“No more. Come on –”
“One shot,” Elijah said. He smiled and picked his up. “We can toast to whatever you want. Promise.”
Grayson rubbed at his temple. This was not the smartest thing he’d ever done, not by a long shot. He picked up the shot glass and looked at the brown liquid as he leant against the bar. “This is the last one, Elijah. Seriously.”
“Yeah,” he said with a smile.
Grayson sighed. “To you being my artist.”
Elijah smiled, tapping his glass against Grayson’s. “Alright, buddy.”
They both threw the drinks back and Grayson winced at the bitter taste going down his throat.
“Fuck.”
“So would you like to dance?” Elijah asked.
Grayson looked at the packed dance floor and shook his head no. “I don’t think there’s any space. There has to be like… a safety hazard with the amount of people in here.”
The biggest bear that Elijah had ever seen walked by and winked at the two of them. Grayson swallowed hard at the sight of the huge man. It made Elijah laugh a bit.
“You’re no fun, Grayson Paul.” He pulled some cash out and put it on the bar.
Grayson smiled, leaving a tip as well before hopping down from the bar stool. He made sure that he could stand up straight and sighed. It was hard.
“I could’ve told you that myself,” he began. “Let’s leave. I can’t hear myself think in this place.”
Elijah steadied him and made no attempts to distance himself when Grayson held onto his shoulders. Sweet. “Where do you want to go, Little Paul?”
“Just… let’s walk,” Grayson said. “We can go anywhere. I just need air. Seriously.”
Elijah smiled. “Washington Square Park is pretty close by. Aren’t you an NYU boy? Let’s go there before they close it for the night.”
Grayson wanted to ask how and why Elijah knew he was an NYU graduate, but he was certain the answer had something to do with Google. He grabbed his coat and tried to stand up on his own. “I love Washington Square Park.”
Elijah picked up his guitar case and nodded. It was freezing out tonight, but they both had alcohol in their system. The cold in the park probably wouldn’t affect them that much. It might even sober them up a bit.
“You can sing my song for me,” Grayson said, walking ahead of him.
Elijah smiled as he followed him. “Seriously.”
∞
Oscar looked down at his girlfriend’s textbooks at the foot of his bed as Eleanor paced back and forth across his bedroom. She was on the phone with her doctor friend, Bryce, who was apparently giving her an update on the time he spent with Grayson that evening. Oscar could tell by the look she was making that it hadn’t gone too well. Eleanor was pinching the bridge of her nose, and she had those worry wrinkles forming on her forehead. It was pretty reminiscent of what the blonde did when her boyfriend did something utterly stupid.
He reached for his cell phone behind him when he felt it vibrate. One of his and Grayson’s college friends were ‘checking in’. He could wait.
“What do you mean his boyfriend showed up?” Eleanor asked.
Oscar looked up and was very confused. Boyfriend? Grayson and boyfriend were a combination he hadn’t used together in a very long time.
“He doesn’t have a boyfriend, Bryce. That was the whole point of us trying to get him out there – yeah – okay, I understand what you’re saying, and no – I’m not accusing you of lying, but I don’t see how it’s possible for a boyfriend he doesn’t have to interrupt your date.”
That was enough. Oscar pressed Grayson’s name in his contacts and tapped on the phone icon. As it rang, he rolled over onto his back and stared at his bedroom ceiling. If Grayson thought that he would hold back on the PDA around him after tonight, he was extremely wrong. Oscar was going to do the absolute most around Grayson.
The phone rang twice before going to voicemail.
“Oh hell no,” he said. “Did this fool press ignore?”
“Shh!” Eleanor pressed a finger to her lips and then gestured to her phone call, mouthing ‘Bryce is upset’.
Oscar didn’t care about Bryce right now. Bryce failed to give his best friend the lay of his life, so Bryce wasn’t worthy of his time or compassion. He opened his text message with his best friend and decided to contact him in all-caps. All-caps would let him know that he was serious.
