“Cast party at the Black Door Pub across the street! Everyone’s invited!” she announced to the dwindling crowd.
Damn it. All Anne wanted to do was go home where she had her pajamas and Netflix login waiting. Instead, she followed everyone else toward the exit to the street.
The Black Door Pub was already crowded when they arrived, full of cast members who had chosen to wear their costumes out to celebrate. After finally getting a soda water from the beleaguered bartender, Anne settled into a spot at the end of the bar with Ellis and James. She lost track of Freddie as soon as they came in, and finally released the breath she felt like she had been holding for hours. Everyone was laughing and chatting, as if nipples and synthetic phalluses were commonplace.
“There she is!” James suddenly yelled.
Anne turned just as Cricket rounded the corner of the bar. She was still in her costume, and her fairy wings hit almost every person sitting at the bar as she made her way toward them. Freddie appeared a moment later holding two drinks, a beer and something blue garnished with an olive.
Cricket smiled when she arrived at their end of the bar, giving each of them a hug before sitting on the vacant stool next to Anne, angling herself to where Freddie stopped nearby. A breathythank youfell from her lips as she relieved him of her cocktail, then she addressed the small group of five.
“Thank you so so so much for coming,” she said. She touched her hand to her heart before adding, “Seriously. It means the world. Even if Ididflub a line.”
“I didn’t even notice,” Anne assured her. Technically, it wasn’t a lie—she hadn’t noticed. She had barely followed the plot.
“At least your character didn’t require nudity,” James said,sipping his martini through a small cocktail straw. “I saw more breasts tonight than I have in my entire life.”
“Oh, I usually do,” Cricket said offhandedly. “But after I told the director that my brother was going to be in the audience tonight, they gave me a special exemption.”
Ellis frowned.
Cricket turned to Freddie and offered him a beaming smile. “Do you think anyone noticed I messed up?”
“Not a chance. You were great,” Freddie replied reassuringly.
The words hit Anne like a ton of bricks. She knew that tone, how it could make you feel seen and cared for. Like you were someone special. She used to be the recipient.
Suddenly, a glass of wine didn’t sound like such a bad idea.
“I was just so caught up in the moment,” Cricket said, letting her gaze shift as she stared off into the distance. “It’s really important for me to embody theessenceof my character, you know?”
“The essence of a cybernetic fairy living in a postapocalyptic Detroit?” Ellis quipped.
“Don’t mind him. That performance wasart,” James said, giving a wave to his husband before bringing his attention to Freddie. “Speaking of beautiful things. I want to talk to our new neighbor.”
Oh God.Anne turned to the bar, hoping to catch the bartender’s eye and grab that wine.
“Yes!” Cricket said, clapping her hands and leaning a bit further toward Freddie. “We’re making it all about me and I want to know aboutyou.”
Freddie let a small grin tug at his lips. “Okay. What do you want to know?”
“Well, I know you went to NYU with Anne,” Cricket replied, counting off the facts on her fingers. James shot Anne a conspiratorial look then. Apparently, he and Cricket had discussed thisbefore. “And I know you sold your own company recently and moved back to the city. But where were you in between?”
“Argentina, mostly,” he answered. His voice was so deep, it was audible below the music. “Though I was traveling around a lot over the last couple of years.”
“Argentina,” James repeated wistfully.
Next to him, Ellis seemed intrigued, too. “What were you doing there?”
“I worked to integrate a sustainable farming system into local communities around Buenos Aires. It was based off this hydroponics idea I had in college.”
He even built the prototype in his basement to help his mother grow herbs and microgreens, and named it Bertha, Anne wanted to add.
She didn’t, though.
Meanwhile, Ellis looked impressed. Across from him, Cricket looked confused. “What’s hydroponics?”
“Essentially, it’s growing plants without soil by using a water-based solution packed with nutrients,” Freddie replied.
