General Information

Summary:
Luca Goldberg's life is simple. He has amazing best friends in Alexis and Zachariah, and amazing sisters. Mostly. So he thinks till he's dragged to a Meet & Greet plus concert of the famous singer Henry Shaw that his sisters are totally gone for. Luca isn't. He actually thinks nothing more of Henry as his image shows; bad boy, womaniser, bad joker. But what if he finds out that what you see is not always what it seems?

 

General information:
Any similarity to other books or movies isn't attended. The story is completely made up.

 

Trigger warning:
Story may contain triggering content - offensive language and boyxboy SMUT!

 

©2018, by V.J. Albert - All rights reserved.

Preface

 

 

 

 

 

"Strip away the flesh and bone

Look beyond the lies you've known

Everybody wants to talk about a freak

No one wants to dig deep

Let me take you underneath"

 

~ Underneath by Adam Lambert ~

 

 

 

One

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raindrops fall softly on the window pane. It's already getting late.

Luca is already talking with Alexis for three hours and they actually just talk about trivial things. This is so typical.

At such moments Luca questions if he shouldn't have been born as girl because he doesn't even mind Al annoying him about this one guy, he can't even remember the name of.

"You know Luca, I'm just not sure if he is being honest with me. How do I know he's not playing?"

"Did you ask him?"

"Of course, I didn't, Lu, don't be stupid. If I ask him, he'll think I'm some annoying little girl." Luca sighs and walks back to his bed.

"Al, why don't you just say exactly that, but not to me but him? Just make it fucking clear that it's serious to you. Then you'll see how he reacts."

In that moment someone bangs at his door. The person doesn't wait for a reply but storms in immediately.

"What the heck, Chels. Ever heard about privacy?" Luca stares annoyed at his little sister. He tells Alexis his goodbyes and hangs up. "What do you want that you couldn't wait till I was finished with my phone call?"

"Luca you have to do me a huge favour! Please!"

"How about you start telling me what you even want!"

"I saved money for over a year and now I finally got enough to buy myself tickets to see Henry Shaw’s show in Manchester. It was even enough to get Meet & Greet tickets!"

"Well congrats… and what do you want from me?"

"Luca you have to go there with me!" Luca isn't sure if he should laugh about this or not. How ridiculous is that? His sisters know he hates this Henry Shaw guy. That obnoxious little heart-drop that is cute and nice looking from the outside but is nothing more than any other celebrity – a womaniser, a macho, having bad humour and for sure is high up his own arse.

Fuck no!

"Are you fucking insane? I won't go to a stupid Henry Shaw concert and for sure not to a Meet & Greet!"

"But you have to!"

"I don't!"

"You do because otherwise mum won't let me go!"

"Then you won't go, sorry!"

"You better not ask me for any favour ever again then!" Chel screams angrily and storms out of the room again.

Finally silence again.

What is wrong with teenagers today? Obsessed about some dumb arse pop star that won't ever notice them or be a real part of their lives. Why was a meet & greet so important to Luca' sister? She would meet this Henry Shaw guy and then? He might hug her, tell her something he tells every fan and then she might also get a picture – that's it. Henry Shaw will have forgotten about her as soon as she's out of the door because she's just another fan that makes him rich as fuck, thank you very much. She will always just be one in a million, nothing special. Chel might not even ever meet Henry again. That's just life. Plain and unfair. There's nothing more to that and maybe, just maybe Luca is a bit bitter. Maybe Luca is just the only one who gets what life is – nothing more than a masquerade, a farce. There are more people existing than actually living and this is for sure a fact. One hundred percent.

