Cosmic collisions happen every day.
This one happens on a Friday.
"Awh, well— no, I think he's kind of cute, don't you?" Lea laughs. "I mean, if you get over the flood pants that he's obviously grown out of."
He's definitely cute. A bit precocious, maybe, but certainly not in a bad way, just the sort that might be able to benefit from her advice here and there, especially if he should be the one to get the part.
Michael of course reassures her that, as long as they have chemistry, they have people here to do wardrobe for him, and not to worry too much about the rest. And still, she can't help but feel a bit sorry for the guy. On the one hand, he might be a bit too big for his clothes, but on the other, he seems entirely too small for this city, so much so that it seems a miracle it hasn't swallowed him whole by now.
She gets up about halfway through their getting ready to go over and do her thing, a bright Lea-smile on her face as she veers off course from where she's supposed to intro all of them.
It's like magnets. Rocks that attract other rocks, but only if they're of the right kind, an irresistible pull towards one another for seemingly no reason.
"Okay, so, because I think you're really cute," it's only half a lie, really, "I'm going to show you how you should hit me when we do the scene up there, okay? Don't be nervous, come on, I'm helping you here."
Pulling him aside from where the other two remaining call-backs for the part are finishing getting ready and warming up, she hands him the pencil, hoping he's as cute when he talks as when he is just standing there.
As it turns out, he is.
When the final auditions are over, she catches up to him where he's getting his stuff together again, crossing her legs cutely, one over the other.
(At least she thinks it's cute.)
"I think that went very well, don't you?"
He throws her a smile, just this side of sheepish and shy all at the same time, as though he's not entirely sure why she's talking to him in the first place, but nevertheless kind of grateful. They might be partners in this, might have to have sex on stage every night, might be best friends for the rest of their lives.
"Yeah. Just—"
"Nervous." She throws him another winning grin as he grabs his bag, nodding a bit. "Understandably."
"Thanks for all your help today— Lea, right?"
"It's nothing," she beams, reaching out to touch his arm for one, two, three seconds as he smiles back and nods again, her stomach stirring a bit as she watches him walk away.
"Hey, wait up!"
Her hand is back on his arm not five seconds later, Lea grabbing her things before running after him, Jon waiting by the door as he holds it open for her.
It's cold out, too late at night by now for it not to be, the streets and sidewalks covered in little puddles here and there from the rain as she itches to take his hand into hers, a small secret smile lingering on her face as she wonders if her intuition isn't leading her right, that he's going to be her Melchior— if only because Michael would insist upon chemistry like theirs in his show.
"So, I was thinking, seeing as I helped you out today and all… maybe you should take me out for a drink."
"Yeah? Is that customary?"
He's smiling, so she's pretty sure she's still in safe territory, and she beams back at him.
"Let's just say I wouldn't ask someone to go out with me if I wasn't pretty sure that they were going to get the part…"
Her hand is back on his arm, and he smiles, pulling it around her waist to tug her closer, the first real, genuine smile on his face of the evening, finally looking a little less nervous, Lea feeling her heart skip as she looks up at him.
"Yeah, okay."
They end up at a place not four blocks away from the Atlantic Theatre Company called Bathtub Gin, Lea grinning as she tugs him inside and sits her down next to him in the boudoir-inspired surroundings.
"It's the coolest place, and it only gets even cooler after a couple of drinks. They have the most amazing chocolate cocktail here, and that's exactly what you're going to order for both of us. We're in the gayborhood, so we obviously have to have good taste here."
"You think?" He grins at her for a moment before looking up at the bartender with a smile. "Two chocolate cocktails, please. One for her, one for me."
"Okay, so while we're giving you good taste," she slowly smiles, her hand back on his arm, "we're going to have to take you shopping for pants at some point. And something better for you to put in your hair that isn't two dollar CVS gel."
He almost looks offended for a moment, a small pout on his face. "There's nothing wrong with CVS when you're making rent on a waiter's salary!"
"Well," she grins as their chocolate cocktails arrive, taking a large sip of it, "now that you're going to be playing in Spring Awakening, maybe you'll even be able to afford to take your clothes to the dry cleaner's like any normal, decent human being is supposed to."
She lives in Manhattan, just a few blocks north from the bar while he lives out in Queens, and yet he still insists on walking her back to her place just in case.
"You know what I think?" she beams up at him, her arm still in his as they arrive in front of her building, finally letting go with a slight bounce in her step.
"What?"
"I think we're going to be lifelong friends."
There's a long pause as they just look at each other, already seeming to know just how to read the other's thoughts, their smiles wholly genuine.
"Deal."
Cosmic collision.
The next day, everything falls perfectly into place when Jon gets the part. They go out that night to celebrate, too, and the next, just because.
It's from that point forward that they're inseparable. When you spend every night making love to someone on a stage, it hard not to feel a connection.
Best friends.
"Never have I ever… had to call in my understudy." The sea of protests from everyone around the table at Jonathan is hard to drown out as he shakes his head, putting up his hands in defeat to the sound of the laughter and derisive mocking of whether or not he also happened to win the perfect attendance award at school surrounding them. "To this point! Just to this point!"
"They're just jealous they have to drink and we don't!" Lea chimes in as Jon pulls his arm around her waist, smiling into her hair. They've had plenty to drink tonight, too, their bi-weekly tradition for everyone to go out after the show on Saturday nights. At least they're close to her place, not that it'll be uncommon for him to crash in her bed only to make his way back to his place the next afternoon or so. Thankfully that particular Sunday walk of shame has never been too long, a subway stop right by Lea's place.
