Chapter 3 #2
“Actors read books, too,” Drew said, so grateful for the feeling that everything was going to be alright and he could be himself again that he went a bit lightheaded. “Abby keeps pushing me to read your stuff, and now I might have to.”
Lee turned serious for a moment as he quietly asked, “Is Abby your girlfriend?” He immediately squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head, and said, “Sorry, that was rude. It’s just that I’m aware of the rumors.”
“Abby isn’t my girlfriend,” Drew said, leaning even closer in case the other person in the dining area overheard them, even with the headphones she wore. “She’s a lifelong friend and currently my manager.”
“Oh, okay.” Lee looked deeply uncomfortable.
Drew glanced briefly to Javier in case the man wanted to be the one to explain things, since Rent-A-Boyfriend was his company, but Javier seemed content to sit back and watch. So Drew said, “I do have a girlfriend,” in a subdued voice. It felt awkward and wrong to admit it out loud.
“Right. I see.” Lee nodded, his brow slightly creased, like he was trying to figure the whole thing out. “Which is why you need to hire a…me.”
“If you know anything about me at all, you know there are certain…accusations making their way through social media,” Drew went on.
“I am aware,” Lee said cagily.
Drew grinned. He liked how discreet Lee was trying to be. It was incredibly British of him. Lee didn’t seem like the super-posh, snooty sort of Brit, more like the educated but slightly self-effacing sort who liked Monty Python and knew what snooker was.
“I wouldn’t really pay attention to anything on social media, other than to join in the fun now and then,” Drew went on. “But the queerbaiting accusations really bother me.”
“I guess they would if you’re not—wait,” Lee stopped himself in the middle of whatever he’d been about to say, frowning in that cute way he had again. “Are the accusations true?”
“No, not at all,” Drew insisted.
“So you are gay,” Lee said bluntly.
“I’m not,” Drew corrected him with a wince, his heart racing again. “But I’ve never pretended to be. People just assumed. That’s not queerbaiting.”
“Er, stop me if I’m being rude,” Lee said with a teasing smirk, “but isn’t hiring someone to pretend to be your boyfriend the very definition of queerbaiting?”
The heat that had been building in Drew splashed onto his face. He was definitely out of his depth. But at the moment, as he stared across the table at Lee’s clever face, he didn’t have the first clue how he could get out of the hole he’d just dug for himself.
Or rather, the hole Jessica had dug for him. The whole thing was her idea, after all.
“Honestly, I’m not really sure what I’m doing,” he confessed.
Something about Lee’s easy manner and the kindness in his eyes made him feel like he could confess everything to the man.
“This whole rocket to fame has been incredibly disorienting. I’m just trying to grasp onto something that will keep me where I want to be in my career. ”
“Makes sense,” Lee said so quickly that Drew wondered if he was just saying it to fill the air.
But then Lee went on with, “I’ve worked hard to get my writing career where I want it to be so I can make a living at it.
But publishing is a fickle business, especially when you’re trying to switch genres without losing momentum like I am. ”
Drew’s smile widened. “So you understand.”
“Maybe a little.” Lee shrugged one shoulder.
Pure happiness filled Drew from his gut outward. Okay, so their situations weren’t quite the same. Hollywood celebrity was a few notches above having a successful career as a novelist. But maybe not as much as most people would think.
Maybe this crazy idea to find a fake boyfriend to appease rumors might actually end up with Drew making a new friend, one who wasn’t looking to get something from him or use him to further their own career.
Unless….
“Just so you know, if we go through with this, you’re going to get a lot of media attention,” he said, holding up a hand like he was warning Lee. “Like, a lot.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen the way people have been all over you lately,” Lee said, his eyes going wide and saying more than his words.
“You have?” Drew was suddenly worried that Lee was just another rabid fan who had stumbled into a dream situation after all.
“I write gay romance,” Lee explained with a laugh. “The same people who read my books, and all of us authors, too, are huge fans of Cooked. People haven’t been able to talk about anything else for months now. I’m a little jealous.”
“Sorry, not sorry,” Drew said, picking up his coffee to take a sip and winking at Lee as he did.
Lee flushed at the wink and looked momentarily flustered. Drew liked it. He probably shouldn’t have teased the man or led him on in any way, but they were supposed to be boyfriends, weren’t they? That was the entire point of the meeting.
He liked Lee. Something told him they had a lot in common. He wanted to find out more. He actually wanted to spend time with the guy getting to know him.
“Looks like you two are off to a promising start,” Javier interrupted the silence that had settled at the table.
Drew blinked, realizing belatedly that he’d been staring at Lee. And that Lee had been staring at him.
Javier glanced between them. “If you two think this will work, I’ll go ahead and draw up the contract and send it along to both of you with our bill.”
“Works for me,” Drew said, smiling and then finishing his coffee.
“Definitely works for me,” Lee echoed. He glanced at Javier, then back to Drew. “When do you want to start this whole thing? Do you have a plan in mind?”
Drew swallowed and put his coffee cup down. “My schedule is incredibly tight during filming, but I do have some free time.”
“That’s good.” Lee smiled. “My schedule is flexible. Just let me know when you need me.”
The outlandish thought that Drew definitely needed Lee seemed to sail in out of nowhere and set up shop, like it planned to stay for a while.
“I have a few hours this afternoon free,” Drew said impulsively. “This is my first time in London. Do you have time to show me around?”
“Absolutely,” Lee said, perking up even more. “I’ve lived in London for almost my whole life. Just let me know what kind of thing you’re interested in, museums, historic buildings, parks, stuff like that, and I’ll take you to the best of them.”
“Is the London Eye worth it?” Drew asked, settling into their friendship like he was wrapping up in a warm blanket.
“Only if your idea of a good time is waiting in line for two hours with about ten thousand tourists from every corner of the globe,” Lee laughed.
“Not the London Eye, then,” Drew laughed with him.
“I’ll leave you two to it,” Javier said, standing and stepping to the side of the table. “It looks like you’re going to get along just fine.”
There was more than a little spark of mischief in the elegant man’s eyes, like he knew something Drew didn’t. Drew wasn’t oblivious enough not to know what it meant. Rent-A-Boyfriend was supposed to be a fake dating site, but Javier clearly thought he’d made a match.
He was used to it. Everyone and their mother had made it their hobby to ship him with everyone from his costars to other Hollywood celebrities to, well, Jessica. He’d long passed the point where he cared what anyone thought.
Except that the entire reason he’d called Rent-A-Boyfriend in the first place was because he cared what people thought.
Maybe it was time to rethink a lot of the things he assumed about himself.
“How about Trafalgar Square?” Lee asked as he, too, stood and waited for Drew before heading for the stairs.
“Sounds perfect,” Drew said, smiling and inching in closer to him as they walked down the narrow staircase. “That’s one of those London things you have to see at least once, right?”
“They kick you out and revoke your visitor’s visa if you don’t,” Lee teased him as they crossed the main dining area, heading for the door.
Drew laughed. Lee was funny. He liked that. And he liked the fact that Lee wasn’t falling all over him and gushing about his acting or his ass, which had played a prominent role in Cooked.
“We wouldn’t want that, now would we,” he said as he reached the door first, opening it and holding it for Lee.
“Not at all,” Lee said as they stepped out onto the street. “We wouldn’t want—”
“Oh my god, it is him!” someone right outside the café’s entrance gasped.
A small cluster of women, and a few men, stepped forward from where they’d been waiting for who knew how long, eyes aglow and cell phones ready. Drew smirked and sent Lee a look as if to say, “See?”
He’d known people would catch up with him in London eventually, but he’d had no idea it would be so soon.