“I saw the pics of you and Lee being chased by the paparazzi the other night,” Sawyer went on as the production team got everything ready around them. “That looked really scary. They’ve bothered me and my husband, Casper, once or twice, but it looked like they were really after the two of you.”
“It’ll die down,” Drew told him with a shrug. “I’m the flavor of the hour, but something else will come along to take my place any day now.”
Sawyer laughed and thumped him on the shoulder. “Those of us who remember that are the ones who make a lifelong career out of this instead of flashing and fading.”
Drew smiled at him, genuinely appreciating the micro-advice from someone who had been in the business a lot longer than him.
He was able to put aside the shifty feeling that he had to get to know himself all over again as they filmed the scene. They’d reached a point where they were filming a pretty intensemoment that would come at the end of an episode in the middle of the season, which meant he needed to be on his A game. It was a relief to be able to escape into his character.
It was also a bit of a cop-out to escape into filming. He didn’t want to be one of those actors who lost themselves entirely to their craft, but there was no getting around the fact that your first time getting intimate with a guy off-camera when you’d always assumed you were straight threw everything off balance.
His weirded out feelings were probably made worse by the fact that his filming schedule meant he hadn’t had a chance to properly talk to Lee since he’d cleaned up and headed home late the other night. The best they’d been able to do was to text.
Which was exactly what Drew did when there was a short break in filming.
“How’s the writing today?”
He held his breath when three dots appeared immediately.
“Pretty good. I just finished writing a steamy sex scene. Lots of inspiration for that one.”
Drew’s face, his entire body, flushed hot. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. That was Lee’s way of flirting, and it definitely made Drew smile. Lee claimed to be awkward and embarrassing sometimes, but Drew already felt like he knew him better than that. He was actually dead sexy and had a uniquely British kind of confidence that manifested in modesty.
And it turned out he was a total simp for that.
“Let me know if you need some help with that.”
Drew held his breath when he sent the reply. His heart raced. For someone who prided himself on his public persona of being cool and confident and not giving a fuck about anything that came out of his mouth, he sure felt like a dorky teenager trying to impress a crush. In fact, he would definitely be down for helping Lee with research. Wasn’t that the whole reason Lee signed on for their deal?
Three dots appeared, then disappeared, and Drew’s heart beat even harder.
Finally…
“Anytime. [emojis]”
Drew smiled so hard that he caught one of the PAs staring at him. He didn’t care, though. He’d never cared what other people thought about him…
Except this was completely different. He’d fooled around with another guy. A guy he was fake dating. A guy he really liked. A guy he wouldn’t mind dating for real?
Yeah. This was going to be weird.
He’d never been so glad for a long day of filming that ended up running even later than the schedule. Acting really was an escape, and he needed that time to take a step back from himself so he could let everything settle.
Of course, that meant he was exhausted when the studio car finally drove him home close to nine o’clock that night. He’d showered when he’d taken off his costume earlier, since the studio had good facilities, but a big part of him wanted to jump in the shower at home so he could have a long conversation between his hand and his cock about how to cope with his new feelings for Lee.
The lights were already on when he unlocked and stepped through his front door. For all of a millisecond, he wondered if Lee had somehow asked someone to let him into the apartment. He’d already started to smile when Jessica jumped up off the couch and held her arms out, like she’d jumped out of a cake.
“Surprise!”
“Jessica!” Drew rocked back a step, slapping a hand to his heart. His initial shock quickly gave way to creeping dread. “What are you doing here?”
“I finished filming a day early and decided to come back,” she said, skipping across the room and throwing her arms around him. “I missed you so much!”
Drew embraced her stiffly. Fuck. He’d completely forgotten that he had a girlfriend.
Okay, that wasn’t really true. He couldn’t really forget about Jessica. She was a major part of his life. But he had to admit, as guilty as it made him feel, that he hadn’t really felt like he was cheating on anyone by hooking up with Lee.
That said more than he was ready to think about.