Spiral Bound Journal

Holiday Gossips

A long day of shooting and socializing was winding down, which meant for HarHar that it was time to find a good watering hole. To his surprise, Astride decided to tag along. While they could have gone to the hotel's bar, they ended up at a British-style pub along the transit-only street in the middle of the downtown area. Even with Thanksgiving still a week and a half away, the indoor shrubs already glowed from the strings of lights draped along the branches. The bar also sported garland and ribbon.

They split an order of poutine and sipped beers. They glanced up at the screens airing rebroadcasts of Premier League games but paid little attention. After some time spent in comfortable silence, HarHar cleared his throat.

"I didn't want to say anything earlier, but if I don't I'm going to lose it," he said.

Astride gave him a confused glance. "What do you mean?"

"Do you think Morgan and Dana are boning?"

"Uh, I hadn't really thought about it. Why do you ask?"

HarHar took a swig before answering. "Toward the end of the shoot when the four of us got to take a break, I overheard Morgan say 'Poor little meep meep' and about going over to Dana. I was absolutely gobsmacked because I've never heard anyone call Dana anything like that."

"Well, she was making a sound that resembled meeping," Astride told him.

"Really? When was that? And why?"

"She was starting to get a migraine, probably from all the balance work she had to do when getting mock yanked by the cane."

"Yeah, that was probably my least favorite part of the choreography."

"Meanwhile, it's all I really had to do."

"Touché."

"Anyway, I know she has mentioned balance problems, hence why she didn't get completely plastered at the VidCon afterparty last year."

"Good point," HarHar said. "So she was actually meeping due to a headache?"

"Yeah. I ended up finding her medication for that, which is why she managed to pull it together long enough to finish the shoot with those last couple frames of holding the Christmas décor."

"She's mentioned getting occasional migraines, but it seems like this one might have caught her off guard. I have this feeling that Morgan anticipated it, though."

"The 'Poor little meep meep' comment?"

"Yeah. Dana isn't exactly known for having nicknames, so hearing Morgan refer to her by any sort of nickname is a bit of a giveaway. And then Gus ended up telling me about Morgan's reaction to her medical emergency in Paris."

Astride paused in reaching for some more poutine. "Medical emergency?"

"Her adrenal crisis."

"Well, that explains all the other items I found in her pouch. I found it surprising that she would carry around a needle and syringe. She never struck me as the drug taking type even if she can legally smoke weed here. Has she smoked weed?"

HarHar shook his head. "Not that I know about, anyway, although I know she bought some because she could. Maybe she'd put it into blondies or something. I don't know."

"Ah. Getting back to Gus telling Morgan about what happened in Paris, how did Morgan react to Gus filling her in on the details?"

"Well," HarHar began, "Morgan was first shocked, but after he got over that Gus said Morgan still seemed a bit quiet. Gus noticed that Morgan would talk to Fiona (Gus' wife) more than Gus himself."

"When did this happen?"

"At the creator cocktail hour last year."

"Ah, yes, when I somehow got talked into singing some Adele song for the karaoke hour we cooked up."

"Boy, that was a moment for the ages."

"I still remember seeing one of the bartenders cover his ears."

HarHar snorted. "So yeah, while you were doing that Morgan was learning more about Dana's medical history while trying not to gut Gus like a fish."

"Sounds like Gus suspects something."

"Well, maybe. I think we can all agree that Morgan has had the hots for Dana from the getgo. Did I ever tell you about what happened after we all saw the eclipse?"

Astride shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Well, our group along with Dana and her husband found this cafe place where there was enough room for all of us. We sat around a bit, snacking and sipping on various beverages. Dana ended up sitting between her husband and Morgan, and I remember that Morgan spent half the time trying to just talk to her and not the whole group. He was also not super talkative with her husband-Quinn."

"Well, it seems like Morgan and Quinn get along a bit better now, as Quinn brought over the plush snowman Dana used in the shoot."

"True, but that's because Morgan's been up here a few times over the last couple years. Apparently the Person of the Year photos were shot at the same studios we were in for our shoot today."

"Oh, interesting."

"So he's gotten to know Quinn more, but again, I feel like Dana had a hand there."

"That makes sense," Astride replied with a shrug. "She knows them both far better and can mediate when needed."

"Maybe. I don't know. I just feel like Morgan's super focused on Dana and that she might be starting to reciprocate. Whatever their deal may be, I know it got Kyrie all upset."

"Okay, I could almost see them acting like they're dating in front of Kyrie just so she'd leave Morgan alone. After all, they did leave the afterparty early and ended up hanging out in Lincoln Park the next day while also not attending brunch with the rest of us."

"Oh my god, Kyrie was mad as hell about that. I don't know what made her think I could drag those two out of the hotel and over to brunch. I don't know which one of them would have punched me in the balls first."

"Dana."

"Yeah, you're right about that one."

The two men toasted their beers and swigged. HarHar then took a moment to grab some more poutine, noticing that it was about three quarters demolished. A server stopped by, and they both ordered another round.

"If this was just about Morgan being interested in Dana, I'd say you have an airtight case," Astride remarked after a bit. "I think for me, Dana is the bigger question mark here. Is there something that you think she has said or done that points to them dating?"

HarHar stared off in thought for a bit. He then dug his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it. After a few moments of tabbing around, he found something and passed his phone over to Astride.

"Before we got called back to the set," HarHar said, "I spotted this. What do you make of it?"

Astride accepted the phone and looked at the screen. His eyebrows floated up even as he schooled the rest of his face into blankness. After a while, he lowered the phone at looked at his friend.

"Those two better hope no other cameras and drones were nearby," Astride declared. "Otherwise it's game over."