Oscar:
I KNOW YOU DIDN’T JUST IGNORE MY CALL, GRAYSON ALEXANDER PAUL. WHERE ARE YOU?? WHY HAVEN’T YOU TEXTED ME BACK YOU PIECE OF SHIT?
He hit send and sat up, pulling at his curly hair. He wished that it was Eleanor pulling at his hair right now. She stopped pacing at least, but leant against his mantle as she listened to whatever nonsense her friend was spewing.
“Get off the phone, babe,” he said; just loud enough for her to hear.
She looked over and nodded, shielding the mouthpiece of her cellphone. “One minute. I’m trying to make sense of this.”
Oscar nodded. “One minute,” he reiterated.
Grayson:
Stp yelling and scxreaming at me Odcar
Grayson:
Osxcar
Grayson:
Oscar
He stared at his screen and sighed, trying not to laugh. “Welp. He’s drunk.”
“Goodnight. I’m sorry again,” Eleanor said. “I’ll talk to him.”
She hung up her phone a second later. Oscar scratched at his jaw as he tried to read the next message that came in.
Grayson:
Srsly. Eleanor mde me go on they date frm HELL!!1!!1
“Oh dear lord.”
His girlfriend was pulling her blond hair back into a bun as she looked at him. “Well according to Bryce, they were having a wonderful time and everything was going great.”
Oscar looked up at her in disbelief. That wasn’t exactly lining up with the drunken account he was getting right now from Grayson. ‘Everything was going great’ and ‘date from hell’ weren’t synonymous in any stretch of the imagination.
“Go on.”
“But,” she continued. “Somewhere along the line, the restaurant’s musician came over to the table and started screaming at Grayson. He said things were over between them and tossed a drink in his face. Then Grayson apologized and went running after him. Now Bryce is mad at me for sending him out on a ‘date’ with a ‘man whore’, as he calls him.”
“My friend is the furthest thing from a whore,” Oscar said. “In fact, I’d love for him to get his slut on every now and again, but that’s not the type of guy he is.”
Eleanor rubbed her temple. “Have you heard from him, babe?”
“He’s drunk-texting me now.” Oscar looked back down at his phone and began to type out a response as his girlfriend walked over, sitting beside him. “According to him, the date was terrible from the beginning.”
Oscar:
Where are you, G? I’ll come now
“Date from hell?” Eleanor was horrified.
Oscar looked at her. She looked like she felt really bad about all of this.
“God. I just wanted to help him have a good time,” she groaned. “Bryce seemed like a decent guy to me… I mean he’s really sweet and everyone at the hospital loves him. His guy of 5 years left him and Grayson seemed lonely so I thought –”
“Stop it.” Oscar closed the distance between them and kissed her softly on the lips, effectively putting an end to her rambling.
She sighed into it, and after a couple seconds, she pulled away with a nod. “I just wanted to help.”
“You did your part,” Oscar told her. “It was up to them to see if it worked, and I’m assuming it didn’t.”
Eleanor deadpanned at him. “You’d be right to assume that, Ossie.”
“But,” he continued. “No one could’ve predicted that, alright? This isn’t your fault.”
Grayson:
Walking with Elijha. He has the cutests freckles. Srsly.
Eleanor read the text over his shoulder and her eyes went wide. “Wait. What?”
Oscar turned to look at her just as confused. “He’s with Elijah? I wonder how that happened…”
“Let it be,” she said. “Maybe he’ll enjoy himself after all. Just… ask him not to drink anymore please?”
He ignored that. Liquor was not the enemy right now. There was nothing like a little alcohol to help loosen the tension, and Oscar was hoping it would pry his legs open like a … like a wrench. Or a tool of some kind. Oscar wasn’t exactly a handy guy, so he couldn’t really think of an appropriate tool analogy, but he hoped that someone would part Grayson’s legs like the Red Sea.
That was a good one.
Oscar:
Promise me that neither of you will drive anything and that you’ll call me if you need me?
Eleanor stood up and walked back over to her books. “I don’t even know if I can focus on anything right now. Luckily, this assignment isn’t due until Friday.”
