“Yes, I am,” Drew responded, turning on his bright smile and people-pleasing ways at once. “Are you getting married?” he asked the woman dressed in white as the entire hen party group came nearer.
“Oh my gosh, Drew Oberlin!” the bride, who was already more than a little drunk, squealed. “I love you so much! I’d leave my fiancé for you in a heartbeat.”
She threw herself at Drew, which was alarming enough, but Jessica wasn’t having any of it.
“Back off!” Jessica shouted, stepping between Drew and the bride.
“Jess, it’s fine, really,” Drew tried to calm her.
“It is not fine,” Jessica insisted. “These people can’t just run up to you like that.”
She was right, but her delivery was a problem.
“Oy! Who do you think you are?” the bride demanded, pointing a finger at Jessica. “His girlfriend?”
“You’re never gonna be his girlfriend, mate,” the woman who had originally approached Drew snorted. “He’s gay, you know? The two of them are together.” She glanced at Lee.
“That just goes to show what you know,” Jessica said, glaring at the woman. Whether she caught her slip or not, she went on with, “I’m his best friend and have been for five years.”
“Jess, leave it alone,” Drew said, trying to pull her away from an impending fight.
“Whatever,” the bride said, making a dismissive noise. “You’re nothing.”
“I am not nothing,” Jessica challenged her. “I’m?—”
“Okay, okay! I think that’s enough of that,” Drew laughed, grabbing Jessica around the waist and pulling her back. “Ladies, how about some pictures?”
The hen party loved that, and Lee spent the next ten minutes taking what felt like a million pictures just to calm the ladies down while Jessica sulked off to the side of the building.
Drew did an amazing job of being his brash, attractive self, not only for the ladies of the hen party, but for a few other people who wandered by and recognized him. To all outward appearances, he seemed like he was having a great time, but Lee knew him better by now.
“That was brutal,” Lee whispered to him once they finally broke away from the crowd and started down the street, to where the car Jessica had called to get them would pick them up.
“It’s not how I wanted things to go tonight,” Drew mumbled to him. As soon as they reached Jessica on the corner, he said, “We need to talk.” The seriousness of his tone and expression left Lee in no doubt that the big break-up was about to happen.
“I didn’t like the way they were with you,” Jessica said, standing straighter. Maybe she sensed it, too.
“They were just fans, and yes, fans can be over the top,” Drew said, rubbing his tired eyes. He dropped his arms, sighed, and said, “You don’t own me.”
“Maybe not, but I’m your—” She snapped her mouth shut and looked around.
“We need to talk about that. I think it’s time we admit that things haven’t been great between us for?—”
“The car’s here,” Jessica cut him off. “Come on. Let’s go.” She turned away from him and started to the curb, where the usual black car that drove Drew around had just arrived.
“You go back to the apartment,” Drew called after her, staying right where he was. “I think we need some time apart.”
“What?” Jessica demanded once she reached the car, where the driver had gotten out to hold the door for her.
“Go home,” Drew told her, sounding so beyond stressed that Lee reached over to rest a hand on his back before thinking about it. Drew turned slightly toward him at the touch, then said, “I’m going to hang out with Lee for a while longer. We haven’t really spent any time together in days.”
“Fine,” Jessica sighed. “You two have fun.” She sank to sit in the car with a frustrated huff.
“Is that how you want to end things?” Lee asked, pressing his hand harder into Drew’s back.
Drew turned to look at him. “For now? Yes,” he said. He then twisted so he could grasp Drew’s hand and asked, “Where’s the nearest Tube station? We can get to your house that way, right?”
“We can,” Lee confirmed, insides buzzing. Drew was in a mood, but he couldn’t figure out what kind. All he knew was that if he didn’t help the man to calm down quickly, he might explode.