Chapter 41
NOAH
Filming Mount Olympus content in our socks with the welcome addition of unlimited bubble tea was fun.
The idea had just been to recreate some viral trends for lip--syncing dramatically using kitchen utensils for microphones, but the real entertainment was in the blooper reel.
Even with the lingering doubt about Minho’s feelings, Ace’s controlling bullshit, and Xavier’s crappy personality, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so hard.
I also drank more than my body weight in bubble tea and went to bed with a bellyache, but I thanked all my lucky stars I wasn’t lactose intolerant or things would have been a whole lot worse.
The next morning Jared picked me up so early the whole house was still asleep. Even Ace had come to bed and crashed out before I woke up, which was a first since we’d started sharing a room. Not an unwelcome first but a curious one, nonetheless.
“Yikes.” Jared winced when he saw my face. “Okay, I’m asking Tiana to meet us along the way to fix this mess.”
I pouted, climbing into the passenger seat of his flashy G--Wagen.
“I tried my best,” I grumbled, flipped down the sun visor to look in the mirror.
I’d used a heavy amount of concealer, but it just looked like a bruise covered in concealer.
What I needed was professional color correction, so Jared was probably doing the smart thing by sending an SOS to my old friend.
She messaged Jared back within minutes, offering to meet us at a coffee shop halfway between her place and Mount Olympus, and I snort--laughed at her warning that she was hungover as fuck.
“She already signed the NDA crap, right?” I asked Jared with a slight edge of worry for my secret identity.
Tiana and I knew each other from Dance Babes and had been really good friends as younger teens.
We’d drifted apart in recent years, and now, with the luxury of hindsight, I could see that had been entirely Rich’s doing, cutting me off from my friend network so I had no one to lean on when he was being a douchebag.
“Of course,” Jared confirmed. “Everyone who could possibly link you to the old you was given one and signed without complaint. Except Rich, but he still technically signed it.”
“He was just a dick about it,” I muttered with a heavy sigh. “Has Kelly said anything about how we handle Peaches now?”
Jared shook his head. “I’m sure she will tell you as soon as there’s a plan. It’ll have to go through authorities, though. We might need to consider putting it on ice until the ClikByte Games are done and you’re free of their contracts.”
I blew out another long sigh, running my fingers through my hair. “I suspected as much.”
“You okay?” he asked, glancing over at me with genuine concern as we drove away from Mount Olympus. “Confronting Rich can’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t,” I agreed quietly. “But it was extremely satisfying to see Ace break his nose.”
Jared laughed, shaking his head. “I’d have loved to see that too. What a prick.”
I yawned heavily, so Jared turned on the stereo and told me to take a nap while he drove. I chuckled when I realized he’d been listening to 1--4--3, though.
“What?” he asked defensively. “I like Minho, so figured I’d see what kind of music his group used to put out. It’s good stuff. Did you know?”
Grinning, I nodded. “Yeah, Jared, I knew.”
It was about a forty--minute drive from Mount Olympus to the coffee shop Tiana suggested, so I got a solid power nap in, drooling all over the hoodie I’d balled up to use as a pillow.
Jared woke me gently, shaking my shoulder, and I opened my eyes to find my old friend peering through the car window with a wide grin.
“You…look fucking awful, Sparkle babe!” she said with an affectionate laugh when I opened the door, and I reached out to hug her. “Aw, I missed you, though. Thanks for thinking of me, Jared.”
“Noah has had a rough couple days. Or weeks. Months. Whatever. I just figured a friendly face wouldn’t hurt right now.
I’ll go get you two some coffee, if you want to set up in the back?
” Jared popped the trunk door open and cleared the spare diaper bag and toys out of the way for us to set up a temporary makeup station.
We were parked out of the way enough that we weren’t worried about being seen or photographed.
Tiana hoisted her travel kit up into the spacious trunk and patted a spot for me to sit. “All right, I know we don’t have long, but I want to know everything, starting with how your face got this bruised and who the hell thought they could cover it with basic--bitch concealer?”
I laughed, tying up my hair in a little elastic to keep it out of her way. “Uh, I’m the basic bitch that tried to cover it.”
Tiana winced. “Sorry. Stick to what you’re good at, yeah? Leave makeup to the pros.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.
I’d been so fucking lonely these last few years.
It’d been mostly by my own design, to protect my NoFear identity, but realistically there was no reason why I couldn’t have maintained some friendships.
I’d just wholeheartedly believed Rich’s paranoia about not being able to trust anyone.
How ironic.
“So how’d this happen?” she asked more gently as she started gently wiping off my existing concealer. “Or is this just part of the disguise? Boys get into fights all the time, right?”
I chuckled. “I don’t think I’d take the disguise that far. This was Rich, actually.”
She gasped, straightening up. “What? You’re not still—-”
“No!” I exclaimed. “Oh my God, no. It’s a long, embarrassing story, but fuck no. I just needed to speak with him about something, and Ace burst in trying to save me, and it turned into a thing.”
“A thing that got you punched in the face?” Tiana murmured with narrow eyes. “Not cool, Ace Hart. Cute that he wanted to save you, though.”
I smiled. “Yeah, I guess.”
She peppered me with questions about my life while she worked and reciprocated with news about her own life that I’d missed out on over the recent years.
She’d retired from dance entirely, thanks to a torn ACL, and had made a name for herself in film and photography makeup.
