Chapter 2 #2
He was blessed beyond telling to have Nally for a ride-or-die friend.
As he sped through London, exercising every bit of restraint he had not to break a thousand traffic rules to get to the Odeon faster, he told himself that he would make certain to promote Nally and To Serve Him on all of his platforms. The red carpet would be a great way to bring Nally the attention that he’d always deserved.
Jude had been trying to convince Nally to up his social media game for ages. Maybe that would actually happen now.
He was lucky to find a garage to park his scooter in, and as soon as it was secured and paid for, he made his way up to Leicester Square with bubbling excitement.
Leicester Square was always crowded, but it had an extra vibrant feeling to it that night, and Jude recognized the media and entourages of big celebrities when he saw them.
But nothing prepared him for how good Nally looked when he finally spotted his friend around the corner from the start of the red carpet. Nally had always been attractive, but it hit Jude entirely differently than usual to see him decked out in a tailored suit with his hair combed back.
Nally smiled as soon as he spotted Jude, but almost at once, Jude sensed something a little off about that smile. It might have had something to do with the guy who had him all but cornered against the side of the building.
“There you are,” he called out, half to signal to Nally and half to let the guy, whoever he was, know that someone was watching. “You look absolutely stunning as usual,” he said, striding casually up to his friend.
He reached Nally and leaned in close, pretending to be French and kissing both his cheeks. He paused after kiss two and murmured, “This guy bothering you?”
Nally hummed and shook his head ever so slightly, but kept his smile in place. “If you’ll excuse me,” he told the man, who looked at Jude with narrowed eyes. “Apparently, I’m wanted on the red carpet now. How exciting.”
“Goodbye and enjoy the show,” Jude said to the man, waving as charmingly as he could. Once he and Nally had turned the corner, he asked, “Who was that?”
“Some guy named Andrew Quentin. He says he’s my biggest fan,” Nally answered with a wary look.
“Bollocks,” Jude snorted in return. “I’m your biggest fan.”
“No, no, I’m your biggest fan,” Nally said, relaxing and slipping his hands into his pockets.
“No, I’m your biggest fan,” Jude teased him, trying not to laugh.
The two of them dissolved into laughter together, then Nally stopped halfway down the pavement, grabbed Jude’s upper arms, and said, “I’m about to walk a red carpet! And not by accident.”
Jude was so proud for his friend he could have burst. “I always said you would make something of yourself someday,” he said, then reached up to straighten Nally’s badly-tied tie. “But, uff, you should have called me sooner. You, my friend, are not camera ready.”
“But I went to so much trouble,” Nally protested, tilting his chin up when Jude tapped it. “Ow!” He winced as Jude tore away the small plaster hiding a spot where he’d obviously cut himself shaving earlier.
“Why were you going to take that Sam person to this big event anyhow?” Jude said, licking his thumb then wiping away the remaining dried blood. “I’m the one you call when you have to be in public.”
“I thought things were going somewhere with Sam,” Nally said with a shrug, letting himself be molded and modeled by Jude. “They aren’t, by the way.”
“I could have told you that,” Jude said, reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket and taking out a small tube of concealer from among the supplies he’d stashed there.
“Sam was too much like Timothy. They’re the sort that’s good for a laugh, but you could never count on him for truly important things," he said as he dabbed Nally’s face with concealer, then blended it with his fingers.
It still hurt to think about Timothy and how a few weeks of mediocre dick had nearly trashed his friendship with Nally.
It also hurt to remember how much it had sucked to lose Tim as a friend, too.
He had actually liked Tim, which had made what happened infinitely worse than if it’d been any other break-up.
But that was in the past. He still had Nally, and he wasn’t ever going to take that for granted.
“You’re right, of course,” Nally said. “Dad even asked why I didn’t just bring you along tonight.”
“And why didn’t you?” Jude asked with a pretend scathing look.
Nally shrugged. “You’re my best friend, not some sort of rent-a-date.”
