Chapter 24
Chapter
After Chicago , I land an understudy role as Mimi in Rent.
While I figure the chances of actually playing Mimi are slim, I jump at the opportunity because I still get to be in the chorus every show.
Then, two months after opening night, Cristina, whom I’m understudying, sprains her ankle and I take over.
With four hours’ notice before our matinee performance, both Adam and Chloe take the day off work and scalp tickets deep in the balcony.
Yes, I do cry when they wait outside by the stage door afterward with a bouquet of flowers.
It all happens so quickly, but Cristina’s three-week resting period becomes six and before we know it, she’s off the show.
I immediately cover for her until there’s a solve, but one performance turns into two, then three, and suddenly the Playbill is being reprinted with my name in the role of Mimi Márquez.
There’s a giant CONGRATULATIONS banner over the fireplace in the living room and a cake that I know for a fact is homemade sitting on the kitchen table when I get home.
“Adam?” I call out, taking off my shoes and jacket.
“How was it?” He comes running down the stairs wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. “I tried to get a ticket for tonight, but it was sold out.”
My heart almost bursts at the effort he put in, the effort he continues to put in, because those tickets are not cheap.
“It was amazing, I still can’t believe it. Also…you did not have to do all of this!” Eyeing the chocolate cake, I walk toward the table and point to the black line drawn in icing down the middle. “What’s that?”
“Oh, that’s a stripper pole,” he says.
“Oh…” I laugh.
“We don’t talk enough about how Mimi’s a stripper.”
Technically an exotic dancer, but I don’t correct him. “What would you like to talk about?”
“It’s hot.” He shrugs a shoulder.
“Didn’t know strippers were your thing.” I scoop a bit of icing onto my finger and lickit.
“They’re not.” He walks to the cabinet and pulls out two plates and a knife. “ You as a stripper…well, that’s another story.”
He cuts a piece of cake and gives me a kiss on the side of my head before cutting one for himself.
It’s been over a year since Audrey passed away, and neither of us has been on dates with anyone…
but to say we’re dating each other isn’t exactly accurate.
For the most part, our relationship has always been straightforward.
We’re roommates, or we’re friends. But in the past few years, things haven’t felt as black-and-white, and we’re now in a foggy gray territory.
We’re best friends. We’re best friends who live together.
We’re best friends who live together who have a suppressed physical attraction… but definitely aren’t dating.
In all honesty, I don’t really care. Things are good between us, we’re happy, and there’s no reason to have to put a label on anything.
Adam reaches for the remote, and when he asks if I’m too tired to watch something, I lie and say no.
Within the first ten minutes I’ll be passed out, but the couch and curling up next to him sound too tempting.
He turns on an episode of Cheers, a favorite of ours, and when the title sequence comes on, I lean into his chest and he puts an arm aroundme.
“Thanks for the cake,” I say.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there,” he says.
“This is better.” I close my eyes.
“Knock, knock.” Chloe leans against the doorframe of my dressing room. Her reflection stares back at me through the mirror as I put on my makeup.
“Hey, what are you doing here?!” I turn to her.
“I couldn’t wait until later to tell you the news.” She walks inside and closes the door. I sit up straight, worried because it’s not like Chloe to be anything but cool about a situation.
“Are you pregnant?”
“Bitch, please,” she scoffs.
“Just checking!” I laugh.
She leans against my dresser in front of me and bites her lip. “I got an associate job at one of my top firms.”
“ Chloe! ” I shoot up from my seat and pull her into a hug that is so tight it even starts to hurt me. She reciprocates the embrace and we’re holding each other in silence. “Chloe?! Congratulations!”
“Thank you!” she says, and when she pulls away, I see her eyes well up. “I can’t believe it. It’s just… fuck, it’s been a journey, you know?”
“You deserve this.” There’s nobody I know more worthy of this next step in their career than Chloe.
She’s always been that person pulling all-nighters in the library, waking up at 5 a.m. to study, so she can have a social life after school.
Chloe makes everything look so effortless, but I know exactly the hard work on her end that goes into it. “What’s the law firm?”
She lets go ofme.
“It’s in Stamford.”
“Stamford…” I repeat. “Connecticut?”
“The one and only.” She gives a half smile. I didn’t even know she’d applied to any law firms outside of Manhattan. “But it’s only an hour-and-a-half train ride. An hour if you drive!”
