Chapter 19 #2
“Have you been, um, mentoring her?” her dad asked. “You’re the other clown, right? That does the silent talking?”
Sunnie blinked at her father. “Yeah, Sunnie the Spectacular.”
“Oh, that’s really cool. I always liked your show,” her dad complimented. “Thank you for taking her under your wing, I’m sure there aren’t many places to learn this sort of thing, and you know, if she wants to do it …”
“Yeah.” A smile crept across Sunnie’s face as he looked at Chicot. “Yeah, she’s amazing, I’ve really enjoyed getting to teach her more. She’s a real good kid.”
“She is.” Her dad nodded and then looked at her. “You are.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Chicot smiled, mouth closed because this had gone from strange to flustering quickly.
“Uh, anyway.” Her dad shuffled on his feet again. “I’ll leave you be. I didn’t mean to bother you at work. And, uh, I’ll call.”
“Yeah.” Chicot said. “That would be good.”
Her dad waved at her before walking away. He occasionally looked back toward them until he was out of sight.
“You okay, kid?” Sunnie asked, nudging her. Chicot nodded, tucking the card and note away carefully so she didn’t lose it.
“Yes.” Chicot rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Anyway, the show must go on.”
Sunnie pressed his lips together. “If you need to take a breather …”
Chicot withered. “That’s maybe a good idea.”
Sunnie walked her back to the break area, waiting until they were safely inside before he asked about the scratches on her face.
She explained the whole thing with Brewhilda, which frankly felt like a million years ago now.
He listened carefully and then just hummed when she said she’d tell management after the day was over.
“Is anything else bothering you?” he asked. Chicot folded onto the picnic table they were sitting at, sighing.
“Yeah, it’s stuff with Monty,” she said. Sunnie pursed his lips, setting his elbow on the table and leaning over to look at her more directly.
“Tell me about it,” he said. “If you’d like to.”
Chicot opened her mouth to say it was okay, but then she realized that Sunnie was completely separate from this conversation.
Elijah was too, to an extent, but Monty had become his friend, and so had Elvis and Lyza.
Sunnie was the only one truly disconnected because he knew Monty, Elvis, and Lyza as coworkers more than anything.
So, she unloaded on him, explaining all the things about her struggles to recognize people and how nice it had felt for Monty to be so kind about it.
How she was insecure now because of the dating app since Monty had known it was her from the start.
That Monty was probably laughing at her behind her back, even though Chicot had no real evidence for that outside of experiences she’d had in school with someone being mean to her.
She laid it all out, and when she finished, she took a deep breath.
“I just don’t know what to do,” Chicot said. Sunnie chuckled softly, shaking his head.
“You know, I don’t date,” he said. “But if I did, I think I’d just talk to her.”
“Well, obviously I should talk to her.” Chicot pressed her hands to her head. “I just don’t know how to do that without accidentally coming across like I’m accusing her of something.”
Sunnie shrugged. “If she breaks up with you because you accidentally accused her of something, she’s probably not worth dating.”
Chicot blinked at him. He blinked back.
“I told you before I started giving advice that I don’t date,” he reminded. Chicot laughed and set her head in her hands.
“No, you’re probably right.” Chicot watched the bubbles in the water cooler rise to the top as someone walked away with a glass. “I guess if we fight, we fight. Fighting is normal, right?”
“I think a little fighting is normal,” Sunnie corrected. “Especially with two people who are young and care about each other.”
“Yeah,” Chicot agreed. “I guess when I think of fighting, I just imagine my parents, and get scared to confront anyone I’m dating.”
Sunnie hummed. “I don’t have advice for that.”
“I didn’t expect you to.” Chicot smiled at him. “Thank you for listening though. That helped.”
“Glad I could,” Sunnie said. “Also, I know that was your dad, but please never be alone like that in a blind spot. I barely saw the two of you. I only knew you were there because one of the roaming fey performers told me where to look.”
“Don’t worry.” Chicot shook her head. “That won’t happen again. And I only did because it was my dad.”
Sunnie ruffled Chicot’s hair. “Okay. I just worry.”
“I know,” Chicot said.
Sunnie then made her drink a full glass of water before he’d let her leave the break area.
She took a few detours on her way back, walking through the crowd and doing silly dances for kids, clearing her head slightly.