“I would absolutely be your rent-a-date,” Jude said, putting the concealer away and bringing out a kohl pencil. “Just don’t expect dessert at the end of dinner, if you know what I mean.”
“What?” Nally teased in return. “Is my pudding not good enough for you to take a bite of?” Before Jude could figure out how to banter back, or what to do with the too-warm feeling that kind of teasing from Nally gave him, Nally snapped, “No! No eyeliner. I can’t get away with wearing make-up the way you do. ”
“Nobody can get away with wearing make-up the way I do,” Jude said with a smirk, then clasped the side of Nally’s face with one hand and raised the pencil. “But yes, you need it.”
“No,” Nally pulled away.
“Yes,” Jude leaned into him.
Nally laughed and squirmed to get away. Jude kept after him, wrestling and eventually pressing him against the wall of the theater.
“You need eyeliner,” he said, laughing and acting like he would poke Nally in the eye with the pencil. “You’re about to be under who knows how many lights with flashes going off. You need definition.”
Nally whined as Jude pinned him to the wall and quickly outlined his eyes lightly with kohl. Jude caught a whiff of what was either soap or cologne, and for some insane reason, it sent his blood to all the wrong places.
“There,” he said, letting go at last and stepping back to observe Nally. “You look much better.”
In fact, Nally looked flushed and a little breathless.
Maybe they shouldn’t have joked around like that right before they would have to walk a red carpet.
Nally did look good, though. Amazingly good.
He just seemed to be getting more attractive the older the two of them got.
Or maybe Jude was just noticing it more now that… now that what?
Whatever. He’d just been noticing the way Nally looked more.
“Now your suit is all mussed. Let me fix it,” he said, offering Nally his hand and pulling him closer to one of the streetlights as the natural light faded.
It didn’t take long for Jude to brush Nally off and to straighten his look.
They’d been friends for so long that Nally’s excitement felt like his excitement, and the pride he felt in his friend’s appearance was as strong as what he felt for his own appearance when he filmed a particularly important video.
“There,” he said at last, stepping back to admire his handiwork. “That’ll do, pig, that’ll do.”
“Thanks, Babe,” Nally said with a wink.
A shrill whistle sounded from farther down the sidewalk, and when they both turned to look, Janice Hawthorne was waving at them.
“Come on, boys!” she shouted. “It’s time for Nally to make his big splash.”
“You ready for this?” Jude asked, throwing his arm around Nally’s shoulders and walking him up to the front of the building.
Nally laughed. “No,” he said. “I’m just a lowly composer. I’m not some Hollywood A-list celebrity. You know how much I hate attention, especially from crowds.”
“Good thing for you that I am a celebrity and I love attention, then,” Jude said.
“You’re an internet celebrity,” Nally laughed. “And hardly famous at all.”
“I can teach you how to shine, baby,” Jude grinned. “Just keep your head up and your shoulders squared, and if you feel a camera pointing at you, turn this side to face it.” He tapped Nally’s left cheek.
“Why that side?” Nally asked, touching his hand to his face.
“Because that’s the side that doesn’t have a razor cut on it, idiot,” Jude laughed.
Nally elbowed him, and Jude shoved him lightly in return. So what if they still looked like two kids playing when they did things like that. Nally made him happy, they were about to walk a red carpet, and nothing could dent the night ahead of them.
“Mr. Hawthorne, if we could have you stand right here,” some assistant coordinating the red carpet said, gesturing impatiently for Nally to step out into the overbright spotlights.
Nally turned to Jude, looking like he was holding his breath.
“You’ve got this,” Jude told him. “You’re about to be a star.”
Nally widened his eyes in a wary look for Jude, then turned and walked out onto the carpet in front of the backdrop with the film and production company logos.
Something wild and throbbing gripped Jude and wouldn’t let go as he watched one of the people he cared most about in the world make his debut on the world stage.
Nally had always been his, and as sweet as it was to see him getting the attention he deserved, it was just a bit bitter that he would have to share him with the world now.