“Come on, boys!” she shouted. “It’s time for Nally to make his big splash.”
“You ready for this?” Jude asked, throwing his arm around Nally’s shoulders and walking him up to the front of the building.
Nally laughed. “No,” he said. “I’m just a lowly composer. I’m not some Hollywood A-list celebrity. You know how much I hate attention, especially from crowds.”
“Good thing for you that Iama celebrity and I love attention, then,” Jude said.
“You’re aninternetcelebrity,” Nally laughed. “And hardly famous at all.”
“I can teach you how to shine, baby,” Jude grinned. “Just keep your head up and your shoulders squared, and if you feel a camera pointing at you, turn this side to face it.” He tapped Nally’s left cheek.
“Why that side?” Nally asked, touching his hand to his face.
“Because that’s the side that doesn’t have a razor cut on it, idiot,” Jude laughed.
Nally elbowed him, and Jude shoved him lightly in return. So what if they still looked like two kids playing when they did things like that. Nally made him happy, they were about to walk a red carpet, and nothing could dent the night ahead of them.
“Mr. Hawthorne, if we could have you stand right here,” some assistant coordinating the red carpet said, gesturing impatiently for Nally to step out into the overbright spotlights.
Nally turned to Jude, looking like he was holding his breath.
“You’ve got this,” Jude told him. “You’re about to be a star.”
Nally widened his eyes in a wary look for Jude, then turned and walked out onto the carpet in front of the backdrop with the film and production company logos.
Something wild and throbbing gripped Jude and wouldn’t let go as he watched one of the people he cared most about in the world make his debut on the world stage. Nally had always been his, and as sweet as it was to see him getting the attention he deserved, it was just a bit bitter that he would have to share him with the world now.
THREE
Nally wasbeyond glad that Sam had canceled on him. There was no way Sam would have done well with the chaos, the camera flashes, and the questions thrown at him by a line of eager reporters.
“What was it like working with Miles Ferrier on the film?”
“How does it feel to be a part of this groundbreaking LGBTQ film?”
“Is it true that Sawyer Kingston and Matt Bloom had an on-set fling?”
Nally gaped and blinked, utterly shocked that anyone would be interested in anything he did, or that they would think he’d spent a single second on the set with the actors.
“Working with Miles was fantastic,” he said, smiling when he spotted Jude off to the side, gesturing for him to smile. “It was an amazing opportunity, and I feel like I learned a lot.”
He paused, turning to the reporter who had asked the impertinent question, and answered that with, “Of course Sawyer and Matt didn’t have an affair on set. Sawyer is happily married.”
In fact, Nally had actually known Sawyer and his lovable, historian husband, Casper Penhurst, from The Brotherhood. He’d often seen the two of them enjoying events at The Chameleon Club, where they could be themselves instead of who the world wanted them to be.
“People are saying that your soundtrack is one of the highlights of the film,” another reporter said as the staff with headsets tried to rush Nally along. “There’s even talk that you’ll be nominated for awards for it.”
Nally’s eyes went wide. He didn’t know why that made him panic so much, only that he wasn’t sure he was ready for the attention that came with fame. Several members of his family had succeeded in various art fields, but Hollywood-style celebrity was a whole other level of being in the spotlight.
Again, Nally glanced to Jude for help. And again, Jude made a reassuring gesture, then smiled so that Nally would smile.
Nally did smile, but only when one of the younger reporters gasped, “Are you Jude the Obscure?”
The older reporter standing beside her asked, “The what?”
“Jude the Obscure. Jude Cranleigh.” She looked at him like he was a moron. “He’s a wildly popular social media influencer.”
“Oh,” the older reporter said, infusing all his disdain for the youth of the modern world into those words.
