Something Real

by Nellie Christine

  The baby girl was beautiful – her brown eyes matched those of her uncle’s.

  “He’s missing out,” Grayson said. And it was true. He didn’t understand how anyone could want to turn down time with their child. He honestly hoped that wouldn’t be the type of man he became. Grayson forced a smile and waved at her, taking a couple steps forward.

  “Hey, Lily.”

  She kept her eyes locked on him, but remained quiet. Grayson approached the couch and took a seat, undoing her coat.

  “You can call me Sonny. Your uncle and I were just hanging out,” he said.

  She looked down at his work as he pulled the purple coat off and put her hat inside the sleeve. “We went ice skating. He’s terrible.”

  Lily stared up at him, and slowly, a smile began to form on her lips. Grayson smiled back.

  “But he’s a great guy. I like him a lot, just don’t tell him. Our secret?”

  Elijah walked back into the room with a Hard Rock Café t-shirt and a pair of sweats for Grayson. He smiled at the sight of them together on the couch – Grayson running his mouth and Lily looking up at him like he was telling her the world’s greatest story. He could understand. Grayson could probably recite his ABCs and he’d have Elijah’s complete attention.

  Grayson let Lily take his hand in both of hers as he kept talking. “I bet you can sing, too. You probably taught him everything he knows.” He smiled. “Oh yeah. I’m thinking about asking your uncle to be my date to the holiday party at Millennium.”

  “Are you?” Elijah snuck up behind them and kissed Grayson on the cheek. “What’s there to think about?”

  Grayson accepted the clothes from Elijah and watched as he tossed his niece up into the air and caught her.

  “Just in case I want to take someone else, of course,” he answered.

  Elijah rolled his eyes, making his boyfriend laugh. “I’m not kissing you for another 24 hours because of that.”

  It was Grayson’s turn to roll his eyes now. “Yeah. Okay.”

  They both knew that wasn’t true.

  As Elijah laughed, Grayson got up and went to go get changed. After a moment, Elijah took Lily into the kitchen, and they worked on warming up the take-out.

  Okay. So while tonight hadn’t gone entirely how Grayson expected it to go, it had gone well. Grayson didn’t really know what to expect, but the turn out made him smile. The man in the other room was his boyfriend, after all. He pulled on the t-shirt Elijah gave him, and then stepped into his sweats, all before shooting a quick text to Oscar. He didn’t want his buddy to start calling like he’d done last week.

  Right after Grayson pressed send, his phone began to ring. It was a number he didn’t know, but for someone to call at this time it had to have been necessary.

  “Hello?”

  “Grayson?” the voice sounded vaguely familiar. “Hey! Sorry to disturb you at this hour, but I’ve got great news for you.”

  He looked at the number again before placing the phone back to his ear. “I’m happy to hear that, but forgive me; who am I speaking with?”

  “Oh! Sorry,” the man laughed. “This is Derrick. Derrick Fuller. I’m calling on behalf of Isa and she wanted me to reach out to you about the show and all.”

  That’s right. Isa’s assistant. Grayson was hopeful that everything was finalized now, and he’d be able to tell Elijah. Otherwise, he didn’t understand the need to be called at this time.

  “By all means, share this great news.”

  “Yes sir,” he breathed out, and Grayson could hear the smile on his face. “Apparently you’ve definitely got yourself a venue for Friday, and a sponsoring Toy Drive. Washington Square Park belongs to Millennium from noon to midnight, and the Metropolitan Boys and Girls Toy Drive has stepped on board.”

  Grayson smiled. In the background, he could hear Elijah singing to Lily and regretted missing that, but right now, he was so grateful for everything he was being told. “I couldn’t thank you two enough, Derrick.”

  “Oh, it’s all Isa. But, there’s more news!”

  “Lay it on me,” Grayson answered. He took a seat on the messy bed, smirking down at the condom wrapper beside him.

  Yeah. That happened.

  “The lawyers have a contract ready for your client. By the way, congratulations on finding someone so quickly. Isa said she was absolutely floored by him.”

