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“It’s just, we didn’t end well, and I do not want to be at the party alone if he’s actually going to be there too,” Alexis tells Twyla. “Jared can be kind of,” she makes a face because she can’t think of how to explain it exactly, “so, if you think you can like, make it, I would really love that.” She stops herself from giving Twyla pleading eyes, but only just.
“Jared?” Twyla asks, her face scrunching up in confusion on the video screen. “Like, Jared Leto?”
Alexis nods. She knows she’s told Twyla the story before.
“Mhm, yes,” she confirms. “He did a movie for Interflix that’s releasing after the first of the year, and they’re really trying to get him to attend their New Year’s Eve party for publicity.” Thankfully, one of her co-workers had taken the lead on that endeavor, so Alexis hasn’t actually had to talk to him at all, and she’d really like to keep it that way.
“I just think if you’re there, it will be easier,” she forges on, resting her chin in her hand.
Twyla’s quiet for half a second before she replies, “I guess Stevie and Ruth will understand if I raincheck on them. They were only going to stay in and watch the countdown from Ruth’s apartment, and I might feel like a third wheel.”
Twyla and Stevie had both decided to take a trip to the city between Christmas and New Year’s, leaving their respective businesses in capable hands while they both took a well-deserved break.
“They will totally understand,” Alexis agrees with an affirmatory nod. “We can do New Year’s brunch with them the next day to make up for me stealing you away for New Year’s Eve!”
“I don’t think I brought anything fancy enough for an Interflix party, though,” Twyla muses.
“We can go shopping!” Alexis exclaims. “Or you can borrow something of mine,” she adds more moderately, smiling at her best friend. “But I will definitely meet you at the airport, and we can decide from there.”
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“Am I supposed to run interference if he shows up?” Twyla asks Alexis, looking around the lobby, like —Alexis assumes— she might see Jared Leto lurking behind one of the potted plants. It’s endearing and also very appreciated.
Despite Alexis’s best efforts, they didn’t purchase a new dress for Twyla. For someone with millions of dollars, she’s still pretty frugal about how she spends her money. Alexis has tried to convince her it won’t hurt anything to treat herself, but so far, to no avail. Instead, Twyla borrowed one of Alexis’s dresses. It’s an emerald green number that has never quite suited Alexis but looks amazing with Twyla’s hair and complexion, and Alexis has already decided that she’ll gift it to her before Twyla returns to Schitt’s Creek.
“He really never confirmed he was going to be here?” Twyla asks, eyes back on Alexis, looking slightly wide and concerned.
“No, his RSVP was delightfully vague,” Alexis confirms, voice clipped. She smooths down the front of her dress and checks her hair in the mirror beside the coat check. She knows that she looks impeccable, but it gives her something to do for half a moment. She’s not nervous. She isn’t. It’s just a tiny bit of trepidation, that’s all. It has more to do with this being the first holiday work function she’s attended. Really. “But, this isn’t about him. I’m not worried about it, and you shouldn’t be either,” she tells Twyla confidently, pushing her concerns to the background and wishing the smile on her face didn’t feel just a smidge forced.
She hates feeling like she might really end up using Twy as a buffer if Jared does appear. Yes, she knows that Twyla doesn’t mind and agreed precisely because of that possibility, but she doesn’t doesn’t like the way it makes her feel to think that she’s not confident enough to be here alone.
Maybe it says more about her than she really wants it to.
But she’s not going to dwell on that either. So with one last look in the mirror, Alexis loops her arm through Twyla’s and leads them both towards the ballroom.
“I can make introductions to the rest of my team if you’d like,” she offers, scanning the room for her co-workers. She and Twy were appropriately late to the festivities, so most of the guest list has already arrived.
“Lex, is that Ariana Grande?” Twyla asks, distracted by a cluster of people to their left.
“Mhm,” Alexis confirms. “She was in the same film with Jared. Oh, and that’s Rod talking to her, actually. We should say hi.”
“If you’re sure,” Twyla says, obviously starstruck, which is adorable. “But I don’t want to be awkward, so please elbow me if I start talking too much.”
Alexis smiles fondly down at her friend. “Twy, you’ll be fine,” she assures. Twyla’s good at making small talk. Better than Alexis, even, which is saying something.
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“You didn’t really tell The Rock that his marketing needed work,” Twyla exclaims, face shocked. “I mean, doesn’t he have an entire team that works for him?” Alexis isn’t sure if she lowered her voice for her benefit or the tables around them.
“It obviously needed work, though,” Alexis defends, hiding her half-smile behind her drink. Twyla has shrugged off the nerves she felt earlier and has become quite the social butterfly since they arrived. This is the first time it’s been just the two of them for a few hours. “I was only trying to help.”
“I can’t believe it,” Twyla continues with a shake of her head. Her lipstick has a tiny smudge at the corner, which is so cute, but Alexis knows she would be self-conscious if it stays that way, so she uses her thumb to fix it.
An unreadable expression crosses Twyla’s face.
“What was that for?” Twyla asks some of the joy from moments ago replaced with confusion.
“You had a lipstick smudge,” Alexis tells her. “I think probably from the drink.”
Twyla’s expression smooths again like clouds clearing, and she smiles. Alexis can’t shake the strangeness of her reaction but tries not to read too much into it.
