Chapter 5
April 2019
Two days later, Andy still hadn’t called Zach, he was still dithering about the whole thing, and Victor said, “Will you call the guy for fuck’s sake? Before I leave for this stupid meeting, so I can make sure you do it?”
“Gaahh, yes, okay!” Andy got his phone. Found the letter. Dialed the number, halfway hoping nobody would answer. Then he heard ‘Zach Tyler Dance’ in what was indisputably a live voice and not a voicemail invitation.
If Victor hadn’t been standing right there he might have chickened out.
Instead he put the call on speaker and said, “So I got this letter. It was handed to me by Dmitri Vasko, who got it from his husband Patrick, who got it from his colleague Paul, who got it from his husband Kevin, who works with a young lady named Karen Scott. Any of that sound familiar?”
They both heard Zach say, “Karen’s my girlfriend.” He sounded stunned.
“She snatched that off my desk and said what’s wrong with you and then left. I had no idea. Is this Mr. Martin?”
“Call me Andy. Tell me why this has come to me via such a circuitous route. Did you not really want to do it?”
“No, I did. I saw that piece on Pop Quiz and I wrote that, and then I was afraid to send it. Karen saw it on my desk and asked me if that was a copy, if I’d sent it.”
“Am I to conclude that you have a problem with follow-through?” Andy saw Victor’s face, which said ‘ He has a problem?’ and gave him a middle finger.
Zach said, “No sir. I really don’t. I just have a problem with believing people want to work with me. I can’t believe you called me.”
“Well, imagine how I felt,” Andy said, amused. “I throw my little pity party for Sherry, it goes live, and a week later I hear from someone saying I’ll be your prince? It was either going to be the most fun I’ve had since Berlin, or calling in the anti-stalker brigade again. We looked you up. That was Karen you were dancing with, last May?”
“Yes sir.”
“And you danced in ‘Democracy.’” Andy’s voice grew brisk. “I checked with Alison Jarvet about that, and the studio head where you work. They say
good things about you. Our friend Rory approves of you. I was talking to Victor, waving this letter around, and he said will you call the guy for fuck’s sake. So, what do you want to do?”
“I want to dance with you,” Zach said. “I never thought I’d get a chance to do that piece. If you’re serious, I want to do it.”
“Even though I am almost twenty years older than you and probably in need of serious remediation?”
“Only sixteen.” Andy laughed. “I mean, yes sir.”
“Willing to work at my home studio?”
“Yes sir.”
“I will text you my email address. Send me your schedule.” Andy disconnected. “I wonder if he has any idea where the home studio is. We could be in fucking Pasadena for all he knows.”
Victor had been trying not to laugh for most of the conversation. “Sir.”
“Oh my God I know.” They both cracked up. “Okay, well, are you satisfied?”
“I’ll be satisfied if you put that smart mouth to work on me before I go.”
Andy, phone still in hand, got the other around the back of Victor’s neck and pulled him in for a hard kiss.
“Two minutes,” he said. He sent that text with his email address. Then he sent a text to his lawyer: Need license to perform prince & swan pas de deux from Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. Then he set the phone down on the nearest surface and unbuttoned Victor’s pants.
Andy was checking in with his mother daily by email, and occasionally by phone. That was mostly so she could put his father on the line, and they all knew it. He told them about the Swan Dive. “Yeah, so this guy saw my interview thing and said he’d like to do it with me. He said he never thought he’d get to dance the prince. And of course I never thought I’d get to dance the swan. So thanks again for dumping me in dance class all those years ago.”
“We had to,” said Ronnie. “You on a sports field was a tragedy.”
Andy tried not to laugh, tried to sound offended. “If I’d had more than one week of soccer things might have developed differently.” God forbid, he thought. “So I know you can’t fly out here when we do it on stage, but I’ll
make sure you get the video, okay?” They talked a little more about that project. “I’m going to Michigan in June for the ‘Countdown 3’ thing. As soon as we’re done shooting my cameo I’m going to fly down to see you guys again for a few days.”
“You’re leaving Molly with Victor?” Eva sounded like she knew the answer. She’d been delighted when Andy and Victor adopted the dog, who had predictably fallen in love with her on the one occasion Andy’s parents visited them in Los Angeles.
“Yeah, she hates to fly. I thought seriously about driving up to Michigan now that I’ve got my new hot wheels. But road trips solo aren’t as much fun as road trips with Victor. Hey Pop.”
“What?”
“I was thinking we could drive down to Key West while I’m there. Your old buddy still runs that fishing charter out of there, right?” And I will make it worth his while to cancel anything else, Andy thought. He was completely prepared to play the