  Grayson grinned at that. He understood completely. “Thank you, Derrick. This guy is incredible. Can you tell me anything about the contract?”

  “As for what I know so far, it’s short-term, including only a single he’ll need to record, a promise to perform at the show on Friday, and an advance if he agrees to sign a longer deal. Then distribution and all that good stuff will be negotiated. I can’t wait to hear more.”

  So he needed to record a song this week and prepare for Friday’s show. Grayson realized that Elijah would need to have a lot more time for this than either of them may have realized.

  “Okay,” he said.

  “The sooner he can sign; the sooner we can get to work. But, your dad still needs to approve it, so keep that in mind. Isa wanted to keep it hush, but… the lawyers aren’t moving forward without his say so. You know that, though, Mr. Paul.”

  Derrick said it jokingly, but the flirty tone behind Mr. Paul made Grayson roll his eyes. He stood up and sighed. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too hard to get his father on board.

  “I’ll let my artist know that. Thanks, Derrick. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight,” Grayson repeated. As he went to hang up, Elijah appeared in the doorway of the bedroom with a sleeping Lily on his shoulder. The little girl had her fists clenched in her uncle’s shirt, and Grayson smiled at the two of them as he slid the phone away.

  “She must’ve been really tired.”

  Elijah smiled. “Are you in here talking to other men behind my back?”

  “Yes, but not in that way.” Grayson walked towards him, keeping his volume low as to not disturb Lily. “One of the guys from my label just called with some very good news. Friday’s show is officially happening. I’ll be busy the next couple days working on that, I suppose. But you,” he smiled, ignoring the way Elijah stared at his lips as he spoke. “You, my friend, have a contract to sign.”

  Elijah hummed at the news. “So soon?”

  Grayson shrugged. “With only a few days before the Christmas show, I guess this is technically late. I have to tell my father because the lawyers won’t move without his knowledge, and he’s going to ask you to sing for him before you sign on the dotted line, so… be ready.”

  Elijah felt a little uncertain now. There was a big chance he could screw all of this up for Grayson and he didn’t want that on his shoulders. What if Harvey Paul absolutely hated him?

  “The food is warm if you’d like to eat.”

  “Are you having second thoughts?” Grayson asked.

  “Not at all,” Elijah lied. “I’m just a little nervous. Also, my boss is probably going to have a heart attack when I quit without giving her notice, but I’d rather be doing this, Grayson. I’ll make sure your dad knows that you can do this.”

  Grayson took a deep breath. “I’m nervous, too. But we’re in each other’s corners. And I mean it when I say that you’re a star.”

  Lily twitched a little in her uncle’s arms, and he gestured with a head motion for Grayson to follow him. “I’ll lay her down and we can eat, okay Peanut?”

  “Yeah,” Grayson said with a smile. “You’re not getting me to stay late, though. We have busy days ahead of us.”

  Elijah smirked. Sure he wasn’t going to get him to stay. Sure.

  Chapter 17

  Uncomfortable. Highly uncomfortable.

  That was the best way Elijah could describe this. He was out of his element and had no idea what he was doing. Grayson wasn’t even here yet. He was alone in a waiting area with the receptionist smiling at him and occasionally winking in between h
er short phone calls. He was also rather early, he noted, but still.

  This was uncomfortable.

  He leant his guitar case along the leather bench and sat back, deeply exhaling through his nose. All this extra time was just enough for him to pick over his outfit and worry about his voice failing, or him forgetting the words to the song he planned to sing. He looked down at the patterned tile on the floor and tapped his foot.

  He couldn’t believe he was doing this in the first place, and all for a pretty boy.

  Grayson was at Z100 with The Pretty Committee as their first single was released. It was a big deal – their first interview on a major radio station. Elijah didn’t want to admit it, but he despised the thought. Having to answer questions while millions listened and scrutinized his every word wasn’t something he was looking forward to.