"I don't know what I'd do if you called out sick and I had to do it all with someone else!" he jokes as Lea laughs, shaking her head.
"No, no, if that happened, the other would have to call out sick, too, so we can take care of each otherrrrr… like good best friends are supposed to!"
"Can't rob our understudies of the chance to do it together, huh?" he grins, kissing the top of her head as Lea raises her glass in mock-celebration.
Remy clears her throat in response to it being her turn around the table, grinning hugely, staring directly at Jon as she raises her glass. "Never have I ever forgotten almost all the lines to my song in the middle of a show!"
"Hey! That was an accident!"
"A big one!"
"They hadn't released the soundtrack yet just then! No one probably even noticed!"
"Aaaaaaaall things… aaaaaaaall things…" The laughter is almost deafening over the chorus of song around the table as Jon turns a brilliant shade of red, Lea wrapping her arms around him as she laughs into his front, her shoulders shaking as she fights to hold back the urge to mock him like everyone else is.
"No, no, we love you! We love that now we have someone to make fun of in instances like this!"
It's her turn, and she's clearly stalling— at least until something seems to hit her, and she grins, setting her glass back down and lightly clapping as if to herself.
"Okay, okay, I think I got one. Neeever have I everrrrr… been on a roadtrip!"
The drowned-out protests seem to swell even more loudly than with Jonathan's as Johnny voices his disbelief and Lauren asks what, precisely, even counts as a roadtrip.
"More than three hours spent in a car in order to get to some destination. But it's not the destination that really counts, it's the trip to get there," Jon explains for a moment before turning back to Lea. "And that is a shame."
"And unbelievable!" Remy agrees, the majority of the rest of the table raising their glasses to clink over Lea before drinking.
"The US is huge, how on earth have you never roadtripped before?"
"Weeeell, I mean we lived in DC, but even moving from back here, that doesn't count, we just took the train up and Daddy drove the moving van! Same with Toronto— it wasn't a big deal. And for vacations we just always flew and then rented a car! It's faster. I'm a native New Yorker! What's the point in spending hours and hours in a sweaty car?"
The chorus of protests only seems to get worse from there on out, everyone bringing up different arguments why the joys of roadtripping are entirely worth the hours and hours spent in a sweaty car, and that poor, ignorant Lea couldn't possibly understand what all she's missing out on.
"Maybe I don't get it," Lea finally announces to him on their walk home, his arm around her shoulders as she does more stumbling than actual walking. "Maybe my whole life I've just… missed out."
"They're not really anything that special," Jon laughs as he squeezes her arm. "But maybe we can go sometime when we have a couple of days off. Or finally make our understudies take our place for once!"
"Oh my god!" Lea's eyes go wide as she pulls back from him in amazement, as though she can't believe that this thought hasn't occurred to her before now. "You're right, that's brilliant! We should absolutely do that together! That can be our summer trip! Together! It's perfect!"
He laughs out loud with his whole body, throwing his head back as he pulls Lea a bit closer to him. "Yeah, okay. I guess we could! That might be fun. Where are we going?"
"Weeeeell…" she seems to consider this for a long moment as she looks up at him before a thought strikes her, poking her forefinger into his chest with a grin. "You've never been to Disney!"
"Hmm, that's right! I have never been to Disney… someone was paying attention to Never have I ever!"
"I am an expert," she quickly nods, righting her course again. "So we'll drive down to Florida and spend a day there! And a day at the beach, of course, because there's nothing better than that, and what would a real Disney vacation be without the beach! And besides, it'll be perfect. It'll have you in it!"
Laughing out loud again, he grins down at her. "Is that so? Just remember that it's the trip that counts, not the destination. We should go down to Lancaster, take that car. We can take my mom and dad's maps to help us out, too…"
"What? No!"
The train fare from New York City to Lancaster is about a hundred bucks between both of them, Lea muttering the whole way to Penn Station about how they could have just rented a car that hadn't been built in 1925 and gotten there faster, more safely, and— most importantly— without a trip down to the farm.
"It'll more fun this way, I swear. Besides, Mom and Dad and David want to meet you anyway when they didn't just see you topless and having sex with me on stage," Jon nudges her with his shoulder just as they board the train.
"Lauren says hi and that they'll all miss us over the next couple of days!" Lea grins up from her phone, gesturing to it before returning her attention to button-pushing. "Anyway, just don't be surprised if I give your mother a lecture about not taking her son shopping for proper clothes in years."
"It's not that bad!"
"Anyone who thinks it's okay to put CVS gel into their hair should be taken out back and shot!" she rolls her eyes at him as they slip into their seats, Jon stopping to put their luggage up overhead, just one bag for the two of them.
"It's a miracle I managed to talk you down to one bag."
"Well, it's… not… that long… I guess… and I have my purse, right? And you said your mom would help us make food to take along on the drive, even though I think that's ridiculous when we can perfectly well just stop at the occasional exit to eat a proper meal."
"Just for lunch and snacks," he grins, pulling her purse out of her lap to go through it in search of their book for the drive.
"Now," he smiles, handing it back to her as he lowers the small tray tables down for them, "I know we have different tastes in books, but Alice Munro's new collection of short stories just came out, so I figured we'd read it together on the drive. And I promise we can listen to your Alanis collection on your iPod while we do it. Deal?"
Grinning back at him, she tugs her iPod out before dropping her bag into the footroom handing him one of the earpieces as she takes her own with a grin. "Yeah, I guess we can give it a shot. Anything with Alanis as background music, right?"
