Chapter 12 Blue Con
Blue Con
The day before Blue Con, AJ visited Patrick at Simmons to remind herself why she was doing this. It was not to see Noah. It was to help her brother.
While he was now able to lift small objects with his right hand and move his right foot, his left side remained inert. As Patrick spoke of his physical therapy, AJ sprawled on the white epoxy floor with Charlie, playing with a Boba Fett action figure she had brought him from Comic-Con.
“That toy is perfect,” said Elle, passing through. “Aww, you’re going to be such a great mom.”
AJ looked from the action figure to Charlie’s tiny body and thought, Me?
As she watched Elle shuttle an armful of trash into the hall, AJ tried to picture herself in Elle’s place.
If Brian had to travel for work, the household drudgery would inevitably fall to her.
Maybe one day she’d be ready for it. She’d heard most women had a timer that went off, making them baby crazy. Maybe hers just hadn’t popped yet.
“Last con tomorrow, right?” Patrick asked from the bed.
AJ nodded, stifling a yawn. It was exhausting to affect cheer, to not look on Patrick’s unmoving, propped-up form and scream This is a lie.
Her brother’s body was one-armed hugs and reaches for the top shelf. It was sweat and freckles and high fives and farts. It was the unbeatable stride, it was tag, you’re it. It was protection and strength and vigor and youth. This was not her brother’s body. This was a broken promise.
“Seriously, Age, I don’t know how to thank you,” Patrick was saying. “It’s really too much. You should be off planning your wedding or something.”
“I’d rather be trapped in a convention center for the next month,” said AJ, distracted.
Patrick laughed. “And how has it been seeing everyone?” he asked. “Seeing Noah?”
Her cheeks colored. “It’s all good.”
At dusk, AJ returned to her car and checked her phone. She had a text from Brian, who was covering the US Open in Queens. AJ sent him an emoji, then refreshed the Blue Coats URL.
Blue Coats Society: Arho\\Summer Cons\\2012
BustASpAceTIme: Cannot wait to see Mom and Dad at #Bluecon tomorrow.
BlueFlower96: I just checked in—this place is gorgeous.
BadRhomance33: Make sure to ask about the reboot at the Q AJ couldn’t believe they had pulled this together in six weeks.
“We sold out completely,” said a very businesslike Oona as AJ stepped from her Uber just after noon. Oona was in her usual Rho outfit, with the addition of a black headset. “Wow, you look—”
“You look smokin’!” said Otto, in his Ana robes and a white headset. He gave AJ a kiss on each cheek. “Come on, we can’t wait to give you the tour.”
“You go,” said Oona stoically. “Rho and Glimmette—I mean, Noah and Eudora—should be arriving in the next ten minutes, and I don’t want to miss them.”
As AJ’s Uber pulled away, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the car’s veneer.
It wasn’t like she had tried that hard. She’d just blow-dried her hair to resemble Ana’s style. And okay fine, she’d splurged on a white cashmere sweater and white leather skirt. It was very little effort in view of all Otto and Oona had done.
“So how many people are here?” asked AJ as Otto led her toward an enormous tabernacle. A group of Navis craned their necks at her as they passed.
“We’ve got just under a thousand staying the entire weekend,” he said. “And then another eleven hundred here today. Ooo, this is the most exciting!”
He opened the doors to the hall.
“Holy sh—”
AJ was standing inside a full-scale replica of the crale.
As Otto walked AJ through a re-creation of the captain’s quarters, he explained how he and Oona were installation artists who both adjunct taught at RISD. “Our grad students were super into this, so they helped us design and plan the whole thing. Wait till you see Rho’s cell!”
From there, Otto led AJ to the main chapel, where the panels were being held—a huge wooden venue with a vaulted ceiling reminiscent of a ship’s prow.
He deposited AJ with security in a row near the back. As she watched Dave and Xiaobo discussing disenfranchised war heroes onstage, her phone vibrated.
Brian. good luck today <3
AJ looked up to find Oona approaching with Eudora and Noah. Her heart did a somersault as security stood to let them pass. She shoved her phone into her pocket and followed suit.
Eudora, outfitted in a stunning beige camel hair coat, gave AJ’s arm an affectionate squeeze before continuing down the row, muttering “damn Nauticals” under her breath.
Noah looked incredible in a black sweater and matching jeans. His hair had been cut since Comic-Con, and he was tan again—perhaps he and Allison had gone on vacation before the publicity for Byron took over their lives. Risa, AJ noted, was not with him.
Their eyes connected, and Noah touched her arm just as Eudora had. Then he took the seat beside AJ’s, and her body reacted as if she’d been shot out of a cannon.
They sat side by side without exchanging a word. As the minutes ticked by, AJ could feel her entire frame of reference contracting into the one inch of space currently separating their knees.
God fucking damn it.
Eudora’s crossover chat with Elmore was next, and it was adorable. They greeted each other onstage as old friends, casually flirting as they settled in. Much theatrical glasses adjusting was involved.
“She’s such a ham,” Noah whispered as Eudora got a huge laugh. Above her, a clip of Astronauticals played on the projector screen.
AJ smiled, not looking at him. “I can’t believe she wanted to do this.”
Noah nodded. “As she’s gotten older, her stage fright has sort of faded,” he said. “Fair warning—so has her filter.”
“You mean she might call me a stewed prune?” said AJ.
Noah snickered. “That or she might comment on your hair. Which looks great, by the way.”
He said it casually, without so much as a glance in her direction, but AJ heard a slight tightness in his voice that made her smile.
Step off, Allison Seabring.
Five minutes before the Arho discussion, Oona and Otto came to collect them.
“We’re having you enter from opposite sides of the stage,” said Oona.
“See you up there,” said Noah.
He and Oona disappeared toward stage left, while Otto dropped AJ at the foot of stage right. The crowd before them was a chessboard of white and black clad Anas and Rhos.
Amid their applause, Eudora was carefully picking her way off the stage. She stalled at the far stairs, and AJ felt a pang. Eudora must be well past eighty. Noah was there now, taking her arm in his. When they reached the landing, he bent down to kiss her cheek.
“Our next duo needs no introduction.” Otto’s voice trilled over the loudspeaker. Excitement rippled through the audience.
As he expounded on the significance of Arho, AJ placed one foot on her own stairs. Across the platform, Noah did the same. She gripped the banister, and so did he. As Otto called their names, they took the steps, eyes on each other, striding into the light.
The crowd burst into cheers as they crossed the stage. Noah’s gaze was fierce on hers. As they arrived at center, he drank her in.
It must have been the act of walking out. For the first time since SNL, AJ felt the channel between them blip on. Then, she felt him—a burst of intense relief, like August rain.
As a disbelieving smile spread across her face, Noah pulled her into his arms, crushing her to his chest. For an instant, their bodies were flush against each other’s. Then, quickly, he released her.
The crowd was still screaming as AJ and Noah greeted Otto and took their seats on either side of him. AJ could feel ten small points on her back where Noah’s fingers had just been.
“Okay, AJ,” said Otto, shuffling the questions. “In your opinion, why is Ana Tar drawn to Rho?”
“It’s the face tats,” said AJ, speaking into her mic.
The crowd laughed. AJ took a breath. These people were giving them so much love and so much money, she owed it to them to try.