Chapter 10
ten
. . .
“So let me get this straight,” Diana said as Lee strode through the twilight streets of London on his way to a dinner out with Drew. “No, strike that, let me get this gay.”
“Diana,” Lee warned her, glad he was wearing earbuds for the phone call and that no one around him could hear what they were saying.
“You’re telling me that you think Drew Oberlin, the guy you’re fake dating, the ultra-mega-superstar that you’re fake dating, is actually gay. Even though the only reason he’s fake dating you is because he has a girlfriend but needs the public to believe he’s gay.”
“None of those things you just said are fair assessments,” Lee insisted, glancing nervously around him in case people actually could hear the full conversation.
That and glancing around for cameras or people snapping pics of him on their phones. Because that was starting to happen now and then, too. Even when he wasn’t with Drew.
“So Drew is straight,” Diana said, sounding humorously exasperated with him.
Lee sighed as he turned a corner and slowed his steps so he could finish the conversation before he got to Overture, the high-end teaching restaurant he’d been dying to try for years and that he could finally afford now, thanks to Drew.
“No, I don’t think he is,” he told Diana, keeping his words as vague as possible so anyone listening in wouldn’t have a clue who or what he was talking about.
“So have you two, you know, done research for your books yet?” Diana asked, clearly tickled by the whole situation.
“No, not at all,” Lee insisted.
Well, other than that kiss.
And the half dozen near-miss kisses he could have sworn they’d almost had in the three weeks since then.
It seemed like every time he and Drew met up these days, even if they were just hanging out as his apartment, they got cuddly.
It was cute, and there was a chance that all it meant was that Drew was a tactile guy who liked physical closeness.
It was hard to dismiss the longing looks that Lee sometimes caught coming from Drew when conversation died down and they were supposed to be watching TV.
It wasn’t like he’d caught Drew with a raging hard-on as they’d snuggled, though.
Drew might have been an attention-seeker and social butterfly with no filters when they were out and about, but he had a softer, sweeter side when they were together that didn’t feel at all like the bangtastic guys he’d cuddled with before hooking up every which way in the past.
“You’re way too quiet,” Diana said, drawing his attention back to the present. “It worries me.”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Lee laughed. “I’m just saying that I think there are some major gay-awakening tropes going on here. Or more likely bi-awakening, because bi is a thing that shouldn’t be dismissed. And I’m not a hundred percent sure how to proceed.”
“Be gentle with him,” Diana said with breathy drama. “That tight little ass of his has probably never known the tender caress of a thick dong.”
“Oh, god,” Lee laughed. “You’re the worst. And besides, that’s not exactly the energy I’m getting from him.”
“Ooh?” Diana perked up. “You think he’s a top?”
“I think he’s confused,” Lee continued laughing, even though Drew deserved more respect than that. His laughter was coming from a place of love.
And that was a whole other problem. Lee’s feelings for his new friend were far from the literary curiosity he’d entered into the whole arrangement with.
In the weeks that he’d known Drew, he’d discovered that he was deep, sensitive, way more intelligent than most people gave him credit for, and so earnest that it made him want to throw his arms around the man to protect him and never let go.
“Confused or not, everyone in the entire world knows the two of you are together now,” Diana said. “That post you guys made has something like five million views.”
The heat of discomfort nearly stopped Lee in his tracks. “Yeah, I know,” he said seriously.
His social media accounts were up over a million subscribers, and all he’d done was reposted Drew’s post. He absolutely couldn’t complain about what it had all done to his book sales, or the emails and calls he’d been getting from agents, but it was such a fast change from what he considered normal that he still hadn’t figured out how he felt about it.
“I’m at the restaurant,” he told Diana.
“Good. Go have dinner with your not-straight man and set him on the path of self-acceptance and romance novel sex.”
“Very funny,” Lee laughed.
“But seriously,” Diana’s tone changed, “I know Drew’s in good hands with you. You’re a good guy and I can already tell you care about him too much to take advantage of the situation.”
“I do care about him,” Lee confessed as he approached the restaurant’s front door.
“You care about him or you care about him care about him?” Diana asked.
“Bye-ee,” Lee said in a campy voice. “Talk to you later.”
