Page 21 of Come As You Are
At that moment, Olivia and Mal came down the stairs. I hadn’t even realized Mal had gone in to see her, and I bristled at the idea of him talking to her while she was clearly upset. Had he even noticed? My bet was that he hadn’t, especially when Olivia looked annoyed at something he said and walked over to the bar.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
The four of us looked at her with stunned silence since she rarely came down to shoot the shit. Running Illyria was a full-time business, and I couldn’t remember if I’d ever seen her sit down at the bar before the club opened. Maria was the first to recover.
“Some stupid fart joke Toby made,” she said, and I had to admire her ability to think on her feet. Olivia would never ask to hear a fart joke.
True to form, she smiled politely. “Ever the purveyor of refined humor, Toby,” she said.
He bowed his head to her. “I know my audience.”
“That you do.” She paused for a moment, her eyes finding mine and then shifting to focus on Vee, before she reclaimed my gaze. “I won’t keep you from your adoring fans.”
Olivia turned to leave us, but at that moment Festus came toward us waving a flyer printed on bright paper.
“They stole our idea,” he said and slapped the paper on the bar top.
We crowded around to read it, exclaiming with dismay when we saw it was a flyer for the Grotto’s upcoming drag queen pageant and wondering how they’d done it so quickly. Was it coincidence or had they found out about our idea? Our voices became a jumble of exclamations of outrage and despair as we alternated between cursing Orsino and wondering what we should do now.
Once again, Olivia’s gaze found mine over Vee’s head, and she seemed on the verge of speaking when Mal reappeared. He didn’t share our dismay about the pageant.
“It will be as stupid an idea at the Grotto as it would have been here,” he said. “So, I think it’s in our best interest not to have to worry about it any longer.”
I saw the way Vee’s face fell at Mal’s words and wrapped my arm around him. “It was a good idea,” I whispered in his ear. “So good the Grotto stole it, so don’t listen to what Mal says.”
Vee nodded, and I lifted my head to catch Olivia’s eye again, but she’d already turned away and was asking Mal to follow her back to her office.
“I fucking hate him,” Maria said under her breath as soon as they were out of sight, and we all agreed. “I’m gonna do it, you know. Plant something for him to find and make him think Olivia’s going to make him her partner.” She clapped her hands. “And, I know how to do it in a way that’s going to be a lot of fun for us to watch. I’ll give him a list of things Olivia wants to show he’s ready to take on a more active role in making decisions.”
“Like what?” Vee asked.
Maria thought for a moment. “Like suggesting that he get a different wardrobe for work. Something with more color so he doesn’t always look like he’s going to a funeral.”“And maybe a different hair style,” Toby suggested. He snapped his fingers. “With highlights or color so he fits in better with our customers.”
“Perfect,” Maria said.
They continued brainstorming ideas of what Maria would include in her memo, and I had to marvel at the simplicity of it. Plus, I was grateful it took the focus off getting me into drag. Almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind, Maria focused back on me. She tapped the flyer from the Grotto.
“This timing couldn’t be better,” she said. “They’ll be holding auditions this week. We can get you all dolled up, send you over there to try out, and it doesn’t matter if you’re completely awful—”
“Hey!” I protested. “Be nice.”
“It won’t matter because it’s just auditions. It’s absolutely perfect. There will be so many drag queens there, no one will notice you.”
I had to agree with her. The timingwaspretty good.
Vee and I returnedto my apartment. I was acutely aware of his presence, and he seemed to feel the same. We moved around each other cautiously, and I was ridiculously conscious of how much noise I made as I walked across the wooden floors. I’d never noticed before how they creaked and echoed no matter how carefully I stepped. Vee retreated to his room, but I heard him shifting on his bed, obviously trying to find a position that was comfortable as he played on his phone.
When I nearly asphyxiated trying to stifle a cough, I knew we were being ridiculous.
“Hey, Vee,” I called.
He came out of his room with an apprehensive look on his face. “Yeah?”
“You know you don’t have to stay in your room when I’m home,” I said.
He opened his mouth as if he was going to protest, then closed it and nodded. “I’m just not sure what to do with myself. When I wasn’t working, I didn’t really hang out at the squat,” he said, which made sense, and I fumbled for something we could do together.
“Do you want to watchDrag Racewith me and help me find some inspiration?”