Chicot wanted to talk to Monty, immediately if she could, but she also knew they had more shows to do that day.
It would be better not to throw them both off.
“One of the fey mentioned your dad was here again.” Elijah was pacing in the very small back room when Chicot slipped inside, still waving at a little boy she’d given a balloon sword to.
“Uh, yeah.” Chicot rubbed her arm, taking her mask off for the moment. “He read from a notecard to tell me he doesn’t care if I’m gay.”
Elijah stopped, his jaw slack for a moment. “Okay, he’s a little misguided, but he’s got the spirit.”
Chicot snorted, shaking her head as she sat on one of the boxes. They had about fifteen minutes before they needed to be on stage and not much to do. If she was being completely honest, this was also taking her mind off things with Monty.
“He gave me access to my college fund too.” Chicot produced the debit card, sliding her fingers over the raised letters of her name. She then set it on the box so it wouldn’t fall out of her mildly precarious hidden pocket.
“Oh.” Elijah rubbed his jaw, brow furrowed. “So, he was really trying to make amends, huh?”
Chicot nodded. “Yeah. It’s weird. I always thought he’d take my mom’s side no matter what.”
“Well.” Elijah sat next to her, his hands planted on either side of his hips like he needed to hold himself in. “I wish he’d made that clear sooner.”
Her head tilted to the side, and she looked down at her feet as she remembered Monty putting her shoes on for her earlier. Chicot took a deep breath, her eyes closing as she thought about Monty’s gentle hands and caring words.
“I don’t even know why he’s with that woman.
” The words slipped from Chicot’s lips before she’d really processed them.
She had never said anything like that before, and she didn’t know what about her dad showing up had changed things.
However, in light of seeing her dad for the bumbling, well-intentioned person he really was, her mother’s intentional slights and jabs seemed even more obvious.
Elijah seemed shocked by this revelation as well. He set a hand on Chicot’s shoulders, hugging her against his chest even as her collar folded awkwardly between them.
“I’ve been waiting for you to say something like that for years,” Elijah admitted. “It didn’t feel as nice as I’d hoped it would.”
“It didn’t for me either,” Chicot said. Elijah pressed his lips into a hard smile and then he let Chicot go, holding out a fist to her. Chicot smiled, placing her hand over it instead of bumping it like she was supposed to. An in-joke they’d done since middle school.
“Scene partners still?” Elijah asked.
“Always.” Chicot shook their hands like they were greeting, and Elijah snorted, throwing his head back. She watched him flash a smile brighter than the sun, one that proved he’d been born to be a bard.
After that, they started to warm up for their show as usual, saying tongue twisters in unison as Chicot stretched just to be safe. They were in the middle of “Betty Botter” when Monty burst into the backstage area with Lyza close behind her, the two of them panting slightly.
“Some dude cornered you after your show?” Monty’s voice carried, filling the space with anxiety all over again.
“Are you okay?” Lyza ducked under Monty’s arm to get inside, still carrying their show promotion sign. She set it aside quickly, gesturing for Monty to close the door behind her.
“No, no.” Chicot shook her head quickly, bells jingling loudly as she did. “It was my dad. I brought him over there.”
Lyza and Monty both visibly relaxed, Lyza muttering something unintelligible under her breath. She then squatted down next to Chicot, setting a hand on her shoulder.
“Still, though, you okay?” Lyza mumbled.
“Yeah,” Chicot said, smiling. Lyza let her go then, standing up and gathering her sign back up. Even as she left, Monty lingered. Elijah raised a brow at Chicot but didn’t leave her alone. Bless Elijah, he always knew when Chicot really needed him to stay close.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” Monty wrung her hands together slightly and leaned against the door. “I’ve had some … experiences.”
Chicot took a deep breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“It’s okay.” Monty pressed her lips together, her eyes lingering on Chicot. Her voice was quieter than usual, and she wet her lips before she looked at Elijah again. “Anyway, I’ll leave you guys to it. Break a leg.”
“Yeah.” Elijah said. “Thanks.”
Elijah’s head whipped around the moment Monty had closed the door. His eyes bored holes in Chicot as she tried to look only at her foot as she stretched her leg out.