All these fucking teenagers being completely obsessed with some idiot of a superstar and throw even more money at them than they deserve. This is business. Some are better in this shit than others and apparently this Henry lad seems to be especially amazing in this, this – Luca can't even name it. He finds all of this just plain annoying. There's more to life than running after someone's attention that you won't ever get because this someone is in a whole other league and is kind of looking down on you. Where's the sense in that game? Life's too short to waste it on irrelevant things and that's what this bloke Henry Shaw is to Luca. He won't waste one day to drive from Doncaster to Manchester, so his sister can meet the guy of her dreams. She won't ever know his real him anyway and that's something Luca finds the most annoying. He might not know much about this X Factor winner but well, there's enough proof for him that he isn't that amazing. He's a charming cocky arse. Henry's a womaniser, playing with woman like they're dolls. Even his jokes aren't funny and still everyone calls him funny and shit. Luca doesn't know what shall be so special about this guy. Is it the elusiveness that draws woman to him? Maybe it's his womaniser image? Do woman hope they can manage to be that one girl that conquers his heart and owns it for their self? That they're the one and only that breaks the womaniser curse?

Luca laughs.

How ridiculous is that!

 

When Luca enters the dining room there's this weird arse silence that isn't usually. It's when he knows that something's to come and it makes him unease and uncomfortable. He doesn't like it when it feels like this, like the calm before the storm. Luca' feeling slightly nervous, sitting on his chair waiting for his mum to come back from the kitchen. The girls all sit in their chairs – completely silent.

What's going on?

It's so unusually for the girls to be quite at the dining table. The house is always vivid and loud, no matter when.

He looks at the twins that silently play some clapping game – which of course is weird to look at for the fact that they never care about how loud they usually are with their games. From the twins his glance flickers to Fay who sits opposite the twins and silently stares back at Luca with a look her brother can't really place. Something that maybe tries to tell him 'You won't like what will happen'. It doesn't help Luca to relax, not one bit.

And then finally he looks at his oldest younger sister. Chel's typing away rants after rants on her phone; god knows who she's texting with, maybe she is tweeting, but it must be something pleasant because she looks happy compared to Fay, excited even.

Seconds later their mother, Joan, enters the room with supper, sets it on the table and sits down on the chair next to Luca.

"Before we start eating, I need to talk to y'all", Joan starts and it's unusually that his mother has something to announce before dinner. Luca looks at Chel, who did put her phone down and grins broadly back at her big brother.

Okay, what the hell is going on today? 

"You all know I always try to reasonable about my decisions of what I let you go through and what not", his mother continues. What prep talk is that supposed to be? Luca doesn't understand where his mum is going with that and it kind of scares him. It's so unusually. He knows Joan always tries to be more like a best friend than a mother with her children and she tries to allow them as much freedom as possible before her protective feelings started to ban the 'fun' out of a teenager’s life. Most of the time Luca was pretty happy that he has survived his teenager time and was now in his twenties and kind of free from restrictions.

Still, was Joan going to tell them she won't approve of so much anymore like before? No way, she already was like the best mum ever! She had some responsibilities, so it was impossible to like not to care at all anymore and allow the kids everything. So that couldn't be it.

"Since it was Christmas two weeks ago, Chel used her saved money to buy something that really means a lot to her–" Pause.

Wait what? This was about a Christmas present Chel had bought for herself?

Oh god!

Didn't she buy the Henry Shaw concert tickets plus Meet & Greet recently? Wasn't that something she did consider 'it is dear to me'? Why would Joan even point this out? Chel already asked Luca about it and he had refused. Or was Chel asking again and their mother had changed her mind and allowed Chel to go now though? Or did she point out none of the girls were allowed at any concert at all?

God, please!

"I really appreciate if you do save money and spend it on something that makes you happy." Chel smiles happily and nods.

You'll see soon, Chels! Sorry that you won't see your precious Henry.

"Still, when Chel said she will go to a Henry Shaw concert in September I didn't approve of that."

That's right! Don't let a 15-year-old go freak out at a concert of her big famous pop star idol she will meet for two seconds at her stupid Meet & Greet that won't be worth the money at all!

