Midge was anxious to shed her clothes and sit in the tub as long as possible once the show was over. The minute everyone else was distracted by Shy's lovely singing as he sat on the stool (trying to hide how much pain his ribs were causing), Midge snuck out of the ballroom. She was sure that there was not an elevator in the world that was fast enough to get her to her floor and in a warm bubble bath.
While leaning back in the steaming, lavender scented bubbles, Midge found herself reflecting on the day. It wasn't the revelation of Shy's sexuality that had left her shaken. Instead, she found herself more upset over what he had gone through, and the fact that this hadn't even been the first time it had happened. Looking back to just a few hours ago, it was a wonder she managed to keep herself together for him and his situation. She just kept reminding herself over and over that this wasn't about her, and that she needed to help. Shy entrusted her with his secret and she needed to keep it close to her heart and help Dwayne put himself back together into Shy Baldwin.
After her bath, Midge wrapped the fluffy hotel robe around herself and grabbed the phone from the table near the window seat. She sat, overlooking the beach front and dialed Lenny's hotel. He was somewhere else now, just for a few days, but by the time he was back in Miami the tour would be gone again. She waited for him to answer still, knowing his voice and reassurance would be the soothing balm her heart sorely needed.
"I just don't know what to do with myself. It just never occurred to me that stuff like that was happening outside my safe little bubble. I couldn't even bring myself to stay for the whole concert," Midge leaned her head back against the window frame while she talked to Lenny. The phone was resting on the floor with the cord stretched as she continued her station at the cushioned window seat. "I wish you were here. Things were great when you were here."
"When we get to see each other again we'll both already be back in New York for a few weeks," Lenny's voice sounded further away than Midge ever wanted. The few days they actually got to spend together had spoiled her terribly. "Shy understands, I'm sure. Maybe talk to him tomorrow, explain that it wasn't what he told you, just what it made you realise."
"I hope you're right. It just felt so selfish to leave like that. Like I wasn't being supportive and was letting him down."
There was a knock on the hotel room door and Midge paused her train of thought. She'd ordered room service just before calling Lenny and it really had taken forever to arrive. She listened as he replied and got up from her seat, dragging the phone with her as she went to check on the door.
"I'm often right, on occasion," he laughed and Midge's smile carried her right to the persistent knocking.
When the door swung open, Midge was surprised to see Shy's sheepish looking face looking back. He was dressed more casually than she had ever seen him, having changed out of his show clothes into a set of silk pajamas and a robe. Clearly he'd had similar thoughts to Midge the moment he was done on stage. His injuries were showing now, and she guessed that he'd felt secure in washing off the make-up she applied earlier that evening.
"You're not my food." She felt safe joking mildly as he looked a lot more relaxed.
"Well, I've definitely been called worse," he joked back with her, and Midge couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He motioned towards the inside of her room, silently asking if he could enter. She nodded her head and backed up until she was near the table where she found the phone.
"Is that Shy?" Lenny's tone didn't sound jealous or frustrated when he asked. She'd grown used to men in her life sounding green when any other of their gender was involved. Perhaps it was the truth of Shy she'd confided in him, or maybe it was just his generally easy going attitude. Either way, Midge found herself happy that the drama was non-existent.
"Yeah, I think we're going to have some after-show dinner and drinks together. Maybe I'll even convince him to put on one of my face masks." She glanced up at Shy and he shrugged in agreement as he got comfortable at the end of Suzy's bed. "I'll call you tomorrow to check in?" She phrased it as a question, knowing that with the time difference and his later showtimes it was sometimes hard for them to orchestrate a call.
"Not if I call you first." It was a false challenge, but it made her smile anyway.
"Hey," she paused and bit her lip. She glanced behind her briefly and was Shy acting like he couldn't hear the conversation taking place only a handful of feet away. "I didn't say it while you were here, but I just want you to know I-"
"Midge Bruce, if you say what I think you're about to say over the phone, I don't want to hear it. Not yet at least." She heard him roll over on his bed, knowing that he'd been laying awake during a sleepless night as they spoke. It was quiet for a moment as they both figured out what to say. "I do too, honey."
"I'll talk to you tomorrow, and I'll have some stuff to say to you in person in a few weeks."
"Not if I do first."
Midge hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment in a bit of a daze. She'd wanted to tell Lenny that she loved him before he left, but it never felt like the right time. As she stared at the phone, she realised that any moment would have been right. Now she regretted not telling him sooner, if only to hear him return the words in her time of distress.
"Didn't you tell me there was no man in your life?" Shy's question pulled Midge out of her thoughts and back into her hotel room. She turned around and saw Shy smiling at her teasingly.
"Would you believe me if I told you that I was telling the truth at the time?" Midge walked over to her bed and flopped down, using one of the thousand yellow bears as a pillow. "We got drunk and decided to get married one of the nights that we were still in Vegas."
"Wait, you didn't marry your ex-husband, did you?"
"Oh god no!" She picked at her nails and tried to avoid eye contact. "Do you know the comedian Lenny Bruce?" At Shy's widened eyes she nodded and laughed. "He came to visit me while we were in Vegas. We got drunkā¦"
"Wasn't there a rumour that you two were together?" he obviously knew more than she assumed, so she just just chuckled and nodded again.
"Lenny helped me out when I got black balled from all the clubs in Manhattan. I said some shitty things about Sophie Lennon - which I do not regret! But he did a set at a dive bar so I could open for him. Then everyone started saying that I'd fucked him to get him there."
"And did you?"
"Shy!" she tossed a bear at him that he deftly guarded against. "Of course not!" She sat up and reached for the room service menu. "Now if you're staying to gossip, then we should order more food. I wasn't expecting company and only ordered one of everything."