"Right," he beams, taking hold of one side of the book as Lea takes the other.
"Okay, so we'll take off tomorrow at 9am because someone is refusing to get up any earlier, and if we don't stop too often along the way, we should be able to make it all the way to—"
Jon takes the GPS out of her hands faster than she can even react, throwing her an adorable little look as he hands it to his mother, who promptly turns it off and stows it away in a drawer.
"We need that!"
"Lea," he softly chastises, boyish grin on his face as he moves to sit adjacent to her. "This is a roadtrip. The point of it is the trip, not the destination. We're not in New York anymore. I'll tape something over the time in the car if I have to. I won't even let you bring a watch."
"But—"
"Lea," he starts again, that impossibly adorable smile twitching at the corners of his lips that makes her forget about herself a little bit, "I listened to you when you said not to wear CVS gel anymore and to start bringing my clothes to the dry-cleaners. This is my intervention."
"How could anyone put cheap gel into your beautiful coife," she pouts, running her fingers through his hair with a small smile.
"That beautiful coife is going to be disgusting by the end of today, just wait. It hasn't rained in a while, so it's pretty dusty out there, and Mom thinks I should show you around the farm before we leave."
"What, no— no, no, I don't… need to see the farm, I only brought heels for the actual trip!"
"Breaking out the flip-flips before we get down to Orlando won't kill you," he grins, kissing the top of her head before moving to rifle through a drawer. "Unless you'd rather borrow a pair of my mom's shoes, I'm sure she won't mind…"
"No, no, flip-flops will… be fine…"
"Here we go," he pulls out a stack of maps to drop down in front of her, unfolding one in its entirety, a huge grin on his face. "There are smaller, more specific maps for all the different areas that we'll be hitting up, but I figured a major overview of the continental US might be a good start. So we're…" he holds up a finger before grabbing a orange highlighter to circle Lancaster on the map, "here."
"And we're going down here," she nods, pointing to Orlando for him to circle with his highlighter. "And we'll definitely have to stop in DC so I can show you around!" That also gets a circle.
"Okay, where else?"
"I heard Virginia Beach is pretty."
"Virginia Beach it is! And we'll need a good midway point… maybe Raleigh?"
"No, no, let's go see Savannah? I once saw a really cool Travel Channel special about their B&Bs!"
"Okay… I think we can work with that," he grins up at her for a moment before tracing a line along the highways from city to city in orange. "Virginia Beach to Savannah is probably going to be the longest one, but not too bad. It'll be fun."
"You'll just have to make sure that you teach me how on earth to read one of these things."
"Jonathan, this is disgusting."
"It's not disgusting. Come on, they need to get fed, too."
Watching as he lifts the feed bucket over his head and starts making goat noises as he rattles it, Lea frowns at all the dust and dirt being swept up. Pollution, she can handle. Honking, smoke, smog, the inner city hustle and bustle, that's all one thing. The fresh air in the country? No, thank you.
"That kind of sounds like you're singing," she calls over all the rattling, holding her hand in front of her face to keep from coughing.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Here, how about this," he stops for a moment before starting up again with his bleeting goat noises to the tune of Totally Fucked, Lea almost laughing too hard to really mind how disgusting the countryside is.
If nothing else, the goats almost seem to be running a bit faster at that, Jonathan finally heading over to the fence to let them eat. "I'll have to let Mom know that's the new method. That's all your fault, now they won't respond to anything but the call of my people!"
Even he's fighting to keep a straight face on from all the laughing, one of the goats trying to climb up over all the others to get to the food.
"Hey! You get down! The others deserve a chance, too!"
"I didn't hear you singing that tune when it was time to decide who would get that last drink at the bar the other night!" he grins over at her, nudging her with his hip as she reaches forward tentatively to stroke one of the goat's heads.
"That's different! — oh, ew, do these things never get washed?"
"And so… this is the hayloft."
"An actual hayloft."
"Yeah! Pretty cool, right?"
"Well, not exactly, it's kind of… hot up here."
"Dark and stuffy?" It takes her a moment to register what he's referring to before they both start laughing, Lea whacking his arm with a grin.
"What do you think would happen if we stayed up here long enough? Do you think your mom would get suspicious? We could pretend to get caught!"
Jonathan can barely hold his laughter in as he shakes his head, letting himself fall back into the hay with a grin.
"I don't think she'd get suspicious, she knows me way too well for that, Lee."
"Even if we make really obnoxious moaning noises?"
"Even then!" he laughs, shaking his head as he pulls her into his arms with a grin.
She really is something. Even he knows that.
"It's a miracle you even have a car in this area. Don't you people hate technology?"
"First of all," Jonathan laughs, loading the last of her bags into the trunk. "They're not my people. And secondly," he grins, moving to get in the car, "it's not so much about the technology as much as it's about mindfulness of the effect that technology has on our lives. Like… the fact that I'm pretty sure you haven't noticed anything around you for the past couple of years from always staring down at your phone."
"That's ridiculous," she laughs in mock-affront, climbing into the car beside him.
"When was the last time you actually felt the rain and didn't just get rained on? Look, I'm going to make you experience stuff on this roadtrip. Just wait. That's why it's a trip, not a race. You asked for this, so you should stop complaining."
"Wait a minute, why am I not driving?"
"Because you'll kill us both," he laughs, giving her a coy, smarmy smile. "Besides, you hate driving."
"It's the principle of the thing! You're going over my… hair and just assuming that I wouldn't want to drive—"
"— can' tdrive—"
"— fine, fine, can't. That's worse, you know. I'm offended. I'm deeply offended that you'd insinuate that about me. And us!"
