by Kiki Leach
“Nice of you to finally show up,” she said while removing her corset and tossing it across the room. “You do everything you possibly can in your power to help me land this role and then you don’t even bother to show up and watch me perform my ass off in it.”
“I was there,” he said. “Here.”
“Where? I looked around for you the entire time – every chance I had a free moment, and never saw you anywhere inside that theatre, not once.”
“I was on the outskirts,” he told her. “I didn’t want you to see me. Didn’t think it would do you any good to have me right in your face, knowing that I was watching, only to make you nervous.”
“You wouldn’t have made me nervous,” she said. “My parents were there, the press was there, Vanessa and Mo were there, THAT all made me nervous. You being there would’ve provided the comfort I needed before going out there.”
“I’m sorry.” He moved toward her flowers and ran his fingers across each petal. Then placed the flower in his hand between the vases. “I guess I underestimated my importance in regard to how much you actually need me to be there for you.”
“I don’t know how you could’ve. Aside from V, you’ve been my only other cheerleader about all of this. Coming with me to rehearsals when you weren’t working, giving direction when you felt I needed it, critiquing me to help me be better – getting me vocal lessons. How could you have ever thought that I wouldn’t need you on tonight of all nights?”
He looked into her eyes, his heart heavy and filled with anger, remorse.
Resentment.
He wanted to tell her the truth of why he hadn’t been there when he knew damn well she needed him the most.
But then, what would have been the point of his plan?
“All I can tell you,” he said, “is I’m sorry. All I can do, is get down on my knees” – he dropped to both knees – “and beg for forgiveness.” He pressed his palms together and entwined his fingers. Forcing out his bottom lip and staring up at her like a scarred dog, he attempted to make her laugh, which is exactly what happened.
“Stand up.”
He did as she asked and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, pressing his forehead against hers. “The next time you’re up on stage, or maybe even on the big screen, I’ll be right there beside you.”
“Gracias,” she said.
“De nada. Now let’s get you out of this Glinda costume and into something sexier. We’ve got a party to get to. One that I’m positive will be talked about within your circle for years to come.”
“More than my debut on stage?”
“Maybe it’ll be fifty-fifty.” He winked. “If you’re lucky.”
His tone sounded promising, yet the usage of his words seemed ominous.
Nikki wasn’t exactly sure of what to make of it, if there had been anything at all.
Part Thirty-Seven
As the party got underway at Bar Nineteen with music blasting from every end of the room, bodies shimmering and shaking against and around each other, drinks pouring, spilling on people and the floor, Nathan and Vanessa found themselves huddled together and staring at the various food options that lined the bar.
“Shit, shit, shit, double shit,” said Nathan, pointing to every tray of food he passed. “And if I haven’t said it already” – he leaned forward into Vanessa’s ear – “This food is shit.”
“It’s a bar.” She leaned back and pressed her hand against his shoulder. “What the hell do you expect? A whole chicken with a side of waffles?”
“Yes! I expect real food not a bunch of finger shit after sitting through something for that damn long without even any popcorn to help fill my stomach. And what the fuck is this about having to pay for the drinks?”
“They’re a dollar a piece, jackass, which is probably the only damn good deal William has gotten us tonight. You know, I don’t even think I saw him throughout the entire thing. Even the few times I went to the bathroom--”
“Yeah, that kinda got on my damn nerves with you popping up to take a piss every five seconds.”
Vanessa slugged him in the stomach. He bent forward and clutched himself. “It wasn’t every five second and stop being such an asshole. Just for tonight, try being normal for a change.”
“I’m sorry.” He leaned back on the edge of the bar and groaned. “I’m just pissed I haven’t seen Sheila at all tonight.”
“Why are you surprised? There was no way in hell she was showing up before the party to even pretend she was supporting Nikki.”
“Melanie showed up,” he said.
“Melanie thinks that by showing up that she might finally get some of Maurice’s dick tonight. Sheila doesn’t have that problem in not showing up to the actual play. That’s the difference.”
“Nice imaging there, V.”
“You’re welcome.”
He grabbed a few quiche from a plate and stuffed them into his mouth. After a few bites, he grabbed a napkin and spit them inside.
“Once again, this food is shit.” He tossed the napkin in the trash behind the bar. “If Sheila and I had actually gotten married, no way in hell this kinda shit would’ve been on the menu. This is some WASP shit if I ever saw it. William could’ve at least had Nikki help with the menu so that we could’ve had some real food!”
“Hey.” Vanessa smacked him in the stomach and pointed across the room. “I see your girl over there just walked in!”
Nathan leaned into her ear again. “With your guy!”
“He’s not my guy,” she shouted back. “Not anymore.”
“Right.” He pointed to the opposite side of where Sheila and Adrian stood. “There’s your guy.”
Vanessa chewed her lip as she watched Maurice cross the room with Melanie at his side.
“Shit,” she muttered. “He looks so sexy tonight.”
Nathan cut his eyes at her. “Yeah. He looks dapper as fuck.”
