CHAPTER NINETEEN
ROYCE
Australia has officially become the happy ever after part of this whole tour. It doesn’t hurt that it marks the end of our world travels for a while, nor do I resent the fact that after our second and final show here, we’re left with an entire week of vacation in one of the most amazing places on earth.
Being as Ava always plans tours this way and that she considers this last stretch of the trip to be family time, we don’t have a whole lot of freedom on how we want to spend it. Thankfully, Ava would have made a damn fine travel agent because everything we do is like something straight out of a vacation magazine.
Sunday is spent taking a day trip out to tour the local wine country. While we all stick to grape juice to support Blaise, the scenery and atmosphere is more than enough to give you a nice content buzz all day long.
Monday, we venture out for a private tour of the Sidney Taronga Zoo, mostly because Ava read that they let you cuddle their koalas and apparently that’s some sort of childhood dream of hers.
“You’re not going to try and smuggle that thing out of here, are you? ”
She casually drapes the long flowy sleeves of her dress over the baby koala she’s cradling. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Avalon!”
She makes a face and hisses, “Fine. Jackass. But I’ll have you know, Hudson was in on this. He’s busy distracting the tour guide as we speak.”
He later denies said accusations. Well, until I’m already dozing off. Then he confesses the whole thing thinking I’m already asleep.
Tuesday, Ava gets us up extra early to board a boat. It’s so damn early I don’t know what the fuck is going on or what we’re doing, so when the humpback whale surfaces three feet away from where I’m leaning over the railing trying not to puke up the three cups of coffee I chugged in hopes of waking up, I about piss my fucking pants.
“What did you think we were going to do on a whale watching cruise?” Hudson muses.
“You’re not supposed to do that,” I grumble.
“Do what?”
“Laugh at me.”
He flashes me that sexy smirk. “So, laugh with me.” And I do. Just like that.
Wednesday, we find ourselves back on a boat and this time I’m careful to pay better attention. Of course, even if I didn’t, I’d figure out something is up when they start handing out the oxygen tanks. We spend the entire day snorkeling and diving around the Great Barrier Reef and it’s fucking phenomenal.
By Thursday I’m ready for a day on land and so, after much arguing and implementing my fine-tuned persuasion skills, Ava lets Hudson and I opt out of the shark diving outing. That shit is more Blaise and Angel’s speed anyway.
Then, on Friday we take off for New Zealand where Ava has a special surprise planned for Derek. A total Lord of the Rings fanatic, he about loses it when we show up at Middle Earth for a Hobbit Tour. To be fair, it’s pretty fucking cool even for those of us who only watched the movies, and then only the ones with Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen in them, which is to say Hudson, Ava and I have a blast as well.
It’s the perfect ending to our tour and if it wasn’t for the fact that for the first time ever I’m not going home to be alone in my empty house, I might be sad to leave come Monday morning.
As usual, we split ways at the airport. Each of us head home to our own places. It’s always weird to separate after going everywhere together for so long. Although, to be fair, I’ve yet to ever have to make that trip completely solo. Living next door to Ava and Blaise means we share a car until we part at our driveways.
This time, Hudson is here too.
“Wow. This is your place?” He takes a few steps back to try and get a better view of the whole house.
“Yeah. It’s ridiculously big, I know. I only got it because it was next door to Blaise, and I was scared of being cut off from the whole world if I lived somewhere totally alone. That probably sounds weird.” I shake my head, kinda wishing I hadn’t bothered to explain that. “Anyway, it’ll be nice to have someone else in the house to answer me when I walk around the halls yelling, I’m lost again . ”
I lead the way up to the door and a few seconds later we’re both standing inside the foyer. I drop the bags near the stairs and keep going, excited to give him a full tour of the place, but Hudson stays rooted just three feet past the front door.
“What’s wrong?”
“How are you going to explain this? Me being here with you? Even as we pulled up, there were at least ten paparazzi parked right outside your gate. They’re going to see me coming and going. Unless you plan on keeping me here forever, trapped in a tower somewhere.”
I didn’t really think about that. Purposely. I don’t have an answer.
“I don’t know.”
“And how long? I mean, am I visiting? Are you asking me to move in?”
“Is that something you would want to do? Would you live here? Permanently?”
I guess I sort of took some things for granted. Like the fact that he has a home back east. A life. A job. His mother. It’s just that after being together twenty-four hours a day while we were on the road, I sort of assumed nothing would change.
“In a heartbeat. But, if you want this to be my home, I have to be able to live here. Really live here. No sneaking around. No worrying about who might see what, or what pictures might get taken. I won’t hide, Royce.”
I nod. “I know that. I would never ask you to do that. I mean, I can see why you would think that, obviously, I have...asked you to do that. But, yes, I want this to be your home. Our home.” The happy dance urges are dulled by the upcoming compromise. “Just...I won’t be explaining any of it to anyone. If they jump to conclusions, I’ll let them, but that’s the most I have to offer right now.”
Hudson smiles. “I’m good with that.” Finally, he starts to move. Dropping his bag beside mine, he comes up beside me and takes my hand. “Alright, babe. Show me our place.”
HUDSON
Almost a month has passed since we got back to L.A., and while part of me wondered if the fantasy bubble would burst the moment day to day reality set it, it couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
Things are better than ever. Even though Royce isn’t going out of his way to go public with our relationship, he isn’t dating women anymore, so that’s a definite plus.
Living together without the rest of the band sitting in the living room or sleeping down the hall, means we get to learn a whole new way of being together. Of being just us.
We cook meals together. Take turns with the chores. Watch each other’s favorite movies. Spend hours upon hours listening to every album we deem musically important. Sit with our coffees in the courtyard for entire afternoons discussing everything and nothing, arguing, sometimes fighting, and finally, laughing. Always laughing.
The only time we aren’t together, are the hours I spend working. After weeks of shooting non-stop images of the band, I have about a million pictures to sort through, edit and prepare for my presentation with Ava and the publisher. It makes for an interesting new dynamic, me being so focused and sometimes buried in my work until late at night while Royce is on break until it’s time to hit the recording studio again next month. But I like it. He’s incredibly nurturing and caring when he has the time and energy to be so. And I find myself constantly surprised by new and unexpected sides of him, so endearing and lovable it makes it harder and harder to bear, knowing how he feels about himself. It’s inconceivable really, how someone so loved could still hate himself so much.
So, I decide it’s time to do something about it. It’s time to show him the truth. And with Christmas right around the corner, now seems as perfect a time as ever. I even know exactly how I’m going to do it. I just can’t do it alone. Therefore, the following Saturday night, we go next door to have a pre-holiday dinner with Blaise and Ava. Or, at least, that’s what Royce thinks we’re doing.