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Alexis sighed as she crossed the threshold to her darkened apartment. It was usually like that; dark when she got home, up to her to turn the lights off when she left. These days, she was mostly used to it.
There were times when she still missed the motel, though, when she caught herself yearning to share a room with David again, to be just a door apart from her parents, to never worry about turning off the lights because it was a revolving door behind which someone was always home. She stood by what she’d told her mother before they left- she really did feel like it was good that they lost the money, good that they’d found Schitt’s Creek and everything that it held.
Alexis wasn’t the same person she’d been.
She had grown up in Schitt’s Creek, and she kept growing when she left. The first year in New York had been the most difficult. She had called David every day, usually in tears, and begged Twyla more than once to move to the city and be her roommate just so that she wouldn’t have to do it all by herself. She’d also considered giving up and going to California with her parents just about every weekend. But eventually, it got easier. She accepted a long-term position with Interflix that paid very well and offered the kind of flexibility she needed to figure out who she was, out here on her own after everything.
And now, three years later, Alexis was really okay.
Between working for Interflix, she had taken on a handful of freelance publicity jobs, an odd thing here and there when the proposal was interesting or fun enough. She had moved apartments, able to afford an elusive two bedroom with crown moldings that David was obsessed with, as he reminded her every time they FaceTimed, and a walk-in closet that she loved. She had made a handful of friends here- real friends, who cared about more than money and clothes.
And every Christmas, no matter how busy they were, she and her parents all made the trip back to Schitt’s Creek, where they stayed at David and Patrick’s house and celebrated just like they had on that magical, chaotic Christmas Eve in the motel.
Things were good, even if Alexis still sometimes wished there were someone else to turn the lights on for.
It was late by the time she got home that night, fresh off of a very successful fundraiser that she was being generously compensated for her work on, but Alexis wasn’t tired. She never was after these things, and it was perhaps when she most missed sharing a room with her brother- making David listen to all the boring details of her night really was the best way to unload it all and wind down. She even entertained the idea of calling him now, but a glance at the clock changed her mind. Instead, she slipped out of her shoes, turned on her speaker with the push of a button, and set her favorite chill playlist. Still dressed in her nice clothes, she dropped into a kitchen chair, reaching for her laptop where she’d left it early that morning.
If nothing else, she figured that she could at least make her way through some emails if she was going to be awake regardless. The first few were useless, the next few were offers that were fine but not things she wanted to take on, and the three after that were shipping confirmations for things she had bought online. And then there was one that caught her eye, an offer to run the publicity for the launch of a new museum that would be opening in two months’ time.
Us And The Galapagos.
Gone were the days when the mere sight of the word would send Alexis spiraling, but she would have been lying if she said it didn’t still tug at her heart a little bit. She skimmed the description and found that it would be a relatively simple job; a high budget, but low expectations as the guests would be mostly museum board members as opposed to the glittering Hollywood names that Alexis sometimes had to wrangle.
Usually, she would have passed on it. But the Galapagos. She thought of Ted, and easily conjured a perfectly sharp image of his face on that last night in the cafe; usually, she tried not to think too hard about him, but if she were truthful she would have to admit that he was never entirely far from her thoughts. She hoped he was doing every amazing thing he had dreamed of, and that he was even happier than she was.
In a moment of sentimentality, she sent a quick email saying yes to the job. Then, she closed her laptop and headed for the shower, pushing Ted to the back of her mind once more.
As it were, the museum job didn’t take up much of Alexis’ time. More than anything, they just needed someone to get the word out about the launch, drum up interest, and lend a little guidance. And when, in return, she received a courtesy invite to the launch party, she accepted when she would have ordinarily passed.
When she relayed the information very casually to David on the phone later that same day, she could almost see his raised eyebrows no matter how far away he was.
“Why would you want to go to a museum launch?” he asked.
“Because,” Alexis answered, shrugging her shoulders even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “It looks good, David, you know? I worked on it, I should at least make an appearance.”
“That’s not what you’ve said about like, nine out of the last ten of these you did,” he pointed out, and he didn’t need to be looking at her to see her roll her eyes.
