Fish Out of Water: Common Ground Chapter 18 Part 1
DISCLAIMER: The Facts of Life and its characters are the property of Columbia Pictures Television and Sony Pictures Television, no infringement intended.
SEQUEL/SERIES/SPOILERS: Common Ground: Chapter 18. Events take place between Season 3, Episode 6 and Episode 7.
PLAYLIST LINK: http://www.youtube.com/user/FactsOfLifeMinutes#p/p
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
THANKS: To Stacey (aka BetaPup) for the Beta, assistance in story and character development, encouragement, and meticulous attention to detail.
Common Ground
By: Slave2Free
Chapter 18: Fish Out Of Water (Part 1)
“I don’t know why you packed so much stuff. I told you that Ma and I are very casual around the apartment. You look like you’re going to a job interview.”
Blair self-consciously smoothed the pleats of her dark purple skirt, perfectly coordinated with the light purple silk blouse she was wearing.
“I want your mother to like me, Jo.”
“She already likes you, Blair.”
“We’ve barely spoken to one another.”
“Will you relax? It’s not a big deal.”
Despite her protestations, Jo was happy that Blair wanted to look nice for Jo’s mother. Jo would have insisted that Blair wear something more appropriate for her visit to the Bronx, but she didn’t want to make Blair more anxious. The fashion-conscious debutante had tried on at least ten different outfits before deciding on the purple. Jo suspected that the first ten outfits were inside one of the bags she was lugging up the stairs to her mother’s apartment.
As Jo reached forward to open the door to the apartment, Blair suddenly stopped her.
“We have to go back, Jo. I have to change. I’m overdressed.”
Jo agreed with Blair’s assessment, but smiled reassuringly anyway. As soon as she opened the door, Jo realized her mistake. Blair wasn’t the one dressed inappropriately, it was Jo. Jo’s temper sparked, not only had her mother invited a large group of friends over to meet Jo’s famous roommate, everyone was dressed in their finest clothes.
The sight of Jo’s disapproving scowl made Rose Polniaczek apprehensive, but the heiress she had invited everyone to meet seemed thrilled by her surprise party. Jo glanced at Blair, telegraphing her silent apology and Blair smiled at her in return. Jo knew that Blair expected and tolerated the fact that people often used their acquaintance with Blair in an attempt to elevate themselves socially and she hoped that Blair didn’t think her mother was doing that. Jo wasn’t sure why her mother was behaving so uncharacteristically toward Blair and was confused as to why her mother continued to act awestruck around the heiress.
While Jo sulked in the background, Blair held court in the Polniaczek den like a fairy princess. She smiled and was respectful toward all of Jo’s mother’s friends, but Jo recognized the polite formality for what it was. What Jo found startling was the realization that one of the things Blair had been telling Jo all year was true. Jo often argued with Blair that Blair should be herself in social situations. She told Blair that people would like Blair for who she really was, not an untouchable princess on a pedestal. Blair, however, argued that people not only expected her to act like an heiress, they’d be disappointed if she didn’t. As Jo listened to the excited chatter of her mother’s friends, she could tell that they weren’t there to meet Jo’s ordinary friend, they’d come to meet the heiress. Blair was right; if she had attempted to fit in with Rose’s friends, they would have been disappointed.
Jo’s aunt, Evelyn, was playing hostess, carrying a tray of éclairs and drinks around the room while Rose sat prominently at Blair’s side.
“Blair Warner, this is our building superintendent, Raymond Balducci.”
“Building Superintendent? That sounds like an important job.”
Jo snickered into her hand when Rose introduced Mr. Balducci to Blair.
‘She has no idea that Mr. Balducci is a glorified janitor,’ thought Jo.
Mr. Balducci’s chest expanded as he shook the hand Blair offered. Rose explained further.
“Mr. Balducci is in charge of keeping everything in good working order in the building.”
“You take care of the entire building?”
Jo was impressed by Blair’s ability to appear so impressed by Mr. Balducci’s job.