He licked his lips and turned around. “I can help you take your mind off of this, beautiful. Tell me what you want to do.”
“Nothing until he’s here safely.” She flopped down on the bed and her midriff showed when the sweater she wore rose a little higher. Oscar bit his lip.
Oscar:
On second thought, my girlfriend is worried about you and I don’t think I’m going to get any until she isn’t, so maybe you should get your ass home. Thanks.
∞
Elijah slowly strolled down the city block. Grayson was close by his side. They were both a bit tipsy – his new friend even more so than him – and they had both been looking down at their phones for the past couple blocks. Elijah was reading texts from his sister about Lily. She pooped! And they were both fine – Josie was off today and that was good, but she had to work a double on Saturday and would let him know if she needed him. Elijah usually had to work at Amo Pasta on Saturday evenings for a couple hours, but he’d find a way to make it work if he had to keep her for the day.
There were texts from Fallon, too. He was supposed to hang out with his friend and had totally forgotten all about it. Fallon and a couple of their friends were having a get-together at her place, and he was supposed to head over there after his shift, but he was with Grayson. It hadn’t been very long, but Elijah liked being with Grayson. He knew if anyone would understand, it would be Fallon.
Then there was a message from Tony asking him if he had the time to do something tonight. Even if Elijah did have the time, he would’ve said no. It was bad enough he saw him twice at all, forget about two nights in a row. Tony seemed to think he was the exception the rulebook, but he wasn’t.
He wondered who Grayson was texting as he looked over at him. His eyebrows were furrowed like it was a serious message.
“How do you spell tomorrow again? Is it – Is it one ‘m’?”
Elijah smiled. “Dude. Next time I’m taking you out for ice cream. No more grown-up beverages for you.”
Grayson’s tongue was in the corner of his mouth as he finished constructing his text message.
They turned the corner on West 4th Street. It was still pretty early in December, but the Christmas spirit was high Downtown. New York usually started to get ready for the holiday season as soon as Halloween ended. Like the very second after Halloween was over. Elijah looked at the Christmas lights surrounding the city and smiled.
“It’s t-o-m-o-r-r-o-w, by the way.”
“I figured it out no thanks to you.”
Elijah laughed. “So what is it that you’re doing tomorrow, Grayson Paul?”
Grayson sent the text and then looked up to see where they were. He could make out the entrance of the park from here and was happy that it didn’t look too crowded. The last thing he wanted to do right now was spend more time than was necessary with a bunch of NYU students. He happened to be one of them not that long ago and he knew how annoying they could be.
“I’m an assistant.”
Elijah wasn’t exactly expecting that to be said. In fact, he was expecting an actual answer to what he asked. Crazy. “I’m sorry. What?”
Grayson really wished he had his gloves. He put his hands to his mouth and blew on them, rubbing his palms together. “You may think that because I’m ‘the son of Harvey Paul’ that I have some cool gig at Millennium, but I’m just an assistant. Seriously. Most of my duties are administration related. I use Microsoft Office a lot. I take notes during meetings. I answer phone calls. You know. I assist.”
Elijah was a bit taken aback, but he nodded. It was still a better job than the one he had, but he couldn’t deny that he was shocked. They entered the park underneath the arch and he looked around for a moment. Grayson stopped walking when he did.
“Want to go over to the piano?” Elijah asked.
He nodded. “Sure.”
They made their way over, past a small group that was doing some sort of Shakespeare in the park performance. Grayson stuffed his hands into his pockets.
“How are you asking me to be your artist if you’re just an assistant? Not that there’s anything wrong with being an assistant, but,” Elijah trailed off, turning to face Grayson. “I’m curious how that would work …”
That was the thing.
Grayson neared the piano bench and quickly took a seat. He needed to sit down badly. The world seemed to be on a tilt since they left that bar ten minutes ago. Elijah sat down next to him after dropping his bag and guitar.
“I was hoping you could help change that for me,” Grayson began. “My dad has –” He accidentally let his elbow rest on the keys and then jumped at the dreadful sound it emitted.