“Ugh, David, forget I even said anything.”
“Okay,” he agreed, maybe a little bit too easily, and the conversation moved on, but Alexis was still thinking about it as she blew David a kiss and hung up a few minutes later.
Why was she going to this particular launch? Why had she accepted the job to begin with- and what was she going to be left with at the end of it? It would be a boring night, anyway, with speeches by the research team that would lead the museum, and most of the guests being board members who Alexis knew she could never relate to. What would she even say?
My ex-fiance and I broke up even though we were in love so that he, too, could do research in the Galapagos?
Even in her head, it sounded silly, but when she glanced up at the forest-green silk dress she had set aside for the party, she knew that somehow, she would find herself there no matter what.
And that evening, with her hair elegantly tied up and a pair of silver high heels to go with the dress, that was exactly where Alexis was. The party was well-planned and well-attended, and it was easy enough for Alexis to lose herself in the crowd. She had been right; it was mostly older people, all of them looking very stuffy, and she didn’t know any of them. But the food was delicious- even the appetizers were exotic and elegant and the champagne was top notch.
All in all, she figured it could be worse. The place was beautiful, and she hadn’t broken this dress out just to go home after fifteen minutes. Plus, she would finally have a museum to tell Patrick about the next time she saw him; three years, she thought, was more than long enough to listen to him telling her she should take in some of New York’s monuments and museums while she lived there.
Granted, she hadn’t even read the program. But she would have plenty to tell Patrick about the smoked salmon appetizer plate making its way around the room.
Thinking she might as well take advantage of it, she was reaching for another one when a voice she hadn’t heard in three years rang out across the low hum of voices all around her.
“Alexis?”
The appetizer was forgotten immediately when she turned, following the sound, and-
“Ted.”
Their eyes met, and just like that everything seemed to stop. She was back in Schitt’s Creek again, back in the motel, back in the vet’s office, back in the cafe, back in her dad’s arms crying over Ted, back in her bed hugging David’s pillow, back in the barn, back in Ted’s tidy little place, back-
Home.
“Oh my god,” he said, and then she was back in the museum again.
“What are you doing here?”
The words fell out of her mouth at the same time as his, their cadence matching just exactly, and instead of either of them answering, they moved toward each other and closed the gap between them, and now she was back in his arms.
And none of it mattered anymore- not the party, not the job or the museum, or all the years in between. It might as well have been three years ago, or six, in the cafe and looking at Ted’s smile.
It was also the first thing she saw when they broke apart from their hug- Ted’s smile, big and million-watt bright, with perfect dimples and shining blue eyes. Ted was here, in New York City, smiling at her like nothing had changed at all.
“What are you doing here?” he asked again, finding his voice before she could.
“I’m-” she gestured vaguely around her at the sea of party guests, “I did publicity for the launch, I’m- well, a publicist.”
She knew she sounded awkward, but this was Ted, and no matter how long it had been, she couldn’t feel awkward with him.
“Really?” he asked. “Alexis, that’s fantastic.”
His usual sincerity, flooding his words and heightened by the way he felt about her- the way he had always felt about her- could have brought Alexis to her knees if she wasn’t careful.
“Thank you,” she managed instead of naming any of the hundreds of feelings that were coursing through her. “What about you, what are you…”
“Oh!” he said. “I’m, uh…well, the museum is mostly based on our research in the Galapagos, so I’ll be on the museum team here part of the time as well.”
She stared at him for a moment, aware that she should speak now but somehow not quite able to form the words. Ted was not only here, in New York, but here here, with some kind of permanence hanging in the balance.
“I like your dress,” Ted said suddenly, and Alexis couldn’t help the smile on her face.
“I like your tie,” she said in return.
Moving as one, they both looked down at their own clothing, and Alexis noted that Ted’s neatly tied bowtie was the same forest green as her silk skirt, like they were a matching set.
“Oh, thank you, I picked it because it-”
“Fit the theme,” Alexis finished in unison with him, a smile playing on her features. “Me, too.”