“Uh, yes. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong in apartments.”
Blair smiled sweetly.
“Did you teach Jo how to fix things?”
Turning to Rose, Blair continued.
“Jo can fix anything. Mrs. Garrett says that there isn’t an appliance made that Jo can’t fix.”
If Mr. Balducci had been a rooster, Jo was certain he would have crowed.
“I took the kid under my wing and taught her a few things.”
‘Give me a break,’ thought Jo, ‘I had to teach him how to fix almost everything in this building.’
“Jealous?”
Jo spun around to face her accuser, her face flush with embarrassment.
“Pop, I didn’t realize you were here.”
“You were too busy having a temper tantrum. Are you angry about sharing the spotlight with your friend?”
Jo was offended.
“Of course not!”
“Then why are you standing in the corner scowling at everyone while Blair is being forced to entertain your mother’s friends.”
“It’s not like that.”
“That’s how it looks to me.”
Charlie Polniaczek’s reprimand reminded Jo that Blair was the one who should have been angered by Rose’s ambush. Jo felt remorseful about leaving Blair alone with Rose to make small talk with the neighbors while she had practically ignored Blair.
Jo felt even worse about her selfish behavior when she saw the extent of relief on Blair’s face when the surrounded celebrity saw Jo walking in her direction. Blair immediately shifted on the sofa, making room for Jo to sit on the side opposite Rose.
“Mr. Balducci was just telling me how he likes to mentor the neighborhood children, like he did for you, Jo.”
Mr. Balducci had the decency to blush as the heiress repeated his exaggeration, but Jo felt sorry for the guy and let him off the hook.
“Yeah, Mr. Balducci taught me everything I know about fixing stuff.”
Knowing better, Rose smiled at her daughter’s uncharacteristic display of manners. Rose was pleased that some of Blair Warner’s etiquette was rubbing off on her abrasive daughter.
“Ma, you should have told me that you were planning a party.”
“It’s not a party, Jo. I just happened to mention that you were coming home this weekend and a few of my friends haven’t seen you in so long that I thought it would be a good chance for you to catch up with them.”
Jo squinted her eyes.
“Yeah, everyone’s been practically falling over one another to get to me.”
Rose smiled despite her daughter’s sarcasm, unable to prevent herself from enjoying the party even though it was obviously making Jo uncomfortable.
Charlie stood in the doorway where he’d found Jo earlier, watching Rose and Blair as intently as Jo had been studying them earlier. Charlie liked everything about Blair Warner. He liked her flirtatious nature. He liked her megawatt smile. He liked how people reacted when he told them that his daughter’s roommate was the daughter of the well-known entrepreneur, David Warner. He liked the way she stood up to Jo during an argument. He liked the way she was working her heart out to impress Rose. Most of all, Charlie liked the way Jo’s eyes sparkled when his daughter looked at her.
Charlie felt that Jo had inherited the best of his and Rose’s personalities. He knew that the fiery Polniaczek temper would serve Jo well, but was also pleased to see it tempered by Rose’s gentler nature. What Charlie didn’t like was that Jo, like Rose, didn’t seem to know how to have fun. Rose was always carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and worrying over things that couldn’t be changed and she had apparently passed that trait down to their daughter. Jo needed someone in her life who could teach Jo to be more carefree and in Charlie’s opinion, Blair Warner was the perfect person for the job.
‘Rose likes the girl,’ thought Charlie. He could tell when his ex-wife was pretending to like someone and when she truly enjoyed someone’s company and Rose’s easy smile and bright eyes told Charlie that Blair was everything Rose had expected and more.
Charlie grimaced when he noticed his least favorite neighbor. Mrs. Waldman hadn’t immediately greeted the heiress like Rose’s other neighbors. She considered herself too dignified to fawn over Rose’s celebrity guest, but her curiosity finally got the better of her and she suspiciously approached the threesome.
