occur to me they were supposed to be some other way. Your back okay?”
“My back is fine, how about yours.”
“I’m good. Holy mother of shit.” They both cracked up again. Everyone in the green room was looking at them the same way Rory had.
Paula Borodin held up her phone. “Somebody already posted your ending. That dude who won Dancing with the Stars a million times tweeted, I’ve done that drop with a dozen partners but never in spike-heeled platform boots, hashtag challenge accepted.” Victor laughed all over again and told her to get out on stage.
They spent the rest of the show the same way as the night before, but this time there was the afterparty. The downstairs lounge was a much more controlled environment. They were hanging out at the bar with Rowena when Julio sent down a message to say that a reporter they knew had asked if she could have a word. “I’m going to go up and talk to Sherry,” Andy said.
“She’ll be disappointed that I’m out of costume.”
“Explain to her about the dance belt, the fishnets and the crotch snap.”
“Pop Quiz viewers should know how we suffer for our art.” That was a semi-ironic reference to their dance fight on Tanith’s movie. This routine had produced some bruises too, but only on the outside. “Be back in a few minutes, sweetheart.”
“Hey.”
Andy turned back. “What?”
“Kiss me.”
Andy smiled. “Okay.” They took their time over it. “God, I love you.
Tell me you don’t have any appointments tomorrow.”
“My only appointment is with you. All day. I love you.” One more quick kiss and then Andy was heading upstairs.
Sherry Martinez was actually inside. She had her little handheld camera on. “Mr. Martin, thanks for agreeing to speak with me.”
It was a jolt, hearing that name. That name belonged to his father. Andy smiled professionally and said, “Sherry, this again? Call me Andy. Did you see the show?”
“Yes I did, I had my ticket a month ago. And I’m glad I did because I sure wouldn’t have been able to get one if I’d waited till the last minute. That was a spectacular performance. How long have you and Mr. Garcia been
working on it?”
“We started the choreography with Dmitri Vasko last April.”
“Wow!”
“Well, Victor was going on location in May, I was joining him in June, and we weren’t expecting to be back in town until August. We wanted to do this number as well as the one we did in September.”
“I saw that too, but I didn’t get a chance to speak with you. That music has been used here before, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, about three and a half years ago for this brutal apache number.
Ricky Castillo and Anya Ivanova. They performed tonight too.”
“Those of us who are Underground Cabaret fans really love how so many performers stay with the company. I know I personally get very invested.”
“Well, you may be interested to know that Vince Connor and Michelle Matsumoto are going up for the World Smooth Championship at the Ohio Star Ball next weekend. Some Cabaret fans may remember Vince made his performance debut here eight years ago.”
“Oh my God, yes. Dance fans, I’ll give you the title of that number in a second. Andy, when we spoke earlier this year you told me you wanted to make this a good dance year. Since then you’ve done your wonderful pas de deux with Zach Tyler, and now these two fantastic routines with Victor.
What’s next?”
“We’re working on something,” he said with a smile. “You’ll be the first to know.”
“Thanks so much, Andy. I’ll let you go now. Tell Victor he’s my hero for doing that in those shoes.”
“Mine too! If anyone wants some of those, go to Molest Shoes, right down the road here in Hollywood. Ask for Rowena.” Andy waved to the camera and went back downstairs.
Victor woke up slowly. The room was fairly bright; it had to be at least eight o’clock. Andy was speaking in a low voice, very close. Victor turned his head. Andy had Molly in his arms. “Who’s a cuddly girl. Yes you’re my very best Molly. Is it time to take you to the beach again? Let you get all filthy like a real dog?” He glanced over at Victor and smiled. “Hi catnip. I’ve
already taken her out and made coffee.”
“Your ability to not sleep constantly amazes me.” Victor stretched. “Is it a day for the beach? If we go to the beach, we have a great excuse to not be online.”
“That’s very true.” Andy accepted a kiss from his husband, then watched him go into the bathroom. “He has a cute little ass, doesn’t he Molly.”
“I heard that. Whoa, I didn’t realize it was so late.” When Victor returned with a cup of coffee, he picked up his phone from the nightstand.
“Missed a call from John.”
“Give him a call. We have the whole day to ourselves.”
Victor leaned over for another kiss first. Drank some elixir of life, and then dialed. The receiving phone rang three times before John picked up.
“Hey John, I saw that you called. Everything okay? Glad to hear it. Yeah, you know what, we’re pretty much done for the year. Prep work now for that concert next spring, but otherwise all that’s really firm is going over to Miami to see Eva. Leaving on the eighteenth.” He listened for a minute.
“This last thing? Well, I should probably warn you. It was a little bit out there.” A snort. “Andy danced it in full drag. Yeah, a dress. Oh, he looked amazing. Well, you know I think he always does.” A sidelong glance at his husband. “Uh-huh. High heels. Yeah that was a concern.” He snickered.
“Well, our solution was that I wore high heels too. Like, really high heels. Oh my God it was torture.” He laughed out loud. “I got used to it. Oh damn it was fun being tall. At dress rehearsal everybody was like -” He made a confused Scooby Doo noise,
