24 Hour Challenge B
Title: The Scapegoat
Word Count: 2162
Rating: PG-13
Original/Fandom: Glee
Pairings (if any): Andy/Ashley, etc
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): language,
Summary: Artie switches places with his evil twin. This is so dumb.
I know they say that everyone has a doppelganger, but I never, ever expected to meet mine in Coney Island. I was out on the pier while all my friends were enjoying themselves in Luna Park. Not much I could do there, so I played it cool and went out to the end of the pier. It was a week day right after finals ended and there weren’t many people out here in the cool afternoon. I was up on the little ramp, but I still didn’t have a great view. I just imagined the endless sea and some kind of an escape from the endless push of the city. Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m lucky, everything is almost too good. It gets old after a while.
I sighed, turned around and started down the ramp. Something caught my eye. A thin young man was leaning over the railing, staring at the water. I squinted, maybe it was just the light. He wasn’t wearing glasses and of course he wasn’t in a chair. I could only see his profile, but as if on cue, he looked up right at me. Same big eyes, big ears, straight nose. “What are you looking at?” He asked, but he stopped short and stared at me. After a moment, he took a step towards me. “Who are you?”
I tried to smile a little, but it was like looking into the mirror. I had to shake my head. “I’m not sure, who are you?”
The guy kept staring at me. Usually it really bothered me, but this was too weird. “My name is Andy Avery. I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
“Yeah, my name is Artie Abrams. I’m sorry, this is so weird.”
“Yeah, I know. I just moved here, I don’t know anyone yet. I think you’re the first person I’ve talked to all week besides my landlord. I just graduated and I haven’t even gotten an interview yet.” Somehow he chuckled. “I’m starting to think this was a huge mistake.”
“What did you major in?”
“Business,” he shrugged. “What about you?”
Business was something I could never imagine doing, it was just so boring. “Really? I’m a film major. I just finished my freshman year.”
“You look older.”
I just smirked, “I get that a lot.”
“So what do you think? We should switch places.”
“What? Are you insane?” I couldn’t even imagine it.
“Yeah, isn’t that what people do in situations like this? I feel like we have to follow the trope, you know?”
I laughed and shook my head. “It’s crazy. What’s the point? Besides, it would never work.”
“It’ll only be for 24 hours. I’ll meet you back right here, same time tomorrow. And of course it will work. We look exactly the same.”
“You’re forgetting one small detail.” I gestured down at my wheelchair. “Unfortunately, I really need it and all my friends know that.”
“Right…” He sighed, but didn’t seem very discouraged. In fact, his face lit up. “I have an idea. I saw a nursing home on my way over here. They were getting rid of a few wheelchairs, but they seemed fine to me.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t really understand how this works, do you? Besides, all my friends know my wheelchair.”
“Duh, I’ll use yours. That way you know I’ll come back. No offense dude, but I don’t really wanna be stuck in your chair for the rest of my life, only a day. You know, see how the other half lives.”
I shrugged. “I’m still not sure what the point of this is. I mean, I understand if we were like separated at birth, but we weren’t. Were we?”
He chuckled. “Dude, chill, of course not. Haven’t you ever wanted to be free?”
That got me. I let him go get the wheelchair and when he came back wheeling a piece of junk, I just tried not to flinch. I thought of an empty apartment and glorious silence. What I wouldn’t do for one day without ten different people driving me crazy.
Andy and I shook on it, exchanged cell phones and wallets and he took my glasses. We promised to meet back here in exactly 24 hours. I was a little hesitant, watching him wheel off in my chair, but I was kind of curious if any of my friends would even notice. Probably not.
I just sat on that pier for a long moment, feeling a strange sense of power as the wind blew over my face. I felt free.
Suddenly, my cell phone rang. Actually, it was Andy’s phone. I picked it up. Someone named Ashley. Should I answer? “Hello?” I tried to prepare myself, even though I had no idea who this was. Sister? Girlfriend? Wife?
“Where the hell are you?”
