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The singing from the shower made Kevin groan. He loved Alfie. He did. But Alfie could not sing. Kevin wasn’t any better, but at least he knew that and could just not sing. Alfie was usually pretty good about it, with two exceptions: when he was drunk, or, as now, when he was in the shower. Kevin would leave, if that were an option, but unfortunately it was not. Making it worse was the song Alfie had chosen to sing.
The knock on the door stopped Kevin from seething too much. He answered it, to be greeted by one of the most welcome sights he could imagine. That was still something of a surprise to him. Things were not in the least promising when he and Meg first met. It certainly didn’t help that he’d heard her called a demon by his annoying surrogate big brothers, even with their boyfriend assuring Kevin that while Meg may be a demon, she’s one with a good heart and a strong sense of loyalty. It had taken a while for Kevin to get to see the good side of her, after she got the lead in a play over Kevin’s then-girlfriend Channing. Once he did, though, he couldn’t imagine life without her.
Meg wrinkled her nose as she stepped into the apartment. “Alfie wants a woman? Since when? Always pegged him as gay.”
“What, because he didn’t respond to you flirting with him? That was loyalty, not a lack of attraction,” Kevin argued. He’d been rather surprised when he came home to Meg flirting with Alfie, but not overly concerned. Meg was a lot of things, including a giant flirt, but her friends all talked about her great loyalty. If they were wrong or Meg couldn’t be bothered to extend that to him, well, that was the kind of thing to know now, right? Then he’d found out that it was a test – Meg wanted to find out if she felt that loyalty for Kevin. He wasn’t supposed to have walked in and ruined everything, but the way he nonreacted was good enough for Meg anyway.
“You sure about that?” Meg drawled. She shrugged it off, pulling Kevin into a hug. “Whatever, I’ll take your word for it, but if you’re right then I need to start bringing Casey around here.”
“Oh god, please don’t, she would eat him alive,” Kevin groaned as he hugged back. “Or worse, think she could because he’s so cute and adorable and then find out the power underneath.”
“Wouldn’t it be hilarious?” Meg shot a glance at the door to the bathroom as Alfie’s ‘singing’ floated out. “I’ll be sure to tell her to wear a red dress, although what that has to do with being a woman I don’t get.”
“I don’t either, no matter whether you’re talking as opposed to a little girl or as opposed to a dude.” Kevin reached for Meg’s hand. “You ready to go?”
“Would you believe me if I said I was nervous about the opening?” Kevin’s disbelieving look must have answered for him, as Meg burst into laughter. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. It’s true, though. There’s a talent scout from Eos here, and even though I know perfectly well Eos is mostly focused on crew, they know people.”
“Wait, Eos is here?” Now Kevin was going to be nervous the whole production. He had perfectly good backup career goals, but stage lighting was a passion, and he had dreams of his own. “Why would you tell me that?”
“Because now you can get the freaking out done while we walk to the theater, so when you see the bigass van you don’t have the freakout at the theater where they can see it or, worse, let it mess up your work.” Meg squeezed his hand. “I know you think my favors could use some work, but I was right about Channing, and I’m right about this.”
“Yeah, I know.” That was the worst of it. Meg really had done Channing a favor by beating her for the lead of that play, as Channing had decided to quit theater and discovered her true calling in architecture. Kevin really could use the walk to work through the nerves so that seeing the Eos scout there wouldn’t throw him off his game. “I still think you’re wrong about bringing Casey to meet Alfie, though. Just so you know.”
“You worry too much. It’ll be fine, or it’ll be amusing.” Meg kissed his cheek. “You’ll see.”
By the time Kevin was in the light room, he had calmed down. Eos was here. If they liked him, he could pursue his dreams that much further. If they didn’t, he would stay here with Meg and Alfie and get to see what happened when Meg brought Casey to meet Alfie. The only part he could control was doing his absolute best with the lights. And if he just happened to take a little extra care with making sure Meg looked good – or bad, as the scene called for, her character was supposed to be deathly ill at certain points – no one would be at all surprised or upset by it.
When the curtain closed, Kevin sat back in his chair with great satisfaction. The whole play had gone smoothly, with minimal line flubs and scenery glitches, and the worst thing that had happened with the lights was a red bulb flickering a bit. A little percussive maintenance and it was fine.
Thanks to Meg, it wasn’t a surprise to see the faculty adviser standing with a strange woman in a suit. “Kevin Tran? I’m told you were responsible for the magnificent lighting.”
“Yes ma’am, that’s correct.” Kevin held out a hand. “Thank you for your kind words.”
The woman shook hands with him. “That wasn’t kindness, that was just a statement of fact. When you’re ready to begin looking for your career, you have a standing invitation to interview with Eos. Your work speaks for itself. We just need to be sure you’re a good fit with our culture.”
“That’s great! Thank you!” Kevin swallowed the urge to start babbling. This was a time to be professional and together and the person he was when he wasn’t the mess he was really. “Who do I mention when I call or email to set that up?”
“Hester Dorian. My card.” She handed it to him, and he grinned as he looked at it. “Please excuse me, I have a couple other people to talk to, but you were the top priority.”
Kevin was still in something of a daze, staring at the gold-embossed card for Hester and Eos, as he headed for the dressing rooms to find Meg. She was busy talking to a man in a suit, so Kevin hung back. While he was waiting, he saw Alfie sticking his head in. May as well go see what Alfie wanted.
Alfie threw his arms around Kevin. “Amazing show, dude. You guys all worked so hard, and it showed. The audience was captivated.”
“Except you, if you had time to look at the audience,” Kevin snarked.
“I’m a journalist, it’s my job to manage multiple input streams at once,” Alfie countered. He punched Kevin’s arm. “Hey, uh, I’d like to introduce you to my new girlfriend…”
Kevin looked around, jaw dropping when he saw the woman Alfie waved over to the conversation. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Casey? You’re dating Casey?”
“Uh… yes?” Casey said, head tipping to one side. “We met in our Latin class, where Alfie was the only other one paying attention to one lecture and therefore the only other one to pass the pop quiz at the end. Why so shocked?”
“It’s just… Meg was joking about setting the two of you up.” A horrible thought occurred to him. “Did she know about this?”
“Not that I know of,” Casey said. “Of course, it’s Meg, so who knows.” Kevin had to admit to the truth of that. She was incredibly sneaky when she wanted to be. “It’s nice to meet you, Kevin, I’ve heard a lot about you from Meg. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but when the two of you first got together, we were all kind of… expecting her to eat you up and spit you out on the side of the road in such tiny pieces you’d never recover. She’s done that to a couple exes who couldn’t handle her.”
“She mentioned setting the two of you up, and my first thought was that there was no way Alfie survived that.” Kevin shot an apologetic glance at Alfie. “Sorry, dude. Still worried about you, though.”
“Don’t be. I can handle myself. I survived middle school being named Samandriel. I’m tough.” Alfie stuck his tongue out at Kevin. “And now Meg’s coming, so we’d better get going. See you at the afterparty!”