It went against everything he stood for as a musician.
He took a deep breath, took another nip from his coffee, and entered Studio B for the session. Hopefully he would find the strength to deal with this.
Chapter 3
Elijah pulled the hood off his head as he walked into Symphony Café. The place was a bit packed, but he wasn’t surprised at all. It was lunch time in the middle of New York City, and this place served caffeinated beverages. Of course there was a crowd.
He looked around for a guy that fit the description of this ‘Grayson’ fellow – blond guy in a fancy suit. He was happy that he didn’t work near the financial district because finding him would’ve been quite the task.
After a scan of the café, all Elijah saw was a bunch of hipster types on their laptops, a few older women waiting for their orders, and a group of tourists with maps in their hands discussing what they should get.
His watch read 1:11. There was plenty time.
Elijah dug in his pocket for a few bucks as he approached the front of the line. May as well see what the hype is over this place, he told himself.
“Good afternoon! What can I get for you today?”
The cashier seemed nice enough. Elijah returned a friendly smile before looking up at the menu. “Can I try the white hot chocolate – a medium, and uh…” he trailed off, looking at the assortment of sweets. “I’ll try one of your cinnamon rolls. Hot, please.”
“Of course,” she said with a smile, ringing him up. “Can I have your name?”
“Elijah.”
The tourists walked up behind him, apparently ready to order. He turned around to look for Grayson once more, but the person who walked in was someone hoping to solicit knock-off DVDs.
“Thank you, Elijah. Your total is $4.99,” the woman handed the cup she’d written his name on to her coworker and accepted the cash from him. He stepped to the side; hands in his pocket as he waited.
This café was cute. It reminded him of a place you’d find in a much smaller town, actually. It was homey with paintings of nature and an old Billy Joel song playing. The Christmas decorations around the shop were just the perfect amount of over-the-top, down to the large Christmas tree in the corner decorated with all-things-coffee ornaments. Elijah hummed along as he watched the group in front of him accept their orders and make their way to a table.
Tony:
Hey. Free tonight?
Elijah reached for his phone after feeling the vibration. The message on the screen made him lift an eyebrow. Which one was Tony again?
It couldn’t have been a good sign that he didn’t know who the hell was texting him, he supposed, and he could hear Fallon and his ex and even his mother telling him that he needed to slow down and maybe focus on one guy, but that wasn’t really the type of guy he was.
At least not right now.
He thought for a while, and decided to scroll up through their message history to see if he’d find any clues.
Oh yeah.
Tony was the bartender from Thanksgiving night. He was the NYU student who thought Elijah was full of crap for his rules, but still went home with him anyway. They had fun together that night, and Tony ended up being a decent lay, but Elijah just wasn’t really the type to double dip.
Not unless it had been phenomenal the first time around.
Elijah:
Little busy tonight.
It wasn’t true and Tony probably knew it, but Elijah wasn’t interested.
Tony:
Well then maybe tomorrow? Don’t get me wrong – I know you have your silly little rules …
Tony:
It’s just that I got this prostate massager that I wanted to try out and I wanted you to be the one to help…
Elijah’s eyes went wide as he stared at the screen.
Okay. Maybe now he was a wee bit interested. But only if this guy didn’t think this was going to become a thing.
Elijah:
I’m free tomorrow, but you know my rules.
Tony:
Afraid you’re going to start liking me or something? I just thought you’d be interested in helping me out.
Elijah:
Then I’ll see you tomorrow. Just don’t use it without me.
“Elijah?”
He turned around and smiled at the guy who was handing him his order. “Thank you.”
The table he got was one right at the window. He sat down and decided he’d hang out until Grayson showed up.
Hopefully he’d show up. It was his phone after all.
Tony:
Promise I won’t.