“Umm…”
“Andy, don’t bullshit with me. I want you to explain yourself right now.”
I had no idea what to say. “I’m in the city. You know that.”
“Of course you’re in the city! We've been living for our whole lives! Look, I don’t care where you are. I just hope you’re home before 2:30. Your mother is coming over.”
I glanced at my watch. I would have barely enough time to make it, wherever that was. I nodded, I knew I had to try. “OK, I’m coming home now.”
“Well, you better have my surprise.” She didn’t explain, she just hung up without even saying goodbye.
I fumbled for Andy’s wallet and glanced at his ID. It had been issued a year ago, when he turned 21. I assumed since Ashley had said they’d been living here for years, hopefully they were still living in the same place. This was never gonna work.
I started towards the train station. I had no idea where I was going or what kind of story I was gonna tell to Andy’s mother and pissed off girlfriend.
The train ride was too fast. He lived much deeper into Brooklyn than I did and I had to transfer to a bus because the station near his place wasn’t accessible. I approached the address and took a deep breath. It was a three story row house and thankfully his address said they lived on the ground floor. I reached up to press the bell, but then I realized that I lived here.
I realized I didn’t have a key.
I knocked loudly. There was no answer, so I decided to try something. I yelled, “Ashley? Look, I’m sorry, I uh- I lost my keys.”
She pulled open the door. She was a tall girl with long blond hair, pulled back into a sloppy bun. She was wearing a big tee-shirt, tight jeans and she looked exhausted. “You leave for two days on a ‘business trip’ and when you come back, your excuse is you lost your keys?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “What even happened to you?”
“Whoa, slow down a little bit.” I shook my head. For a second, I had no idea what she was talking about. Suddenly, I remembered the wheelchair. “Oh, this? I hurt my foot. Gonna have to stay off it for a few days.”
“Why don’t you just use crutches?”
“Er- feet. I hurt both feet.”
She rolled her eyes, like she didn’t really care. “Whatever. Just come in. We’ve got to get this place presentable before your mom shows up.”
The apartment was a mess. Ashley went off to the kitchen while I took a moment just to look around. The floor was covered with junk. I had no idea how they lived this way. Suddenly, there was a soft tapping on the window behind me. “Andy?” Someone was whispering.
I turned around and saw a pretty young girl with dark red hair. She gesturing for me to open the door. Despite my better judgement, I pulled open the door and looked up at her. “What are you doing here?” Even though I had no idea who she was.
“Andy? What happened to you?”
I shook my head. “Never mind that.”
She seemed to agree. “You said you were gonna come back to my place today. Two days wasn’t long enough to have you to myself. Come here, baby.” She actually leaned in and started to kiss me.
“Andy?” Ashley’s sharp voice asked from inside the apartment behind us. “What the hell is she doing here?”
“Um… nothing.”
“I told you to stop the-- oh hi, Mrs. Avery.” I noticed a lady walking up to our apartment, from behind the red haired girl.
“What’s going on here?” She took off her sunglasses. Thankfully she didn’t look anything like my own mom, which would have been too weird. “Andy? Are you OK?”
I wished people would stop asking me that. I just nodded. “Just a little accident.” I tried not to flinch.
The mother just breathed by me into the apartment. “OK, let’s get this over with.”
I looked into the apartment. Ashley was shooting daggers at me. I looked back, the redhead was already gone.
The mother looked around the apartment, sighed, shuffled some food into the fridge and slipped me a thick envelope. She looked me in the eye on her way out. “Walk me out, honey.”
I followed her out into the driveway and looked up at her.
“Look, I don’t wanna know what you’re up to, just please stop. Why don’t quite playing around and just marry Ashley? She’s got a good job. It’s the best you could hope for if you’re not gonna finish school or get a real job. Your father and I aren’t going to be around to support you forever, so just get your act together already.”
I was speechless. “Yes, mother.”
She leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “Take care of yourself.”
