Jude stepped out of the shadows and up to Nally’s side. “Hello,” he said, waving and dropping into the posh persona he used online. He even posed in the best position for the photographers, who instantly snapped about two dozen pics.
Nally was so grateful for someone to stand by his side in the overbright light that he grasped Jude’s hand. Jude squeezed his in return, smooth as silk and completely unnoticeable to everyone else.
“How do you and Ronald Hawthorne know each other?” the now starry-eyed reporter asked Jude. She then gasped, her eyesgoing wide, and asked, “Are the two of you dating? Are you an item? I follow you on all the social channels, but you’ve never said anything about dating Ronald Hawthorne.”
Nally and Jude both laughed. “No, no, we’re not dating,” Nally insisted as something in his chest squeezed tighter and tighter.
“We’re mates,” Jude said, all posh and proper. “Known each other since school days and all that. Attended boarding school together. Nally is my best friend in the whole, wide world.”
Nally turned his head to grin at Jude and his antics at just the same moment Jude looked at him. Jude’s impish smile and the way his blue eyes sparkled in the lights sent the nerves he already felt into full-blown flutter mode. It didn’t help that the cameras went wild. Jude was absolutely dazzling in front of a camera. He always had been, but at that moment, with the eyes of the press and Hollywood on him, every beautiful feature and ounce of self-composure that Nally had always taken for granted in his friend shone.
He was glad he’d let Jude put eyeliner and concealer on him. He sort of wished he’d let Jude make his face up entirely. Jude knew what he was doing in this crowd and he most certainly did not.
“We’ve known each other since primary school,” he said, only realizing after the fact that Jude had just basically said the same thing. That made his face go hot and a sizzle of electricity pass through him, like he’d been caught lying somehow. But he hadn’t. He and Jude really had known each other for donkey’s years. They actually were best friends.
He cared about Jude more than anyone in the world outside of his family. Maybe including his family as well.
“Can we keep things moving?” the irritated PA asked them, frowning as she made shooing motions.
“Oh. Sorry,” Nally said, gripping Jude’s hand tightly and shuffling on.
There was a swell in the noise of the crowd and the click of flashes as a limo pulled up and Matt Bloom stepped out. It was just as well, since handing attention off to someone else meant Nally could flee into the relative safety of the Odeon’s lobby, where his family all stood together waiting for him.
“Wow,” Rebecca said, grasping Nally’s free hand once he and Jude joined them. “That looked like you were a real celebrity that people actually wanted to interview.”
“Geez, Rebecca,” Ryan laughed. “Way to inspire our brother with confidence.”
“Nally is a real celebrity,” Janice said, stepping forward to cup the side of Nally’s face and to kiss his cheek. She then leaned back and scrutinized him for a moment, turning his face this way and that and humming. “You’re responsible for the upgrades, I assume,” she said to Jude.
“I couldn’t let our boy go in front of the cameras looking washed-out,” Jude said, still in character.
Nally’s mum hummed again and glanced between the two of them, then down to their hands, which were still tightly joined.
That was all Nally’s fault. He was still as anxious as shit. He let go of Jude’s hand then and said, “Well, we’d better take our seats for the show.”
They made their way into the theater, where a block of seats had been reserved for them. Silver Productions considered the entire Hawthorne family as part of the production team, and a lot of them had served as extras in various scenes for the film, so they were taken en masse to a blocked off area to one side of the theater.
“This is exciting,” Jude said, pulling out his phone as they all took their seats. “I’ve never been to a film premiere before. My fans will love this.”
“I hope you’ll love it, too,” Nally said as he twisted and clung close to Jude so that Jude could snap a selfie of the two of them with the filling auditorium and the screen behind them. Once that was done, they settled into their seats and Nally went on with, “I put a lot of work into this score. If it’s going to make me famous, then you’d better appreciate it.”
“Of course I’ll appreciate it,” Jude said, looking at his phone as he went to post the pic immediately. “You wrote it. You know I love everything you compose.”
“You’re just saying that because I’m your ticket to the glittering world of Hollywood,” Nally said, elbowing Jude’s arm, then keeping his arm in contact with Jude’s.
“Who’s to say I’m not the one getting you all the golden tickets to go wherever you want to go?” Jude pretended to be indignant. “I’m the one who was recognized by a random reporter out there, after all.”
“Yes, well, I’m the one who was approached in a dark corner by my biggest fan,” Nally bantered in return.
“Mate, that was seriously creepy,” Jude said, suddenly dropping his persona and going completely serious.
“Yeah, it was,” Nally agreed. He did a false shiver that covered his actual strange feelings about the encounter.
He didn’t have to think about it for long, though. A few minutes later the lights flashed a few times, the audience quieted down, and then burst into applause as Miles Ferrier walked out onto the small stage in front of the screen.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the London premiere ofTo Serve Him.”
Nally relaxed and settled into his seat as Miles made a speech thanking everyone for coming and specifically thanking the people he believed had made the film so special. Nally was one of the people he thanked, which sent a deep, swooping feeling like everything was about to change through Nally’s gut. The feelingwas profound and sunk its claws into him like it was about to push him off a cliff.
