People gather round me. There is talk, of parties, celebration, a cast party tonight, even though the show doesn’t wrap for two more weeks and to celebrate now is technically bad luck. But it seems like everyone has given up on luck tonight. We make our own.
Petra comes backstage, stone-faced and not saying a word. She walks right past me. Goes straight to Linus.
I leave the backstage and go out the gate that serves as a stage door. Max is at my side, jumping up and down like an exuberant puppy. “So was Marina a decent kisser?” she asks me.
“I’m sure she was glad not to be kissing Jeroen,” Vincent says, and I laugh.
Outside, I scan the area for my friends. I’m not quite sure who will be here. And then I hear her call my name.
“Willem!” she says again.
It’s Kate, charging toward me, a blur of gold and red. My heart seems to expand as she leaps into my arms and we spin around.
“You did it. You did it. You did it!” she murmurs in my ear.
“I did it. I did it. I did it.” I repeat, laughing with joy and relief and awe at the direction this day has taken.
Someone taps me on the shoulder. “You dropped something.”
“Oh, right. Your flowers,” Kate says, leaning over to pick up a bouquet of sunflowers. “For your stunning debut.”
I take the flowers.
“How do you feel?” she asks.
I have no answer, no words. I just feel full. I try to explain it but then Kate interrupts: “Like you just had the best sex in the world?” And I laugh. Yeah, something like that. I take her hand and kiss it. She twines an arm around my waist.
“Ready to meet your adoring public?” she asks.
I’m not. Right now, I just want to savor this. With the person who helped make it happen. Leading her by the hand, I take us over to a quiet bench under a nearby gazebo and attempt in some way to articulate what just happened.
“How did that happen?” is all I can think to ask.
She holds my hands in hers. “Do you really need to ask that?”
“I think I do. It felt like something otherworldly.”
“Oh, no,” she says, laughing. “I believe in the muse and all, but don’t go attributing that performance to one of your accidents. It was all you up there.”
It was. And it wasn’t. Because I wasn’t alone up there.
We sit there for a little while longer. I feel my whole body buzzing, humming. This night is perfect.
“I think your groupies are waiting,” Kate says after a while, gesturing behind me. I turn around and there are Broodje, Henk, W, Lien, and a few other people, watching us curiously. I take Kate by the hand and introduce them to the boys.
“You’re coming to our party, aren’t you?” Broodje asks.
“Our party?” I ask.
Broodje manages to look a tiny bit sheepish. “It’s hard to un-throw a party at short notice.”
“Especially since he has now invited the cast, and about half the audience,” Henk says.
“That’s not true!” Broodje says. “Not half. Just a couple of Canadians.”
I roll my eyes and laugh. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Lien laughs and takes my hand. “I’m going to say goodnight. One of us should be coherent tomorrow. It’s moving day.” She kisses W. Then me. “Well done, Willem.”