by Kiki Leach
“Nik!” a soft voice called out. “It’s me! And this big ass vase of flowers is heavy as hell.”
Realizing it was Vanessa, Nikki quickly pulled back on the door and let her inside!
She stuck her head in before anything else and screamed. “AHHHHH! I’m so excited for you!” She carried the large vase filled with a combination of green and red roses across the room and sat them down on the vanity in front of the mirror, right next to a smaller vase of red roses that had apparently been brought in earlier that night by her parents.
She turned back to her friend and beamed.
“Where in all of New York did you find a place selling roses verde?”
“I didn’t,” Vanessa replied. “I actually ordered them from a florist I know who lives just outside of the city. Very rare color for this type of flower, but beautiful, right?”
Nikki took the petals between her fingers and relished in their softness. “The best I’ve ever seen,” she said. She peeked over at an excitable Vanessa, but couldn’t retain her own happiness and sat back down on the bench.
Vanessa dropped down next to her while fixating on her dour expression. “What’s wrong?”
Nikki sat up and looked straight ahead. “I’m nervous as hell, Vanessa. All this time I’ve spent rehearsing, singing the same songs, learning the same lines over and over again and now I’m forced to prove myself to a room full of people who have probably been looking for me to fail since they learned I was taking over this part. What if I prove them right by messing it up? What if I’m so terrible that no one will ever want to hire me again? What if I get out there and can’t remember a single thing about steps or vocal that I’ve spent so much time learning. And if my voice cracks--”
“Hey.” Vanessa turned to her and raised her hands. “Okay, first of all, you need to calm the fuck down, alright? Second, I don’t give a damn what anybody says, you earned this part. You put in the work, you put in the time and I know all too damn well that you put in the effort because it kept us from hanging out like we did before you got a legitimate gig.” They both smiled. “Nobody can take that shit away from you, any of it. You are going to kick ass up in here, EVERYBODY is going to see and be blown away by your amazing talent. I’ve always known it was there. You just need to take some personal time for yourself before you get out there and remember that what happens tonight is the reason why you’ve worked so damn hard over the years.”
Nikki immediately reached out and wrapped her arms around Vanessa, embracing her.
“Thank you so much, V,” she said on the verge of tears.
Vanessa rubbed her back and pat the back of her hair. “I don’t give a damn what we go through, no matter what happens. I am always going to have your back no matter what and in everything that you do.”
As they pulled back from each other, someone else knocked on the door.
“That could be William, finally,” said Nikki, “or the stage manager or something.”
She went over and peeked her head outside the door. Her eyes got big at the person standing in front of her. Then she looked back at Vanessa and smiled.
“What?”
“It’s not William or the stage manager,” she said. “It’s Mo.”
“Oh.” Vanessa stood up quick and straightened the wrinkles piling up the front of her red dress. She hadn’t seen the love of her life since they almost mauled each other in front of the Popup Market the week before.
Nikki closed the door a little and raised her eyebrows when she got an eyeful of Vanessa running her hands over her breasts to make sure they were at attention and fluffing the loose curls in her hair.
“Do you mind if he comes in?”
“No. This is your night. It’s not about us or anything else.”
Nikki pulled back on the door, allowing him inside. He was carrying a large vase as well, one filled with over three dozen yellow roses. He walked over to the vanity just as Vanessa moved to the side, and placed them next to the vase filled with green roses.
He laughed to himself and looked over at V. “Guess we had the same idea.”
“Yeah, great minds and all that.”
He stared down at the petals and scrunched his brows. “I didn’t know green roses existed.”
“I didn’t either until a few weeks ago. I wanted white with diamonds for the Glinda-effect, but I would have needed to sell at least half of Attitude to the highest bidder in order to make that happen. And I don’t think Alexis would’ve liked that too much.”
“Yeah.” He lowered his head and slipped his hands in his pockets, but didn’t exactly take his eyes off of any part of her.
She felt him staring and it stirred something up deep inside of her that she refused to turn off.
“So, are you here with Melanie?” she asked him.
He cleared his throat, then swallowed. “Yeah. What about you?”
“Nathan.”
“Hm.” He glowered. “Yeah, I heard about him and Sheila busting up. It’s been all over the entertainment news and in the papers since last week. Their wedding planner has been talking about suing them for distress. Sucks that they decided to call it off after all the shit they went through to try and make it happen. But I can’t say I feel all that sorry for him though.” He waited a moment and stared into her eyes. “I guess unless you two are back together now?”
“No,” she told him. “We’re just trying to be friends or something like it now. Borderline civil at the very least. He’s actually interested in getting Sheila back, but I don’t know how well that’s going to turn out for him, considering.”
“The Adrian thing?” he asked. “That’s been slowly making the circuits too. People are speculating she might have been seeing him around the time Nathan was out of town.”
“They wouldn’t be wrong,” she mumbled. “Well, maybe by a few hours at most.”
Maurice arched his brows and grinned.
