"Babe?" Daveed called.
"Yeah?" I called back.
"What are you doing? Like right now."
"Well..." My phone buzzed on the table. I picked it up.
"Apparently, I'm going over to Pippa's for Tony dresses."
"Have fun?"
"Trust me, I don't think its gonna be that fun. What did you need though? I have a bit before Pippa starts calling to ask where I am. So what's up?" I ask, getting up off the couch.
"Oh, I just need some help packing." He calls and I head towards our room, leaning on the door frame. "Did Noah get to school OK?" I nod and smile at him. Recently, Noah and Daveed have hanging out more which makes me happy. They are both the most important men in my life and I need them to get along.
"Lots of shorts and t-shirts. Its hot as hell out there." Daveed throws the two Oakland shirts in his hands on the bed and walked over to me. He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my shoulder.
"I don't leave for like weeks and I already miss you." He mumbles.
"You haven't left yet. You have time. Quit thinking about leaving. It isn't happening for weeks. We have the Tony's, which are going to be amazing and you have a few weeks between then and your last show. Just keep thinking about now. And how disastrous this room is." I laughed and he lifted his head to press a kiss to my forehead.
"Stop laughing. I'll clean it up after I'm done. Promise." I nod and step over piles of various clothing items, making my way to our closet. I pulled off Daveed's shirt that was serving as my pajama top and wiggled out of my athletic shorts. I sorted through my shirts until I found my cream colored San Fran skyline t-shirt. When I pulled it over my head, I turned to the room where I knew my shorts were. I spotted them across the room and carefully picked my way across the room. I caught Daveed's eyes as I finally got the shorts in my hands.
"What?"
"You're just so beautiful." I blushed and ducked my head, slipping on my shorts.
I kissed him on the way to the bathroom, giving him the space to continue packing. I brushed through my hair and pulled it back in a Dutch braid and put on natural makeup, clasping the necklace with my aunts ring on it around my neck.
I exited the bathroom one I was satisfied with my appearance and headed back to the disaster area to grab my bag. "I'm heading over to Pippa's. Love you." I kissed him and he waved as I headed back into the hallway.
I grabbed a granola bar out off the counter and headed out of the apartment, texting Noah that he has a dentist appointment after school and that I'd be there to pick him up. I caught a cab to Pippa's, checking in with Lin trying to figure out if I needed to watch Sebastian. New York traffic made the ride longer than it could've been. I paid the fare and got out, warm air surrounding me.
I waved at the doorman and made my way in, taking in my surroundings. The elevator doors opened in Pippa's apartment and her fiancé switched places with me. "Couldn't handle the amount of female energy in the room?"
"Want to be surprised. Have fun." He salutes me and I wave back, laughing. Someone grabs me around the shoulders.
"Are you ready for this?" Pippa asks, turning me to where Renée and Jasmine were standing by racks of gorgeous dresses, sorting through them.
"Oh dear lord." I breathed out and a woman who's name I learned was LeAnn came to measure me.
She hands me three dresses, two blue and one sea green.
I was hurried into a bathroom and told to try them on. I slipped out of my T-shirt and shorts and slid on the smooth fabric of the sea green dress. I opened the door. "Can someone zip me up?" Renée nodded and came over and motioned for me to turn. I showed her my back and her cold hands touched my exposed back. Once the dress was zipped up I turned back around and stepped out of the bathroom. "Yay or nay?" I ask, looking at the women in the room.
"Nay."
"Nay."
"Nay. Try the others on."
"Tough crowd. Jesus." I laugh and Renée unzips the dress and I head back into the bathroom. The second and third went almost exactly the same.
The fourth dress was a peach colored with little light red butterfly's all over it. I smoothed out the material and stepped out of the bathroom, the front of the dress barely skimming the tops of my ankles. Pippa sighed and hit Jazzy who was texting.
"Oh that's good. I like that one." Pippa nodded.
Jazzy looked up and nodded. "I agree. That's the best one so far." Renée added her two cents of agreement and I smiled, running my fingers over the small, stitched butterflies.
The next dress was light, white material with dense gold beading. It had a high neck and a low back, and as I turned, the small circle of fabric that pooled on the floor following me. I caught sight of myself in the mirror and I let out a small gasp.
I stepped out and everybody in the room nodded and adding their undying approval.
"If you don't wear that, I'm going to be so pissed off at you." Jazzy laughed.
"Alright, alright. That's the dress. Don't even try on the other one. I'll join Jazz in her sentiment." Pippa says, waving her hand.
I laughed aloud at my friends' comments and smiled in admiration at them. "All right, all right, I'll wear this one," I said with a laugh.
"No really Andrea, you better not lie to me," Renée told me in a threatening voice.
"I'm not, seriously this is the one," I announced to my friends with an excited smile stretching wide across my face.
"Daveed's gonna love it," Pippa tells me.
"That is if he notices it before ripping it off," Jazzy pipped up with an innuendo.
"Oh my god Jasmine!" I exclaimed, the heat of my cheeks practically able to warm a marshmallow for some s'mores.
"It's true," Renée said with a slight laugh.
"Guyyyys," I whined, getting slightly embarrassed at the discussion of my sex life.
"Okay, okay, we'll stop," Jasmine said laughing.
"Yeah, we gotta hurry up and go anyway," Renée said, looking at the time on her watch. "We have to go, matinee call time is coming up very very soon."
"Oh, yeah, I have to work," I realized aloud. "Well ladies, I'm gonna get dressed then we'll be on our way."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Pippa said before I turned around and got myself dressed back into the outfit I wore here.
Just you wait to see me in this dress Daveed Diggs, just you wait.
-
Sebastian and I were in the middle of a very deep conversation about Chuggington when his father came in, a relieved expression worn on his face. "Drea, thank god, I need to talk to you," Lin breathed out when he saw me after his first show of two today.
"What's up Lin?" I asked him, looking away from his son.
"Look, I know you have to watch over your own family," Lin began referring to my brother. "But I really need you to come with me to London next year for Mary Poppins 2. Vanessa told me that Seb was now my 'problem'." He said, putting air quotes around problem. "And although Groff offered to help me out being the amazing best friend he is, you are just so good with Seb."
I understood where Lin was coming from and I knew I had to go but what about home? What about Noah? He couldn't just stay in New York alone. Jasmine and Anthony couldn't watch him for a year. Although, Noah has always wanted to come to New York so it would basically be a dream come true for him. In that aspect, he'd be fine.
But I couldn't just move while Daveed would be here in New York waiting in the dust. Wait, he'll be in California working on stuff for the band. He'll be busy working and I'll be stuck in NYC with only Noah bored out of my fucking mind. So you know what, I'm gonna do something for myself.
"Yes Lin, I'll go with you to London."