“It is,” she answered with an exhausted sigh. “I just didn’t think you two would be all over each other in the pics.”
Drew frowned, wondering what she was talking about. He and Lee had made the decision to go a few places where they would really be seen over the weekend. The London Eye was one of those places, since he’d always wanted to see it, despite Lee’s implication it was a tourist trap. The two of them had been photographed standing close together as they looked out over the spreading cityscape. Sure, he’d had his arm around Lee’s waist, but that was hardly the two of them being all over each other.
Of course, he was sure the pic Jessica was talking about was the one where the wielder of the cell phone had snapped them just as he’d turned to grin at Lee and Lee had looked back at him. Even he had to admit that picture said a thousand words.
He’d spent far too much time staring at that picture, trying to avoid the words it was saying.
“Everything is fine,” Drew said, looking around to see if anyone from the crew was listening in. “Lee and I are friends. Simon Underhill still wants a meeting. Things are doing what they’re supposed to do.”
“Are you sure about that?” Jessica asked flatly.
“I am.” And because Drew knew why Jessica had really called, he asked, “How are you? How are things going with your shoot?”
“I’m exhausted,” she said, relief that he’d finally asked how she was doing heavy in her voice. “I’ve had four AM calls for the last week, and it’s really grinding me down. Plus, I’m not sure if the director likes me all that much. He keeps telling me what to do.”
“That’s a director’s job on set,” Drew said, grinning a little. Jessica always had been hard to direct. It was a good thing her acting instincts were strong. “You’re supposed to listen to him to make your performance better.”
“I know, I know,” she huffed. “But I didn’t go to acting school for nothing, you know.”
Drew laughed and spent the next five minutes alternately listening to her complain about the job she’d been so eager to get and coaching her through ways to make her experience better. She really was a good person underneath all her fuss and immaturity, and Drew was convinced she would grow out of her moods and stubbornness one day if she really wanted the career she said she wanted.
He was a little relieved when she finally ended the call. Even if it had been nice to think and talk about something other than his own problems for a minute. The two of them were friends, but talking to Jessica didn’t feel the same as talking to Lee.
He was right back to talking about himself as soon as he called his agent.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of pics of you with Lee Cresswell online in the last week,” Avery said as soon as the hellos were done. “Anything you’d like to tell me?”
Drew felt like a kid with his hand caught in the candy jar. “Nothing I haven’t already explained,” he said. He’d come clean to Avery about his plans with Lee, and although he wasn’t really sure what Avery thought of the arrangement, she’d gone along with it.
“I’m fielding a lot of questions and requests from people who want you to make a definitive statement,” Avery went on. “Half a dozen media outlets have approached me about being the ones to officially break the news about your sexuality.”
A rush of anxiety swept through Drew. Talk about a topic he was uncomfortable with discussing. He was still grappling with the whole thing himself and alternately questioning and running away from the questions.
“I don’t want to dissect my sexuality in public,” he said, sending another look around the set to see whether anyone was listening. Sawyer had come to sit relatively near him, but he seemed engrossed in whatever was on his phone.
“Either way,” Avery went on. “You’re reaching a point where you’re going to have to say something about Lee, to protect him if nothing else.”
A whole new set of worries hit Drew. He knew Lee was getting a lot of attention because of him these days, but so far, Lee had said he could handle it. How much longer would that be true? The British tabloid press was notoriously persistent.
“I’ll talk to him about it and see what he thinks.”
From there, the conversation turned to more practical things, upcoming projects and offers that had come in. Drew was glad to focus on something other than his personal life for a bit.
But as always seemed to happen with things he was trying not to think about too hard, his personal life wouldn’t let him go.
“How are things going with Lee?”
The text came in from Abby while he was in the middle of filming another scene. She’d left the message an hour earlier, but that didn’t stop Drew from calling her as he headed back to wardrobe to change out of his costume at the end of the day.
“Do you just want to hear about my fake boyfriend or do you want to know how I’m doing, too?” he teased Abby as soon as she answered the call.
“From the look of things, that’s the same question right now,” Abby answered.
“You saw the pictures, I guess,” he said, unable to wipe the smile from his face. It had always been easier to be himself around Abby and to say what he really thought. Maybe that was because Abby had struggled for her entire life, the entire time Drew had known her, to be herself and to be accepted for it. He owed it to her to be as transparent as she’d always been with him.
“I did,” she answered. “You two look amazing together.”
There was a long pause after that, as if Abby was waiting for him to confess something.