“Good girl,” they say before taking my lips with theirs and I don’t fight the blush that comes to my cheeks. We kiss for the longest time, my hand on their face and their grip still on my arm, their thumb gently stroking my skin.
Finally, the rough noise of a throat clearing pulls us apart.
“Champagne?” A flight attendant asks, showing us a tray of drinks.
“I think we should,” Loncey says.
“It would be rude not to,” I add.
And we each take a glass. We chime our glasses together.
“To us,” they say.
“To our supernova love,” I add.
“That was written in the stars,” they say before taking a sip.
“Or painted in them,” I say and with our eyes locked on each other, we drink to our future together.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Maeve
Ishouldn’t have checked my phone. Not today of all days. But we’re due to hear back from SAFE about signing with us and considering it’s close to the start of business hours over on the West Coast there’s a chance they’ve made a decision. I quickly scroll past countless notifications from countless apps and open my inbox. I ignore the first few emails at the top of my inbox and then I pause. It’s there.
I hold my breath as I open the email. This is a big deal. I’ve only been working as talent and brand management for six months and while it’s been going well, I’ve been yet to secure a brand of this size and a campaign of this budget. Getting other influencers to sign on with me wasn’t difficult – the one advantage of working with a less-than-perfect agent for the last six years means I know what works and what doesn’t when itcomes to offering brand deals – but getting international brands to work with me in this new capacity has been much more challenging.
Sure, I’ve been able to secure smaller Irish companies and even a few in the States and UK as well as some in Europe, but the campaigns have been short-term and even smaller budgets. This campaign will launch my new career in a way that will make other people – influencers and brands alike – sit up and take notice. And best of all, I like SAFE. They took my feedback about how dire Jim Harlow was on board, hired a Diversity & Inclusion specialist to do in-house training and completely changed how they do photoshoots and fashion shows, all reasons I think they will align well with my talent and my new company’s ethos.
“Checking your emails on your wedding day? Why am I not surprised?” Arabella’s voice and her presence at my side lift my eyes, but not before I read the words I want to read.
“I got the SAFE contract!” I squeal. “One year of campaigns in Europe, US and Australia too.”
“Are you serious? That’s huge!” Arabella grips my arm.
“I can’t believe it!” I put my free hand to my mouth. “Wait until I tell Loncey!”
“Jesus, woman, you better not make this the first thing you tell them at the altar.” Arabella frowns at me.
I roll my eyes. “Of course I won’t. Also, no altar, remember. This is a very matter-of-fact, tick-a-box, queer-friendly registry office wedding in order to facilitate their visa.”
Bella rolls her eyes in return, with even more effort than I gave it. “You keep telling yourself that, bridey.” She tuts.
“It is! You know how I feel about marriage. There’s no other reason for us to be doing this.”
I do mean what I’m saying. It wasn’t my first choice to get married in order to be together, but with Loncey’s age, their desire to work as soon as possible and our shared wish to makeliving in either Ireland or USA together as easy as possible, we finally accepted that getting married was the simplest way to do so.
We’d spent a very happy three months together after Loncey first moved to Dublin, but then they had to leave again for a further ninety days before they could return and do it all over again. I went and stayed with Loncey and their family as much as I could during the time they were back in Vegas but I’d just decided to start my agency – encouraged greatly by them – so I wanted to also spend a decent amount of time in Dublin to get that off the ground, not to mention how deeply I was falling in love with little Pattie who was changing so quickly, so delightfully. But the time apart did help both Loncey and I decide one thing: we didn’t want to do long-distance long-term. Which is how the topic of marriage came up in conversation, and ultimately never left.
Arabella drops my arm so she can put her hand on her hip. She gives me a once-over. “Which is why you’re stood in front of me wearing a bespoke ivory trouser suit by Ireland’s own Aoife Donnelly, which I know cost more than half a year of my rent.”
I toss my hair over my shoulder. “Regardless of the occasion, you know I like to dress to impress.”
Arabella shuffles closer again and finds my hand with hers. “Just drop it, Maeve. Admit to me that you are arse over tits in love with Loncey and that this is going to be the happiest day of your life.”
“I will admit that I’m arse over tits in love with Loncey, absolutely,” I say easily, “but I do not think this is going to be the happiest day of my life.”
