Page 11 of Numbers Boy
“Have a good week, Noah,” Steve says and drops his hand.
“Thanks. You too, Steve. Say good night to Stacy for me.”
MY FIRST WALKwith Stacy goes off without a hitch. As soon as I unlock Steve’s apartment with the key he gave me, she’s there at the door, feet tip-tapping away.
“Hey, girly, how are you today?” I know my voice has taken on a ridiculous quality, which I’m really glad Steve isn’t around to witness. But Stacy eats it up, bonking her head into my legs and wiggling around as I give her pets. “That’s good, beautiful. Now, let’s get your lead on and go for a walk.”
Stacy gives a little “yip” and sits when she sees her leash. I clip it on without any issue, and then we’re out the door and into the cold, snowy evening. We head to the closest dog park, and I let Stacy take her time, sniffing things as we go. Once we’re there, I make sure the gate is latched and let her off her lead since there aren’t any other dogs around. She takes off and then comes tearing back to me with a stick. I laugh and reach out for it.
“What a nice stick, Stacy! Want to play fetch? Drop it.”
She does, and we spend a while playing until I can see she’s starting to run out of energy.
“Good girl!” I praise her as I pull out her leash from my pocket. “Now, let’s take a picture for your daddy and head back before it gets too cold.”
I snap a quick pic of Stacy with her stick and attach it to a text to Steve.
Me: Stacy had a great time at the park. She thinks she wants to be a branch manager when she grows up. *image attached*
I’m a little surprised when he answers within a few minutes. Whatever he has going on tonight, he must have access to his phone.
Steve: *heart eye emoji* OMG, so cute!
Steve: Do you mind if I put that on her page?
Me: Go for it!
Not wanting to keep Stacy waiting or out in the cold, I hook her leash back on, and we start to head back to her apartment. As I’m getting her paws wiped off by the door, my phone pings with an Instagram notification. I open it to see that Steve has posted about Stacy going on a walk tonight, and he’s tagged UnLeash Your Dreams. I had seen that he had followed us with both his personal and Stacy’s account, but I didn’t expect him to use the picture I took to advertise for us. I give the post a like and send him a quick thank you DM, which he replies to with, “No problem, thanks for helping us out!”
As I stand there, starry-eyed over how nice he is, Stacy nuzzles her nose into my free hand, asking for pats. One look at her sweet face, and I give in without hesitation. If they could both stop being so cute, that would be great. Because it’s only been one official day as her dog walker, and I’m already in too deep with both of them.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Steve
THE NEXT FEWweeks fly by, full of work and rehearsals, Stacy snuggles, and costume prep. All of a sudden, the time to practice is over, and I’m backstage getting myself ready to perform. Well, I say backstage, but it’s really just a storage room next to the bathrooms at the restaurant where this drag brunch is being held. As excited as I am to get back on stage, I wanted as low-key of a first time as possible to get my heels back under me, so I found a super-small event with only a few other performers. The other queens have been great as we all arrived and started making our transformations. One even let me use some of her sports tape when she saw I was going to be using little bandages to help protect my feet from my shoes.
Butterflies flap around my stomach, both from excitement and nerves as I prepare to bring Eve back to life for the first time in over a year. Yes, I’ve been rehearsing and getting her ready, spending hours creating her outfits and getting back in the habit of doing her face. But this is the first time she’s going to be out in the world and people other than me, Henry, and Stacy are going to be able to enjoy her.
I’ve been careful to make sure all of her clothes and wigs and things are put away whenever I know Noah is going to be around. I’m not quite sure why though. It’s not like he’s going to be snooping around the apartment, and even if he was, there’sno reason for me to hide that part of me. I might bring it up at book club after I’m done with my performance. If anyone can get me the free therapy that I should probably look into getting for real, it’s the Working Boys.
But that’s a problem for later. Right now, the only problem I’m concerned about is the fact that there’s a goddamn run in my brand-new tights.
“Fuck a duck,” I mutter and throw them back in my neon green duffle bag. The first time I hauled this bag out of storage, all I could think about was how much Adam hated it. According to him, the color was far too bright, and I shouldn’t have wanted to draw more attention to the fact that I was dressing as a woman. Once the initial flush of shame passed, I couldn’t believe I ever let someone so blatantly misogynistic tell me what I could or couldn’t like. As for the tights, I should honestly just throw them away, but again, that’s a problem for later Steve because Eve doesn’t have the time right now. I rifle around all of my stuff, hoping that past Steve has done me a solid, and triumphantly pull out my spare set that I’ve had stashed in a random side pocket forever.
Once I pull those on, I finish transforming myself into Eve in the storage room. I already spent hours putting on my face, so now it’s just finishing my costume and carefully adding my wig. After that, I wait in the wings of the temporary stage set up for today’s event. The setup isn’t very fancy, but it’s perfect for today. I let the excitement build as I watch Helen Wheels finish up her song. She’s the queen who I reached out to about performing today, having seen her name on a poster and remembered her from back in college. She’s also the one who helped me out with the tape, saying she’s rehabbed far too many blisters to let a baby queen suffer. Her kindness, and the fact that she’s doing all of her moves on roller skates, leaves me a little bit in awe of her. Even if I didn’t already know that she’s a regularhere, the loud whoops and calls by name from various people as she wraps up and thanks the crowd would be a clear sign. Then she slips by me with a wink and a quick “You got this, baby girl.”
All I’m doing is a simple lip-sync routine, but I can feel my heart pounding as I look out at the crowd of brunch-goers. I have missed this feeling so damn much. I feel ten feet tall in my heeled boots, and my hair in a high pony just adds to that illusion. I can’t believe I let Adam take this from me and make me feel so small. I set my shoulders back, shoving him out of my mind as the emcee announces my name, and sink into the feeling of power rolling over me and filling me with confidence and fire.
My song goes off without a hitch, and I send a wink toward the table full of the Working Boys, each and every one of them watching and smiling as Eve owns the stage. By the time the last note fades, I’m almost in tears with how right this feels. I may be a nerdy numbers boy on paper, but I am also a kick-ass queen who knows her worth. And I’m working hard to make sure no one will ever make me doubt that again.
After stripping off my dress and carefully setting my wig off to the side, I pull on sweats and wash off my face as efficiently as I can, then hurry out to join my friends at their table. When I get there, I’m swamped in a giant hug from Henry, and then Stu pulls me down next to him and squeezes my forearm.
“Eve was amazing,” he says as he hands me a glass of water. “It’s like you never even took a break from being her.”
“Thanks, man.” I gratefully accept the glass and gulp it down as the others all talk about their favorite parts of Eve’s number. I can feel my cheeks start to hurt from smiling so much, but I savor this feeling of love and acceptance, just like I did with the feeling of power I had as Eve.
While we chat, I grab bits and pieces of food from the platters laid out family-style on the table. There’s plenty oftypical breakfast food, but there’s also appetizer samplers. I see a plate of chicken strips on the other side of Stu and nudge him with my elbow.