“Sorry,” she said. She turned her eyes back to Sheila as she waded through the crowd with Adrian. “Sheila looks nice too. At least she’s wearing more than pasties and a bikini bottom.”
When Sheila spotted the two of them standing together near the bar, she said something in Adrian’s ear, then made her way over.
“Fuck, here she comes,” said Nathan. He fixed his collar and adjusted his pants. “How do I look?”
Vanessa tilted her head and squint while attempting to evaluate him. “Like an ass.”
“Well, well, well,” said Sheila as she stood before them, crossing her arms. She ran her tongue back and forth across her teeth and eyed both Nathan and Vanessa up and down. “If this doesn’t remind us all of high school--”
“It shouldn’t, actually,” said Vanessa, cutting her off. “You two fucking in close quarters, now THAT is one hell of a reminder of the good old days, am I right?” She pushed herself away from the bar and smiled. “Excuse me.”
“Good to see you too, V!” she hollered out to Vanessa, who waved back as she continued moving forward. Sheila turned to Nathan and contorted her face in anger. “So you actually got your wish. After everything that’s happened, I’m surprised she even wants to be seen out with you in public.”
He made a grunting noise, ignoring her comment, and scanned her body with his eyes instead. “You look nice,” he told her.
She tugged the bottom of her skirt and looked down at herself. “Thank you. It’s vintage Lauren.”
“Looks good.” He peeked over her shoulder and saw a fidgety Adrian standing near a table and staring at them. He slammed his fist inside his hand and crushed his fingers around his knuckles. Nathan nodded. “Your boy doesn’t look too thrilled about you being over here with me.”
Sheila peeked back at him. “He knows the deal.” She dropped her hands in front of her skirt and swayed back and forth, nervous. “So are you and V a thing again?”
“Nah. Mo came with Melanie. She found out about it and asked me to come along with her, I’
m guessing to piss him off.”
“I’m guessing that too.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, it was good to see you, given that we hadn’t actually seen each other since--”
“You gave me back that ring --?”
“Vanessa’s ring,” she quickly corrected.
“Right.”
“She still doesn’t know anything about that?”
He shook his head. “No. Never told her about it, never showed it to her.”
“Do you ever plan on telling her about it?”
“Nope. It’s not something she needs to know. Besides, I’m not looking to get her back. Not anymore, I already know the deal there.”
“You mean you finally accepted it.”
“That too.”
“I hate the cost of it. What it had to come to in order for you to do that. But it’s better for you, you know, in the end.”
“I guess.” A sad smile spread across his lips.
Sheila felt the ache, the pain inside her chest and started backing away.
“I guess so too. Have a good night, Nathan.”
“Yeah,” he told her as she quickly turned away. “You too.”
As soon as she ran into Adrian’s arms, Nathan whipped around to the bar and flagged down the bartender.
“Give me two glasses of scotch,” he said. “One with soda, one without.”
“You got it.”
Vanessa stood near a window at the front of the venue watching the arrivals of various Broadway veterans as they stood on the red carpet in front and posed for pictures. As many passed, she greeted those she knew personally while smiling at others who only knew of her.
From the corner of her eye, she could see Maurice closing in. She didn’t know whether to run into his arms, or run for the hills.
“Here.” He handed her a glass of champagne.
She grinned up at him and wrapped her fingers around the stem. “Shouldn’t this be for your date?” she asked.
He looked around the bar, then turned back to her and smiled as well. “She’s good somewhere.”
“Oh, she’s good?”
“Yeah, she’s good.”
Vanessa laughed softly, as did he.
“Nikki was really great tonight, wasn’t she?” she asked.
“Yeah, she was. I’m actually kind of surprised, really.”
“Why?”
“I always thought maybe the acting thing was just a pipe dream. I didn’t think she’d actually work at The Bean her whole life, but I never pictured all of this actually happening for her.”
“I didn’t either. I mean, I knew she had to make it, somehow. I guess I just didn’t picture that it would happen this way or turn into all that it’s become. Maybe she was right, maybe being with William all this time really has helped her more than it’s hurt.”
“Is that the sound of you starting to accept them?”
“Hell no. Never that. But maybe I won’t give her such a shitty time about it anymore.”
When she heard someone knocking on the window from the other side, she turned her eyes downward and glared.
“Gina?” she said.
“OHMYGOD – OHMYGOD!” shouted the girl standing next to her sister, one with bright green eyes and crazy brown hair. Though she was excited to see her idol and even attempted to don a similar outfit Vanessa had worn back in high school, she looked more like she had just missed an audition for the remake of Flashdance.
Vanessa was taken aback by the presence of both of them and set her glass on the nearest table. As she headed outside to meet with them, Maurice was quick on her tail.
“Regina!” she called out, opening her hands wide as she approached. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Gina leaned into her friend’s ear and clinched her teeth. “I told you she wouldn’t know anything about us being here.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” asked Vanessa again as she stood in front of them.
“We came to see about the party. Dumb-dumb here said that Nathan--”
“Nathan. What?”
Gina punched her friend in the arm. “You tell her, I’m not saying anything else about it.” She stood back and folded her arms.