Elijah smiled at him, obviously entertained.
“Sorry. I’m actually good at piano. I’m good at a many of instruments.”
“Show me.”
“I’m drunk.” Grayson started to fidget with his hat and it reminded Elijah of what Lily did when she didn’t want to wear it.
“That you are.”
“But as I was saying, my dad has me working with The Pretty Committee and I’m starting to think it’s a trial run, you know? I think… I think that if I do really well with them, like if I promote them and if they’re successful, that he’s going to let me… he’s going to trust me with other artists. He’ll respect my vision more; you understand?”
Elijah nodded. “I get that. But what in the hell is a Pretty Committee?”
Grayson chuckled a bit. That was his reaction to them at first, too, but the good thing was, it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. “The Pretty Committee is a girl group. They’re cute kids. Have you heard that one song… uh, what is it? He’s the Bonnie to my Clyde and I love him like whoa!”
Elijah smiled at how Grayson bopped his head from side to side as he sang the lyrics. “They showed that video on The Ellen Show. I’m guessing those are your girls?”
Grayson took a deep breath, placing his fingers on the keys and playing softly. It wasn’t a melody that Elijah had ever heard before, but it was beautiful.
“My father wasted no time signing them after that video went viral. He gave them their name. Now, I have to play a part in making them superstars. Otherwise, he’s… my dad won’t let me do anything but assist. I have a feeling if I’m responsible for them flopping, he’d leave the company in someone else’s hands. That’s the feeling I’m getting.”
Elijah nodded at what he was told. What he was getting from all of this was that Little Paul wanted to bring in his own talent so that Big Paul would know that he was the real deal and capable of making sure that Millennium was a success, and Little Paul had chosen him. That was quite an honor, but Elijah didn’t think he’d be the right fit. Not at Millennium Records. Not at any record label, honestly.
“I hope that works out for you,” he said shortly.
“It could,” Grayson said. “I mean; the market is there for the girls to be successful. They have our best songwriters on hand and our best producers workin
g with them. I won’t have a problem with promotion and getting them airplay on the radio. We have tons of money in the budget to do a cool music video that’ll get them loads of hits on VEVO.”
Elijah nodded. He could feel the but coming in all of this, and he didn’t want to hear it. He just wanted to look at Grayson, because he looked so good right now. His lips looked really good, too. Elijah wasn’t much of a kisser – he wasn’t a kisser at all, actually. What was the point of it? Other forms of foreplay made more sense to him. He wasn’t one for intimacy, anyway. Besides, he had a feeling Grayson would kick him in the nuts if he even tried anything, but he could admit that the guy had nice lips.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I don’t know.” Grayson stopped playing the soft melody and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Where’s my song. You owe me a Disney song.”
The small crowd that had been forming when Grayson started to play began to walk off when they figured that the music had stopped. Elijah was happy about that. He didn’t want an audience right now.
“I’ll sing to you as soon as you tell me what the problem is.”
Grayson laughed. It was more of a drunken laugh than it was a laugh of someone finding something funny. Elijah moved a little closer to him on the piano bench and looked at him.
“Can I be honest?”
Grayson nodded. “I welcome that in friendship, actually.”
So they were friends. That was good to know. Confirmation was always nice to have. Elijah licked his lips and looked down at the keys. “It would be cool to be the guy you brought in – the guy that auditioned for your father and made him see that you can definitely recruit talent. But here’s where it gets tricky…”
“Why does it have to get tricky?” Grayson asked him.
“Because I’m me,” Elijah said shortly. “I’m Elijah Dawson. I’m pretty much scum. I hate being the center of attention, so having the media – having the world in my business is probably the worst thing that could happen for me. Oh. I’m gay, so I don’t think that’ll help your album sales much – ”
“It’s 2017,” Grayson said. “There are gay artists who have no problem being themselves in public and still selling records. Have you heard of Frank Ocean? Sam Smith?”
Something Real Page 9
