She must have been home from work, or else hanging out at her job waiting for the worst of the getting-out traffic to thin out. A reply came back immediately: NO he did not should I be worried?
I think you’ll like it when you see it
No hints?
Nope
@%#$!
LOL. The promoter said the local people all said something that we are
told means ‘that’s fine.’ We’re doing Por Una Cabeza for our first number.
We tweaked the Q&A a little to puff up the rest of the cast You’re a good team player Victor
Hey it wasn’t a two-person piece. How’s things with the Mouse, you still planning to keep on there?
Eh for some reason it’s a lot easier to take with that kind of money in the bank. Also I’m teaching again this semester and don’t have an immediate new project so why not hang out for a while Well when you get a new project rolling, let us know Duh
LOL say hi to Lieutenant Cutie and that alley cat for us Will do. Abrazos
Y Besos. Victor had one more text to send, to another friend from way back: Hey Valerie I spoke to Tomás and he’s like WTF a year ago I had one job and now I have four. When do you go into the studio with him and Janis for that album?
Apparently Valerie was done for the day too. She wrote back: March.
Janis is all now now now but you know how she is. They’re working up thirteen arrangements for two pianos and cello, it’s going to take all the time they can give it. Don’t worry, Tomás will be with you and the gang in Buenos Aires
Yeah he said so. He’s bringing his wife and their boy to meet his mother Nice family party
It’s going to be great. Can’t wait to hear this thing when you get it done Me either, I think it’s going to be something special. You and Andy take care and have fun on tour!
Thanks chica. Say hi to Russell for us
Will do.
Victor put the phone away. They were almost home. He wondered if a day would ever come when getting home to Andy didn’t feel like a total blessing. “Hey guys.” His security escort Stan and driver Jamil made inquiring sounds. “Have I thanked you lately?” They had almost certainly saved his life back in September, and probably Andy’s too.
“Only every day, Mr. Garcia.”
They were never going to call him Victor. They might have heard him rolling his eyes; there were snickers from the front seats. “I’m going to miss you when I’m off this show.”
“We’ll miss you too, Mr. Garcia.”
Chapter 2
January 2019
It was the next morning before Dana saw a late-night text from Andy: So I told V about Raquel and said I really don’t want to do anything else on film unless it’s a Tanith project or a thing with him because it’s boring as fuck and basically I hate it. He was like okay baby whatever you want but he looked satisfied. Then I said you know it could be some kind of porno with you and he said well let’s start blocking some scenes Dana laughed for a minute, then showed the text to Rory. They worked on a reply together. The final version read: If you wrote that after blocking some scenes please do not write any more about the scenes because hearing it is bad enough we would have to bleach our eyeballs. Feeling better?
An answer pinged in about fifteen minutes later: Much better except totally forgot I was called today the car was outside at oh god o’clock and now I’m on the soundstage half asleep and fully pissed off DAMMIT I HAD
PLANS
Yeah we don’t want to hear about those plans either Bahaha thanks for yesterday that was awesome Yes it was OXO don’t forget to ping your Berlin people about video!
Doing that right now. See you soon OXO
Berlin was the first stop on their tour, which was one reason they’d thought of doing ‘Mein Herr.’ Once they were really out there, they wouldn’t have time or space to rehearse a number like that. The week the tour officially started, when they still had a day of shooting on ‘Vice’ to do, Andy and Victor were up in the home studio running the routine. Or they had been.
Now Victor was leaning on the wall outside the bathroom, mopping his face with a hand towel, still giggling. “This is the best thing ever.”
Andy had a leg up on the barre, stretching, leaning over with his ribs to his thigh and smiling at Victor. “You and your fishnets fetish.”
“If Berlin doesn’t burn to the ground when you step on stage like that, it’s only because it’s January.” Andy laughed. The costume was pretty darned effective if he did say so himself: shorts, halter top, garter belt and stockings, high heels and bowler hat like Liza Minnelli’s. They’d already done a
makeup test and he knew he could put it together in the few minutes they’d have after their first number at the Berlin premiere screening. Meanwhile, he was still in costume because he knew how much Victor liked it. If there were anything resembling a bed in this studio, that guy would be all over him right now. He changed his angle to stretch the front of his hip. That meant turning his back to his husband, leg still up on the barre but now extended behind him. He heard Victor make a ‘yum’ sound and smiled to himself. “You’re
