Chapter 44 Fairytale
Fairytale
Eve
After a round of press and pictures, Eve attended the afterparty at the Standard with her mother at her side, Maya and Siobhan somewhere close. She walked onto a rooftop full of people and their applause, and Eve was positive she’d never smiled so hard in her life.
She looked good that night, too. She’d chosen a gorgeous cocktail dress from Haitian designer Joelle Wendy Fontaine.
Simple but striking, the bronze silk with its dropped waist and open back accentuated Eve’s finest assets, from her sculpted shoulders to her toned thighs.
She wore her hair in long freestyle cornrows threaded with gold and glossy makeup to complement her gilded look.
Eve didn’t even need Maya’s seal of approval, but she’d gotten it via FaceTime before the show, and again in person.
Even strangers were shouting compliments at her.
“You are fucking amazing,” Maya screamed as she approached her best friend, looking equally fly—and very Zendaya-esque—in her violet suit and matching pumps. “Bitch, I cried from beginning to end.”
Eve wrapped her arms around Maya snugly. “Thanks, babe.” She beamed. “But you’ve seen this play, like, eight times.”
“But not with Amina,” Maya said. “I hope you’re ready for all of the awards. Drama Desk, Tony, Emmy, all of it.”
“You’re so stupid,” Eve said, her grin still as wide as her face. “Thank you. I love you.”
“You want a drink?” Maya asked, pointing to the bar. “Let me get you something.”
“You’re gonna buy me a drink at the open bar?” Eve teased.
“Well, I was offering to stand in line for you, but shit.”
“Come.” Eve took Maya’s hand before she could respond and led her to a corner of the massive bar. It had been roped off, just for her and the play’s cast and crew.
“Oh, bitch, you fancy!” Maya shouted over the music. Eve knew that Maya was certainly delighted for her but also relieved she wouldn’t actually have to stand in that endless line for liquor.
“We’ve come a long way from not being able to get into Tongue and Groove,” Eve said, recalling their early days at Spelman.
Maya made good on her promise to get their drinks: a margarita for herself and a whiskey sour for Eve. And once they were in hand, she raised her glass to her bestie.
“I know you gotta be exhausted of people complimenting you, but I’m doin’ it anyway,” she declared. “To my brilliant friend. It’s amazing to be in this maze with you, sis.”
Eve nodded, trying to knock back her tears. “Same.”
“Drink.”
Eve giggled after downing the liquor in practically one gulp, knowing she would regret it later. “Wait, where’s Siobhan?” she asked.
“Dancing with everyone.” Maya gestured to the dance floor. “I needed you to drink so I could get you out there.”
“Bitch…”
“Come on,” Maya begged. “It’s your party.”
“It’s not.”
“It is. And I’m not letting you leave without shaking all that ass,” she said, giving her backside a playful swat. “Come.”
“I’ll be over in a minute,” Eve said. “I need to eat something first.”
“I’m coming back in ten minutes. You better be ready.”
“I will be.”
Eve smiled, watching Maya groove her way toward the crowd, and took a much-needed seat at the bar, her feet killing her after hours of running around in four-inch Louboutins. She ordered some french fries and another drink while she waited.
She was enjoying the time alone, as it allowed her to observe the crowd, all the people who’d helped her vision come together, enjoying the fruits of their labor.
She was proud—of them and herself. And she was several sips into a grapefruit gimlet when a voice interrupted her journey toward a nice celebratory buzz.
“Is this seat taken?”
Eve turned to the voice, prepared to tell its owner that the section belonged to production staff only.
But she lost her train of thought, along with her breath, when she found Jamie staring back at her.
She hadn’t recognized his inflection over the music, and barely recognized him, looking positively dapper in a crisp black suit and tie.
She was speechless, her dropped jaw slowly turning into a smile as her heart raced to the beat of “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”
“What are you doing here?” she finally managed to ask.
Jamie grinned as he unfastened his jacket and took the seat she never offered. “I came to see your play.”
“You saw my play?” she asked, still staring at him in a mixture of awe and confusion.
He grinned at her bewilderment. “What’d I miss?”
She narrowed her eyes at him, feeling like this was some sort of practical joke.
Her mind playing tricks on her, urging her to go ahead and pinch herself this time.
How did he even get in without being on the guest list?
She surveyed the crowded floor in search of Maya—she seemed like the most likely culprit.
But perhaps he was just artful enough to slip in on his own.
And if this was, in fact, a dream, she wasn’t ready to wake up.
“You haven’t missed anything,” she said, drinking him in like he was the cocktail in front of her.
He gazed back at her, the two of them holding an entire conversation with just their eyes, their stares saying far more than words ever could. Their silent exchange was loud and intimate, and it made Eve smile until she was on the edge of laughter.
“You wanna dance?” Jamie asked.
“You dance?”
“I do. I have. With you.”