She left me there in the driveway. I peeked in the envelope and saw a fat wad of cash. I just shook my head and went into back to the apartment. Of course Ashley was standing there, her arms crossed. To my surprise, she just said, "Look, I don't care what's going on with Nicole."
Nicole, the red head, of course. "You don't?"
She rolled her eyes. "We've been through this, Andy. How much did your mother give you this time?"
I looked in the envelope again. "I don't know, $500?"
"Urgh, that's it for two weeks? You know, it's almost not worth putting up with your crap." But she was smiling. "But you said you had a surprise for me... Come on, where is it?"
I opened my mouth to make some excuse, but suddenly my mind flashed back to the pier. Andy had been looking for something in the water, something he had lost, on accident or on purpose. His mother had suggested that they get married already. And suddenly I knew exactly what had ended up on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
"Stop stalling, Andrew. Where's the ring?"
I closed my eyes for a moment... Apparently Ashley knew all about the surprise. I shook my head and looked up at her. "Look you've got the wrong guy. My name isn't even Andy."
"God, you're worse than I imagined. Have you really run out of excuses? I didn't think it was possible." And she slapped me hard across the face.
I was shocked. I touched my hand to my stinging cheek. That would leave a mark. "I can't believe you even think I am Andy... What about the wheelchair?"
Ashley eyed me for a moment. "He comes up with this bullshit all the time. I mean, you come up with it. I don't know anymore."
She really looked upset. "Why would he bother faking something like that? And if he would, he's worse than I imagined."
"You don't know Andy. God, you're really not him, are you?" I just shook my head. "It's creepy. You look exactly alike. That's the thing about Andy. It's like he wants me to feel bad for him or something. Like he's got such a hard life." She rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
She just laughed. "Do you really have to switch back? You seem really nice."
I nodded. "I'm afraid so. I need my real chair back. And besides, this is a little too weird for me."
"I agree. Sorry I mistook you for Andy. What's your name anyway?"
"Artie." I studied at her for a minute. "Oh, I guess this belongs to you." I held out the envelope for her.
She held it there for a long moment. "You're a good guy, Artie."
Word Count: 2162
Rating: PG-13
Original/Fandom: Glee
Pairings (if any): Andy/Ashley, etc
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): language,
Summary: Artie switches places with his evil twin. This is so dumb.
I know they say that everyone has a doppelganger, but I never, ever expected to meet mine in Coney Island. I was out on the pier while all my friends were enjoying themselves in Luna Park. Not much I could do there, so I played it cool and went out to the end of the pier. It was a week day right after finals ended and there weren’t many people out here in the cool afternoon. I was up on the little ramp, but I still didn’t have a great view. I just imagined the endless sea and some kind of an escape from the endless push of the city. Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m lucky, everything is almost too good. It gets old after a while.
I sighed, turned around and started down the ramp. Something caught my eye. A thin young man was leaning over the railing, staring at the water. I squinted, maybe it was just the light. He wasn’t wearing glasses and of course he wasn’t in a chair. I could only see his profile, but as if on cue, he looked up right at me. Same big eyes, big ears, straight nose. “What are you looking at?” He asked, but he stopped short and stared at me. After a moment, he took a step towards me. “Who are you?”
I tried to smile a little, but it was like looking into the mirror. I had to shake my head. “I’m not sure, who are you?”
The guy kept staring at me. Usually it really bothered me, but this was too weird. “My name is Andy Avery. I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
“Yeah, my name is Artie Abrams. I’m sorry, this is so weird.”
“Yeah, I know. I just moved here, I don’t know anyone yet. I think you’re the first person I’ve talked to all week besides my landlord. I just graduated and I haven’t even gotten an interview yet.” Somehow he chuckled. “I’m starting to think this was a huge mistake.”
“What did you major in?”
“Business,” he shrugged. “What about you?”
Business was something I could never imagine doing, it was just so boring. “Really? I’m a film major. I just finished my freshman year.”
“You look older.”
I just smirked, “I get that a lot.”
“So what do you think? We should switch places.”
“What? Are you insane?” I couldn’t even imagine it.
