Chapter 8 #2
The question sparked something in Harry that didn’t fit with the teasing mood that had been building around the table. Following. Instinct whispered that Nikky wasn’t talking about social media followers. He knew the industry well enough to know following a celebrity could be way too literal.
“On the contrary,” Laura said with a wide smile, not catching the undercurrent of Nikky’s question. “It’s made me even more curious about what you do next. And that’s saying something, considering I’ve always considered men superfluous at best.”
“Yes, but he’s gay,” Maggie pointed out, gesturing to her mate with a piece of scone, her bangle bracelets jingling as she did. “He’s one of us, not one of them.”
Harry smirked, but his humor over the situation had taken a backseat to concern over why Nikky had asked his questions the way he had and why he looked like it had rained on his birthday.
“So it didn’t work,” Nikky said, deflating even more. “Going to that club and taking all those pictures didn’t work.”
“It worked if your aim was to be the most talked about person on the internet today,” Maggie said.
“Have a scone.” Laura took one of her scones from the plate with a sympathetic look and rested it on the side of Nikky’s plate. “I made them myself.”
“Thanks,” Nikky said, picking up the scone with a distracted look. He took a bite without putting on any of the jam or cream Harry had dug out of his fridge for the occasion, making the Brits at the table wince.
“What were you hoping those pictures would do?” Laura asked once she’d picked up her cutlery to resume her own breakfast.
Nikky had fallen too far into his thoughts, so Harry answered for him.
“We were hoping they would shift the narrative away from the Hollywood golden boy image everyone’s been trying to thrust on Nikky lately,” he said.
At least, that was his version of the mission they’d set out on.
“The entertainment industry has a way of deciding who you are and who you’re going to be without asking if that’s what you want first.”
Maggie and Laura exchanged a look, both of them humming. They then both looked at Harry with almost pitying expressions. Maggie even reached over to pat his hand.
Harry hated the burst of self-consciousness that hit him with their knowing smiles and unsolicited support. This wasn’t about him and his shambles of a career. It was about Nikky trying to stop his life from being yanked somewhere he didn’t want to go.
“I don’t like fame,” Nikky said, suddenly out of his thoughts and back in the conversation. “I love music and acting and art. I hate constantly being in the public eye, having fans mob me wherever I go, having the paparazzi track my every move, like they’re just waiting for me to put a foot wrong.”
“So you thought you’d put a foot wrong first so you could control the explosion when it happens?” Laura asked with gentle insightfulness.
Nikky blinked and sat straighter. “Yeah,” he said. He sighed and lowered his eyes to his plate all over again. “I thought if I acted out of character, if I did something so controversial and shocking….”
Harry, Maggie, and Laura all waited for him to finish that thought, but Nikky never did. Instead, he frowned and cut into the sausage on his plate, ate a piece, and chewed it as his frown deepened with his thoughts.
“You’ve always been a good boy, haven’t you,” Maggie said with an understanding smile.
Nikky nearly choked on his sausage as he swallowed. He sent Harry a look that had good boy looking for reassurance all over it. Good boy in leather trousers with clamps on his nipples looking for approval from the man holding the other end of his leash while he waited on his knees all over it.
The heady connection only lasted for a second before Nikky glanced across the table at the ladies. “That’s what people want. They want role models and heroes. Ever since Cooked aired, people have put me up on a pedestal.”
“And now you’re dizzy and you want down,” Maggie said, nodding.
“Well, yeah.” Nikky smiled weakly, like he was glad someone understood, but still forlorn about the situation.
“Going out to an exciting club isn’t going to knock you off that pedestal, young man,” Laura said sagely. “You’ve only just made yourself far more interesting to those people who follow every move you make.”
“We weren’t following you before,” Maggie agreed, “but now we’re having breakfast with you.”
“And I made you scones,” Laura added, breaking into a grin.
