We walked back to the apartments as a group of giggling, crazy people. Carissra told us about her time in DC, and Kirk and I told her about the school party and seeingPhantom. Thankfully, we didn’t tell her about any of the other nastiness of the weekend. By the time we returned home, I was ready for bed. I said goodnight and headed into my apartment.
There was a piece of white paper folded in half sitting inside my doorway. I figured it was a message from the building housing committee, so I unfolded it and read it. “Erika, the company ofThe Naughty Listvoted unanimously in favor of you returning to the show today. I think we may make this happen. Everyone is beyond upset at how Eldridge handled the situation…especially when they found out what actually happened. Oh, and watch the paper for an article tomorrow…should be interesting. Yours in equity, Asher.”
I slept in on Monday and didn’t wake until almost 9:30 a.m. Dragging myself out of bed, I headed down to the gym to get a good run before figuring out what I would do for the day. Halfway through my run, Johnny suddenly materialized in front of the treadmill, arms flailing like a madman desperately seeking my attention.
I pulled the AirPod out of my left ear. “What has you in such a tizzy this morning?”
“Where have you been?” Johnny gasped. Clearly, he’d been running around.
I regarded the treadmill. “I’ve been running,” I said between breaths.
“You haven’t answered your phone.”
“I turned it off when I was running. Can it wait until I’m done?”
“No!” Johnny said, looking exasperated. “You’re needed at the theater,” he glanced at his watch, “like ten minutes ago.”
“What theater?” I said, still feeling the moving tread beneath my feet as I jogged.
“Girl! You. Are. Not. Keeping. Up.” He said with a clap in front of my face after each word.
“Okay, okay,” I said, turning the treadmill off. “You have my full attention. What’s the fuss?”
“Call Brice…Now!” He watched as I fiddled with my phone and searched for Brice’s number. Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone else in the gym at this mid-morning hour, so Johnny hadn’t disturbed anyone with his brief outburst.
“I take it Johnny found you,” Brice said.
“And good morning to you, too,” I said. “I was jogging. Why? What’s up?”
“Let’s say your castmates pulled a coup this morning. They’ve demanded you’re back in the show or they all walk. Surprisingly, this was backed by Equity. And the other unions came onboard.”
“Wait…what? Why?” I said, trying to understand what was happening.
“There was an article inThe Postthis morning by Michelle Bouvier. Asher and several other company members went on record saying firing you set a horrible precedent about privacy in the digital age. Bouvier dug up all the known facts about what happened to you. You come off sounding like the actual victim in all this.”
It took me a moment to process everything running through my head. Part of me was surprised that I was back in the show, and another part of me couldn’t believe that my leading champion was the man I’d spent the last three years hating.
“So,” Brice started again. “They wanted to see you at the theater at 10:00, but clearly, that isn’t happening.”
“Tell them I’ll be there by 11:30. I need to get ready.”
“I’m going to have them push the meeting back to one. I’m going to be there, Pearson is coming, and McCartan from Equity is planning to be there. We want to have a full-court press on your side of the table.”
“I’ll be there.” I hung up the phone and threw my arms around Johnny.
“Eww… You’re a hot, sweaty mess. I have girl-stank on me now.”
“Get over it,” I said, pulling him in for another hug.
“Go, get ready! And text me as soon as it’s over.”
His voice trailed as I rushed from the gym. Before leaving, I looked back at Johnny and said, “Will you please wipe off the treadmill for me? Thanks.”
“If it was anyone else…”
I didn’t hear the rest of the sentence because I was running to the elevator.
While I was in the shower, I got a follow up text.
