Only, the thought ofdoing something about itwhen the something could end up being a Timothy situation all over again had Nally wishing he hadn’t eaten the small amount of his supper that he had.
“I’m done here,” he said, getting up suddenly and whisking his plate off the table so fast he nearly dropped it on the floor. “Let’s go help everyone setting up.”
“Great idea,” Jude said, smiling like the character he played on social media. “Helping out is part of The Brotherhood spirit.”
It was a blessing that there was so much going on in the ballroom. The noise and confusion of a couple dozen guys working to transform the usually staid and stuffy ballroom into a hot disco club was exactly the distraction Nally needed. And as much as he hated to admit it, when Jude veered off to help some of the guys setting up lights while Nally moved to the opposite end of the room to work on the refreshment table, the distance between them was a relief.
But that didn’t stop him from checking back over his shoulder to make sure Jude was being safe as he climbed a ladder to hang some lights. It didn’t stop his eyes from slipping down from Jude’s face to the wide swath of skin that was exposed around Jude’s waist as he reached up toward the light stand. It didn’t stop him from searching out Jude ten minutes later when he should have been giving his attention to arranging paper plates. And it didn’t stop the churning feeling in his stomach when he spotted Jude laughing with Jamison Smart, a long-time club member who Nally was pretty sure Jude had hooked up with at some point.
“Careful, Nally,” Walt, who was in charge of setting up the refreshments, warned him as he nearly dropped a plate of tarts into the punchbowl.
“Shit, sorry,” Nally said, putting the plate down with shaky hands.
“You okay?” Walt asked.
Nally wanted to answer no. He wanted to spill out all his conflicting thoughts to an older member of The Brotherhood, one who might understand the awkward feelings rushing through him. It pissed him off that men weren’t taught how to deal with their emotions. Not even his weird family had fully prepared him forfeelings.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Nally answered with a shrug, not sure if it was a lie. “It’s just been a bit of a whirlwind lately, you know? I was interviewed by the BBC this morning, and I think it’s done my head in.”
Walt came out from behind the refreshment table and patted Nally’s back like he was one of his older brothers. “Trust me, I know how much of a shock those first days of fame can be,” he said. “I went from working in restaurants to cooking on the telly so fast I was convinced it was someone else on the screen instead of me. But you do get used to it.”
“Are you sure?” Nally asked.
Walt grinned. “Yes, I’m absolutely certain. Before too long, you’ll be jetting around, doing interviews on three continents, accepting awards and accolades, and you won’t even remember that you were once a green kid playing around at The Chameleon Club.”
Nally was sure Walt’s words were meant to encourage him, but in fact, they terrified him. He liked who he was. He didn’t want anything to change. What if he changed and Jude didn’t like him anymore? Or what if Jude ended up liking him too much?
That last thought nearly made him throw up. For more than one reason. It was too much too fast.
He threw himself into disco prep, moving on to help with the last of the decorations once the refreshment table was done. The whole while, he kept a distant eye on Jude, checking to see where he was at any given moment and whether he was at all concerned about him. Only once did he look for Jude just as Jude looked for him. The smile that lit Jude’s face when their eyes met…did nothing to make Nally feel like things were alright again.
They met up a few hours later in the costume room just as the party was getting started.
“I love all this wild, disco nonsense,” Jude laughed as they pored through the racks of old clothing in one of the smaller rooms downstairs. “Bellbottoms need to make a comeback.”
“No, they do not,” Nally said, making a face as he pulled a pair of striped bellbottoms from the rack. He made a sound, then put them back.
“Come on,” Jude laughed. “Those would look perfect on you. Especially paired with this shirt.”
Jude took the bellbottoms off the rack again along with a truly garish shirt. He picked out an entire outfit for Nally, took a few pics of him holding the dreadful items, then hurried him behind one of the screens that had been set up for changing.
It was a new kind of torture that Nally wasn’t ready for. He’d undressed with Jude in the room a million times before. They’d seen each other naked so much that it should have been inconsequential. They’d slept together mostly naked more times than Nally could count. But something in the air between them was charged as they stripped down and put on the borrowed clothes. Nally couldn’t seem to catch his breath, and instead of bumping into each other and making jokes, the two of them were quiet and tried their hardest not to touch.
Jude knew something was wrong, too. Nally was certain of it when they caught each other’s eyes as they finished dressing.There was something deep and hot in his friend’s gaze that had Timothy energy in it.
Nally straightened from putting on the platform shoes Jude had found for him. There wasn’t a lot of space behind the screen, which meant that all it would take was a slight shift and he could slip his arms around Jude and pull him close for a kiss. It was absolutely the wrong thing for him to think, but Jude’s lips looked incredibly appealing.
He almost made the move, but the moment was broken when a trio of loud men entered the room to look through the costumes. Nally heaved out a breath in relief and took a large step back, putting on a big smile.
“You ready to get down?” he asked, fighting to make everything casual as usual.
“Just wait until you see my moves,” Jude said, snapping out of whatever spell had almost captured them.
It was infinitely easier to get on with things once they were back in the ballroom. The regular lights had been turned off and the flashing, swirling disco lighting had taken over. A ton of people had arrived for the party in the time they’d been changing, and the space was already noisy with disco and talking.
“Nice!” Jude said as he gazed around at the transformed space. “I love it! I’m going to get some video for both my social media and yours.”
“Perfect,” Nally said.