Her friend stepped forward and sighed. “Last week, Nathan came into the coffee shop. He was meeting Sheila and they were talking. I couldn’t really hear all of what they had said, but she handed him something, a ring I think, and then she left the shop. Next thing I know, Nathan is coming up to the counter and asking me about Melanie and wanting her number. He didn’t tell me why but--”
“I can pretty much guess why,” she interjected.
“I can too,” Maurice replied.
“Asshole,” they both mumbled simultaneously.
Gina’s friend stepped closer to Maurice and stared at his mouth. “Do your lips always do that little twitch thing when you say bad words? Because it is spectacular.” She licked her own lips as he took a few steps back, slightly frightened.
“Look, Gina,” Vanessa began, “you and your little thot-nasty friend need to get back home before Alexander finds out that you both were at a bar tonight. And trust me, he will find out.”
“V, I don’t want to go back home! Felicia’s kids scream every. day. They were even screaming about her horrible cooking before we dipped out!”
“Then go to your mother’s for a few days. What’s that saying? You ain’t gotta go home, but you gotta get the hell up outta here?” She lifted two fingers and pointed behind her. “BYE.”
Gina grabbed her friend by the arm. “Come on, Allison.”
“But--” she started as she was yanked away. She spun her head back around, screaming. “It was nice to finally meet you, Vanessa Rae Brown!”
Vanessa shook her head as her sister and her friend traipsed off into the night.
“I can’t believe those two. And Nathan? He told me that you and Melanie were coming to the party tonight because she mentioned something to him about you asking her first.”
“And she told me that you were planning to go with him, stating it was something she had overheard, which is why I asked her to come with me tonight.”
“Looks like we got played.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m surprised Melanie went along with something like that though.”
“I’m not. I told you from the very beginning what she was about.”
“She’s not a bad person, V.”
“I didn’t say she was a bad person, just very, very thirsty for your--”
“She can’t get access to something that doesn’t belong to her,” he informed her.
She sniffed. “What does that mean?”
“It means, what it means.”
And Vanessa knew exactly what that was, and beamed.
“So what do you want to do about them?” she asked. “Let ‘em twist in the wind?”
“Sounds like a plan. You’re the one I really wanted to be here with tonight.”
“Yeah, me too. I mean, me with you.”
“I know. And since we’re being all honest about things, I have to say that you look damn good in that dress, V. Sexy as hell. It’s probably not appropriate of me to say right now, but--”
“I’m glad you did. Really glad.”
He swiped his finger back and forth beneath her chin. Her eyes fell shut and her heart jumped. His touch alone sent a warming sensation throughout her entire body and straight down between her legs.
“You want to head back inside,” he asked her.
“Yeah.”
She took him by the hand as he led her back into the venue.
Nathan, who was on his third or fourth glass of scotch was soon joined by a very pissed off Melanie, who herself had had a few too many watermelon shots and glasses of red wine. She wasn’t exactly drunk, but she sure as hell wasn’t as lucid as she had been before entering the place.
“Where the hell is Nicole?” she said, leaning on him. Nathan gently pushed her away and pressed the front of her bo
dy against the bar.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“I know that you don’t know, I was just speaking out loud! Where the hell is Maurice?”
“Probably off in a corner someplace fuckin’ V.” He downed another scotch and drank back the soda in a separate glass.
“I should’ve known this stupid plan of yours wouldn’t work. Now I’m without a husband, I’m without a date and standing here stuck with you.”
“Don’t knock it, alright?” he said. “You could’ve been at home alone tonight.”
“I would’ve probably been better off!” She turned to the door just as Maurice and Vanessa reentered, hand in hand. “Oh, and would you look at that!” Nathan turned his head. “Judy and Johnny just walked through the door to reclaim their places on the throne.” Melanie whirled back around to the bar before they saw her and waved her hand for the bartender. “Give me whatever the hell it is he’s having” – she motioned to Nathan – “but make it a double.”
Within the hour, Maurice and Vanessa found themselves reconnecting in a quiet corner, while Nathan and Melanie both remained seething at the bar. Adrian and Sheila continued to find themselves on the dancefloor, and Oscar, who had just shown up, decided that remaining in the shadows until the night was completely over, was better for everyone, especially Nikki, who had also just arrived to more applause, with William by her side.
As the two of them moved toward the stage and stood up before the entire crowd, Maurice and Vanessa shuffled to the front and stood alongside Sheila and Adrian.
Sheila peeked over her shoulder at Maurice, then eyed Vanessa. “Where’s the date you actually came with?”
“Probably sucking down drinks at the bar, as per his routine when he’s not getting what he wants.”
“I honestly can’t believe you decided to come with him tonight after everything he’s done to you. It just seems ass backwards to me.”
“Sheila, every relationship within this entire group is ass backwards and has been since day one. You screwing both Nathan and Adrian in the same fucking day, two men I’ve already had first, is living proof of that.”
She clinched her teeth. “HEY!” She grabbed Vanessa’s arm and yanked her close. “He” – she nodded her head back toward Adrian – “still doesn’t know anything about what happened the night Nathan came home from jail, okay?”