As soon as he spotted Lee, however, his face lit into genuine happiness. He tried to stand so he could greet Lee, but Lee was already seated.
“You look fine. More than fine.” Drew’s assessing glance swept over him before his smile tightened momentarily. The touch of fear only lasted a second before his genuine smile was back. “How was the writing today?”
“Fantastic,” Lee said, pulling his chair closer to the table and settling.
His knees bumped against Drew’s under the small table.
Drew didn’t pull away.
“I wrote three chapters today, which is probably a record for me,” Lee went on.
“Oh yeah? And this is on the new, contemporary book?”
“Yep. The one with the rockstar and the cellist.”
“I can’t wait to read that. It sounded like a winner when you told me the plot the other day.”
Fake boyfriend Drew was definitely going to ruin him for other men. Lee had never dated a guy who was interested in what he wrote beyond acting out the sex scenes. Drew had an incredible sense of story, though, and had given him a few ideas as they’d discussed the plot and character arcs over Chinese takeaway one day last week.
“You will let me read the first draft, won’t you?” Drew went on. “I’m almost finished with book three of your dragon series, and I’m hungry for more.”
The hunger in Drew’s eyes was for more than just books, but Lee didn’t have the first clue how to bring the subject up to see if there was something Drew wanted to talk about.
He did have another idea for how to tickle his way around the subject of what might really be going on between the two of them after the restaurant’s instructor for the evening came over to askif they had any preferences for their meal and to tell them about the student chefs who would be cooking for them.
“So is this a private meal between the two of us or are we out and about to intentionally have our picture taken together?” he asked, reaching for the glass of wine the instructor had poured so he could both hide behind it and call on some liquid courage.
Drew reached for his glass with a shrug, blushing slightly. “Anytime we leave the house there’s a chance we’ll end up splashed all over social media by midnight.”
It wasn’t much of an answer. At least not the words. The way Drew avoided his eyes told him much more.
He nudged Drew’s leg under the table. “Are you worried?” he asked.
“About what?” Drew put his wine glass down and met his eyes, pretending to be casual. Or maybe he actually was more relaxed now that they were focused on each other, Lee couldn’t tell.
That was one of the more aggravating things about their relationship, whatever it was. Lee wasn’t just dodging his own feelings, he kept trying to figure Drew’s out for him as well. It was just his luck that he was used to crafting entire stories and having complete control of everything, and Drew was used to playing whatever part was required of him at any given time.
“I guess it’s not important,” Lee said, resting back in his chair. “It’s just that some of the comments on social media lately have been…a lot.”
“People get like that,” Drew said, relaxing more as well. “They fall into these parasocial relationships where they think they actually know me and have a say in how I live my life, which they don’t.”
“You are the author of your own destiny,” Lee said with a smile.
Drew met that with a dazzling, intimate smile of his own. “I thought you were the author in this relationship.”
Shivers of want and need swirled through Lee. “Relationship” had rolled so easily off Drew’s tongue, like he hadn’t even thought about it.
Lee loved it.
He was in such deep trouble.
“How’s filming coming along?” he asked.
The question was right up there with “How’s the weather?” in terms of conversation starters between the two of them. Drew launched right into his recap of the day’s events, good, tedious, and funny.
The conversation kept them going until the chefs brought out their meals to explain and serve them themselves. Both of the young men gaped when they saw who would be eating their food.
“Drew Oberlin,” one of them said, starry-eyed and flushed. “I love your work. Like, I love it so much.Cookedwas everything to me.”