She laughed. “It’s a long story. One that shouldn’t be told here and now, especially since we’re here for” – she turned to Nikki and opened her arms wide – “you.” She leaned in to hug her friend, then trailed to the door. “Remember what I said and kick all the ass. All of it.” She looked at Maurice one last time, who continued to stare at her until she closed the door.
Nikki shook her head and folded her arms. “You two are pathetic.”
“What?”
“If I weren’t in here right now, you would be fucking on top of my vanity as we speak.”
“That obvious?”
“Almost too much. The tension between you is palpable, sexual and otherwise.”
He walked over to her bench and took a seat. “I don’t know what she does to me,” he said. “I mean I know what she does to me. And then she walks around looking like that.”
Nikki finished putting on her makeup and brushed out her blond wig.
“You think Nathan is really interested in just getting Sheila back?”
“I don’t know,” said Nikki. “Maybe he misses that weird ass relationship they had. Maybe he misses the fighting.”
“Or the sex,” Maurice blurted.
Nikki made a face.
“I haven’t been with anybody since V, Nik.” He pushed himself up from the bench and crossed her room. “I haven’t even tried.”
“Not even with Melanie?”
He grimaced. “No. V was right, it’s not as if she never tried. She’s been interested, I know all too well of that. But my dick doesn’t seem to want to work for anybody else but her anymore. And I’m fine with that. At least I could be, I would be if she’d let me back in.”
He turned to her as she continued brushing out her wig.
“I’m sorry,” he told her. “I didn’t mean to come back here and dump this shit on you, I meant to come back here and tell you congratulations. I know that our relationship has been rocky for the most part, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not happy to see you shine up there. I know you worked hard and you deserve everyth
ing that’s happened to you to get here tonight.”
“Thank you, Mo. That means a lot coming from you.”
He wrapped a single arm around her waist and pulled her close, then kissed the top of her head.
“Kick ass.”
As soon as he left her alone, Nikki finished putting on her makeup and slapped on her wig.
“Showtime,” she said to her reflection in the mirror.
And then there was another knock.
She raced to the door, only to answer to her stage manager this time.
“Twenty minutes!” he told her, his red facing covered in sweat and tears. He adjusted his headset atop his balding head and clutched his clipboard to his chest. “Oh, God, twenty minutes!”
As he turned back down the hall, she called him back.
“Have you seen William?” she asked. “He was supposed to bring me here tonight, but then he said he’d be showing up later because he had some things he needed to take care of with his daughter, so the car brought me instead. I’ve tried calling but he hasn’t answered and--”
“Hon, I’m not sure where he is. As far as I know, he was supposed to be here long before you even showed up. Maybe he’s still setting things up for your party at that bar.” He looked down at his watch. “NINETEEN MINUTES!”
People in the hall scurried about, returning to their rooms and heading out to the stage to make sure various props were in place and secure.
Nikki closed the door and leaned back. She bounced her head against it and tried wracking her brain as to where William could actually be instead of at her side supporting her as she was so certain he would be.
When she heard another knock, she was about ready to lose her mind. If it wasn’t William, she wasn’t interested.
But then she saw the one man she never really expected to come and visit her backstage, not since their very public blowup.
“Oscar.”
“Hi,” he said.
She peeked down one side of the hallway and then the other. “What are you doing back here? I would think that the last thing you’d want is to be seen with me.”
“The only place I want to be seen is with you,” he said. “You mind if I…?” He pointed inside her room.
She moved around the door to allow him in, then quickly closed and locked it.
His eyes landed directly on the two vases. “Nice flowers,” he said.
“Thanks. The green are from V and Mo brought the others.”
“Mo?”
“Yeah. We may have our issues, but he’s still being a supportive friend.”
“That’s good,” he said. “I’m glad.”
“Right. If this is about Melanie again. Like I told you on the phone last week, she said she’s not pressing charges against me for slapping her, so…”
“I can’t imagine that she would, seeing that she’s here with Maurice as his date. Wouldn’t bode too well for whatever they might have going on together if she tried to haul you into court for assault.”
“They don’t have anything going on together.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know Mo, and his dick only works for Vanessa.”
“Does she only work for him? Because I saw her here with that Nathan guy.”
“It’s…” She turned back to the mirror to adjust her wig. “It’s complicated between everyone. That’s all this group has ever been, one big giant complication after the other. I must have felt left out, which is how I ended up being with you.”
“Don’t say that about us, Nik.”
She spun around. “What the hell else am I supposed to say? Your wife is here with someone else and you’re here alone, I assume. I’m still with William, technically. And yet, it still seems like we’re all just floating out there in the middle of the ocean and not a single person has a life raft or jacket to hold onto in order to keep us all afloat. I don’t know what’s going to become of this relationship, of any of our relationships. But I know that right now, I don’t have time to deal with it. I have a show to do and I need to kick ass. I can’t do that if I’m thinking about you and whatever the hell this continues to be.”
Another rap on her door followed by a screeching “SIXTEEN MINUTES” followed.
