Page 125 of Dear Mr. Brody

He made a show of looking up at the ceiling in wonder. “I can see them.”

“The bright one, it’s Tink.” I smiled one small smile. “She sacrificed herself for us, and now she will always be remembered.”

“We’ve all sacrificed,” he said, threading his fingers through my other hand. “But we’re lost boys, do you think we’ll be remembered too?”

“I do… The other two stars, Pan… One day they’ll belong to me and you.”

“They’ll belong to us,” he said and rested his temple against my arm.

“And every night the world will know how much I love you.”

The lights shut off and the crowd erupted with applause. I laughed, and Jake jumped up in the air, banging into me like a maniac. “Holy crap, we did it!”

I high fived him as the lights switched back on and the entire cast came out onto the stage. We all linked hands and bowed to the standing ovation. I found Van sitting three rows back, beaming up at me. He bit his lip and shook his head as I blew him a kiss. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, and I had to tell myself not to jump off the stage and maul him with my mouth. He’d put in his notice yesterday, and after finals week, we would be in the clear. I didn’t think I’d ever not feel guilty for the choice he’d made, but as Anne waved at me, and Van laughed again, it was difficult for me to focus on anything other than the love I could see in his eyes.

After we exited the stage, the crew and cast hugged and cheered, and Chance gathered us all into a huddle. Marcos wiggled in next to me and held my hand.

“I might be a little in love with you, but it’ll pass, just give it an hour.” He grinned and set his head on my shoulder. “You were marvelous…in case you’re in your head about everything.”

“Thanks.” I wrapped my arm around his waist as Chance cleared his throat.

“I know we’ve had a lot of changes recently,” he said, his eyes settling on Rachel. “But I think the future of Pride House has always been in your hands. What you have here. What you’ve all accomplished, it’s astounding. You should be proud of yourselves.” The kids whooped and Rachel smiled. “With ticket sales and two very generous donations from Lowe Literary and St. Benedicts Hospital, we raised a little over fifteen-thousand dollars.”

“Holy shit,” Marcos gasped.

Rachel looked at me and started to cry. All the kids, kind of awestruck, stared at Chance.

“I’ve been a lot of places. Worked with a lot of organizations. But what I’ve seen here… I’m grateful to be a part of this.‘Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.’”

“He just quoted Neil Gaiman,” I whispered, and Marcos lifted his head.

“Who?”

“I did,” Chance said and gave me an actual smile. “What Gaiman said has always stuck with me. We all have dragons we have to slay, and tonight you did it. You worked hard and it showed.”

All the kids cheered again, and I’d never seen them this happy before. After a few more hugs and tears from Rachel, we made our way to the dressing rooms. Marcos packed up his make-up and I pulled on my shirt.

“Hey, Park.” Denny approached me with a weary smile. “I’m sorry, man.”

I clapped him on the shoulder and pulled him into a side hug. “Don’t be. Everything worked out.”

“I guess it did.” He hung his head. “Not ‘cause of me, though.”

“You worked hard on this, Denny, and I would’ve loved to see you on that stage. But only you can set your limits. And tonight, you hit one, and that’s okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, okay… go celebrate with everyone. We all deserve a little fun after all our hard work.”

“You coming to the pizza place?” he asked.

“I can’t. My boyfriend is taking me out to dinner.”

“Oh,” he said, dragging out the vowel with a smirk on his face. “Have fun.”

He lightly punched me in my arm before he walked away.

“Listen,” Marcos said, as he pulled his bag over his shoulder. “I have to take off, but…” He swallowed and exhaled a sharp breath. “Look, I know I don’t say it enough, but I think you’re fucking amazing. I hope you get that.”

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