“Yeah,” I say with a nod. There’s no way I’m going to rain on Chloe’s parade.
With the show and her work schedule, we’ve barely had any time to see each other anyway, and making the trip up to Connecticut is something fun Adam and I can make time for.
A part of me mourns the twenty-minute walk from my place to hers, but this is the best news I could have hoped for her.
“The train ride will give me time to read. This is a win-win.”
“Okay, good.” Her face lightens. “And I will be back down here every weekend.”
“This changes nothing,” I assure her.
“Promise?” she says.
“Pinky promise.” I hug her again. “Chloe, I’m so happy for you.”
“God, I love you, June.”
“Love you more.”
After Chloe’s congratulations -on-the-job but also goodbye-we’ll-miss-you dinner, she, Robby, Adam, and I end up at Marie’s Crisis Café.
It’s a belowground bar deep in the gay West Village.
There’s a piano at the center where musical theater lovers gather around the keys nightly to sing solo numbers.
It’s no surprise when we run into some of my castmates from the show.
It’s dark, dank, lit up by Christmas lights all year round, but sells the most affordable cocktails.
We make our way past a group of people singing “I Got Rhythm” by the piano to find a booth in the back.
“Do you have a place to live yet?” Adam asks Chloe.
“Okay, so I have a two-bedroom apartment— I know. ” She gives us an incredulous look because budget-wise it had been impossible for her to upgrade from her studio apartment in the East Village. “And rent is four hundred dollars less than what I pay now.”
“ But you’re in Connecticut,” he says.
“I swear, it’s actually not that bad!” she says, somewhat convincingly. “It’s cleaner, less traffic…I don’t know, I kind of like it.”
“You say that until you’re craving a slice of pizza at four in the morning.” Robby laughs.
“I don’t eat pizza at four in the morning.” She rolls her eyes and then takes a handful of nuts. “Did you know they invented the lollipop in Connecticut?”
“Is this your way of trying to convince us to move there?” Adam raises an eyebrow and Chloe throws a nut his way. It lands on his sweater, and he picks it off and eats it with a smug smile.
“Do we have any Little Shop of Horrors fans?” the man behind the piano asks into the microphone as he starts playing the opening notes of “Suddenly, Seymour.” There are a few whispers at the bar, but nobody volunteers as tribute. “Come on, don’t be shy, we need our Audrey!”
“Oh my God, June! GO!” Chloe grabs my arm, pushing me up. “As my going-away gift, please!”
Adam and Robby holler, clapping, and before I know it the group surrounding the piano starts cheering and brings me into the crowd. I am doing this only for Chloe.
Singing into a microphone on the opposite side of the piano is a man with green eyes and blond hair.
He’s wearing a gray T-shirt and I see a display of tattoos on one of his arms. This man looks like he could be a Hemsworth brother.
The shorter one, but still. As he continues the opening verse, it’s clear he has a decent voice.
It’s not Broadway material, but he would definitely make it past the first audition round of American Idol.
The pianist passes me a second mic and when Fake Hemsworth notices I’ll be singing the next part, his eyebrows rise into a smile, and he starts singing to me.
My lips move closer to the mic, and I turn to him, singing the next verse in my best New York accent.
What feels like the entire bar starts cheering.
Without having to look, I can hear Adam and Robby shouting while I spot Kate and Josh, two castmates from Rent, in the back applauding.
Fake Hemsworth looks thoroughly impressed with my voice and starts clapping.
The two of us fall into harmony and there’s something endearing about the way he’s amping up the crowd.
He’s clearly having a blast, waving his hands around and putting on a dramatic stance when he directs his words to me.
At the end of the song, the bar breaks out into more applause and he reaches over and gives me a high five.
The moment is over instantly when the pianist begins playing “My Shot” from Hamilton and some other singers, already by the piano, start rapping.
Chloe, Robby, and Adam are still seated and whooing. When I walk back over, there are drinks at the table. Adam has his arm propped over the top of the booth and I reach to grab his hand. Our fingers intertwine in a little dance, not fully holding hands, but flirting with the idea.
“Aayyyy,” Chloe says as she claps.
“I will never get over your voice, June.” Robby tips his bottle of beer to me and Adam gives my hand a tight squeeze.
