Chapter 14 #3
Sage smiled at him and Luka's reservations about her started to fall away.
She continued, “I love to take care of him. He spends all his time fretting about his job and his mates and forgets to love on himself. Oh, hold on.” She left to take someone's order but passed the drink off to one of her employees so she and Luka could keep chatting.
“It’s nice that you’re around for him to spoil since he loves doing that,” she continued, “but don’t let him forget to turn that attention on himself too, sometimes.
If he goes unchecked, he’ll live his whole life serving others and one day he’ll be old and tired and realize he didn’t stop to enjoy any of it. ”
“I think he enjoys serving and helping, though,” Luka said.
Sage shrugged. “Yeah, that is extremely true. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve me bringing him coffee for his flat or buying him five cheeseburgers and a milkshake when he gets back from the road.”
Luka’s eyes widened. “I can’t picture them eating that much at once.”
“Oh, darling. They starve him.”
Luka’s gut dropped. “What?”
“Okay, not literally. But I don’t know, I got a bone to pick with his managers.
They do it to all the boys, but Reno gets it the worst because he’s kind of like, their golden goose, or whatever.
Sure, Reno loves his job, he loves doing all his extra stuff too, like the modeling and meet and greets.
But, if he had it his way he’d eat pancakes every morning and only go to dance classes and never do any other workouts and let himself get so squishy.
They just want to make music, the rest they just happen to be extremely good at. ”
Luka could feel his hands shaking. “Has he?" he started to ask, then wasn’t sure if he should. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?” Sage tilted her head in the exact same way Reno did, and Luka wondered who’d caught the habit from whom. “You’ve not done anything wrong.”
“I know.” Luka stirred his coffee and decided that if Sage was being this open with him, he could return the favor. “Has he played violin for you before?”
“It’s jaw-dropping and miserable, isn’t it?”
“I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Sage nodded. “I remember the first time well. First off, that boy has no business being that good. Having access to a concert-level violinist is not something I saw myself having when I was younger, but I don’t think anyone expects the way Reno forces himself into their lives.”
“I know that feeling.”
Sage gave him a fond smile, then continued, “Second—wait. Has he talked to you about his dad?”
“Yeah.” Luka frowned, remembering the stories Reno told him yesterday while they sat in the grass together. “He was fifteen, right?”
“Yes. So, second, Reno’s dad really wanted him to go to school for the violin.
His mom too, of course. She still bothers him all the time to join the symphony but he won’t, even though his old bandmate, Sato Daisuke did.
After his dad died, it got too personal to play in front of people, said his heart hurt too much and while it was good to feel that way while playing the violin, to remember his dad in that way—he didn’t want anyone else to see him like that. ”
“You sure you should be telling me this?”
“He’ll forgive me. He’s crazy about you.” Sage waved him off. “Did they play Sibelius for you?”
“I don’t know. They mostly played his own stuff.”
Sage’s eyes widened. “He what?”
“Um…” Luka wondered if he’d misstepped. “He played his own compositions. Mostly transposed Voltage stuff, but some other things I didn’t recognize, other than sounding like something he’d write.”
“I think I need to sit down.” Sage gripped the bar and leaned back, hanging her head down between her arms. She whipped back up and said, “Do you have any idea how romantic that is?”
“Yeah.” Luka could feel himself blushing and his heart trembling in his chest. “I understand even more now.”
Sage closed her eyes, shaking her head. “I give it six months and he’ll propose to you.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Love, no one but Zana knows that man better than me, and that’s only because I don’t fuck him.” Sage took in a long breath before mumbling, “I should ask, though.”
“Ask what?”
Sage let out a laugh. “If I can fuck him. Now that Reno’s got you, Zana’s fair game, right?”
“Jesus Christ," Luka swore, and Sage burst out laughing.
“What! It’s fair. At least Zana knows I’m not a crazy stalker and I’m a ton of fun. Not sure if he fools around with girls though, or if that's reserved just for men.” She trailed off before her eyes shot up and out the window. Her smile dropped. “Hold on.”
She pulled out her phone and found a contact before dialing.
“Cane. Hey, we got some catty-corner to the shop.” She was quiet for a moment before making an affirmative noise. “Yup, no problem.” She hung up and set her phone on the counter with a sigh. “You got paparazzi on your tail.”
