“Got everything?” asked Noah as he pulled into Metro-North the next morning.
“Absolutely,” AJ lied.
His eyes narrowed. But before he could comment, AJ kissed him on the cheek and got out of the car. She hated long goodbyes, and she didn’t want to think about what this one meant.
The air in AJ’s one-bedroom smelled stale, like someone had made a candle out of her bodywash and linty sweatshirts and not burned it. She stayed just long enough to drop her bag. She could not spend her first day in three months apart from Noah staring at the Ektorp.
Instead, she met Dave in their lobby, and they passed a pleasant afternoon dodging tourists in Central Park. There was such comfort in spending time with a former roommate. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t caught up in months, their ease was on a creature level.
Dave had done six cons that summer with Toni, Xiaobo, and an assortment of others. He didn’t seem as euphoric about it as usual. As they passed the statue of Alice in Wonderland, AJ probed.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I look forward to it all year, mostly so I can be with Bo. But…I don’t know. We’ve been doing this for six years and…I’m tired. Like, convention days are amazing, but that leaves a lot of other days. I’m getting old, is what I’m saying.”
AJ laughed and bought him a popsicle that looked like a rocket ship. As he ate it, AJ gave him a bare-bones account of her summer that she thought was sanitized. But the second she mentioned Noah, Dave took one look at her and grinned.
“Summer of the Gothic Sex Mansion.Nice,” he said, and AJ’s face went Bram Stoker’s favorite shade of red.
“I’m happy for you guys,” said Dave, who had never opined on AJ’s love life before. “He’s, like,lovedyou forever.”
AJ looked up in surprise. “You knew?”
Dave laughed. “I’ve known since the jam. Gladyoufinally realized.” Then, “Really glad.”
“Thanks, D,” said AJ, stealing into Dave’s reality, where her time with Noah wasn’t almost up.
They hugged goodbye at the Eighty-sixth Street 4 train, and Dave headed downtown for a practice group he had agreed to coach as a favor to an old friend.
AJ took a meandering route back through the park, stopping to eat at a pretzel stand. By the time she returned to her building, it was after ninep.m., and she had successfully exhausted herself.
As she entered her lobby, her doorman, Oscar, gave her an unusually knowing look.
“Someone isreallyexcited to see you,” he said.
AJ barely had time to react before she saw Bud scraping toward her across the polished black tile floor. Her tail was going berserk. She reared up on her hind legs, digging at AJ’s shins until AJ squatted and let her kiss her ears. “That’s my girl,” said AJ quietly. “That’s my good girl.”
She looked up to find Noah unfolding himself from the most secluded of the lobby’s black leather chairs; he was in a hoodieanda baseball cap. From his posture, AJ could tell he had been waiting for some time. Beneath his disguise, his eyes went round with relief at the sight of her. “You forgot something,” he said, holding up one of her snake plants.
AJ grinned. She ran to him and threw her arms around his middle so forcefully she almost bowled him over. Behind her, she could feel Bud pawing at her legs.
They went upstairs, ordered food, and snuggled into the Ektorp. Noah’s nose was buried in her hair, his hand covering her abdomen. As his heart raced against her shoulder, a calm stole over AJ. Surely this meant he was starting to see reason; he couldn’t even last the day without her. They stayed like that until his heart had slowed to its usual, steady rhythm.
AJ’s anxiety didn’t return until the next day, when she noticed the T.J. Maxx bag he had brought, containing all the items she had intentionally left at Drew House.
Shortly after returning towork, AJ met with Dani Chan to request time off in October. When Dani heard what it was for, she eyed AJ over her glasses.
“I didn’t think acting was your thing,” she said after a moment.
AJ’s cheeks colored. She thought of Eudora’s last note. Of how she had once attracted friends like Toni, out of a subconscious desire to stay small and safe. After all this time, part of AJ was still waiting for someone else to tell her who she was. Maybe it was time to decide for herself.
She gave Dani a self-effacing shrug. “It’s one of my things.”
Dani held her gaze, and for a split second, AJ thought she might push further. People did not like having their preconceived notions overturned, particularly about those closest to them.
Then she said, “Right on. Two weeks isn’t much. You don’t need any time to rehearse?”
AJ shook her head. She didn’t want to miss any more work than necessary.
“No, I guess Noah Drew just goes off the cuff,” said Dani.
