. By the time the third movie had ended, A.J. had fallen asleep in Annabelle's lap. She smiled when she heard him snoring lightly, and moved his head off her lap and placed it down gently on the couch so she could shut down the house for the night. The last thing to be turned off was the TV. The leftover glow from the screen after it was turned off left her enough light to take one of the blankets from the pile and curl up on the floor in front of the couch. She always slept best when A.J. was around, and that night was no different.~~~~~~~~ Waking up in the morning could sometimes feel like a slap in the face. Other times, it was a pillow that your friend decided to hit you in the stomach with. A.J. laughed as she groaned, grabbing the pillow and attempting to throw it back at him. "Come on, I've got breakfast. Coffee's on the way," A.J. said, stealing the blanket she was using in an effort to get her up. She took a few moments to stretch and wake herself up more before making her way to the kitchen. "Did you put-" "-cream in your coffee? Peppermint, halfway," A.J. smiled, handing her a mug and sitting at her kitchen table. "Oh, hey. I woke up way too early, so I grabbed your mail." Annabelle took a large drink of her coffee before excitedly ruffling through the envelopes A.J. had dropped in front of her. Most of it was thrown aside quickly, but three envelopes practically made her choke on her pancakes. "Holy shit..." her voice trailed of as she stared at the envelopes. Before A.J. could even put together a response, she had ripped into one of the envelopes. She read through it quickly and excitedly, but her expression dropped, and the papers followed soon after. "Are you ok? What's wrong?" A.J. placed a hand on her shoulder. He glanced at the paper she had dropped. She had continued to tear through the other two as he scanned it. A.J. noticed that all of the letters had a college logo in the top left corner. The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Otis College of Art and Design, and the University of Michigan. "I didn't get in... FIDM or Otis... god, I don't even want to open the one from Michigan. It just- fuck, okay, I'm sorry, I need to-" Annabelle couldn't finish her sentence. She ran out of the kitchen faster than the tears that fell from her eyes. The first instinct A.J. had was to run after her and make sure she was alright, but in that moment his focus stayed on the half opened envelope with the University of Michigan logo in the corner. It was half opened, and he could read some of the words, but the only word that mattered on that page was 'accepted'. He grabbed the papers and bolted out of the kitchen and down the hallway to find her.