Ted grinned at her, somehow even bigger and brighter than before, and she shook her head just slightly.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, in a soft voice that fell just barely short of wonder, taking a small and almost imperceptible step toward him.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” he replied, and the way he mirrored her small movement didn’t go unnoticed. “How long have you been in New York? Or- are you based here? I heard your mom and dad were in California.”
Alexis tried not to think too hard about where or how Ted might have heard where her parents were living, and nodded her head.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m in New York now. Since, uh…” She hesitated, and gave him a little smile. “Since we left Schitt’s Creek.”
A waiter passed by them with an outstretched hand, and Ted reached in and pulled two salmon crudités from the plate and handed one of them to Alexis with a smile, like it was normal and natural and easy, to take two instead of one, to share with her the way they had once, and then twice, been so used to doing. Alexis took it and tried not to think about how breathless it made her feel.
“So, it’s just you here then?” Ted asked carefully. “Or…?”
“Yeah,” Alexis answered. “Just me.”
Unbidden, the thought of her empty apartment came to mind, immediately followed by an image of her brother and his husband, who always looked deliriously in love no matter how difficult David was being.
“Me, too,” Ted said, and Alexis swallowed hard against the lump in her throat and the butterflies that threatened to make their way into her chest.
“No, uh…beautiful island girl captured your heart out there then?” she attempted to joke, hoping her smile masked the layer of sadness that she was trying desperately to hide in her voice.
Ted shook his head with a smile that looked like he knew just a little bit too much.
“No,” he answered. “And…no elegant, rich city type swept you off your feet here?”
Alexis held his gaze.
“No,” she said softly.
They looked at each other for a long moment, and they didn’t have to speak to know that they were both right back where they had been when they last saw each other.
”I don’t think I’m ever gonna meet another woman who’ll make me feel the way that you do.”
“I’m sure there’ll be, like, some other woman…somewhere.”
When he had left the cafe that night, when he had boarded the plane back to the Galapagos and away from Alexis the next morning, and for every day since, a part of Ted knew that there wouldn’t be some other woman anywhere.
And he had made his peace with it; he had taken his dream job and chased it all the way here, to the position at the museum that he hesitated on, but took because there was a little voice in the back of his mind reminding him that Alexis would have been proud of him.
And here she was, standing right in front of him like a dream in the same shade of green that he’d picked out that evening.
He’d watched her slip away twice before, each time because they needed to grow, because the time wasn’t right, because there was something else for each of them.
But life, or fate, or divinity, had brought them to each other again, in the middle of a party decorated a lot like a certain tropical-themed cafe, in the middle of a big city that couldn’t have been more different from the town where they had met.
“Ted?” Alexis asked.
“Yeah?”
“Did you say you’re going to be…” Alexis gestured vaguely around her. “I mean, the museum job means you’ll be in New York part time?”
“Yeah,” Ted breathed. “Half-time.”
They stood, looking at each other, for a long, slow moment.
“Alexis-”
“Yes.”
Ted looked back at the stage, and took a glance at his watch before looking back at her.
“The research team have to give speeches in a few minutes,” he said, “but- don’t go anywhere, okay?”
He reached out, a little like he didn’t know he was doing it, and touched his fingertips to the inside of her wrist, looking at her with familiar, warm blue eyes.
Don’t go anywhere, okay?
It felt heavier than face value.
Alexis smiled.
“I won’t,” she answered, and watched as his face broke into a smile.
He very lightly squeezed her hand and then he was gone, making his way through the crowd. The butterflies Alexis was feeling took flight as she watched him go.
But he would be back. They would talk, and he would tell her about the Galapagos Islands, and he would be here, in this museum, for half of the year.
She watched him go, and thought of the last time she’d seen him walk away from her, and the way it left her feeling shattered. She thought of the plant she had killed by accident, and the ones that flourished now, in her apartment.
And she thought that maybe- if they were careful- this could be the last time she watched him leave. She watched him dazzle the crowd in his speech, clapped harder than anyone in the room, and caught his eye as he walked back across the room toward her.
Smiled at him when he reached her, and let him lead her out of the crowd to show her the rest of the museum, and thought of old memories and brand new beginnings.