Better than that, she seemed genuinely happy in that industry.
Jared brought us both coffee and donuts, but Tiana worked fast to fix my face and make me look perfect for my brand meetings.
“A masterpiece,” she said with satisfaction once she was done, spraying my face with another layer of setting spray.
“This is such a different look for you, Sparkle babe, but I like it. And I kept your adorable freckles visible because you used to erase them entirely and they’re so cute!
This look feels more authentically you, even though you’re pretending to be a boy.
Surely that won’t last forever, though?”
I shook my head. “It can’t. Half the team knows already. It won’t be long before the fans find out, and then I’ll probably need witness protection or a casket. Hey, can you do my funeral makeup?”
“Bullshit.” Tiana scowled, folding her arms under her boobs.
“The fans’ reaction will be guided by your team’s and your company’s treatment of you and the news.
If they show unconditional support and adopt a zero--tolerance policy for bullying, then the fans will eventually follow suit.
Just make sure you’re all on the same page and work with a really good crisis--management team.
Jared will make sure you’re taken care of, I have no doubts. ”
“You know it,” Jared replied, checking his watch. “We need to go, Noah. Thanks for coming to the rescue, Tiana.”
“Hey, anytime. Seriously, Sparkle, anytime. If you want to get me onto your team, just so you have a friend hanging around, I’m there.” Then she grinned. “Also, you’re living with seven gorgeous men, and I can imagine it’d pay well, so that was definitely an ulterior--motive offer.”
I laughed and hugged her, offering my own thanks before we got back into our cars to leave.
“Feel better?” Jared asked as we continued our drive.
“Yeah, I do. I needed that.” And I didn’t just mean the makeup, though I definitely needed that as well.
Jared didn’t gloat about his smarts, just turned the music back on and sipped his no--sugar, iced americano like an animal. How he could tolerate that much bitterness was forever a mystery.
We somehow made it to the Deity meeting only five minutes late, and the brand manager we met with simply waved off our apologies with no ill feelings.
I’d been nervous to meet with them, because part of the conditions of the new offer was that we came clean about my real identity.
I fully expected them to politely rescind their offer under the looming possibility of a scandal when it all came out in the media at some point, but they shocked me.
They were thrilled about what they described as a “plot twist,” and we left the meeting an hour later with dozens of potential campaign ideas for androgynous fashion looks so it’d stay relevant for fans of any identity after my secret eventually came out.
Boba--Kitty was only a couple blocks away, but Jared insisted on driving anyway, citing the fact that we didn’t have any security with us and we shouldn’t be complacent.
He wasn’t wrong; the amount of hate I’d been copping just from Ace fans over that one innocent photo of him touching my lower back was crazy.
I could only imagine what his fans would do if they knew he’d made me come.
Meows greeted us when the elevator doors opened for Vivienne’s penthouse suite, and I crouched down to greet my favorite lady with open arms.
“Miss Bubbles!” I cooed as the enormous gray cat came scampering toward us, purring like a motorboat when I scooped her up for cuddles. “I missed you, pretty kitty.”
“I think she missed you too, Noah,” the Boba--Kitty owner commented with a laugh, gesturing for us to come inside properly. “It’s lovely to see you. You too, Jared.” She extended her hand to my manager.
“Lovely to see you again, Vivienne,” Jared responded, shaking her hand as I continued snuggling Miss Bubbles like she was my own.
I’d strategically worn a charcoal gray shirt to hide her fur, since we would be going straight to the Clik Game challenge from the meeting and there was no way I wouldn’t snuggle the kitty.
Half the point of Jared coming with me to this meeting was that he could do all the professional chitchat and discussions, while I got to play with Miss Bubbles.
Luckily, though, Kelly had already ironed out all the details, and this meeting was really just to sign the paperwork and speak briefly about campaign concepts.
“We do understand your need for privacy around your position with Team Olympus,” Vivienne said as we were wrapping up the meeting sometime later.
Miss Bubbles was fast asleep in my lap, her purr nonstop as I stroked her soft fur, and everything we’d discussed around the campaign so far was all really exciting.
“But I want to assure you that our partnership with you is independent from the team. Should you eventually depart from the Olympus brand, we will still continue to work with you on this, and to be honest, I’d be quite excited to float some more feminine concepts, should that time come. ”
The relief at hearing her say that was almost overwhelming, and I needed to swallow back the emotions threatening to leak out of my face.
Instead, I settled for a smile and a quiet, “Thank you.”
“Thank you, Noah. This is going to be good for both of us, I think. And I’ll be sure to bring my spoiled cat along to the shoot, too.”
I laughed, reluctantly shifting the cat in question off my lap so Jared and I could leave.
“So, where to next?” I asked as we headed back to the car. The whole day had been so positive, I felt confident I could handle whatever ClikByte execs had decided to throw at us for round three.
Jared hummed thoughtfully, checking his phone.
“I have no idea, actually. Ace sent me an address, but it doesn’t come up with any results in a web search.
I guess we find out in”—-he keyed the address into his GPS and sighed when the estimated drive time appeared—-“three hours. We better stop for food first, or you’ll be showing the live--stream viewers the very best representation of hangry. ”
“Rude,” I muttered, brushing cat fur from my clothes. But he wasn’t wrong, and I was in no hurry to leap into another live stream, so I eagerly searched some restaurant options along the way. Hangry Noah really wouldn’t win any new fans.