Chapter 31 - Park Run, Fun? #2
Callum didn’t really understand why Julian was so upset by this, but knew it wasn’t the moment to question.
“Julian, listen to me, please.” He paused.
“I seriously don’t care what they print.
If you’re not ashamed of who you are, I’m not.
If you’re not bothered, I’m not. I have no reputation to be tarnished, but you do.
Can this hurt you and the business in any way? ” That was more Callum’s concern.
Julian was silent for a moment. “I don’t think so, but my PR people are here working out various scenarios and damage limitation.” He paused again. “I’ve never hidden my sexuality; I’ve just always been a private person. I’ve nothing to hide, never have had.”
“Well then, I think it’ll be ok.” Callum offered optimistically.
“Hang on a second, Cal,” Julian said. “I need to answer this; I’ll just put you on hold a sec. Don’t hang up.” The line went silent.
Callum thought about this. He really couldn’t see the issue and how it could affect him in any way.
He had been out since he was 17 years old.
He was an open book, and he had no skeletons in his closet.
He was more worried about how this could damage Julian.
His empire seemed pretty solid. Surely something like this couldn’t cause it to come tumbling down?
“Hey Cal,” Julian was back, “can I send Ben to get you? I need you here. Is that ok?”
“Yes, of course, no problem,” Callum confirmed. He’d checked his schedule and had no personal bookings.
“Ben’s on his way, see you soon,” and with that, Julian ended the call. This was clearly more serious than Callum first thought.
Ben arrived, and he was soon at the business centre under the penthouse, where Julian gave him a huge hug and kiss. “Cal, I am so sorry about this; it’s just something I really never expected,” his face was a mask of concern.
“It’s ok, it honestly is. Neither of us was thinking. I guess it was when we were chilling near the finish line?” Callum was thinking back to the grassy knoll in the park.
“Hold that thought and come in here,” Julian said, escorting him into the large boardroom where a whole team of people Callum had never seen before were set up with whiteboards, laptops, TV screens, and papers.
“This is Agatta, my publicist, and this is her team from Sonic-K who manage my comms, PR, and shitty situations like this.
Agatta was beautiful. Blonde tresses, perfectly styled, slim, dressed for business, in a dark grey striped suit and white blouse. She stood and reached for Callum, shaking his hand.
“Don’t worry, Callum, we will deal with this as best we can, but we need your help first,” she said. My help thought Callum. What can she possibly need from me?
“Sit, please.” She gestured to the seat at the head of the table. Shouldn’t that be where Julian sits, wondered Callum, but sat as instructed.
“I need you to think back to yesterday, and I need you to describe everything you remember about the end of the race, and what you and Julian did in the park. I need details, and I mean everything.” She had a look on her face that meant business. Callum liked her immediately.
Julian sat beside him.
Callum started, giving details of all he could remember about them finishing the race and crossing the finish line.
“Did you embrace at that point, or kiss?” Agatta asked.
Callum looked at Julian, trying to remember. “No, I’m fairly certain we didn’t.” Callum racked his brains. “No, we didn’t, because if you remember, that woman dropped her medal and you picked it up for her.”
“Oh yes, he’s right, I’d forgotten all about that,” Julian verified. “I bent down to pick it up for her, and we got separated for a moment, and you…”
Callum took over, “I waited at the water table with a bottle for each of us.”
Julian nodded, “Yes, that’s right, so we did nothing at the finish line.”
“OK, got it,” said Agatta. Callum was intrigued to see her team was making notes of everything said, and one guy was creating a timeline on the whiteboard.
“What time did you finish the race?” Agatta asked.
“I can tell you exactly,” Callum said, pulling his phone out. “I took a picture as we crossed the finish line.” He scrolled back, past all the architecture photos. “It was 11:21 am.”
They continued, describing in detail as much as they could remember from the finish line to the medal to the water table, to taking their shirts off and eventually lying on the grass.
Agatta was particularly interested in who took their shirt off first, whether there was any touching. When they got to the bit where Julian was on his back, Callum sitting next to him, Agatta suddenly got very excited.
“This is it; this is what they've got, I bet.. Details, guys, I need every juicy detail, please; don’t leave anything out, and I mean it. I need to know any kissing and touching, every little detail. If a drop of sweat fell from your beautiful forehead, Callum, I need you to tell me.”
He laughed; she was epic!
