Chapter 16 #2
He’s totally starstruck, and I can’t blame him. This guy is his Anne Hathaway, his Joey King, his Zoey Deutch.
Lucky for Jake, I’m not felled by quite the same affliction, and hook my arm firmly through his before raising my other hand in a wave to call, “Max! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” I pull us through the crowd toward Max. And then, to the actor, I add, “Hi, hello.”
When he turns to look at me, my body threatens to turn to jelly simply from the full force of his blatant charisma and the sudden realization smacking me in the face that a TV star is two feet away from me, looking at me, saying hello.
He grins at us, then says to Max, “Friends of yours, Moonwalker?”
“Oh my God, I’m dead, I’ve died,” Jake whispers to me.
Max nods, but his eyes linger a moment on me. I expect some snarky remark from him about how I, too, was meant to be in full cosplay, but he just says, “This is Cerys, she’s very new to the fandom—”
“Oh, nice! How’re you finding it? I’d ask your favorite character, but obviously I know the answer’s going to be me!” Daxys winks, laughing, and it’s a jolly sort of laugh that makes him sound more like Father Christmas than a professional warrior faerie. “You’re enjoying the show, though?”
“Absolutely! Yes! I love it!”
As if I’d dare say anything but when face to face with one of the leads like this, but I did genuinely enjoy it. I must overdo it, though, because Max raises an eyebrow at me.
He interjects, “And this is my friend Jake. He was meant to come dressed as you, actually, but had a wing malfunction.”
“Hey,” jokes the actor, “been there! Very on-brand-for-Daxys of you.”
Jake goes to say something, but instead it comes out as a high-pitched warble. I say for him, “He’s a huge fan. We were at the Worlds Beyond con last month, too.” Look at me, using the lingo, calling it a “con”!
He snaps his fingers, shaking his hand at Jake as he nods.
“Yes! Dude, I remember you. You had that sick original poster that I signed. I was just saying to your friend here that I remembered him. One of the best Moonwalker looks I’ve seen on the circuit.
The bandolier looked fresh off the set—even got the stitch marks from where Grayson repairs it after he gets stabbed. ”
He claps Max on the shoulder with another broad grin, and Max mumbles, shrugging as if it’s no big deal.
Judging by the reaction from the little crowd around us, it’s a very big deal.
A woman in a lanyard and a black T-shirt slips forward as if from nowhere, and despite being all of five foot nothing, murmurs quietly in the actor’s ear and he nods, expression serious, before turning to all of us.
“Sorry, everyone, that’s my cue to get going.
I’m over on the signing tables now if you want to come by and get a photo or an autograph, and we can chat a little more.
But…” He grits his teeth, bounces from one foot to the other, and sighs before saying, “Ah, I’m not strictly allowed to do this, but let’s grab a group selfie, yeah?
I’ll put it on my socials later for you guys to find.
Okay, everyone get in. Moonwalker Max, get in here! Come on, guys, we all ready?”
He crouches at an odd angle to get all of us in the shot, his arm slung around Max’s shoulder still, and twenty or so of the rest of us grinning behind them. Jake’s face presses close to mine as he squashes in, and I feel a fizz of warmth to experience his joy secondhand.
I’m not worried about anyone I know seeing this photo; they’d have to be an OWAR fan themselves for it to show up on their feeds at all.
The actor tells us all goodbye, and most of the group disperses to follow him to his signing table, chattering loudly. Jake clings to me with sweating palms and shallow breaths as a few stragglers chat with Max.
“This is the best day ever,” he whispers, almost to himself, then gives me a quick, fierce hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You’re the best. Thanks, Cerys. I owe you one!”
My whole face turns hot, the place where his lips pressed into my cheekbone for that too-brief moment sparking like he’s ignited a whole host of fireworks beneath my skin, and I’m breathless, so taken aback I can’t react—can’t even turn toward him and take his hand, keep him close, hope for a real kiss.
He’s never done that before! He’s a hugger, but that kind of affection, a kiss on the cheek…that’s wildly out of character for Jake.
It has to mean something, doesn’t it? All my attempts at flirting earlier must have paid off, hints he’s finally, finally picked up on, to make a little move of his own!
Jake, luckily, is too caught up in the adrenaline of everything that just happened to notice my internal screaming.
The others finally split off, leaving just me, Jake, and Max.
“Holy shit,” Jake says again. He’s shaking, and holds his hands out to demonstrate before raking them through his hair.
Then, all at once, he blinks and surges forward to grab Max tightly by the pauldrons on his shoulders, standing close as he says, “Brayden Brown knows who I am. He knows who you are. He knows your name. Holy shit! Did that really just happen? How did you even get talking to him?”
“I—I didn’t, I just—it sort of…”
Now, suddenly, Max is flustered. The aloof demeanor has vanished and his face is almost ashen, mouth slack and eyes tracking back and forth without really seeing anything. I’m so stunned that all I can do is gawp at him.
I’d never have guessed he was just playing it cool in front of Daxys. I thought he was just being…Max.
This show of such raw emotion is so unlike him, my jaw actually drops to see it.
“What happened?” I ask. Somehow, I don’t think Max—a die-hard fan and beyond starstruck beneath the surface—just approached the actor out of nowhere.
He rubs his jaw, not looking at me as he answers—although this time he’s not really looking at Jake, either, so I don’t take it personally for once.
“I really don’t know. I just got talking to a couple of people, some OWAR fans who wanted to grab a photo because of my cosplay, and then he just walks up out of nowhere…
I guess there’s a greenroom or something nearby.
He came up to us—to me. He said he remembered me from the Worlds Beyond con and had meant to say hi because he liked my costume, thought it was impressive.
And then all these other people started gathering around and… I think I blacked out.”
Then he looks at Jake, a disbelieving laugh on his lips, and he grabs Jake by the shoulders, too, both of them tangled up and foreheads close.
“Brayden effing Brown knows who we are!”
I watch them both freak out, and I can’t pinpoint what exactly causes the shift, but this time Jake’s excitement isn’t infectious.
It’s like someone dropped a curtain between us, and I’m on the sidelines watching it happen, not part of it anymore.
It leaves me deflated, robbed of my own joy at Jake finally making a move to kiss me on the cheek, and how good our day together was.
My eyes shift from Jake, chattering breathlessly and a mile a minute, to Max as Jake recounts every moment of his interaction with Brayden Brown and his shock at us finding Max in the middle of it all.
The culprit. The interloper.
The reason Jake and I have had so many almost-moments and near kisses lately that have led to nothing at all. Because he’s always there.
I have to find a way to get rid of him, before I lose my chance with Jake for good.