I finally get a chance to talk to David once we’re pulling into the port, catching up with him as he walks around the now empty stage. All the gear had been packed away and everything borrowed from the ship had been returned to its rightful place. All the production equipment was waiting to be carted off the ship to be brought back to the studio.

He’s talking to Jake, who looks over and sees me standing there. Jake smiles and I wave at them both, giving them a moment. When they’re done talking, Jake jumps off the stage and walks over, clapping my palm in his. “Thanks so much for your hard work.”

“Thank you for the opportunity,” my career will take off now. The actor I worked with the first day already has a call into my studio to set up a time when we can meet and develop a personal style for him. I’d been brainstorming ideas with Alayah, right before David did his final address of thanks to the cast and crew.

“It was my pleasure, and David’s too,” he winks at me and I look between them. David is looking away, but I see the shy smile on his face. “It’s about time,” Jake whispers and I look back at him. He winks again and lets go of my hand, leaving me there to watch David.

So he finally came out to his friend. It’s a start and I’m proud of him. I jump up on the stage, ready to kiss him when the door to the theater bursts open and Aaron walks in speaking excitedly into the phone.

“Yes ma’am. Yes. I have them. Yep, in the pocket. Well, now they’re in a black bag but…Oh, you called the cops?” his face falls, then instantly brightens. “Keep them? Why thank you. That’s so kind of you.”

David looks at me and his eyebrow shoots up.

“All the world’s a stage,” I whisper, referring to Aaron’s many theatrics.

When Aaron ends the call, I tap my foot impatiently. “Well?”

“Well what?” he looks up at us both.

“How did you get the diamonds, Aaron?” I ask impatiently.

“You just heard me with one of my senior citizen clients. She gave them to me,” he folds his arms over his chest and dares me to challenge him.

“You just happened to liberate an old woman of her weighty stones?” I challenge back.

“She left them in her black purse which was in a coat she told me to take for dry cleaning. Of course, I didn’t realize they were hers when they fell out of the pocket,” he pulls a face into a mask of boyish innocence and I want to punch him or laugh at him. A crook with a conscience. He would never outright steal from anyone, but he would lower his already questionable ethics and not turn in a bag of diamonds he happened to find at the dry cleaners. Claiming he didn’t know who they belonged to so he could sell them and save his own mother from an ill fate.

“Aaron!” I say, exasperated. The only one here who might have something to say is David, but when I glance over his lips are pressed together so tight, I think he’ll bust a gut trying not to laugh.

“Hey, don’t Aaron me. She gave me permission to keep them and now I can sell them and make sure Mother is taken care of and for once give back to this wretched family!” he has the audacity to look affronted.

“Go away, Aaron,” I grunt.

He doesn’t need telling twice. He turns on his heel, whistling as David shakes his head.

“I don’t know how I ever confused the two of you,” he says.

“People do all the time. We have a few minor differences but other than that, pretty much the same.”

“Not even close,” he pulls me into a kiss and then leans back. “How did you duplicate the bag the diamonds were in?”

I laugh. “The bag the lube was in was almost identical to the bag the diamonds were in. Leave it to my brother to buy a knockoff where I buy the real thing, then have a thief who should know quality when he sees it confuse the two.”

“To be fair to the thief, he was under duress with you chasing him like a madman last night.”

I laugh again and continue to rock lightly in David’s arms.

“Well, he’s going to need the lube for how much it’s going to chafe when he sees he made off with only forty-five dollars’ worth of men’s toiletries.”

David tosses his head back and laughs so hard it’s infectious. When he finally calms down, I look him dead in the eye.

“So I take it you told Jake?”

“Told him what?” David asks, still chuckling.

“That you’re gay,” I wait to see how he reacts.

He nods slowly. “Yes, I did tell him. He said he’s known for a while.”

“I see.”

“I also told him that I value our friendship, and therefore am not interested in him, because I am more interested in investing in the relationship that’s been developing over the last few days, despite how tumultuous it’s been.”

I freeze and stare at him.

He looks me in the eye and smiles.

I kiss him hard and fast.

When I’m done, he asks, “I take it that means you’re okay with me rejecting Jake and trying to work things out with you to see where it goes?”

“I’m more than okay with it, I’m ecstatic!”

I kiss him again with all the joy that accompanies the knowledge that I’ll be exploring this new relationship, and finally have the chance to develop something long-term with someone I’ve come to care deeply about. Maybe there’s merit to happily-ever-afters, after all? There must be. I kiss him again and he doesn’t pull away when Alayah walks in, trying to corner me to talk about everything that’s been going on. She slowly backs out of the theater, and David chuckles into my mouth before kissing me back.

The End.