"You're too beautiful to die in a tragic accident. I love you far too much for that, Lee."
Throwing him a mock-scowl, Lea falls back against the seat with an exaggerated pout, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You should know that I resent that accusation."
"Okay, so… according to my phone…"
"Put that away!"
"According to my phone," she announces a good bit more loudly, deftly keeping the phone out of his reach as he tries to grab for it even while keeping his eyes on the road, "we should only have two or so more hours to go until DC!"
"Lea, tell me, what did people do before cellphones were invented?"
"They died horrible, painful deaths with no one knowing about them!"
"They looked at the street signs!" Finally snatching her phone, he tosses it under his seat with a poignant glare.
"That's the latest technology that you just threw away, I hope you know that. Other phones wouldn't be able to tell you where you are yet."
Grabbing her hand, he tugs it over to kiss the back of it with a small grin. "I know. You're my princess, and I love you, but we're going to do this right." Just as they're nearing another green road sign, he picks up her hand so he might point with his own. "See? A hundred and ten miles to DC. Just under two hours."
"I hope you know that that smug grin on your mug doesn't flatter you at all."
Jon throws his head back as his whole body seems to laugh along with him.
"Oh hey, look—" Turning down the mixed Best of Broadway Musicals CD Lea made in preparation for their drive, he points towards one of the signs at the side of the road with a smile. "In thirty miles there's a Motel 8 where we can stay at for just $70 an hour outside of the city. There's probably a train we can take in—"
"Jonathan," Lea scowls, lowering his arm once more as she wonders how that could have possibly been worth turning down their For Good duet, "we're going to be staying in the city, and we're going to be spending about $300 for our room. And we're going to enjoy it."
"I hope you know that's a significant waste of money to do that in every city on the way down to Orlando."
"Now, look, Jon, this is kind of like what I told you about dry cleaner's. More than worth the investment for a better product and the feeling of luxury! We're listening to Lea, we're learning…"
"You better hope you become rich and famous someday, you know that?" he laughs as she scowls at him.
"I will!"
Tugging her over to his side, he squeezes her close to him with a grin. "I know, baby, daddy's just teasing. You're going to be a superstar. Because you're the most beautiful girl in the world."
"The most beautiful girl in the world," she repeats after him with a smile, leaning into his body a bit.
"The most beautiful girl I've ever seen," he beams, kissing the top of her head before devoting his full attention back to the road in front of them. "Which means that she obviously deserves the most beautiful hotel room."
"Precisely," she nods, leaning in to kiss his cheek.
"Okay, so here's our itinerary for the day," pulling out her phone, she waves it demonstratively in his face for a moment as though to brag over how helpful technology has been to her where it isn't for him, and he grins as he leans back against one of the trees lining the walkways of Dupont Circle. They're just a few from seconds from the Dupont Circle Hotel, chosen graciously by Lea after a brief debate with him over how Lea would have made a terrible starving artist.
(Then I guess it's a good thing that I'm talented, she'd pointedly argued back to him before handing the attendant her credit card to swipe.)
"This is supposed to be a vacation, remember?" he laughs just as she shushs him, shaking her head.
"No, listen. I've lived here before, so obviously I know better about what's going to make a good vacation while we're in DC!" she nods vigorously even as she goes back to scrolling through her phone to read her list. "We're going to have a stroll around here, find some delicious finger food, then hit up the mall, go eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Nora's, and I can show you the Roundhouse Theatre where I played Anne Frank not too long ago. Then we'll finally check into our hotel, seeing as we just had to leave all our stuff in the car, change, and hit up one of the classic Dupont gay clubs which you are going to love."
Jon almost has to fight to keep from laughing at her as he kicks off of the tree to wrap an arm around her waist. "We only have half a day or so, I don't know that there'll be time for us to go shopping, Lee."
"No— no, not that kind of mall!" she playfully slaps at his arm, scowling at him. "The mall!"
Throwing his head back, he laughs out loud before tugging her closer to kiss the top of her head, squeezing at her side. "Oh my god! I never know with you and your shopping fetish."
"Just because you didn't even know what shopping was until I came into your life does not mean I have a shopping fetish! I'll have you know that it's perfectly normal to be in love with shoes!"
"Is it really?" he laughs as she guides him over to food cart, nodding vigorously.
"Uh-huh. Absolutely. If you ask me, you're the weird one."
Wrapping his arms around her from behind and tucking his chin into her neck, he just beams. "I love you so much."
"It's too bad we couldn't break in to spend the night here instead of at the hotel," Lea muses later that night after a day of sightseeing and good food, gazing up the front of the building, Jon's arm still wrapped snugly around her waist.
"Maybe sometime else. Maybe back home, in our theatre. Mm? What do you say, spend the night, just the two of us? Have a picnic on stage with food we smuggled in earlier that day, maybe some candlelight, it could be romantic…"
"Then we reenact the hayloft scene…"
Throwing his head back with a laugh, Jon tugs on her waist a bit to get them moving back in the general direction of their hotel, still smiling hugely. "I don't know about that."
But Lea might as well not have heard him, beaming up as she bounces a bit in his arm. "It'd be fun! We've done it on stage, now it's time to do it for real!"
"Come on, we'll head back so you can change and then we can go out."
"No— no, we'll just head back to Dupont and just… go straight there."
"Straight there?" he laughs, looking down at her a little quizzically as she runs up to the street to catch them a car.
"Straight there. I can just go like this and then we won't have to waste any time!"
"What, you mean you won't have to wear the shortest skirt in the world this time?" he grins as she grabs his hand to drag him closer to the curb, giving him her signature mock-sultry look..
"Well, it's not lesbians I'm trying to attract this time," she purrs, wiggling her butt for him a bit before slipping into the cab and dragging him after her even as he's still laughing.
"Okay, okay, you try this, it's supposed to be deeeelicious."
Even if he doesn't trust the drink, he trusts Lea, and he's just drunk enough not to care about how much more alcohol he's consuming, and he throws her a wink and a grin before tossing back what Lea apparently called something with a pineapple cake.
It's a bit too sweet for his tastes— much better suited to her— but she's right, it's pretty good, and with five drinks under each their belts, she finally deems them ready to hit the dance floor, a lopsided grin on her face as she drags him out to dance with her, her ass grinding into his crotch before he can stop to make this any more appropriate between them.
He doesn't care. They do this every night, even if this isn't acting and he normally doesn't get half-hard from moving up against her.
There are plenty of attractive guys in here, but he knows, tonight he's entirely Lea's property, although something tells him that that, in and of itself, might never change. Not with the way she's laid her claim on him and his hand moves down her front as he grinds right back against her.
It's only when she turns around and starts kissing a trail up his neck that he's decided she's had more than enough to drink and finally takes her hand to get the two of them out of there.
"But Daaaaaddy…"
"Come on, Baby, we have more adventures to go on that will never happen if we never go back to our hotel…"
Leaning in to kiss the top of her head, he smiles into her hair as he starts them walking back from Larry's Lounge to their hotel near Dupont.
"Why are we walking?"
"Because it should only be about ten minutes, which isn't worth catching a cab for. Trust me, I asked our wonderful bartender that you tried to flirt with to get free drinks."
"Just because it didn't work this time—"
"It's because he thinks you have a boyfriend," he laughs, keeping her steady as his arm wraps back around her again.
"Weeeeell…" she drawls, gazing up at him adoringly, "I kind of doooo…"
"I wouldn't call it that, but okay," he grins hugely, squeezing her side as Dupont Circle slowly comes into view before them.
"Oh my god, I look like a monster. Jonathan, how did you let us sleep until noon?"
"Because," he stretches out on the bed a bit, running a tired hand over his face. "We didn't get back here until 3am, Lee. And we're not driving on too little sleep. Besides," finally tugging off the covers to get himself up, he heads into the bathroom with her to wrap his arms around her from behind, "this is a vacation, remember?"
"I look like death."
Laughing, he shakes his head, leaning in to kiss her temple. "You look beautiful."
"I can't deal with hotel-provided toiletries like this like we made do with last night. Jon, you're going to have to go downstairs and bug the valet to let you get out my toiletries. And… fresh clothes for us to change into."
"I'm on my way, sweetheart," he winks at her, grabbing his jeans and his t-shirt with a grin. He expected this, anticipated it, even, and by the time he comes back up with their overnight bag slung over his shoulder, he's also carrying a tray of breakfast.
"Room service," he grins when she opens the door, shrugging a bit.
"Oh my god, you're like an angel. Get in here, I can't believe you did all that. Ugh, now I'm going to have to pig out before making myself look presentable. Look at what you're doing to me!"
"You still look just as beautiful as when I last saw you," he grins, stopping to kiss her cheek before he sets their tray of orange juice, coffee, and waffles down on the bed for them to enjoy.
"Okay, so," Lea plops down on the bed as she grabs for a waffle, tearing herself off a piece. "Virginia Beach is next, right? How long is that going to take?"
"Eh, I'm guessing… three, four hours, depending."
"You know, if you'd just brought my phone up, this wouldn't be a problem."
Jon just grins.
"I don't know why I'm not the one driving here, this doesn't make any sense."
"Because you nearly ran into the neighbor's cows back in Lancas—"
"— you don't need to remind me," she scowls, unfolding the large paper map one more time as she tries to make sense of all the different lines and dots and colors. "It's not my fault that maps are so confusing! And besides, I have no idea where we are."
"It would help if you looked at the street signs, Lee, those are there to help you," he shoots her a poignant look, folding down the top of her map. "It would also mean that I'd be able to look out of the windshield in front of me to see the road so we both don't die!"
"Oh, now you're whining. Before, you were all, oh, Lee, don't worry, maps are easy! Way easier than driving and killing all of us in a horrible accident!"
"Would you keep that out of my face?" he swats at the map, scowling over at her.
"You know, if I were driving, you'd be able to contain the map monster and we wouldn't have this problem at all."
"Okay, do you see this line?"
Radio silence. Even as the cars whoosh past them on the interstate, Jon still can't believe that he actually pulled over for an impromptu lesson in cartography.
"I drew an arrow right next to it, Lee."
"Okay, yeah. The orange one."
"That's our highway. We're right…" he draws a little circle, "here. Following so far?"
"I'm following."
"So, we're going to go down this road…" he traces their path along the interstate, just along the outside of Richmond, "where you're going to tell me these highway numbers, so I'll know what exit to take. Now… seeing as we're only going from here to here, this is the only part of the map you should have open. And that way we can both see out the windshield. Got it?"
"You know, this is entirely your fault. We wouldn't have this problem if you'd just let me take the GPS along. Or let me use my phone."
Grinning, Jon just leans in to kiss her forehead.
"Come on, we have a beach calling us."
They're finally past Richmond and a gas station (he can still hear the sound of Lea yelling in his ear as she loses control of the map for the seemingly twentieth time) when Jon sets cruise control on the car and leans back, seeing it time to relax into his seat a bit. It's been a stressful afternoon, but he wouldn't trade it for anything, not when it's time spent with his favorite girl in the world.
