“You know I’m happy for you.”
“I know.” She eyes the blender. “What am I doing wrong?”
“Huh?”
“With the smoothie.”
“Oh.”Part of me wants to not tell her.“You should put the yogurt in the bottom to help the blades spin. Then fruit. Ice on top. Otherwise it’ll get all chunky.”
It’s better if you do the blackberries separately too, so you can strain out the seeds, but it’s far too late for that.
“Thanks.”
She turns the blender back on, ignoring the high-speed setting that, to be fair, she might not realize exists.
Theshmoodiesmoothie is a bit gloopy as she pours it into a bottle. She takes the pitcher to the sink, like she’s about to wash it, but I stop her. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Okay. I’m going to get dressed.” She sets the smoothie on the counter, not even bothering with the fridge. “What would I do without you, Jackson?”
I shrug, and she floats back up the stairs.
I put Liam’s smoothie in the fridge before making mine and Bowie’s. And I don’t let myself wonder just how well their date went. If she held hisperfectsmooth hands. Or kissed hisbeautifulfrog-holding lips. Or played with hissilkychlorinated hair.
If he reached back and tucked in her tags. Or laughed at her jokes. Or leaned in and whispered secrets to her without risking feedback.
I don’t wonder about any of that.
***
“Let’s try it again from the top of the scene.” Dr. L adjusts her scarf as Liam retreats stage right and Cam prepares to enter from stage left.
“Superstar” is the last number that needs to be worked on—Dr. L likes to save the big showstoppers for the end, so that the actors have as much time as possible to inhabit their roles before they get overwhelmed with choreo and music.
And of course, it’s Cam’s big moment: a real showcase of his talents as an actor and a singer and a dancer. He’s about as much of a triple threat as someone can be.
I stand next to Dr. L in the pit as Cam goes through the number, half speaking, half singing the lyrics.
“And Jesus, go!” Dr. L calls, halfway through, and Liam emerges from backstage right once more, bowed under the weight of an imaginary cross. (We’ve got another workday the Saturday after Halloween to get more of the set done; Denise has been swamped lately.)
“Judas, keep going.”
So Cam does, but he only gets a few more bars before Dr. L stops him again.
She shakes her head, taps her lips with her forefinger, then stomps up the steps from the pit to the stage. Paige and I follow.
Dr. L goes up to Cam and says something I don’t catch, but Paige does, scribbling in her notebook. It’s much slimmer than mine,probably due to a lack of breakup lists,but she’s got her script arranged the way I taught her, with the pages hole-punched on the wrong side so they lay on the left, with a blank reverse on the right for notes.
While Dr. Lstokes Cam’s egodiscusses his motivation, Liam catches my eye and gives a little smile. He didn’t mention the change in smoothies, and he doesn’t have blackberry seeds in his teeth, so maybe he didn’t mind. Maybe he liked Jasmine’s better after all.
“Okay?” he signs to me.
“Okay.”
When I look back at Dr. L and Cam, they’re both staring at me.
“Huh?”
“I said, do you have the diagrams from the ‘The Arrest?’ ” Dr. L asks.