Luka looked out the window just in time to see the sun reflect off a lens.
“Part of it, babe. I got lucky; I was in with Reno before he got famous, so by the time he was in this position, I was boring news. I can’t imagine what it would be like right now if I were trying to get to know him, let alone date. Oh gosh, I’m sorry. That was callous of me to say.”
“No.” Luka was still watching the man as he flipped through photos on the camera’s viewfinder, seemingly oblivious to how obvious he was. “It’s my choice to deal with it to be with him.”
“That’s a relief to hear," Sage said, and Luka watched as two men in black suits got out of a car and crowded the photographer, ushering him away with very little scuffle. “I’d stay offline for a while, regardless.”
“I do. Did something happen, though?”
She clicked on her phone and went through a few things before pulling up a photo and sliding it so Luka could see.
On the screen was a slightly blurry photo of Luka and Reno outside of the pub on their date the other night.
The image appeared to have been taken with a long lens, and the quality wasn’t the highest because of the dark lighting.
But if anyone knew Luka or was familiar with his face, they would be able to tell it was him with Reno’s hand pressed against his cheek.
“The post is already deleted. This is just a screenshot I took. I keep tabs on this shit for Reno and report it to Kandi. She cuts me into the band’s Christmas bonus for it— which was unexpected, but very sweet.
I’m unofficially employed to watch out for him online, and the Christmas bonus is more than half my rent for a year.
I’d do it for free, but I’m glad I don’t have to because it’s honestly real nasty work having to see what people online are saying about my best friend. ”
Nothing about that felt good to Luka. “I don’t know how you handle that.” Didn’t it drive her insane?
“It’s better I do it than him. You didn’t see it when he had his first few incidents after the breakup.
His ex really came after him, slandering him online, defamation, harassment, stalking them; it was nasty.
I couldn’t just sit by while it happened.
Kandi and I had to work overtime to get things removed and place protections so she’d stop.
I don’t think the cunt ever forgave Reno for leaving when she told them to. Jealous bitch.”
“That sounds horrifying.” Luka was grateful that, for as bad as his own exes had been, at least when they broke up, they’d left Luka alone. “No wonder you drilled me the other night.”
“Yup.” Sage gave him a smile that looked almost villainous. “I personally got the evil cunt to back down. Don’t hurt him. I’ll come after you, too. I’ll ruin your fucking life. You want a pastry to go?”
“Yeah.” Luka reeled from the easy switch in Sage’s demeanor as she offered him food. “But, if we don’t work out, just know I’ll leave him alone. I’m not the kind of person to tell someone’s secrets. I’ll disappear and none of you will have to worry about me ever again.”
Sage hummed thoughtfully. “Pain au chocolat7?”
“Oui, merci8," Luka replied, and Sage looked thrilled.
“I see why Reno likes you so much. You catch on fast.” She put the pastry in the bag and handed it over. “Go enjoy the day, the weather is good. Oh, give me your number too.”
Luka handed his phone over and let Sage enter her number into WhatsApp. He took it back and grabbed his coffee from the counter before saying bye, with a promise to text her if he got bored when Reno was at work.
Peering at the sidewalk where the paparazzi had been, Luka steadied himself before leaving the safety of indoors and facing the world outside. He pulled his hood over his head, decided that it didn’t matter what was posted of him online, and went back to his rental flat to work on art for a while.
The line to get into the club in the heart of SoHo was not very long, and Luka was thankful to be inside and surrounded by people faster than he expected.
The club on Compton Street was crowded—not to the point of not being able to move from one wall to the other, but still just packed enough that Luka had to squeeze himself between people to get a spot on the dance floor.
The DJ was playing trendy music and the bass thumped through the floor.
Luka could only imagine how insane it would get in a few weeks once Pride events started.
London was still riding a high, buzzing from the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.K.
only the year before and Luka spotted more rings on fingers than he could ever remember seeing in a room full of queer people.
He made his way off the dance floor and ordered a drink, buzzing with energy.
He’d always wanted to go to clubs like this, big with lights flashing over the dance floor and music loud enough to spill out onto the streets.
The DJ promised a drag show later, and everyone cheered when they announced a queen’s name.
And even though Luka had no idea who they were, he cheered in support, too.