“That was really awesome,” said a voice much too close to my ear. I spun with a gasp to see Luca standing behind me, arms folded over his chest. “I caught a little of the performance at the end. Those puppets are really something else.”
“Thanks,” I said, and silently cursed the blush that was creeping up my neck. “It’s starting to come together, I guess.”
“I might actually go down and watch this year,” Luca said. “I think the outsiders will be impressed.” He winked, grinning, and I felt the blush creep all the way up to my hairline.
“Oh yeah, you… you should definitely come down. I mean, everyone should…” I babbled.
“Maybe we can watch it together… you know, unless you have to be backstage or something.”
“I… oh, yeah, that would… I mean, no, I don’t have to be… I think I can watch…but I’m not really sure. I’ll have to check with Zale to see where he needs me…”Oh my God, Wren, shut up, like literally just stop making sounds.
“Sure, sure, just let me know. I’ll probably come down to watch it anyway. Well, see you tomorrow,” Luca said, and loped off the stage and up the aisle.
I stuck my head in among the costumes on the rack, like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand. “Kill me right now.”
“Excuse me? Why are we killing you?” Eva’s voice cut through all the layers of fabric.
“Because I’m a babbling idiot,” I moaned.
“Explain.”
“Luca basically just asked me if I wanted to go to the festival with him, and I short-circuited. Like, my brain stopped working.”
“Okay, well, rewire yourself and try again tomorrow,” Eva said with a shrug. “We’ve all gone to pieces in front of a beautiful human before. It happens.”
I groaned again. I couldn’t imagine Eva going to pieces in front of anybody. She always seemed to know exactly what to say. “He literally just wanted to stand next to me in public, and I couldn’t even say yes. I’m such a useless coward.”
“Do you always talk about yourself that way?” Eva asked, looking suddenly stern.
“Huh? What way?” I asked, my voice still muffled.
“Thatway,” Eva said, “like you can never do anything right.”
“I… didn’t realize I was talking about myself that way.”
“Well, you do, and frankly, it’s starting to piss me off,” Eva snapped.
I blinked, a little shocked, and pulled my face out of the fabric to see Eva, arms crossed over her chest, glaring at me. “I… I’m sorry?”
“Good. You should be sorry. I don’t let anyone talk about my friend like that,” she said, and then ruined her stern expression by winking at me.
I nervous laugh escaped me. “For a second there, I thought you were actually mad at me.”
“Oh, I am mad at you. I’m furious,” Eva insisted. “How can you call yourself useless after everything you’ve done for this pageant!”
I felt my cheeks burn. “Eva, I’ve barely done?—”
“Wren, for the first time ever, we won’t be a total laughingstock, and that’s all down to you! You really have a creative eye! You knew exactly what this pathetic little pageant needed, and now, for the first time, someone besides Zale is excited to be a part of this thing!”
“I’ve just hung around a lot of shows, that’s all,” I muttered, still feeling embarrassed. “I wasn’t even in them. I just sat backstage calling cues because I was too much of a coward to audition.”
“Bullshit. You were definitely doing more than that. You get how what makes a show work. You know how to put the pieces together so that they create exactly what you envisioned. You don’t have to be in the spotlight to play an important role, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, feeling a smile trying to break through my embarrassment.
“And as far as you being a coward… well, I don’t know who you’re talking about, but I watched you that night on the beach, and that girl was no coward.”
“Okay, okay, oh my GOD,” I said, sure my face must be purple at this point. “I can’t take any more pep talk; it’s literal torture. I promise I won’t talk about myself like that anymore. Can you pleasepleasejust let it go…”