  He wondered what he was doing right now. His parents didn’t know that he was about to change his life like this, not that they’d care. Elijah didn’t think they would. Josie had somewhat of an idea at least, after their little talk at her place the other night. If anyone was going to talk him out of it, he figured his sister would be the one. She had something to say about everything, you know – typical big sister syndrome.

  One of the elevators opened up and off stepped a short woman carrying a brief case, dressed in a navy blue pants suit and an unbuttoned peacoat. She smiled at the receptionist, spoke to her for a short moment, and then smiled at Elijah in passing. Her heels clicked against the floor as she walked, all before disappearing into the conference room Elijah assumed he’d end up in when the time came.

  Great. Even more nerves.

  It was hot now. He stood up and pushed the sleeves of his crisp white dress shirt higher. Maybe undoing another button would help and wouldn’t make him look like he was trying for sexy 90s R&B singer.

  “Nice tattoo,” the receptionist told him. She flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder and grinned at him.

  Elijah nodded, retaking his seat. “Thank you.”

  Fallon:

  Hey. Free to talk?

  The message definitely caught him off guard. He wasn’t expecting to hear from Fallon any time soon, and honestly, he didn’t mind one bit. But she may’ve heard that he’d left his position at the firm; that morning, Elijah handed his boss a letter that said he’d be leaving effective immediately and it didn’t sit too well. His boss asked him how she was supposed to find someone to take his position on such short notice and he answered that it wasn’t his problem. It wasn’t, but that probably wasn’t the right thing to say.

  Looking back to the text, Elijah read over it a couple more times as he decided what to do. Ignoring her would probably be too harsh. After all, this was someone he considered his best friend. But at the same time, best friends did not behave the way Fallon did in the mailroom yesterday. Elijah thought back to the things she told him.

  “You’re nothing to Grayson Paul but a meal ticket and a quick fuck.”

  That wasn’t her being a best friend. That was her trying to make sure that Elijah continued being the heartless man-whore he’d been since he met her. And what did she have to benefit from that behavior? What did anyone have to benefit from that?

  He looked down at the phone and began to type.

  Elijah:

  I’m actually busy. We can talk later.

  Fallon:

  Are you really busy or do you just not want to talk to me?

  Elijah:

  Both.

  Elijah looked up as the elevator opened again. This time, a duo walked off. The woman was older but stunning, Elijah thought. Her dark skin was glowing; he was sure of it, and the way she looked at him let him know that she was definitely in a position of power. The guy with her followed closely. His blond hair was pulled back into a bun and he was wearing sunglasses in December on the 19th floor of this high rise.

  “Elijah Dawson?” the woman asked. She looked him over and smiled softly.

  He stood up and slid his phone away, nodding to her. “That’s me. Hello…”

  “Welcome,” she said, extending her hand, watching as he quickly shook it. “My name is Isa Blackwell. I’m the Promotions Manager here at Millennium. This is my assistant, Derrick Fuller.”

  Elijah shook Derrick’s hand next as he removed his sunglasses. “Nice to meet you both,” he said in what he hoped was a polite and not at all disinterested tone.

  Isa spoke again to relieve him of his confusion. “Just so you know, Harvey and Grayson Paul will be here soon. We’re waiting for a couple more people and then we’ll all begin. Can I have Derrick get you a coffee or anything?”

  “No, but thank you.” Elijah was beginning to get a little restless. Grayson had better hurry up. “I’m worried that I’ll be wired and I’m nervous enough as it is.”

  She smiled. “You’re a talented guy. Don’t overthink this. Is your manager on the way?” She handed her bag over to Derrick and he helped her out of her coat.

  Elijah thought for a moment before shaking his head no. “Grayson’s going to be my manager,” he answered. They hadn’t discussed it, but that was the only person he was going to trust with his ‘career’ at this point.

  Isa seemed shocked by the news, but she smiled anyway. “Well, we’ll let you know when we’re ready. Sit tight.”

