Epilogue #2
“Cut!” The director called from the darkness. “Stage crew, set up for group interviews.”
There was a flutter of noise and movement, and then three individuals dressed in black came onto the stage carrying a matching sofa to the one she was sitting on.
“You’re doing great,” Andy said, before taking a sip from the water bottle placed behind his chair.
“And we’re ready! In five, four, three, two …” the director called before she could reply, although she wasn’t entirely sure he wanted one. Instead of a ‘one,’ the red light flicked on, and Andy picked up where they had left off. “Please welcome Abby, Freya, Riley, and Becca to the stage.”
Naomi turned to watch her friends enter, stage right, all of them impeccably styled in glamorous dresses, makeup and hair done to perfection, ready for their moment on camera.
She had spent the last few hours behind stage with them, so this wasn’t the exciting reunion it was for viewers, but still, she was happy to see them and she waved to them as they took their seats on the sofa beside her.
“Thanks so much for joining us today. I’ve got a lot of questions for you all, so let’s get going. Obviously, we have to start with some congratulations.”
“Yes, thank you, it’s true,” Riley said. “Becca and I have the number one podcast on Apple Podcasts, two weeks in a row now.”
Andy laughed. “I was going to say Freya and Abby’s engagement, but you’re right.
Congratulations are in order for you two as well.
Your podcast, Take My Dicktation, has become a bit of a sensation, hasn’t it?
And am I right in understanding the whole podcast is about, well,” Andy hemmed. “How can I put this delicately?”
“Dicks, Andy,” Becca interjected. “It’s okay, you can say it. We started a podcast about dicks.”
“Except then it evolved into something.” Riley paused. “I don’t want to say better. Because what’s better than dicks?”
“Nothing,” Becca confirmed. Then added, “I’m thinking about my husband’s right now.” She wiggled her fingers off stage, presumably to where Peter was standing in the shadows.
“Let’s say it evolved,” Riley said when it became clear that Becca was lost to her flirting, “as we started taking listener questions, it opened new avenues for us to discuss all kinds of topics that we have expertise in. Dating advice, career advice, fashion advice—”
“And also dicks.” Becca was back. “We never lost sight of what brought us together.”
Riley pointed a finger towards Becca as if to drive home her point.
“I’m definitely going to come back to your podcasting success.
But first,” Andy turned his head slightly to look at the other couple sharing the sofa with Riley and Becca.
“Abby and Freya. While we were all watching Naomi and Will, you two were having a love story of your own that none of us saw coming.”
Naomi saw Riley’s face twitch slightly.
“Your big moment in front of the hospital that took us all by surprise and by storm,” Andy continued, “wasn’t the start of your romance, it was actually the final moment.
Before we met you as a couple, you two had known each other in high school, reconnected when Will and Naomi started dating, had been secretly dating for a few weeks after the wedding, and then had broken up before getting back together for all of us to see. Thank you for that, by the way.”
Freya and Abby laughed together. “You’re welcome,” Abby said.
“As I was saying before, I understand congratulations are in order?”
Naomi looked at her friends. If she didn’t know better, she would think the bright flush on their faces was purely nerves.
But she had seen that look on them since the day they showed up at dinner wearing the engagement rings they now displayed for the camera.
That pink flush wasn’t from the interview or the bright lights overhead; they were hopelessly in love, and it radiated from every pore.
“Yep, we’re engaged,” Freya said.
Andy nodded approvingly. “This is a Tell-All, so tell it all. When did it all start? Because isn’t it true you two were lifelong enemies?”
“I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say enemies,” Abby replied, intertwining her fingers with Freya’s.
“Mortal enemies, Andy,” Riley said. “A real Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. We’re talking bad bl—”
“Okay, thank you, Riley,” Abby said, a firmness unmistakable behind her smile.
Andy chuckled. “I get the picture. There was some tension between you two. But then, when did you start dating?”
After they declared their love for each other in front of the entire world, Abby and Freya chose to keep their relationship out of the public eye for the most part.
So, when they both hesitated to answer, Naomi guessed they must be feeling the same discomfort she had felt talking about her relationship with Will on camera early on.
“It’s really sweet,” she said, trying to take some of the pressure off by telling Andy what they’d told her when she’d asked the same question.
“They met a few days after the wedding to talk about what was happening and try to figure out how they could help us. They came up with this plan to encourage us to stand up for ourselves so we could either get closure or answers and I guess along the way, one thing led to another.”
She looked at Abby, expecting a nod of confirmation, but instead Abby had her bottom lip between her teeth. “Yeah, about that …”
Riley sat up like they’d been given an electric shock. “Wait, what now?”
Abby looked over at Freya. “We decided on the way over here that there’s enough distance between your wedding now so—”
“Yeah,” Freya said, cutting to the chase. “We totally made out at your wedding.”
Exclamations came from everyone on camera, and possibly some people off.
“In my defense,” Abby said, laughing as she attempted to be heard over the group.
“No, listen, in my defense, I went over to Freya to read her the riot act, seeing as how she was someone I disliked and was associated with Nightly Global News, who had allowed my best friend to go through all that on live TV. And then … you know …”
“I do not know!” Riley said incredulously. “We had a very formal agreement drawn up about keeping secrets in this friend group, and it has been severely violated.”
“I knew I saw you in the hallway!” Will exclaimed.
“More secrets?!” Riley sounded like a pressure cooker about to explode.
“Okay, okay.” Andy waved both hands in front of himself, trying to rein the chatter in. “It started with a kiss at the wedding. That brings me to my next question, then. If you two always hated each other, what changed? One make-out sesh after a wedding-gone-wrong?”
Abby and Freya exchanged glances, as if partaking in a silent rock, paper, scissors as to who would answer first. Freya must have lost because she turned to Andy.
“I mean, the making out certain helped.” She laughed.
“But truthfully, I think we both realized the things we hated about each other were actually the things we loved about each other.”
“It’s funny, you say that,” Abby said, looking at Freya, “I never told you this—I guess with everything else going on, it didn’t seem important.
But it wasn’t until I accidentally overheard all of them talking about how you were in love with me that I started to realize how I felt about you.
I guess that means you figured it out first and I was the latecomer to the game. ”
Naomi’s eyes widened.
Freya shifted to look at Abby. “You overheard—but I overheard all of them talking about how you were in love with me. That was how I—”
Riley’s hand shot out, trying to get their attention. “Never mind all that. I think what’s really key here is that you two discovered your feelings and are getting your own happily ever after.”
But no one was paying attention to Riley, especially not Andy. “Hang on,” he said eagerly. “Are you saying you both overheard everyone else here talk about how the other one was in love with you? But at that point, neither of you had any feelings for each other that you were aware of?”
Abby turned to Naomi, her jaw practically on the floor. “Do you have something to tell me?”
Naomi slipped her tongue between her teeth and bit down.
“I saw that, Naomi!”