“Hello, Jo, I hope you’re still doing well at Eastpoint.”
Jo scowled. Mrs. Waldman knew full well the name of Jo’s school, but Jo wouldn’t give the old biddy the satisfaction of correcting her again. Blair, noting Jo’s shoulders tense as the older woman had approached them, immediately realized that the mispronunciation was intended as a slur, as if Eastland wasn’t the most well-known, highly respected preparatory school in the country. The sound of Blair’s giggle drifted softly across the room as she extended her hand toward Mrs. Waldman.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs.-?”
Rose graciously made the introduction.
“Blair, this is my friend, Myrna Waldman.”
“Are you by any chance related to Jay Waldman of Pennsylvania, the deputy assistant U.S. attorney general?”
Mr. Balducci, overhearing the conversation, snickered loudly and elbowed the gentleman standing beside him.
“The only relationship between the Bronx Waldmans and the Pennsylvania Waldmans would be if the attorney general had ever prosecuted Myrna’s son-in-law.”
Myrna Waldman turned on the man and gave him a withering glare, giving Jo an opportunity to grin appreciatively at her girlfriend.
From a distance, Charlie marveled at the fact that although he had been absent from Jo’s life for over four years, he still understood his daughter better than Rose. If Rose noticed the quick smiles that passed back and forth between the girls, or the way Jo would stretch her leg out in front of her so that her knee would come into contact with Blair’s, Jo’s mother didn’t attribute anything other than a close friendship to the behavior.
‘It’s deeper than I realized,’ pondered Charlie. He knew that it was serious for Jo when he found out that Jo had agreed to have the heiress visit her home in the Bronx. Jo wasn’t ashamed of her humble apartment, but she was intensely private and had seldom invited any of her friends, with the exception of Jessie, into her home.
Thinking of Jo’s friends, Charlie scanned the room again, noting that Rose had not invited a single one of them to the party. It didn’t surprise Charlie that Jo’s neighborhood friends had been excluded; Rose didn’t like any of Jo’s friends. They weren’t good enough to be her friends, just like Eddie Brennan wasn’t good enough to be Jo’s beau. Charlie didn’t disagree when it came to Eddie, but he didn’t dislike Eddie. Charlie’s only problem with Eddie was that Jo didn’t sparkle when she looked at him and Charlie Polniaczek felt that his daughter deserved to sparkle.
Charlie couldn’t argue with Rose about Jo’s other friends, either. Most of them were either high school dropouts or members of Jo’s old gang. The only one Jo seemed to have maintained a friendship with after leaving for Eastland was Jessie and Charlie disliked Jessie most of all. He probably disliked the brash young woman even more than Rose did.
‘Jessie, now that kid is a real piece of work. The kind of friend that can get a good kid like Jo into a whole lot of trouble,’ reasoned Jo’s pop. As soon as he found out that his daughter had been stabbed during her summer vacation, Charlie had a hunch that Jo’s friend Jessie had something to do with it. Jo’s dad knew that Jessie had a reputation for pursuing other young girls, but he had never worried that Jo might take that kind of interest in the fellow gang member. Regardless of Jo’s former affiliation with the Young Diablos, Jo adhered to a strong ethical code and that code would always separate his daughter from people like Jessie. Charlie felt that Jo’s friendship with Jessie must be grounded in a misplaced since of responsibility on Jo’s part because Jo usually had little tolerance for mean-spirited people, and Jessie’s spirit could be as mean as it gets whenever it suited the renegade girl.
Returning his attention to Jo’s current guest, Charlie concluded that Blair was as different from Jessie as sunshine was to darkness. Jo and Blair were opposites in the ways that attract one person to another, but at their core they were both good-hearted kids and that’s why Charlie hoped that their differences wouldn’t one day come between them. Charlie knew enough about his daughter’s exceptional intelligence and versatility to be certain that Jo could fit into any social group or situation, and after watching Blair interact with Rose’s friends that afternoon, he was beginning to believe that the heiress might be able to meet Jo halfway when it came to the inevitable compromises each would have to make.