“Thanks, Robby.” I smile.
Adam looks up at me. “What do you want to drink?”
I shake my head. “Stay here, I’ll get it.” My fingers unlock from his and I walk over to the bar. After ordering a vodka soda with lime, I feel someone shuffle in beside me. It’s Fake Hemsworth.
“Hey!” He smiles, surprised to seeme.
“Hey!” I say. “That was fun.”
“You have a killer voice,” he says. “You should do this for a living.”
“I do.” I nod, and he frowns.
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I’m in Rent right now.”
“No way…” His face drops. “Okay, well now I feel like an asshole?”
“What? No! How would you have known?” I laugh.
“Okay, fair.” He shrugs. “Let me start over. I’m Liam,” he says. Oh, I guess the Hemsworth thing was actually spot-on. “Liam Dawson.”
“June,” I respond. “June Wood.”
“Can I get you a—” He motions to the bartender.
“Oh, thanks.” I shake my head. “I already ordered.”
He sits down on the stool across from me and props his arm on the bar, making himself comfortable. “So what brings you here tonight?”
“It’s my friend’s going-away party,” I say, and gesture to Chloe and our group.
“Nice. Where is she moving to?” he asks.
“Connecticut.”
“I’m sorry.” He makes a face.
I snort. “Hey, it’s not so bad. Did you know they invented the lollipop?”
“You know, I can’t say that I did.”
The bartender passes me my drink and I take out a ten, but Liam stops me and hands him a twenty to cover us both.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I say.
He smiles. “I know, but I think my friends would never let me hear the end of it if I didn’t at least try.”
“Well, thank you,” I say.
“It’s my pleasure,” he says, nodding.
“So, what brings you here tonight?” I ask in an attempt to be a social person and at least wait until he has his drink in hand, since he paid.
“A buddy’s birthday.” He looks back at the group by the piano, now jumping up and down to “My Shot.”
“Fun group.” I nod toward them.
“Yeah,” he laughs. “Casey’s in Anything Goes right now; the rest of us are just theater fans.”
“I was going to say, I was impressed when you knew all the words to ‘Suddenly, Seymour,’ and the harmony.”
He laughs. “That’s only because I dabbled in musical theater in my youth.”
Working in my field and living in New York, I’ve heard this before.
“What do you do now?” I ask.
The bartender passes Liam a pint of Guinness and he takes a quick sip. “I’m an actor too.”
“Oh wow,” I say. It’s not actually hard to believe, considering how objectively attractive he is. “Are you in anything I might have seen?”
“Have you watched Warriors ?” he asks.
“Uhh…” I don’t tell him I haven’t even heard of Warriors.
“That’s okay if you haven’t. But I’m on that show.”
Oh, interesting. He’s a TV actor.
“Well, I will be sure to add it to my watch list,” I say. “Do they film in the city?”
“LA—but I’m here all the time,” he quickly adds, and it feels intentional, like he wants me to know whatever this conversation is isn’t necessarily short-term. “June, would I be able to ask for your number?”
Oh. You know, I hear about things like this happening with my friends, but having a cute guy at the bar ask for my number is not an average day forme.
“I—”
“You know what, I’m sorry,” he says. “You probably have a boyfriend and I’m putting you in a really awkward situation. I’m just going to—”
“No, no, I don’t have a boyfriend.” I shake my head because, well, I don’t.
“Thank God,” he breathes out, putting a hand over his chest.
“Well, I technically don’t have a boyfriend…I—” Over my shoulder, Adam and Chloe are laughing at something Robby’s saying. There’s nothing wrong with going on a date. Adam and I are not together. But then why do I feel like I’m betraying him somehow?
One of Liam’s friends calls him over, saying they’re going to request another Hamilton song.
“Hey, you know what. It’s all good.” Liam taps the bar and takes his beer. “It was really nice to meet you, June.”
He’s a nice guy and there really is no harm in continuing this conversation with this interesting, attractive man who wants to get to knowme.
“Um, wait—” I say, knowing very well this is an impulsive act. “Let me give you my number.”
“Okay, cool.” Liam passes me his phone and I type it in. “I’ll talk to you soon, June.” He smiles, and then heads back to his group. I stay frozen at the bar, afraid to turn around, because all I can think about is if Adam saw any of that interaction.