"You know what, I'm kind of hot. I think I want to change."
"Yeah? Want me to pull over at a gas station?"
Laughing at him, she starts tugging her shirt over her head. "Nope."
"Oh, so… we're doing this. Right here. In the middle of an interstate."
Undoing her bra, she grins over at him before reaching into the backseat for their bag to unzip.
"Well, why not? It's nothing you've never seen before… or touched before…"
"That's on stage, that's different."
"What, you're saying there isn't a little bit of Melchi Gabor in you, Daddy?" Laughing, she undoes her jeans, tossing her clothes into the duffel as she pulls a dress up into the front with her, sitting in nothing but her underwear as Jon turns an increasingly pinker color.
"No, I really…" he laughs, shaking his head, "I think I'm good."
"Oh my god, look at you! You're so cute! Are you blushing?"
"I'm not!"
"You are! Oh my god, Jonathan!" He throws her a small, reprimanding smile as he pointedly looks everywhere but her bare breasts, and she pokes him in the arm, a huge grin on her face as she laughs. "Do you like my boobies? I think you like theeeem!"
"I do not!"
"Oh come on, don't be a baby…"
"I'm not being a baby! I'm just not used to almost naked girls in my car!"
"You know what, we're going to call this conditioning. Just for you, I'm going to stay just like this for at least the next fifteen mile markers."
"You are such a spoilsport. I can't believe you made me put my clothes back on."
"You look gorgeous in that dress. It would have been an insult to the dress if I wouldn't have gotten to see you in it."
"I just think you like my girls."
"They're lovely boobs, Lea," he gives her a poignant glance as he takes her hand to kiss the back of it. "Really, I mean it. And any guy would be lucky to get to be in my shoes every night."
"So you admit it, then. They turn you on."
"They do not turn me on!" he rolls his eyes at her before letting go of her hand to grab for a CD binder in the passenger seat to hand to her. "Come on, we're done talking about this. It's time to break out the showtunes."
They spend the rest of their day— after singing along to Wicked and A Chorus Line for the rest of their drive and then checking into their hotel, the Cavalier— exploring the Virginia Beach Boardwalk. Lea insists they stop at some of the more vintage, touristy shops and some of the local attractions, and it's only until they hear live music that they're truly drawn away to watch a band play on one of the many stages lining the Boardwalk.
It's after a delicious seafood dinner that they end up exploring the other side of the Boardwalk, closer to the ocean, Lea digging her toes into the sand as they walk, hand-in-hand, along the edge of it as they watch the sunset together.
"Today was fun," Jon smiles into her hair, kissing the top of her head as he squeezes her hand.
"You mean I wasn't too annoying?" she beams up at him, temporarily stopping their walk to lean up to kiss his cheek.
"Are you kidding? Never," he laughs, shaking his head as he grabs her shoes out of her hands to carry them for her alongside his own. "I love you far too much for you to ever get annoying."
"Because we're soulmates?" she beams, the sky blending beautifully from orange to purple.
"Because we're soulmates," he grins down at her, kissing her forehead.
"You know, F. Scott Fitzgerald stayed here before. Like… back in the late twenties. With Zelda and Scottie."
"Yeah? Looks like they had good taste," Jon grins as he wraps his arms around her from behind, tackling her down onto the bed with him to get her to laugh as his fingers find all of her ticklish spots.
"Wha— no! Oh my god, Jonathan! Stop it! No! No! This is so unfair! Ahh! Foul play!"
He lets her struggle for a little bit longer as he tickles her some more, finally stopping when they're both out of breath and panting from her fighting him, both of them still laughing.
"Oh my god, I can't believe you just did that, that was so unfair!"
"That was for earlier in the car."
"You said that wasn't annoying!"
"That doesn't mean you didn't deserve payback!"
They lie curled up beside each other for a little while longer before Lea decides she's been stationary for far too long, sitting up and turning to look at him.
"You know what we should do?"
"What?" he grins, wrapping his arms around her waist just a little more snugly.
"Raid the whole minibar."
It's a great idea.
Then again, Lea is usually convinced that all of Lea's ideas are great, and she plucks out another little bottle of alcohol to wiggle at him.
"You know what, I bet we could make some really interesting drink mixes if we dug a little deeper."
"I think you've had too much to drink," he laughs, coming up behind her to tuck his chin into the crook of her neck.
"We've had the exact same amount!" she turns to look at him, putting on an exaggerated pout.
"And you're a lightweight," he grins, letting his hands come up to tickle at her sides.
"You know what thaaat meaaaans… time to have more to driiiink…" She wiggles the little bottle at him again, beaming as she kisses the tip of his nose.
"Okay, you win," he laughs, taking the bottle of vermouth out of her hand and replacing it with a bottle of flavored vodka. "But you know why, right?"
"Because I'm your favorite girl in the whole wide world?"
"Precisely that," he grins, leaning in to kiss her cheek again before he opens the little bottle and holds it up in a mock-toast.
From where Lea's sitting, it's the only possible answer.
The way he didn't want to look at her breasts, the adorable nervous blush on his face, the way he keeps holding her hand and kissing her, the way he keeps evading any and all remarks about turning their relationship into more than just being friends, his constant mention of how much he loves her—
He has to feel the same way. Has to.