∞
Grayson walked into Symphony Café at about 1:25. He had lost track of time after sitting in on the session with The Pretty Committee. He also wondered if he’d lost brain cells. They were sweet girls, but in between takes of a song about unrequited love which included the line ‘You’ve been run-run-running through my mind but we’re run-run-running out of time,’ Grayson got to hear them discuss which member of 5SOS was the cutest.
He wanted to punch himself in the nuts.
When he walked inside, he glanced around for someone who matched the description. Pretty quickly, he’d found a dude in a hunter green Nike hoodie, sipping from a Styrofoam cup and reading what looked to be a flyer. The guy looked to be a little bit younger than him. He was kind of cute.
Like. Okay. He was really cute.
The first thing Grayson really noticed were the few freckles he had on his cheeks. He had dark brown hair that was cut low in the back and on the sides but styled long in the front, falling over his face. His eyebrows scrunched as he looked down at the paper, and then someone came over to him and attempted to sell him bootleg DVDs. He looked up, shook his head no, and brushed his hair back with his fingers.
“Sonny!” It was Eleanor. She smiled widely, obviously not expecting him, and waved him over.
Grayson grinned back, but held up a finger. It was then that he realized Elijah had spotted him. Elijah was staring, and his eyes widened as realization set in.
Yeah. He was attractive.
Grayson smiled as he walked over to his window seat, politely telling the DVD guy that he was not interested and stepping past him. He loosened his scarf a bit and spoke.
“You fit the description of someone I’m looking for named Elijah. If you’re not him, I apologize.”
Elijah hoped that his jaw hadn’t dropped as he looked at this guy. He didn’t know why he was imagining a stiff dude in a suit – one of those overweight guys who worked at huge record labels and robbed kids like him dry before they could even read their contract. That wasn’t at all what he was looking at.
Grayson was fucking gorgeous. He looked too perfect if that made any sense. Like the model type that he’d fantasize about when he was a teenager, flipping through dirty magazines and trying not to get caught by his parents. Grayson’s lips were soft and pink, not that he was looking at his lips – Oh God I’m looking at his lips – and as he smiled at him, there was this dimple in his cheek that probably drove all the girls crazy. His eyes were the prettiest shade of green Elijah had ever seen. This guy was tall and gorgeous.
“You’re definitely not the guy in the background photo.”
Grayson was confused at first, and then he remembered that Elijah had seen his wallpaper photo of Oscar. “Oh, no. Yeah. I’m not him.”
He could feel his cheeks reddening as this guy looked at him. There was a sexy badboy vibe coming from him and that was a red flag for Grayson. He looked away to distract himself, noticing that Elijah had already ordered something.
“Shit. I wanted to at least pay for your things since you were nice enough to reach out to me, you know? I’m sorry that I ran so late.”
Elijah licked his lips and smiled, sitting up a little straighter. “Don’t even worry about that. It was the right thing to do.”
Grayson nodded. Not that he was staring or anything, but he noticed a hole in Elijah’s lip where a piercing may�
�ve been. Then he found himself trying to imagine what Elijah looked like with that piercing in. Focus, Grayson. “Well, I just want you to know that I’m very appreciative of you doing the right thing. Not everyone would have.”
Elijah smiled back at him. Seriously. Grayson was gorgeous. Say something to him. Anything…
“So …” Grayson trailed off and finished unbuttoning his coat. “Can I have my phone back now?”
“Oh!” Elijah stood up and dug into his pocket.
Grayson noticed that he wasn’t lying about the couple inches thing – Elijah was about 6’ and the height of his hair made up for the difference. He took a step back in attempt to distance their closeness and give the guy some space.
“I turned it off to preserve the battery a bit. Like I mentioned, I did step on it, but I cleaned the surface and you’re good to go.”
Grayson accepted the phone with a sigh of relief. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.” He immediately turned it on. “I didn’t realize how much I relied on it until I was in a half-hour long meeting with no Candy Crush.”
Elijah smiled, biting his bottom lip. “I hear you.”
Fuck. Grayson made himself look away.
“I’m glad I could help,” Elijah added.