Callum recounted that Julian was on his back, lying on his shirt as a pillow, resting in the sun. He took the photo with the light on Julian’s face.
“How did you look at him after you took that picture, Callum?”
“I, I just looked at him, I guess.”
“But how, Callum, how? What were you thinking and feeling in that moment?”
“I was thinking how beautiful he was, and….. “ Callum closed his eyes, drifting back to that moment, trying to remember the photo and the image in his mind’s eye.
“The sun was shining. It was warm, and beams of light were dancing across his face. The sun was dappled; yes, that’s probably the best word to describe it.
Everything was a lovely golden colour. It was playing on Julian’s cheeks, and I just looked at him in that moment.
He was perfectly relaxed, his face open, and the scene was so beautiful; I just wanted to capture it and remember it. ” He stopped and opened his eyes.
All eyes in the room were on him. No one was typing; they were all lost in the vivid moment of tenderness Callum had just beautifully described.
“Go on, Callum, go on,” she implored, “what did you feel in that precise moment?”
Callum looked to Julian, who nodded, smiling, as if to say, go ahead, say it. This was the permission Callum needed to know it was okay to be really honest.
He took a breath. “Just how much I love him, I guess.”
“Yes, yes, now I understand,” she said. “This is what caught the photographer’s attention, I bet you. You can’t hide love, and I hate to say it, but I bet it’s that which caught his eye. Well, that and the fact that two huge muscly men were half-naked and kissing in Central Park.”
“I can show you the picture I took,” Callum realised, finding it on his iPhone and handing it to Agatta.
“Excellent,” she said, looking intently at the photo, adding, “wow, that really is a stunning photo.” She handed Callum’s phone to one of the assistants, who typed fast on it, and within seconds the picture filled the presentation screen at the side of the room.
Blown up large, Callum was even more proud of it.
“That moment, that’s what caught the attention; I’ll stake my career on it, but they said there were several photos. What happened next, continue please?” Agatta was still curious, wanting more.
Callum then described how he’d touched Julian’s cheek.
Agatta pointed at one of the women, who noted this.
He described how Julian took the phone and looked at the photo.
Their discussion about his old camera, and then Julian had pulled him down on top of him.
At this point, he suddenly felt shy in front of a room full of people, and his voice went quieter.
He continued, though. He’d kissed Julian at first. Thinking inside his head, oh God, why did I do that?
He then described how he’d tried to pull away.
At this point, Julian took over: “I rolled him over and straddled him, pinning his arms to the ground.” He sighed, waiting for the inevitable from Agatta.
“Julian, seriously! Have you not remembered any of my training?” She wasn’t amused. “Go on, please.”
“I kissed him several times, I did some muscle poses, and I had an erection as well. Make sure one of you writes that down, for fucks sake.” Julian was annoyed now, at himself mostly, but also at having to tell this story to a room full of people he barely knew.
“Well,” Agatta drawled, “let’s just hope they didn’t capture that on film, otherwise we are in serious trouble!” She paused, frowning hard at Julian. “Go on.”
“After that we got up, put our shirts on and left the park. We walked back here, but apart from getting food at a deli, I don’t think anything else happened?” He looked at Callum. “Cal, can you think of anything else?”
“No, that was it.”
“OK,” Agatta said in a clipped tone. “My team and I need some time to discuss this.” She got up and came over to Callum. She stood him up and took both his hands in hers.
“Well done, Callum.” She was genuine, her eyes locked on his.
“You’ve not had the PR training Julian has, and I know it’s hard to understand how such a beautiful moment can somehow feel sullied when it’s been violated by some pap.
bastard with a zoom lens. You lock those happy memories in, please, no matter what they print. ”
She drew him close to her and hugged him.
“We will deal with this, ok. It’s just what we do.” She stood back and winked at him as she added, “I might just have to text my good friend J-Lo and ask her to fall out of a limo tonight. Give them something else to talk about, hey?!”
With that, she moved over to her team, who were all excitedly chatting, comparing notes and pointing at the picture of Julian on the big screen.
Julian stood. “Cal, let’s go and get a coffee.” Callum noticed that Julian looked beat as he guided him outside. He walked them into a small meeting booth around the corner.
“Are you okay with all this, Cal, I know it’s a lot to deal with?” his voice full of concern.
“I’m fine, honestly. I’m just really hungry!”