“Yeah, isn’t that what people do in situations like this? I feel like we have to follow the trope, you know?”
I laughed and shook my head. “It’s crazy. What’s the point? Besides, it would never work.”
“It’ll only be for 24 hours. I’ll meet you back right here, same time tomorrow. And of course it will work. We look exactly the same.”
“You’re forgetting one small detail.” I gestured down at my wheelchair. “Unfortunately, I really need it and all my friends know that.”
“Right…” He sighed, but didn’t seem very discouraged. In fact, his face lit up. “I have an idea. I saw a nursing home on my way over here. They were getting rid of a few wheelchairs, but they seemed fine to me.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t really understand how this works, do you? Besides, all my friends know my wheelchair.”
“Duh, I’ll use yours. That way you know I’ll come back. No offense dude, but I don’t really wanna be stuck in your chair for the rest of my life, only a day. You know, see how the other half lives.”
I shrugged. “I’m still not sure what the point of this is. I mean, I understand if we were like separated at birth, but we weren’t. Were we?”
He chuckled. “Dude, chill, of course not. Haven’t you ever wanted to be free?”
That got me. I let him go get the wheelchair and when he came back wheeling a piece of junk, I just tried not to flinch. I thought of an empty apartment and glorious silence. What I wouldn’t do for one day without ten different people driving me crazy.
Andy and I shook on it, exchanged cell phones and wallets and he took my glasses. We promised to meet back here in exactly 24 hours. I was a little hesitant, watching him wheel off in my chair, but I was kind of curious if any of my friends would even notice. Probably not.
I just sat on that pier for a long moment, feeling a strange sense of power as the wind blew over my face. I felt free.
Suddenly, my cell phone rang. Actually, it was Andy’s phone. I picked it up. Someone named Ashley. Should I answer? “Hello?” I tried to prepare myself, even though I had no idea who this was. Sister? Girlfriend? Wife?
“Where the hell are you?”
“Umm…”
“Andy, don’t bullshit with me. I want you to explain yourself right now.”
I had no idea what to say. “I’m in the city. You know that.”
“Of course you’re in the city! We've been living for our whole lives! Look, I don’t care where you are. I just hope you’re home before 2:30. Your mother is coming over.”
I glanced at my watch. I would have barely enough time to make it, wherever that was. I nodded, I knew I had to try. “OK, I’m coming home now.”
“Well, you better have my surprise.” She didn’t explain, she just hung up without even saying goodbye.
I fumbled for Andy’s wallet and glanced at his ID. It had been issued a year ago, when he turned 21. I assumed since Ashley had said they’d been living here for years, hopefully they were still living in the same place. This was never gonna work.
I started towards the train station. I had no idea where I was going or what kind of story I was gonna tell to Andy’s mother and pissed off girlfriend.
The train ride was too fast. He lived much deeper into Brooklyn than I did and I had to transfer to a bus because the station near his place wasn’t accessible. I approached the address and took a deep breath. It was a three story row house and thankfully his address said they lived on the ground floor. I reached up to press the bell, but then I realized that I lived here.
I realized I didn’t have a key.
I knocked loudly. There was no answer, so I decided to try something. I yelled, “Ashley? Look, I’m sorry, I uh- I lost my keys.”
She pulled open the door. She was a tall girl with long blond hair, pulled back into a sloppy bun. She was wearing a big tee-shirt, tight jeans and she looked exhausted. “You leave for two days on a ‘business trip’ and when you come back, your excuse is you lost your keys?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “What even happened to you?”
“Whoa, slow down a little bit.” I shook my head. For a second, I had no idea what she was talking about. Suddenly, I remembered the wheelchair. “Oh, this? I hurt my foot. Gonna have to stay off it for a few days.”
“Why don’t you just use crutches?”
“Er- feet. I hurt both feet.”
She rolled her eyes, like she didn’t really care. “Whatever. Just come in. We’ve got to get this place presentable before your mom shows up.”