“No, Lee, you can’t—”
Lee ended the call, then quickly sent Diana an emoji with its tongue sticking out and a wink. He then tucked his phone into his pocket and headed into the restaurant.
Overture was a lot of fun. It had been started by celebrity chef Walt Severance a few years ago and had gained huge levels of popularity in the last year especially.
It was technically a culinary school, and there was no menu, just whatever dish the student chef was trying to perfect at any given time.
People loved the idea of getting a taste of a future Michelin-starred chef’s early work, though, so it was difficult to get a reservation.
Not only did Drew have a reservation, when Lee asked at the front podium, he was taken to one of the more private nooks with a single table and a huge window that looked out over the Thames.
“I’m suddenly worried that I’m not dressed nicely enough for a place like this,” Lee said as he took a seat across the table from Drew.
Drew had been staring distractedly at the river, his phone face down on the table, drumming his fingers on the back of the case.
Lee knew him well enough now to know that meant he’d just been on a call.
The nervous energy surrounding him hinted he’d either been talking to Jessica, his agent, or some other studio executive type.
As soon as he spotted Lee, however, his face lit into genuine happiness. He tried to stand so he could greet Lee, but Lee was already seated.
“You look fine. More than fine.” Drew’s assessing glance swept over him before his smile tightened momentarily. The touch of fear only lasted a second before his genuine smile was back. “How was the writing today?”
“Fantastic,” Lee said, pulling his chair closer to the table and settling.
His knees bumped against Drew’s under the small table.
Drew didn’t pull away.
“I wrote three chapters today, which is probably a record for me,” Lee went on.
“Oh yeah? And this is on the new, contemporary book?”
“Yep. The one with the rockstar and the cellist.”
“I can’t wait to read that. It sounded like a winner when you told me the plot the other day.”
Fake boyfriend Drew was definitely going to ruin him for other men.
Lee had never dated a guy who was interested in what he wrote beyond acting out the sex scenes.
Drew had an incredible sense of story, though, and had given him a few ideas as they’d discussed the plot and character arcs over Chinese takeaway one day last week.
“You will let me read the first draft, won’t you?” Drew went on. “I’m almost finished with book three of your dragon series, and I’m hungry for more.”
The hunger in Drew’s eyes was for more than just books, but Lee didn’t have the first clue how to bring the subject up to see if there was something Drew wanted to talk about.
He did have another idea for how to tickle his way around the subject of what might really be going on between the two of them after the restaurant’s instructor for the evening came over to ask if they had any preferences for their meal and to tell them about the student chefs who would be cooking for them.
“So is this a private meal between the two of us or are we out and about to intentionally have our picture taken together?” he asked, reaching for the glass of wine the instructor had poured so he could both hide behind it and call on some liquid courage.
Drew reached for his glass with a shrug, blushing slightly. “Anytime we leave the house there’s a chance we’ll end up splashed all over social media by midnight.”
It wasn’t much of an answer. At least not the words. The way Drew avoided his eyes told him much more.
He nudged Drew’s leg under the table. “Are you worried?” he asked.
“About what?” Drew put his wine glass down and met his eyes, pretending to be casual. Or maybe he actually was more relaxed now that they were focused on each other, Lee couldn’t tell.
That was one of the more aggravating things about their relationship, whatever it was.
Lee wasn’t just dodging his own feelings, he kept trying to figure Drew’s out for him as well.
It was just his luck that he was used to crafting entire stories and having complete control of everything, and Drew was used to playing whatever part was required of him at any given time.
“I guess it’s not important,” Lee said, resting back in his chair. “It’s just that some of the comments on social media lately have been…a lot.”
“People get like that,” Drew said, relaxing more as well. “They fall into these parasocial relationships where they think they actually know me and have a say in how I live my life, which they don’t.”
“You are the author of your own destiny,” Lee said with a smile.
Drew met that with a dazzling, intimate smile of his own. “I thought you were the author in this relationship.”
Shivers of want and need swirled through Lee. “Relationship” had rolled so easily off Drew’s tongue, like he hadn’t even thought about it.
Lee loved it.
He was in such deep trouble.
“How’s filming coming along?” he asked.