“You should go,” she told him. “Maybe once tonight is over, we can find time to talk all of this through.”
“Or maybe we can find some time tonight, at the after party.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Bean is a sponsor for the part tonight, Nik. William didn’t tell you?”
“No. I didn’t know that an after party needed sponsors.”
“It’s more or less for the play. Besides, it gets us some free publicity that we’ll need for the new place once it opens.” He went over to the door and stopped. “I know that this is something you’ve always wanted. And I’m proud as hell for you finally accomplishing a lifelong dream.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded at her upon exiting.
Her head was completely out of the game now. But she was not going to let Oscar, or the lack of William’s presence distract her from what she knew needed to be done tonight in order to establish what she was certain would be the beginning of a bourgeoning career.
Part Thirty-Six
As the final curtain rose for Nikki to take her last bow alongside the actress playing Elphaba (or the Green Witch), the audience erupted in enormous cheer and applause that echoed throughout, with Vanessa and Maurice being the loudest of the entire bunch filling the space of the entire theatre.
When Vanessa spotted him on the other side, leaping from his chair and tossing flowers on the stage, she leaned into Nathan’s ear.
“I’m gonna go and see if he wants to congratulate Nikki in person!”
Nathan wrapped a hand around her arm and pulled her closer. “Shouldn’t that wait until you see her again at the after party?”
“No! She may get lost in the crowd at that bar. Besides, who knows how many people want to talk to her now! Look at all the ass she just kicked! I want it to be the three of us again first before it gets a little crazy. Just get the car and I’ll meet you out there.”
“V!” he called after as she raced off and grabbed Maurice by the hand. “Aw, fuck.”
They hurried alongside the wall of the theatre before reaching a side door at the very front and slipping through.
As they disappeared to the other side, Melanie stood in front of her chair dumbfounded at what had just taken place right before her very eyes. When she spotted Nathan, who immediately turned away from her and tried escaping from the theatre the moment he saw her, she shoved her way through crowds of people either trying to reach the stage or exit the theatre, and snatched him by the arm.
“What the hell just happened back there?” she hollered out.
He leaned in, feigning inability to hear her over the screaming crowd. “What?”
“I SAID WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! BACK THERE?! You just let her run over to Mo like that, like they’re still together, and take him away from me?”
“I can’t control what she does, Melanie, just like you can’t control the fact that he actually left. She wanted to take him backstage to congratulate Nikki in person, that’s it.”
“They couldn’t have done it at the after party?”
“She didn’t want that.”
“Well, she couldn’t even acknowledge that I was standing right there beside him as his date?”
“Hey, no offense!” he yelled. “But I told you I could get him to bring you out tonight, alright? I didn’t promise there’d be nightcaps and Moonlight and Valentino.”
Confused, she rattled her head. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“You work in the movies, figure it out. Look,” he snapped, “I’ll do what I can to keep them apart at the bar tonight. I can’t do much more than that.”
He walked away from her, but Melanie remained fuming, already on the verge of losing yet
another battle she knew she couldn’t win.
By the time Vanessa and Maurice made it back to Nikki’s dressing room, she was in the middle of removing her makeup and wig.
Vanessa knocked on the door with both hands, waiting anxiously for Nikki to finally answer to them.
As soon as the door pulled back, Vanessa threw her arms around her best friend, as did Maurice. Standing in the middle of the hall and receiving a group hug from the two people who knew her struggle more than anyone else and chose to happily witness in person her first live performance was almost more than she could’ve asked for.
“You did so good, girl!” squealed Vanessa. “SO GOOD! I was taking pictures and shit and hitting people around me like, AHHHHH! THAT IS MY GIRL! I’ll probably be labeled a nut in the papers next week, but who gives a fuck. I’m so damn proud of you!”
“You did amazing, Nik,” said Maurice. “Really.”
“Gracias, mi familia!”
“Nicole,” a deep, dark voice boomed from the other end of the hall.
Collectively, they turned their heads and saw William standing there with a single white rose.
Vanessa slightly rolled her eyes, but turned back to her friend with a smile on her face and placed both hands on her cheeks.
“We should get going to hat after party, but,” she said, “I felt like we needed to come back here and make sure that you knew we were so damn proud and happy! You are going to be a SUPERSTAR, bitch!”
Nikki laughed as Vanessa pulled herself away.
Maurice waved back at Nikki and slid a hand around Vanessa’s waist, leading her away from the room. William passed without looking at either one of them and headed into Nikki’s dressing room, closing the door behind him.
Vanessa stopped at the end of the hall and turned back. Then looked up at Maurice, questioning.
“Did you see him in the theatre at all tonight?” she asked.
“I don’t remember. I don’t think so.”
“I don’t either.”
Maurice shrugged. “Maybe he was setting up at the bar,” he said.
“I’m not so sure I believe that either. Whatever, let’s just go.”
Back inside her room, Nikki was even less than thrilled with seeing William than Vanessa had been.