They continued to stand there a little longer and eventually, Grayson cleared his throat and looked towards his friend, Eleanor. “I’m - um, I’m going to get something for the road and head back to the office.”
Elijah checked the time on his cell phone. There were a couple messages from his friend Tony and he quickly put it back on sleep mode. “Yeah, I have a few minutes before I have to head back as well. Would you like me to walk with you?”
Grayson wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that. In fact, he was pretty sure he was telling this lie about having to head back to the office so that he wouldn’t have to deal with looking at Elijah. “Only if we’re walking in the same direction.”
Elijah waved him off with a small smile. “No matter. I’ll wait for you here.”
Grayson didn’t want to argue. That would be weird. Instead he nodded, returned a small smile, and walked off to the register.
He could feel eyes glued to him as he walked away.
There were multiple texts from Oscar and his father when he looked down at the screen. Grayson decided he’d wait until he was back in the office to sort through the messages. Two people were ahead of him in line and Eleanor was the only one on register. Grayson was grateful that even though it was crowded, there didn’t seem to be a large-lunch hour rush.
Eleanor hurried through the two customers so that she could quickly get to Grayson. She thought back to the deal they had made 5 days ago and decided that if Grayson was going to start seeing the cutie whose order she took earlier, she’d forget about all of that.
Grayson walked up with a wide smile. She could tell he was genuinely happy to see her, and that was sweet. It was nice having her boyfriend’s best friend like her as a person. Now if only she could get Oscar’s parents to feel that way when they met.
If they ever met. But that was another story.
“Hello there,” Grayson said. “I know I just got here and all, but can I get a cheese croissant to go. A coffee, too. You know how I like it.”
Eleanor smiled at him.
Grayson pulled at his scarf as he waited patiently. “Well?”
“He’s cute,” she sang, still not ringing him up.
Grayson laughed and looked down at the counter. This wasn’t happening. “Okay. Funny story; I lost my phone this morning when I was running to work because your wonderful boyfriend hogged the bathroom. That guy happened to find it. We met up here so he could return it. That’s all.”
Eleanor kept smiling.
“Eleanor!”
“What?” she asked innocently.
“A coffee and a cheese croissant. Please?”
She playfully rolled her eyes before turning around to make his coffee. “It’s on the house, big guy. So tell me… are you and Bryce still on for Wednesday night or should I break his heart and tell him it’s off?”
Grayson picked up one of the complimentary mints and twirled it in his hand. He wondered if he should pretend to be with this Elijah guy just to get out of a date with Bryce, but he didn’t want to do that to Eleanor. She’d been holding up her end of the bargain so far. Besides, all he had to do was hang out with Bryce one time to satisfy her. He watched her pour the coffee as he answered.
“Bryce and I are still on for Wednesday. I assume we’re still going to the cheesy restaurant you chose downtown until further notice. I’m keeping my word.”
Eleanor looked back at him and smirked.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
She told Andy to make a croissant with cheese and walked back over to the counter, placing her friend’s beverage down in front of him. “I believe you. I’m just saying, he’s really cute.”
“And how do you know he isn’t straight?”
“Because he’s eating a cinnamon roll as he stares at your ass, Sonny.”
Grayson wasn’t sure if she was bullshitting him or not, but for some weird reason, he believed her. Eleanor wouldn’t joke about that, and it was pretty obvious that Elijah was somewhat interested no matter how he identified sexually. Still, he scoffed and looked away.
“Well that’s not what this is at all.”
She smiled. “Step aside, hot stuff.”
He moved over and smiled politely at the person walking up to the counter. In the back of his mind, Grayson wondered how long it would be before Oscar would know something about this situation. Eleanor would probably tell him everything, right down to the whole ass-staring. Out of curiosity, he glanced back at the window, pretending to look out of it so that he could see if Elijah was actually looking at him. The man looked up from his cinnamon roll and waved. Grayson waved back.