"Mm," she purrs as she runs a lone finger up his front, biting her lip as she wiggles against him. Ideally, they'd be lying down, but she figures sitting at the edge of the bed is good enough, especially with the way she's turned into him, her leg propped up under the other to nuzzle into his neck a bit, the way she knows he knows she does when she's drunk.
She's not too drunk, though, not too drunk to not know what she's doing.
"You know what I think, Daddy?" she drawls, softly kissing his neck as he laughs.
"Mm? What is it, Baby?"
Grinning as she resurfaces from the crook of his neck, she gently places her hand on his cheek to draw his face towards hers, get him to look at her, their noses touching.
She doesn't bother asking his question before she leans in to kiss him properly, like they do every night together on stage, tilting her face against his with a sigh, waiting for him to welcome her home in his arms.
Except, that moment never comes, Lea instead feeling him pull away, her eyes snapping open again as his own widen in shock.
"No, nononono—"
"No?"
"… no."
"But—"
"No."
"But we do that… every night, anyway, isn't this exactly like that?"
"… that's on stage, that's different." She pulls back completely, confusion written all over her face as he runs his hands over his own, shaking his head as he looks at her, seemingly conflicted for a moment. "Um, okay. I'm gay."
"Gay? But— no—"
"Yeah. Definitely gay."
"But the… the kissing, and the… boobs, and your lack of… fashion sense, and the cuddling, a-and the grinding, and… o-our love—"
"I do love you," he shakes his head, taking her hand in both of his. He says it with such incredible conviction that Lea feels like she's swallowing down a boulder. "More than anything. Just… not… like that."
"Oh," she whispers softly, her gaze falling to her lap. She feels like she's been punched in the stomach. "Right. Not… like that."
"Right."
"So… n-nothing's going to happen?"
"… right."
"Okay, that's… th-that's fine. I don't… mind. I mean, I guess I should have seen it coming, right? I mean— no, that's okay."
"So we're fine?"
"Yeah. We're… we're great, it doesn't matter at all."
She offers him a shaky smile as he leans in to kiss the top of her forehead.
"Okay. You want to cuddle?"
It just takes her seconds to curl into the crook of his arm, nodding against him as he leans them both back, gently stroking her hair as he kisses the top of her head again. She doesn't want him to see how torn up she actually is about this, how lost she feels without this achor that she must have been holding onto since the day they first met, just… floating for now. So she just curls a bit closer to him, not daring to let him go lest he disappear with some guy in favor of her.
"Hey, are you sure you're okay? You've been kind of quiet all morning?"
"I'm fine," Lea mutters offhandedly, her focus still on the phone in her hands, grateful, for once, that he's not telling her to put it away. They have a long drive ahead of them, the longest of their whole trip so far, and at the very least, for now, he seems to know where he's going and what he's doing even without her directions, though it's likely from his having stopped to study the map at their last pit-stop near Virginia Beach.
All in all, she kind of hates herself for trying to change things for them, ruining this perfect thing of theirs, whatever it really is, with feelings.
So when she's scrolling through her phone— if only for something to do that isn't staring at the road or talking to Jon, which is awkward for the first time since the day they met, and again her fault— suddenly texting back a recent ex of hers seems like a good idea.
He pales in comparison to Jon, of course, but anyone would, she knows that, and she'd been considering getting back together with him before meeting Jon anyway. So at least this isn't entirely out of the blue.
Now, five texts later, she's starting to feel just a little bit better.
She can't help being the kind of girl who just feels more together when she's in a relationship with someone doting on her, though a part of her wonders if it'll ever be possible for anyone to beat Jon, if anyone will ever prove enough of a distraction from her absolutely perfect soulmate right beside her.
"Who are you texting, anyway?" he finally asks with them just barely into North Carolina, and Lea shrugs, biting her lip as though she's really guilt-free in this instance, like she's not actually trying desperately to replace Jon with some other guy that will never measure up.
"Oh, just… someone." Clearing her throat, she shrugs again. "Troy."
"Wait, you mean your ex Troy?" he looks over at her with a frown, and she tries to nod as imperceptibly as she possibly can.
"Yeah, I mean… why not. He's a nice guy, I deserve to go on a date again."
"No one deserves it more," he nods with a soft smile as he takes her hand over the console again, but the look on his face doesn't stray for the rest of the day, regarding her just a little bit differently.
Just like their relationship is just a little bit different.
They're mostly back to their old selves by the time they arrive in Savannah eight or so hours later that night as Lea's urge to organize their stay there kicks in, and she leads them to a haunted Bed & Breakfast just as she promised, The Foley House.
At least for Lea's part, she seems to be mostly back to her old spirits once they have some food in them and they've gotten a history lesson and a tour about the place, which turns out to be a great deal spookier than Jon expected. Still, he knows that she's not entirely okay, and the thought that he's responsible— even if he can't help it, not really— makes his stomach churn.
He can't help but be worried about her. Her obsessive need to jump from relationship to relationship— or worse, hook-up to hook-up— seems to have only been exacerbated by his confession of his sexuality, not that he thinks it would have been any better if he'd just turned her down without explanation— or worse, lead her on. In that sense, he's like a guardian to her, and he knows that if any of these guys do hurt her, he'll be the one left to pick up the pieces, hold her while she cries, and kiss the top of her head to make it all better again.
And he doesn't mind that part. Doesn't mind having pretend-sex with her on stage every night, doesn't mind cuddling and sharing beds and kissing her here and there and everywhere but her lips or any other places he shouldn't.
He does love her, he just can't love her more than he does, love her as much as she needs him to.
So he has trouble sleeping that night, even exhausted after their nine or so hours on the road, even with Lea tucked comfortingly into the crook of his arm, smiling as she sleeps on where he can't.
