“I guess so.”I welcome the distraction and we talk about Sienna’s current shoot, then try to agree on some timings for a triple-date with Stella and Kate.
I’ve barely hung up the phone when it rings again.This time, it’s Derek.
“Hi, Avery,” he says.“I’m calling on behalf of Ida and Faye.”
“Oooh.”I’m instantly giddy.Despite, as Derek called me once, being the hot-and-very-buttered toast of Tinseltown, some actors are so great that simply saying their name still has that effect on me.Both Ida Burton and Faye Fleming belong to that category.“How thrilling.”
“They would like to invite you to dinner.”He pauses.“This invitation also extends to your forbidden lover—and I’m not paraphrasing here.”
Ida wasn’t being phony when she said she wanted to invite me to hers and Faye’s.Another flash of giddiness shoots through me.
“No longer forbidden,” I say.
“Depends who you ask, I guess,” Derek says.“Ben and I will also be there.I’ll WhatsApp some options.”I can almost hear the smile in his voice.“How are you doing with all this?”
“I’m in love, so…”
“And Nic?”
Every time someone mentions her name, butterflies go wild in my belly.I’m so smitten, I barely recognize myself.
“I think Nic feels the same way,” I say.
“How is she handling the whole thing with the board?I’m asking you because it’s hard to get a straight answer out of her.She’s in love, like you, so…”
It surprises me that Nic hasn’t been open with her best friend about how losing her license makes her feel.
“She’s not talking to you?”
“She is, but it’s a lot, even for her.”He sounds a little worried, worrying me in return.
“I know.”I have no clue what else to say to that.“I think she’ll be okay, but it will be a huge change.”
“We’ll get her through it,” Derek says.
We chitchat a while longer and when the call is over, I no longer feel like learning lines.
I pace around my house restlessly, checking my watch every other minute.Nic is working late tonight, seeing clients until nine p.m., and we don’t have plans together.But my body doesn’t seem to agree.My body very much wants to be with her.
I walk into the kitchen, then forget why I’m there.I open the script again, but stare at the same line for five minutes.I check the time—only 8:45—like an impatient teenager who is waiting for a text from her first girlfriend.
Fuck it.I message Nic, because I miss her and I want to be with her.I know exactly what to say to have her rush over here as soon as she’s finished work.
Want to watch Queer Girl Summer together tonight?
My phone buzzes at exactly one minute past nine.
I’ll be there in half an hour.
“Instead of watching the movie,” I say after I’ve welcomed Nic to my house with a long, hot kiss, “how about we reenact that scene in the woods?”
“The threesome one?”Nic arches up her eyebrows.“Is someone else here?”
I chuckle.“No, the other scene in the woods.”
“I have to watch the movie again to remember,” Nic says, her hand trailing down my arm.“Isn’t that why I’m here?”
“If you think the movie is better than this.”I pull her close again for another kiss.