It wasn’t long before he had his croissant. Grayson thanked Eleanor and said goodbye. He’d probably be seeing her in a matter of hours. After she was done with her evening classes, she usually made her way over to their place.
He took a drink of his coffee and walked over to the door. Elijah was gathering his things, drinking the last of what was in his cup, and tossing it all out. He smiled at Grayson and gestured with a head nod.
“So how far are we walking, Mr. Paul?”
Grayson pushed the door open and held it for him. “Mr. Paul is my dad.”
“Oh, I know. I just Googled ‘Millennium Records Grayson’ because you looked really familiar. Turns out that you’re Grayson Paul.”
Grayson smiled as Elijah walked past him and out the door. “Okay, creep.”
“The son of the mighty Harvey Paul. That has to have its perks.”
He shrugged, heading south on Park Avenue.
Elijah put his hood up and walked beside him. He was sure that they must’ve been a sight together – one guy in an outfit you’d see in a 5th Avenue window, the other looking like he threw together an outfit to go grocery shopping in.
“It does, I guess. But the thing is, I’d rather be known as Grayson Paul as opposed to ‘the son of Harvey Paul’. My father and I aren’t really anything alike.”
“Then tell me something about Grayson Paul,” Elijah said.
Grayson smiled a bit and looked off down the city block. “Well, I never said I was interesting. Let’s talk about you instead.”
“Eh.”
“What is it that you do besides make the world a better place for clumsy guys like me?”
“I’m no hero,” Elijah told him. “I’m just a guy that works in the mailroom of a law firm on 50th Street. Funny story: I moved away for college and got a degree in psychology because the guy I had a crush on in high school was going to major in psychology. Basically wasted four years of my life and then came back to New York to do absolutely nothing with myself.”
Grayson looked over at him before they crossed the street. So he was at least attracted to guys.
That was good to know. Not because Grayson wanted there to be something between them or anything. He was just wondering. He shook his head of his rambling thoughts and finally made himself reply.
“That’s dedication, man. Did you even find the courses interesting or… did you at least get with this guy?”
Elijah smiled, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “He was not interested at all. And I didn’t find the courses interesting – at least not at first. I thought about switching to something I would actually enjoy, but then I had this professor in my Spring Semester. My god. The fantasies.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Grayson smiled, shaking his head. “There seems to be a theme here. Hot guys can get you to make really ridiculous decisions.”
He got a laugh and Elijah licked his lips as he moved in a little closer. “So I’ve been told.”
Grayson’s phone went off and he sighed as he reached for it. It was his father’s secretary, Mrs. Jones. He’d call her back. “So what are you into besides hot guys and working in mailrooms?”
Elijah wondered if it was a boyfriend that Grayson was ignoring as he very carefully tucked his phone into the inside pocket of his peacoat. He considered saying that he dabbled in songwriting and did shows around town, but that wasn’t the thing to say to someone who worked at a huge record label without sounding like a douchebag. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders.
“I go out from time to time. There are a few bars I hop. I’m also friends with avid Knicks fans, so every once in a while, me and my buds will StubHub tickets and show up at a home game.”
Grayson nodded. Because of his father, he was allowed in the VIP suite at Madison Square Garden whenever he wanted to go. He just couldn’t give a jack shit about sports. Oscar took better advantage of that. Also, he wasn’t about to tell a guy he’d just met that. There wasn’t exactly such a thing as a humble brag when you were ‘the son of Harvey Paul’.
The rest of the walk was filled with conversation about their favorite bars to go to in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Elijah wanted to slip in an invite for Grayson to join him sometime, but he didn’t exactly feel comfortable doing that. Don’t get him wrong – it’d be awesome to fuck this guy’s brains out, but for some reason, he didn’t exactly want a one-and-done with Grayson. He wasn’t one to believe in fate, but maybe he found this guy’s phone for a reason. It couldn’t have been just so they’d fuck and never hang out again.
Something Real Page 4