The apartment was a mess. Ashley went off to the kitchen while I took a moment just to look around. The floor was covered with junk. I had no idea how they lived this way. Suddenly, there was a soft tapping on the window behind me. “Andy?” Someone was whispering.
I turned around and saw a pretty young girl with dark red hair. She gesturing for me to open the door. Despite my better judgement, I pulled open the door and looked up at her. “What are you doing here?” Even though I had no idea who she was.
“Andy? What happened to you?”
I shook my head. “Never mind that.”
She seemed to agree. “You said you were gonna come back to my place today. Two days wasn’t long enough to have you to myself. Come here, baby.” She actually leaned in and started to kiss me.
“Andy?” Ashley’s sharp voice asked from inside the apartment behind us. “What the hell is she doing here?”
“Um… nothing.”
“I told you to stop the-- oh hi, Mrs. Avery.” I noticed a lady walking up to our apartment, from behind the red haired girl.
“What’s going on here?” She took off her sunglasses. Thankfully she didn’t look anything like my own mom, which would have been too weird. “Andy? Are you OK?”
I wished people would stop asking me that. I just nodded. “Just a little accident.” I tried not to flinch.
The mother just breathed by me into the apartment. “OK, let’s get this over with.”
I looked into the apartment. Ashley was shooting daggers at me. I looked back, the redhead was already gone.
The mother looked around the apartment, sighed, shuffled some food into the fridge and slipped me a thick envelope. She looked me in the eye on her way out. “Walk me out, honey.”
I followed her out into the driveway and looked up at her.
“Look, I don’t wanna know what you’re up to, just please stop. Why don’t quite playing around and just marry Ashley? She’s got a good job. It’s the best you could hope for if you’re not gonna finish school or get a real job. Your father and I aren’t going to be around to support you forever, so just get your act together already.”
I was speechless. “Yes, mother.”
She leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “Take care of yourself.”
She left me there in the driveway. I peeked in the envelope and saw a fat wad of cash. I just shook my head and went into back to the apartment. Of course Ashley was standing there, her arms crossed. To my surprise, she just said, "Look, I don't care what's going on with Nicole."
Nicole, the red head, of course. "You don't?"
She rolled her eyes. "We've been through this, Andy. How much did your mother give you this time?"
I looked in the envelope again. "I don't know, $500?"
"Urgh, that's it for two weeks? You know, it's almost not worth putting up with your crap." But she was smiling. "But you said you had a surprise for me... Come on, where is it?"
I opened my mouth to make some excuse, but suddenly my mind flashed back to the pier. Andy had been looking for something in the water, something he had lost, on accident or on purpose. His mother had suggested that they get married already. And suddenly I knew exactly what had ended up on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
"Stop stalling, Andrew. Where's the ring?"
I closed my eyes for a moment... Apparently Ashley knew all about the surprise. I shook my head and looked up at her. "Look you've got the wrong guy. My name isn't even Andy."
"God, you're worse than I imagined. Have you really run out of excuses? I didn't think it was possible." And she slapped me hard across the face.
I was shocked. I touched my hand to my stinging cheek. That would leave a mark. "I can't believe you even think I am Andy... What about the wheelchair?"
Ashley eyed me for a moment. "He comes up with this bullshit all the time. I mean, you come up with it. I don't know anymore."
She really looked upset. "Why would he bother faking something like that? And if he would, he's worse than I imagined."
"You don't know Andy. God, you're really not him, are you?" I just shook my head. "It's creepy. You look exactly alike. That's the thing about Andy. It's like he wants me to feel bad for him or something. Like he's got such a hard life." She rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
She just laughed. "Do you really have to switch back? You seem really nice."
I nodded. "I'm afraid so. I need my real chair back. And besides, this is a little too weird for me."
"I agree. Sorry I mistook you for Andy. What's your name anyway?"
"Artie." I studied at her for a minute. "Oh, I guess this belongs to you." I held out the envelope for her.
She held it there for a long moment. "You're a good guy, Artie."