When he stood from his seat and offered his hand, Eve stared at him amusedly, trying to devise some clever reply, something about being on display in front of all those people.
But she couldn’t think of anything she wanted to say more than she wanted to dance with this man.
She accepted his proffered hand and followed him to the dance floor, then past it, until they were in the corner of the rooftop, away from the crowd of moving bodies.
“What are we doing?” Eve wondered, unsure why they needed to be isolated from everyone else. She was trying to be done with that version of herself.
“We’re dancing.”
Eve was still confused, but when he extended his arm, she was happy to settle in his embrace, his right hand spanning her bare back, pulling her close. His left hand took her right and he began to sway, taking her with him.
Eve instantly felt at home again, there in his arms, and relaxed as he guided them in slow circles, completely ignoring the rhythm of the upbeat music.
It betrayed every instinct she had, but still, it felt right.
She wanted to close her eyes, trusting that Jamie would lead her where they needed to go, but instead, she got lost in his.
Those lovely blues, so full of all his dueling emotions.
He was content, with her, at least in the moment, but there was melancholy there.
He was nervous, and yet so confident. There was that puckish gleam, but his earnestness was ever present.
Maybe, in essence, that was Jamie Gallagher.
Her eyes started to water the longer she stared, her lip involuntarily quivering, and she forced herself to look away before her feelings could swallow her whole. She rested her head against his shoulder and breathed him in.
“Are you okay?”
Eve was quick to answer, nodding against him. “Yes,” she said.
She wasn’t sure if that was true. She wasn’t even sure if she was standing on her own or if Jamie was holding her up.
“You still think there’s no path forward for us?” he asked, his voice low, as if they weren’t alone.
Eve looked up at him. “Is there?”
Jamie smiled as they continued to sway in semicircles, ignoring anyone else that looked on, probably wondering what the hell she and Jamie were doing. As far as they were concerned, they were the only two people in the world. “What did you think when you saw me?” he asked.
“I thought I’d missed you so much, I was imagining things,” she said, thankful to know she wasn’t.
Jamie grinned. “When I saw you, I realized exactly why I woke up this morning with the sudden urge to hop on a flight to someplace I’d never been. And I thought, ‘I’d get on a flight every day for that smile.’?”
Eve was on the edge of bursting into pure sobs. Still so confused about how she could possibly deserve this man. After all her guardedness and uncertainty, here he was, still wanting her.
She went back to his shoulder, her comfortable place, and even though they were spinning, it felt as though the world had stopped for the two of them.
She could feel his heart beating against her cheek, and when she did finally close her eyes, she imagined it beating for her.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered.
He drew a long breath before speaking. “?‘Once we recognize what it is we’re feeling, once we recognize we can feel deeply, love deeply, can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy.’?”
Eve looked up at him, his lips twitching with the hint of a smile as she recognized the Audre Lorde quote.
“We had what we had,” Jamie said. “But what if we could have more?”
“Can we…?”
“Well.” Jamie looked around, as if someone might be listening. “Turns out I got into NYU, and it looks like me and my kid might need a place to stay.”
A tiny whimper fell from Eve’s mouth as she felt herself melting, helpless to stop it.
What a terrifying, wonderful feeling, knowing how much she wanted this, and how much it would hurt if they managed to ruin it again.
Because maybe it would never be as easy as it was in their secluded little neighborhood in Gatlinburg.
But she couldn’t keep fantasizing about failing.
Not when she had all these reasons to try.
They were a work in progress, not perfection.
“You’re moving to New York?” she asked, her disbelief not releasing its hold.
Jamie’s eyes skipped around her face, his excitement flickering and reflecting the lights of the city surrounding them. “If you’ll have us.”
“Of course I’ll have you.” She laughed and she was crying at the same time, just as Jamie’s lips crashed into hers, a flutter of butterflies, maybe fireflies, stirring her insides, adrenaline racing past them.
She had never done hard drugs, but she imagined this was what heroin highs were made of.
Eve knew, right then, she wanted this forever. Of course she would have them.
As they pulled apart, Eve trying carefully to wipe her tears, she gazed at Jamie, already imagining calling him the love of her life anytime someone asked.
He was so handsome, all dressed up in his Tom Ford suit fitting him like a glove. Eve looked like royalty on her big night. They cleaned up nice.
But she preferred them messy.
“You wanna get outta here?” she asked.
Jamie responded with only a slow smile at first, their dance coming to a grinding halt until they were simply standing there. “This is your party. We can’t just leave. Can we?”
Eve took a moment to survey the lively scene, her friends and family and coworkers, along with people she’d never know, dancing the night away. She suspected no one would notice if she disappeared. But this time, she’d be back; she was too happy with what she’d built to leave it behind.
Maybe fairy tales didn’t exist. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a happily ever after.
Still beaming, Eve shrugged. “I’ve done it before.”