“The point being that if you want to offend people to the point where they leave you alone to wallow in the shadow of what you could have been instead of embracing the false image of what a powerful industry thinks you should be, you should either write one brilliant song and sell it to a company that will pay out royalties for the rest of your days—” she glanced at Harry, who scowled at her in return, “—or you should do something genuinely scandalous that even your most stalwart fans won’t be able to defend. ”
“Like what?” Nikky asked, a little too interested for Harry’s liking.
“Public statements of racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance,” Maggie suggested with a shrug. “Or religious fervor.”
“No,” Nikky said firmly. “I don’t believe in any of that. I speak out against all of those things whenever I can.”
“Of course you do,” Laura said, giving Nikky’s wrist a squeeze. “Because in reality, you are just as much of a good person as everyone believes you to be.”
Harry almost laughed at the way those kind words made Nikky look sad and helpless. No one else but Nikky could take a compliment and turn it into a trap.
“I think having fun at the club last night was a good start down the road of Nikky changing the narrative about who he is,” Harry put in his two cents worth.
“The more he does things like that, the more he experiments and lives the way he wants to live, the more everyone will see his version of himself and not the character the media has created for him.”
Nikky glanced gratefully at Harry. Under the table, Harry nudged his leg with a foot, making Nikky’s smile grow and his cheeks flush pink.
“I suppose the acting roles you take going forward would help to change the narrative, too,” Laura said, tapping her lips thoughtfully.
“Oh! I know!” Maggie said, brightening up and sitting straight. When everyone at the table turned to her, she went on with, “You should make a sex tape.”
The room went dead silent.
“Excuse me?” Harry blinked at her.
“A sex tape,” Maggie said, enunciating the words as if Harry hadn’t heard them. “That has always worked to bring famous reputations down a few pegs.”
“And they’re always very entertaining to watch,” Laura agreed, taking the suggestion far too seriously.
“You think I should make a…sex tape?” Nikky asked, his voice gone hoarse.
“It would offend a great many people,” Maggie said with a shrug. “People are such prudes. And considering that it would be a gay sex tape, they would be even more up in arms.”
“He can’t go making a sex tape,” Harry said, smirking as if the idea were absurd.
“Plenty of people do, you know,” Laura informed him. “Maggie and I made more than a few back in the day.”
“We made one just a few years ago,” Maggie confirmed with a nod. “There’s nothing more salacious than a geriatric lesbian sex tape.”
“It would have been perfect for destroying our pristine image,” Laura agreed. “Except that our image has never been particularly pristine. It would work for you, though.” She smiled sweetly at Nikky.
“We have all the equipment, if you’d like to borrow it,” Maggie said.
“Would you look at the time,” Harry said, a little too loud, grabbing his plate and standing. “It’s getting late and Nikky needs to be at the recording studio in less than an hour.”
Nikky jolted out of what appeared to be deep thought and glanced around, looking for a clock. He ended up checking the watch he wore, then letting out a tense, “Shit.” He grabbed his plate and stood, carrying it into the kitchen so quickly he nearly rammed into Harry on the way.
“Easy there,” Harry said, reaching out to steady him. “You’ve got time. And Albion can’t do anything until you arrive anyhow. Musicians are always late.”
“Not me,” Nikky mumbled, pushing past Harry into the kitchen. “I’m never late. I never do anything wrong. Maybe that’s the problem.”
Harry glanced over his shoulder at Nikky, then continued out to the dining table to fetch Maggie’s and Laura’s plates.
“We haven’t offended him, have we?” Laura whispered.
“No, no, I doubt it,” Harry said, then smiled. “You two couldn’t offend a fly.”
Maggie laughed. “We’ve offended half the world and would scandalize the other half, only we haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
“I’m sure you will in time,” Harry told her with a lopsided grin before taking their plates into the kitchen.
Nikky had busied himself at the counter, gathering up dishes and bits of food that hadn’t been eaten. His expression was guarded and tight, but Harry had a feeling he knew what his young friend was thinking anyhow.
Those thoughts were going to get both of them into a lot of trouble, he was sure.