Oh, he loved when she called him that. It meant she was feelingsaucy, and saucy was a million times better than anxious.
Since talking about the con seemed to relax her, he would ask as many questions as necessary. “What about the session with Summer? How do you feel about that?”
Only days ago, the moderator for Summer’s Q&A session had unexpectedly dropped out. The con’s organizers, obviously aware of both April’s love for Lavinia and her current online notoriety as his girlfriend, had promptly invited her to moderate the session instead. After some thought, she’d agreed.
Marcus had already introduced the two women via a quick FaceTime chat to smooth over any potential awkwardness. Afterward, Summer had sent him a text.Not that you needed my approval, but I like her. She seems confident, too, which will help. But take care of her during that con, Marcus. It’s hard on all of us, but I don’t think you can understand what it’s like to be a woman in the spotlight. Especially a woman who’s not used to it, and *especially* a woman who might not be the sort of girlfriend the press and public expect you to have.
It was kind and thoughtful and totally, one hundred percent Summer. Which was why, when Ron and R.J. had fucked over Lavinia and Aeneas in the final season, Marcus had grieved not just for his own character’s arc but also for his devastated colleague and friend.
Because of how closely they’d worked together over the years, she and Carah were probably the two cast members who saw him most clearly, but neither woman had ever betrayed that knowledge to the press. Not a single time.
Maybe he and all three of his favorite women could have dinnertogether during the convention. Maybe, in their company, with their guidance, his path forward in his career would be clearer.
Their advice couldn’t be worse than Alex’s suggested hair care products and slogans, after all.Try Caster for hairstyles that last-er!Or, for extra-hold hair spray:Hairstyle had a Rupp night? Let Marcus hold you!
“I’ll be fine moderating. I don’t mind public speaking.” April raised a shoulder. “I should be receiving Summer’s bio and the questions sometime this week, so I can familiarize myself with what I’ll need to say ahead of time.”
He forced himself to ask the next obvious question. “When are you seeing your online friends? Have you set a time?”
Last week, while April was at work, he’d logged on to the Lavineas server in invisible mode and spotted her announcement from the night before. At long last, Unapologetic Lavinia Stan had told everyone she was also the Lavinia fan dating Marcus, and he was honestly surprised the entire internet contained enough bandwidth for all the squeeing that had occurred.
This means you’re going to the con, right? RIGHT???TopMeAeneas had asked, once the furor had somewhat subsided.WE NEED TO GET TOGETHER! OMG, WE HAVE TO! LAVINEAS POWERS, ACTIVATE!
Millions of crying-face and heart-eyes emojis later, arrangements had been made.
But he wasn’t supposed to know about those plans, at least not in detail. Even though he did, and even though he would have given last year’s paycheck fromGatesto join them as Book!AeneasWouldNever.
He was still writing, and Alex was still beta-reading the stories, and Marcus was still posting them under his new pen name, AeneasLovesLavinia. So far, though, they hadn’t received muchtraction, which was understandable but disheartening. And it was inexpressibly lonely to loiter outside the community he’d helped found, looking in.
April was worth it, though. A million times over.
“Sunday morning, we’re all meeting for breakfast. I may visit the vendors with TopMeAeneas afterward, unless one of the panels looks particularly enticing.” Flipping on her turn signal, April exited the highway and decelerated down the ramp. “We’re almost there now. Five more minutes.”
Her fingers weren’t drumming against the steering wheel anymore. Instead, they were gripping the leather so tightly, her knuckles had turned white and knobby.
Somehow, the sudden silence was even worse than that anxious chatter. Her lips were a thin, pinched line, her cheeks pale, her chin truculent and upturned.
Unexpected rage licked a trail of fire up his spine.
He wasn’t going to make April talk about a subject that obviously upset her, but he could act on her distress anyway.
Her father wasn’t getting anywhere near her. Marcus would make fucking sure of that.
He hoped Brent Whittier had a stick or a chew toy available, because the Well-Groomed Golden Retriever had come toplay.
Lavineas Server
Thread:So, FYI, I’m That Woman
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan:And by that, I mean: On Twitter, I use the handle @Lavineas5Ever. Which, as you may recall, is also the handle used by the fan Marcus Caster-Rupp asked out on a date. Which makes sense, since I’m that fan.
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan:Yes, he’s wonderful and makes me very happy, and no, I can’t tell you much more than that. But I wanted you to know. So now you do!
TopMeAeneas:OH MY SWEET JESUS!!!
LavineasOTP:Holy shit
LavineasOTP:Hooooooly shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit
