Opening night goes better than Andi could have hoped. A couple dropped lines, a missed prop in Act Two, but they nailed “Home on the Range” (for the first time, like, ever), and her choreography for “Suppertime” was on point. All in all, a really good start to the weekend.
Jimmy, of course, is the first of her well wishers. “Branching out is working for you, Andi,” he says, engulfing her in a hug. “You were amazing.” She flushes, the way she always does when Jimmy pays her a compliment, but she hides it easily.
“Thanks,” she tells him.
“I love that you put in an unnecessary quick change at the end so you could bow in your “Suppertime” tux,” he says with a smirk.
“Um, have you seen this thing?” Andi asks him, gesturing to her amazing white-and-brown sequined tuxedo. “It’s the most amazing costume ever, and I’m very upset I only get to wear it for three minutes on stage. Gabe deserves to have his best work shown off.” And with that, she throws her hands wide and twirls.
“Andi,” Jimmy says on a laugh, lunging forward to catch her wrist. “You’re taking out the audience.”
She turns to apologize to the audience member she almost punched in the face and finds herself face to face with Alex Carter, looking alarmed.
“Oh, God, Alex, I’m so sorry!”
“It’s fine, you missed, so . . .” Alex says.
“I’m gonna leave you to your admirers,” Jimmy breaks in then, as if he isn’t one of them, and places a swift kiss on her cheek.
“Actually,” she says, catching him before he can disappear into the crowd. “Can you do me a favor? Can you run to the green room for me? There’s a sealed envelope in the front pocket of my bag, and I need it.”
“Yeah, sure,” he says, with only the briefest puzzled look. Andi turns back to Alex.
“I figured you might prefer it if I didn’t carry Zoe’s letter on my person for the whole show,” she says.
“Probably best,” he agrees with a nod.
“So?” she asks with a grin. “What did you think?”
“It was really good,” he says, and he seems to mean it, though Andi won’t pretend to be an expert on reading Alex Carter. “You were great.”
“Thanks. Yeah, this is what I get up to when I’m not behind a coffee counter. Speaking of coffee, though . . .” Instinctively, she looks around to make sure no one is eavesdropping, which is a little ridiculous, she acknowledges, but you never know. Eddie could be anywhere. She’s not about to cheat, but she is about to skirt pretty close to the line. “Is everything okay with you and Zoe? You were both pretty, um, upset this week when delivering letters.”
“I– don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Andi peers at him for a second, then drops it. “Oh, okay. Must have been reading too much into things,” she says with a smile, while thinking Bullshit. But she won’t push it.
“I mean…” he looks pretty uncomfortable, like he knows she knows he’s lying, “Zoe had a pretty bad day a while ago… are you sure it wasn’t that?”
Damn sure, child, Andi thinks, but she just says, “Might have been. My schedule’s been nuts with the show, so I probably just got things mixed up. Things are fine, then?”
“I–” he looks like he wants to say something more, but then thinks better of it, “I think so.” This at least, seems like the truth.
“Good,” she says, and then Jimmy reappears, letter in hand.
“Here you are, madame,” he says with unnecessary flourish, presenting it to her in a perfectly executed court bow. She rolls her eyes with a grin and drops a curtsey.
“Thank you, monsieur,” she says, laughing, then hands the letter to Alex. “One letter from Zoe Ballard for you.
“Oh, are you Alex?” Jimmy breaks in, his face lighting up. “Zoe’s Alex?”
Alex looks slightly amused at this, “I don’t think I’m Zoe’s anything.”
Andi smirks at that, but Jimmy laughs. “Of course not,” he says. “I’m Jimmy, I’m in her Soc class, and we have to give updates on our projects, so she’s talked about you a little.”
“Ah, I see. Well then, Lab Rat Alex at your service,” he says, not quite replicating Jimmy’s elaborate bow, but heading in that direction. Andi is positively delighted at this exchange, but hopes it doesn’t show on her face. Her mind is already spinning in a dozen different bet-related directions.
“Her project is really cool, and we’re all excited to hear her full presentation. Oh, hey!” he says, jumping topics. “She’s around here, do you want me to grab her for you?”
Alex turns slightly red and folds in on himself. “I don’t think-”
Andi jumps in, her alarm at the suggestion almost as great as Alex’s. “No, Jimmy, they have a system. Haven’t you been paying attention to those updates Zoe gives in class? Anonymity.”
“Oh, yeah,” Jimmy says, looking back and forth between Andi and Alex. “So you two haven’t—”
The Alex that was joking around only moments before has disappeared. “No. I, um, better go,” he says quickly before turning away and making a beeline for the door.
“See you at Cuppa Joe’s!” Andi calls after him. He doesn’t even acknowledge that he hears her, and maybe he didn’t with all the noise in the room. She sighs and turns to glare at Jimmy. “You are as bad as Eddie in your own way, you know that?”
“Well, that seems uncalled for,” he quips. “What’s going on? I know your scheming face, and you have it on. What’s the deal? Is something going on with Alex and Zoe?”
Andi grins. “Not yet. But it will be.” He looks confused, so she just says, “Take me out for coffee after this insanity is done and I’ll explain everything. I am not,” she says forcefully, interrupting the lighting up of his face at the suggestion, “accepting one of your many seduction attempts. We just have to go to Cuppa Joe’s so I can show you things.”
“Okay . . .” he says, giving her the side eye. She shoves him playfully away to greet the rest of the cast while she pays attention to her other well wishers. But her mind’s not really in it. It’s replaying that whole exchange with Alex. Because it’s always nice to have your suspicions one hundred percent reaffirmed.