Page 11 of The Reunion

Our table turns out to be the liveliest one in the room, and the guy—Nikola—is, indeed, seated with us. I’m between Ransom and Ford, Sasha-Kate and Nikola are on Ford’s other side, and to round out our table is Millie Matson, who was eleven years old last time I saw her. Now she’s twenty-five, with glowing skin and makeup done to perfection. She’s best known for the two pop albums she released over the past few years—particularly her most recent one,Peaches, which landed a top-twenty spot on the charts as soon as it was released.

“That’s Halo over there, isn’t it?” Millie asks Sasha-Kate, trying (and failing) to look chill and not overeager. There’s a reason Millie pivoted toward music instead of acting—when she was cast at age five, the acting didn’t matter as much as her charisma.

“Why, you want an introduction, Millie?” Sasha-Kate says with a sly grin. She takes a sip of chardonnay, her lipstick immaculate.

If Millie is a rising pop star, Halo has been borderline supernova for years now. Leave it to Sasha-Kate to demand a seat at our table forsome guy she’ll probably break up with by next week and relegate the rest of her star-studded entourage to a table on the other side of the room; Sasha-Kate isn’t big on being outshined.

“I’m a big fan of her work,” Millie says, a blush creeping into her cheeks. “Her albumHallowedwas—it was just—I have sooooo many questions on the production side of things!”

Ford, meanwhile, has struck up a conversation with Nikola, who’s backed his chair up so they can talk around Sasha-Kate. That just leaves Ransom and me.

Ransom plucks a roll from the basket and smears on a soft pat of butter. “Got all your lines memorized yet?” he asks, a nice, innocuous entry point for our newlet’s try to maybe be friends againsituation. It’s such basic small talk you’d think we’d never spent an hour in each other’s company.

You’d never guess we’ve kissed on camera countless times.

You’d never guess we’ve seen each other cry. That we’vemadeeach other cry.

We’ve never had to start over before, though.

So. Small talk it is.

“Still working on them,” I admit. “Things have been nonstop lately getting ready for the press blitz, and I’ve had to squeeze in some extra sessions with my trainer, and on top of all that I’m supposed to be making my way through a stack of novels Mars sent over from the agency.…”

“Wait, wait—you actually read the books they send?”

“Youdon’t?”

“I mean, I read them if we move forward on the project but never when we’re trying to settle on one— What? My team reads them and sends over the summaries—?”

“I just can’t imagine committing to a project without reading the whole thing,” I say, laughing. “Don’t you feel like you’re missing out on all the subtle things about the characters? How do you know which ones are right for you?” I sip my chardonnay, watch as he takes a bite out of his roll, leaving neat teeth marks behind.

Suddenly his teeth are all I can think about. And his full bottomlip, and how the last time I tasted it, it tasted like the mint ice cream we’d just eaten before filming our final scene together, and—

“Roles in my queue aren’t necessarily known for theirsubtleties, if you know what I mean,” he says, pulling me out of my head. I quickly avert my gaze before he notices how hard I’m staring at his lips. His eyes are bright, but past the surface, I see a flash of something else, something a bit… unsatisfied.

Having seen his last few feature films: he’s not wrong. Knowing some part of him is unsatisfied? I never would have guessed.

“You, though—” he says, changing the subject before I can dig too deeply. “You’ve had some great roles, Liv, I mean it. You were absolutely killer inLove // Indigo.”

My heart swells at the compliment, and not just because it was my favorite film I’ve worked on yet—Ransom saw me in it.

Ransom thought I waskiller.

“You saw that one?” I take a quick sip of water to cool the heat rising in my face.

His eyes catch mine, and it’s like he’s looking straight into me—and I can’t look away.

“I’ve seen all your films, Livvie. You’ve been fantastic in every one.” His voice is as smooth as honey, and it stirs something in me. I need another sip of water,fast.

Before I can thank him, a swell of music fills the speakers as the lights dim overhead. A spotlight focuses on center stage, where Fanline CEO Shine Jacobs takes the podium.

“Good evening, everyone!” she says, her smile bright and beaming. She projects ease and power like she was born to lead—it’s not at all hard to imagine why she was listed at the very top of a recent “World’s 50 Most Influential Women of Color” feature inTime.

“It’s my pleasure to welcome you to our kickoff dinner for the FanlineGirl on the Vergereunion special!” She pauses to make space for the applause that rises up in the room. “Like all of you, this show has a special place in my heart. I was an intern in a talent agency mail room when your pilot premiered, and I didn’t know a soul out here in LA. One of the other interns knew someone on set over atGirl, so I endedup joining their weekly watch parties. By the time we’d all moved on to other industry jobs, your show was so popular, so respected, that one of my stodgiest old professors was teaching a writing course on it—he was that impressed with the work you were all doing. Side note for a moment, can we just take a second to honor Dan and Xan, the heart behind all of this and the reason we’re here in this room today?”

The applause now rivals the first round of it, and one by one, everyone stands. At the next table over, Dan and Xan Jennings share a loving glance with each other. I’ve always found them so inspiring; they are the perfect example of partners who love and respect each other, both as a writing team and as husband and wife.

“Thank you, Dan and Xan, for all you’ve done,” Shine continues, once we’re all seated again, “not just for those of us here in this room but for everyone at home who felt better equipped to navigate their world after falling in love with your show. It was certainly invaluable to me on both a personal and professional level—I’m honored to be spearheading the reunion special, and to be face-to-face with all the people who brought the original series to life.”

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