Charlie’s thoughts lightened when he saw Mrs. Malony’s son approach Blair and accidentally spill some of his punch on the front of Blair’s blouse in his excitement. Jo’s pop almost choked on one of Evelyn’s cookies when Jo practically knocked over her mother’s best serving tray in order to intervene when Mickey Malony began awkwardly swiping at Blair’s chest with a napkin.
‘If my instincts are right,’ and Charlie was convinced that they were, ‘Jo is going to have her work cut out for her keeping the wolves away from her girlfriend.’ Charlie chuckled to himself at the thought. He shouldn’t think of the heiress as Jo’s girlfriend when all his suspicions could easily be off the mark, but there was something between the two girls that Charlie couldn’t explain in any other way and it pleased Jo’s father to believe that the bond the girls shared was a romantic one.
Jo’s dad was pondering the possibilities when the bubbly blonde passed him on her way to the kitchen to clean her blouse. He was pleased by Blair’s innocently flirtatious greeting.
“Why, Mr. Polniaczek, you look absolutely dashing in that suit. The tie brings out the green in your eyes.”
“You’re looking very stylish as well, Miss Warner. If I didn’t know that the welcoming party was a surprise, I’d think you had dressed specifically for the special occasion.”
Blair laughed.
“Mother says that one should always dress as attractively as possible because you never know when you might run into a dashing prince.”
Blair had intended the comment as a compliment, putting Charlie in the role of the prince, and was somewhat surprised by Charlie’s response.
“But you’re in the Bronx, Blair. What would be the point of attracting a young man from this area? Prince Charming wouldn’t even visit this neighborhood.”
If she’d been speaking with anyone else, Blair would have quickly determined that she was being accused of snobbery, but Charlie’s expression wasn’t one of contempt, it was one of concern. Blair’s mother had not only taught her daughter to be fashionably prepared for any situation, she’d also given Blair a thousand retorts for any given situation, but Blair chose to reject any of the canned statements.
Surprised, and a bit concerned, by the lengthy pause, Charlie clumsily backed away from his earlier question.
“There I go again, using too many words when only a few would do the trick. I meant to say that you look like royalty, Blair.”
It was the blush creeping up Charlie’s face that told Blair that Jo’s father may have been attempting, in a roundabout way, to discover Blair’s attitude toward Jo. Having determined that Charlie was as astute as Jo, the only question in Blair’s mind was whether or not Charlie had surmised the true nature of her friendship with his daughter.
“Mrs. Garrett says that the true measure of a man . . . or woman, lies in his or her character, not in where or to whom they were born. It wouldn’t be unrealistic for me to stumble upon someone of exceptional character in the Bronx. For all we know, there may be a prince or princess in this very room.”
Charlie’s expression was serious and Blair maintained her solemn attitude, sensing the significance of the conversation.
“And if there were, Miss Warner, what would you do?”
Blair’s expression changed into a megawatt smile.
“I’d pledge my lifelong allegiance, of course.”
Charlie’s eyes narrowed as he tried to determine whether or not the socialite was sincere or teasing. It was only when Blair astonished him by leaning forward and placing an affectionate kiss on his cheek that Charlie understood.
“Now, I need to clean off my blouse before another court jester decides to do it for me and Jo has him beheaded for his efforts.”
Charlie laughed heartily.
‘Yep, my little girl is gonna have her hands full with you.’
After allowing the cold water she had dabbed onto her top to dry enough to be presentable, Blair walked back toward the den, but paused in the doorway where she had encountered Charlie earlier. She quickly realized why Jo’s father had spent most of the afternoon in that location. It gave her a perfect view of everyone in the room while shielding her presence from others. Within seconds her eyes found Jo and she watched admiringly as her modest girlfriend shrugged off one compliment after another.
Straightening her shoulders, Blair sighed before returning to the den to continue greeting the multitude of strangers.
**