“What was that weird energy?” Elijah asked. Chicot shrugged.
“Oh no.” Elijah shook his head. “No, you don’t get to just shrug that off!”
Chicot groaned, shifting out of her stretch and simply pressing her hands to her face. She had been trying to avoid this conversation as much as she wanted to have one with Monty about it.
“It’s not something I can explain until I talk to Monty about it directly,” Chicot offered. Elijah crossed his arms.
“And when are you planning on doing that?” Elijah knew just how to call her out when she was being avoidant.
As much as she did want to talk to Monty about the dating app, she wasn’t sure when the right time to bring it up was.
This wasn’t going to be as easy as the thing about her phone or the audition.
Though, now that she thought about it, that mix-up was probably because of the dating profile.
How long had Monty known who Chicot was?
She had been hiding this from her the whole time. Chicot was miffed all over again.
“I don’t know.” Chicot’s posture crumbled. “Not during the day when we have two more shows to do together?”
Elijah opened his mouth to speak and then sighed.
“Okay, that’s fair.” He set a hand on his hip. “Just don’t put it off too long, Chicot.”
“I know, I know,” Chicot dismissed. Elijah frowned at her, gently bopping her on the head.
“Do you?” he asked. “Because I’ve never seen you happier than when you’re with Monty. Whatever it is, just talk to her!”
Chicot groaned, her ears hot as her face assuredly started to turn all shades of pink. She didn’t realize Elijah had been paying that much attention. She had noticed that Elijah was similar with Ken.
“I will.” Chicot threw her hands up. “But if we don’t get into Pennsylvania, it’s not like it’s going to matter anyway.”
“Wait, what?” Elijah paused. Chicot pressed her lips together.
“How could we keep this up if we are thousands of miles apart doing faires all the time?” Chicot looked up at Elijah. “Especially if we part basically right after we start … seeing each other.”
She realized she had no idea what to even call her relationship with Monty.
Suddenly, it occurred to Chicot so plainly that Monty could be laughing at her behind her back and also see her as a casual fling.
Chicot had to immediately stomp that thought out.
If she let it linger, she would be a mess on stage.
“Well …” Elijah sighed. “Okay, I don’t have an answer either, but I could also say the same with Ken and me. Do you think we shouldn’t try?”
Chicot grumbled an answer, which Elijah quickly asked her to repeat properly.
“Yes, I think you should try.” Chicot sighed. “And I should try with Monty too. And I will. I just need to talk to her about this first.”
“And then you’ll explain to me what it was?” Elijah asked. Chicot groaned again, nodding.
“Yes, I will explain after,” Chicot conceded.
“Good, then do it tonight.” Elijah picked up his lute and started to tune it.
Chicot pushed herself through the last four shows of the day, managing to not have any major issues. Her ankle was certainly sore by the end, and she would have to do something to rest it after the next day, when she had eight more shows to do. She couldn’t let it fall apart before then.
Monty had seemed to notice the injury, lowering Chicot more carefully, not letting her fall but rather placing her back down when she needed to.
Usually, they let gravity help, as it meant Monty wasn’t straining as much trying to control Chicot’s weight on the way down.
Now Monty was glistening with sweat after the final performance, the late July heat and extra exertion getting to her.
Still, when she swept her sticky bangs back and tipped her water so it ran down her neck, Chicot couldn’t help but let her eyes linger on her throat.
They needed to talk, of course, but when Chicot heard Elvis saying he was leaving the faire before closing ceremonies to take Lyza to a nice dinner, Chicot couldn’t help but wonder if maybe just spending the night in Monty’s arms would fix everything.
Was it the healthiest option? Probably not, but it would be easier.
Elijah’s chiding voice in her head made her put that thought out of mind.
When the day finished, Chicot found Elijah and Ken, the two of them flanking her as they went to the main office.
The directors listened to her carefully, standing alongside the one of the owners of the faire and someone who acted as human resources.
Chicot wasn’t sure what they could do since Brewhilda hadn’t hit her on faire grounds, but they did seem genuinely concerned.
The owner assured Chicot that they would do their best to keep safe.
That was all Chicot really wanted at this point, to avoid Brewhilda if she could.
The walk back to the RV felt long after that, her bodice already off and Elijah carrying her mask for her.