Things seem entirely back to normal the next day, and Jon can't help but be grateful. After an uneventful evening, the early start has them on the road soon enough that Lea remarks at one point that they probably could still fit in Disney that day, and even after five hours on the road, he can't help but agree with her.
He's never been, and the excitement in the car is palpable as Lea starts to go over all the places they have to go, finally settling on Epcot being by far the best one of the different parks as she recounts all the rides and attractions they had there the last time she went.
Much to Lea's relief, they stay on I-95 for most of the way down, and in between making sure that they're still passing all the right cities, she finds herself right back in her usual storytelling mode. It's comforting, nice to know that they're still best friends and that this doesn't change anything, and by the time they reach Orlando and check into their Disney hotel— appropriately enough— he almost can't decide whether he's more excited about Epcot or having his best friend back.
"Remember how you said… that you wanted to visit all of the countries at one point? As part of your bucket list?"
Lea grins, her hand in his as they make their way through Epcot. Jon, for his part, can't seem to stop staring at everything, looking up in complete awe here and there at the hedge sculptures, the people walking around in costume signing autographs.
A part of him can't help but think that this is what it's all about, being a performer— joy in bringing joy to others— and he can hardly seem to stop himself from smiling.
"Yeah, of course," he grins down at her as he tugs her a little closer to him.
"Well, we're checking that off of your list today! Right after Spaceship Earth, that is. We absolutely can't miss that. Come on!"
With their arrival at Disney around 2:30pm, Lea can't help but be thrilled over how well she timed this so that Jon might get see the IllumiNations firework and lightshow around the World Showcase. It was just late enough that they wouldn't end up being exhausted too soon, and after sitting in the car all morning, getting up and walking through the park was perfect.
It's been a while since she's seen it, too, but the look on Jon's face is even more magical than the show in front of them, and her gaze is invariably drawn back to the smile on his face, the way he's tearing up at the sight of it all.
She's not sure she's ever been so in love with him as she is in that moment as he holds her as close as he can.
By the time they're back at their hotel, it's well past midnight, both of them tired, exhausted, and sweaty, but beyond happy, and Lea promises he'll get access to the shower as soon as she's done with it, throwing him a wink before she slips into the bathroom.
Really, sitting topless in the car aside, she can't help but wonder if she couldn't convince him of just how sexy she really is, and by the time she turns the water off, she decides that maybe all he really needs is to see her, really see her, so that she might convince him that they're meant to be together, that their love is perfect and eternal, that she'd marry him in a heartbeat if he only asked her to.
But by the time she's out of the bathroom with the tiniest towel in the world wrapped around her form, Jon's already asleep, one arm tucked under his pillow, the other haphazardly thrown back behind him, his Mickey Mouse ears just slightly crooked on his head.
Moving to sit at his side on the bed, she slowly runs her hand over the side of his face. Maybe it doesn't have to happen today.
Maybe it doesn't ever have to happen, not if this is enough.
She doesn't have the heart to take his Mickey ears off of him, but she takes a moment to straighten them out a bit before carefully drawing his arm to his front so he might not be completely uncomfortable while he sleeps.
Still careful not to wake him, she slips away from him just long enough to change into one of his t-shirts that she borrowed months ago and never had the heart to give back since then, towel-drying her hair and getting herself ready for bed before she slips in with him, curling her arms around him from behind, like he always does for her.
If she has to be in love with someone she can't have, she's not sure she could have ever picked a better person, placing one last soft kiss to his cheek before curling a good bit closer to him and finally letting her eyes drift closed to the comforting sound of his breathing.
They'll have the beach tomorrow and the drive back, and then— the rest of their lives together.
Best friends.
Lea doesn't burn, but Jon is starting to tinge pink by the time the sun starts setting the next day. It's the end of July, so he's not surprised, but he can't help but expect them both to be sore from being burnt tomorrow, even if his condition will be far worse than Lea's.
But he doesn't care.
It's been great— the whole trip, actually, their time on the train, on the farm, every day spent on the road with Lea, spending the night and exploring every city along the way, some more than others, their day at Epcot, and the beach. He'd hardly know how to pick a favorite, although covering Lea with sand today, carrying her around in the ocean, light as a feather, and the way she got ice cream all over both of them are definitely near the top, and he wonders if every vacation shouldn't be one with Lea in it, if every part of his life shouldn't maybe include her, in some way, if only for all the joy she brings to his life, all the laughter and all the love.
She's still texting with that guy, Troy, on and off, and in a way, he does hope it works out, that she finds happiness in that, and maybe more than he can give her.
And in another way, he stepped outside to take a phonecall after breakfast this morning while Lea was getting ready in the bathroom, and he knows there's a date with his name written on it whenever he gets back to New York with a guy named Adam who actually seems pretty cool.
And that's safe. Safer than questioning his sexuality that he's known for ages now, ever since he was twelve. Safer than deciding that maybe this could be different.
Lea's so bright and alive that it's addictive, running back into the ocean to splash and play with the waves as the colors of the sunset bounce off of the water to make it seem almost like it's sparkling.
He can't help watching her, can't help loving her, even from his safe spot under their rented umbrella despite knowing he's already been burned, that he's come too close to the sun and that he might never pull back from that again.
Maybe he could love her, really love her, as much as she wishes he did.
Maybe he already does.
And when Lea comes back to his arms, Jon welcoming her back into them easily, he can't help but smile as he kisses the top of her damp forehead.
"I think you're right. We are going to be lifelong friends."