“You look totally gorg again, so don’t worry! Crisis averted,” Alexis says, just a tad too cheerfully to try and recover. “Actually, that waiter over there can’t keep his eyes off of you,” Alexis tilts her head gradually, “and I saw a few other people too.”
Alexis only noticed because she kept looking around the room to keep an eye on Jared. He showed up half an hour ago, but he’s absolutely busy with a crowd who is more than happy to fawn about him, And Alexis is more than happy to keep it that way. But even so, she’s trying to keep an eye out every so often.
“Lex, I’m not here to pick anyone up,” Twyla tells hers. “I came here for you.” There’s still a weird slight tilt to her mouth, but some of the cheer from a minute ago has returned. “It would be rude if I left you alone.”
Does it make Alexis a lousy person that she doesn’t feel bad that she’s the only reason Twyla’s not pursuing a potential New Year’s hookup?
“If you insist,” she replies, clinking her glass against Twyla’s. “You’re the best company I could have anyway.” She takes another sip of her drink.
“You know, I actually turned down a commission for the input I provided The Rock’s team,” Alexis states, circling them back to the previous story. “I mean, it was like, because of my Interflix contract, but still.”
She smiles as Twyla laughs.
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“Ooh, the countdown!” Twyla says, grasping Alexis’s elbow. The jazz band cut their song short, leaving everyone on the dance floor mid-dance, Alexis and Twyla included. “Do we need to, you know, find someone?” Both of her eyebrows have gone towards her hairline, and maybe it’s the champagne she’s had, but it takes Alexis half a second to parse together what her friend means.
The crowd around them chants along with the numbers.
“I, no, I don’t think so,” Alexis replies, suddenly tripped up at the idea of Twyla giving a stranger a New Year’s kiss. “Not if we don’t want to.”
There’s a chorus of voices as the countdown hits five.
“Do you want to?” Twyla asks face turned up towards Alexis. With both of them in heels, she’s still shorter than Alexis.
Tom Hiddleston is just a few people away, and Alexis considers the option before she shakes her head in response to Twyla’s question, answering, “No, it doesn’t feel right.”
She might just be imagining the way that Twyla’s smile grows brighter as the countdown hits three.
“I don’t want to either,” Twyla tells hers, grasping her elbow. “This year will be for just us.”
The countdown hits two.
“Mhm,” Alexis agrees. “Just us-”
The rest of what she might have said gets swallowed up in the noise of the room when the countdown ends, and the clock strikes midnight.
Alexis is more than a little surprised when Twyla tugs her down for a kiss, and a few things that haven’t been adding up suddenly slide into place, making Alexis feel like she’s been wearing blinders for a long time and only just had them removed.
The commotion around them settles back into a joyous lull as Twyla drops her hands from Alexis’s face.
“Jared was just over your shoulder,” she says quickly in explanation, face uncharacteristically shuttered. Alexis doesn’t give herself time to think before she leans in and kisses Twyla again. Something blossoms beneath her ribcage when Twyla kisses her back.
There’s an uncharacteristic silence when they break apart, and it takes Twyla half a beat before she says, “Happy New Year, Alexis.”
Alexis is too stunned by the feelings she’s suddenly feeling to respond. She only smiles in return.
Neither of them says anything else before getting pulled back into the jazz music and dancing.
They don’t say anything about it in the cab either. But it’s not awkward. It’s not a thing that’s just living between them like a void, black and bottomless.
“Goodnight,” Alexis says. “Or, good morning, I guess,” she amends because the light outside is already that gray pre-dawn.
“Goodnight, Alexis,” Twyla returns before she shoos Alexis off to bed.
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When Alexis wakes up a few hours later, afternoon light flooding her room, there isn’t any panic.
She can hear Twyla puttering in the kitchen, and she smiles, stretches, and slides out of bed.
“Hi,” she greets, breaking the silence as she steps into her tiny kitchen.
“Hi,” Twyla replies, and it’s then that Alexis notices the way her mouth is tense with worry, like she’s second-guessing something.
“So,” Alexis forges on, crowding into Twyla’s space carefully. It’s clear that Twyla used all her courage last night, and now it’s Alexis’s turn. “This year is just for us, right?” She rests her hand on Twyla’s arm.
Twyla’s face is a question mark now, and her eyes keep darting from Alexis’s hand to her face and back again.
“Uhm, sure,” she replies.
“Good,” Alexis murmurs and closes the small distance between them, resting her forehead against Twyla’s before kissing her lightly. She can read the surprise in Twyla before she meets Alexis’s lips enthusiastically.
“Because I think I have a new resolution,” she says when they break apart. “Happy New Year, Twyla.”
The smile on Twyla’s face is the most beautiful thing she’s seen.
“Do you think I need to send Jared a thank you?” Alexis ponders, caressing Twyla’s arm absently. Which feels new and great, and like so many things since midnight last night, totally right.
“For what?” Twyla asks.
“The nerve to attend an Interflix party,” Alexis explains, drawing a laugh out of Twyla in response.
“I think it might be okay if you don’t,” Twyla assures. “But, we might need to send Ruth and Stevie an apology text,” she gestures towards the clock on the wall, “because we missed brunch.”
It’s Alexis’s turn to laugh, and she checks her phone, where there are twelve missed messages from Stevie.
“We can take them to dinner instead.”
They probably need to talk about it more, but Alexis thinks they can tackle that after coffee.