  “Nice meeting you,” he said, sitting back down after an awkward wave and watching them walk off. He pulled his cell phone out and read the remaining messages from his friend.

  Fallon:

  I guess I deserve that.

  Fallon:

  But remember, when I was mad at you last week for ditching us, I gave you a chance. So give me a chance. Please? If you’re free tonight, I’m going out with Mark and it’d be good to see you. Get a few drinks and talk.

  Part of him really wanted to turn his phone off and ignore her, because she deserved that much. Another part of him wanted to tell her what he really thought of her behavior. Fallon was being rude for absolutely no reason. She didn’t know anything about Grayson, besides, of course, that he had money. Other than that, she was being an asshole just because… who knew?

  He didn’t want to have to defend Grayson from people who were his ‘best friends.’

  Elijah:

  I’m going to be busy but you two have fun.

  Something told him he should feel like an asshole, but he didn’t.

  He glanced up, staring at an expensive painting on the wall for a while before trying to see into the conference room. At the moment, he could only see the Derrick fellow talking with who he assumed was one of the lawyers. He sat back, looking down at his cell phone as it vibrated.

  Fallon:

  Well, ok. Have a good day. Miss you.

  It was another 15 minutes of pretty much nothing. The receptionist at least turned the radio on and let Elijah have background noise to his boredom. They caught the ending of a Bruno Mars song before a string of commercials played. That boredom switched to anxiety every few minutes. He looked up at the clock and licked his lips, about to take someone up on that coffee when the elevator opened a third time.

  ∞

  “So this is the guy that I found in your office the other day, right?”

  Grayson wished that the elevator would move faster. He straightened his tie as he tried to remain as nonchalant about this as possible. The thing was, his father knew how to get under his skin. Most parents were good at it, and Harvey wasn’t any different.

  “He’s a fantastic performer, Dad, and I need him for the show this Friday –”

  “The show that you planned entirely without my consent,” Harvey answered.

  Grayson sighed. “I did come to you about it, though.”

  Harvey popped a mint into his mouth before continuing, though Grayson was already done with this conversation. “You need to be happy that I’m even willing to let you sign anyone when I gave you explicit instructions to follow and you didn’t.”

  Grayson knew that his father wo
uld give him the opportunity to recruit his own talent once he was successful with The Pretty Committee, but planning this show and bringing Elijah on board was totally something his old man would do. It showed his initiative and drive, and deep down, he knew his father would appreciate it, even if he wanted to be upset right now.

  “You’re right,” Grayson told him. The elevator approached the 19th floor and he sighed. “I shouldn’t have tried to go behind your back on all of this, but even you can’t deny how brilliant of an idea it is. You can’t deny that I’m doing really well with the girls.”

  “I can’t deny any of that, but you can’t deny that if anyone else were to try this, they’d be leaving this building with a box full of junk and a pink slip.”

  The elevator doors opened and Grayson tried not to roll his eyes as he followed his father out.

  “You’re lucky I’m even giving your guy a chance instead of just putting Zach or Felicity in the slot at that show on Friday.”

  While Grayson was pretty sure that his dad was saying something important, he couldn’t hear anything he was going on about. It sounded like white noise. In fact, the only thing he could focus on right now was the sight of Elijah across the lobby and how sexy he looked.

  Grayson watched him stand to his feet in what seemed like slow motion. His eyes moved from Elijah’s dark hair that was styled partially over the left side of his face, down to his shirt that was unbuttoned a bit to reveal the tank top he had on underneath, over to the colorful tattoo sleeve that was showing from where Elijah had pushed up his sleeves, and finally down to the black fabric of the tight pants that were hugging his thighs.

  Suddenly, all Grayson could think about was taking him out of those clothes, no matter how perfectly Elijah wore them.

  “Sonny.”

  “Hm?” He snapped out of the trance he was in and looked over at his father.

  Harvey was glaring at him now, clearly not in the mood to be kept waiting. But whatever it was that he’d said, he gave up on repeating.

  “Tell him he has five minutes to prepare and then we’ll call him in.”