"But since I know how important this is for Chel, I decided that she's allowed when you go with her, Luca–"

Wait what? Did he hear that right?

Chel has already told him that mum would just allow her to go when Luca came with her, but he had refused! He had bloody damn refused! So, what was this even about?

Luca stares at his mother in shock and sees his sister's wicked smile just out of the corner of his eyes.

"I know you have refused earlier but Luca I insist that you go. I'd be like a birthday present for Chel's 15th birthday!"

"I am 21 years old! I don't like that guy and I don't like his teenage pop music shit! I won't go!" Luca shouts and stands up from his chair. Chel chuckling, Fay stares annoyed onto her plate in front of her and the twins don't understand what the problem is, continuing to play clapping rhymes.

"Luca, it's your sister's wish and I understand that you aren't a teenager anymore and you have different interests than your sister and you might not like the artist your sister wants to see. But I refuse to let my, by then, 15-year-old daughter go alone to some concert, let alone Meet & Greet!" Luca lets out a groan.

Is she seriously?

Luca' home for his fucking Christmas holidays and he has to leave soon for London again and his mother thinks it's the perfect time to insist him to go to this stupid concert in September? He is freaking 21. He isn't even living at home anymore since he's at university in London, living in the dorms of the university with his roommate and best friend Stan.

He doesn't have to do what his mother says anymore. He just doesn't.

"I don't care if it's soon after my sister's birthday! It could be her 18th birthday and I wouldn't want to go. You can't make me!" Chel glares at him with a killer look and Luca doesn't care. Right now, he doesn't care.

"Okay, we’ll discuss that later. Maybe after dinner!?" Joan looks at him in a plea and he knows it's damage control. Luca's mum knows that the twins and Fay have nothing to do with this conversation and they would probably rather eat than listen to Luca shout at their mother. Besides, they all were hungry, too. "We eat now and then the both of us can talk about it in private afterwards. So, sit down again, please."

"Thank you but I'm not hungry anymore!" Luca says before he storms out of the room and runs up the stairs.

 

He calls Al. That's always making everything better. Alexis does listen. Al gives advice and is honest. Luca needs that right now.

The phone makes its usual ringing sounds – beep beep beep.

"Hello?"

"Alexis. God blesses!"

"Luca, what is it? I have dinner with Dean in like ten minutes!" Dean it was, right.

"Shit, was that today?"

"Yes, idiot! So where is the fire?"

"Chel!"

"What did she do now? Run into your room again without knocking?"

"That's not the problem. The problem is the thing she came in for in the first place!"

"Oh, and that is?" His best friend sounds bored, annoyed even. She doesn't really want to talk with Luca right now, Luca knows. Alexis's always like that before a date with Dean.

"HenryShawMeetAndGreetConcertTickets!" Luca lets out without one breath in between and he feels like having a huge panic attack coming.

"WAIT WHAT?" Alexis almost screams.

"She bought tickets from her saved money for Christmas. September concert in Manchester and mum wants me to go with my sister! It's a Meet & Greet and I don't want to go!"

"I'm so jelly of you, Luca. I'd take the damn ticket in a heartbeat!"

"Maybe I should get my mum to allow Chel to go with you!"

"Well, no thank you. I like Chel but I don't want to spend a whole freaking concert alone with a fifteen year old. I'd have too much responsibility."

"You suck!"

"And you suck dick." Alexis chuckles and Luca' close to do the exact same but he's not in the mood for chuckles or laughs or even a bloody smile.

"Very accurate return, Ms Berridge."

"Okay, listen, Luca. Dean's here. I need to hang up. Love you, bye."

"Bye", Luca says and gets greeted with the sound of an ended call.

Thank you very much for the concern though, Al!

 

Luca Goldberg (@TheGoldberg)

It's official now: I hate my sister for liking Henry Shaw! #fact

 

Jenna Miller (@JenJenMill)

@TheGoldberg why? oO

 

Alan (@AlanKelley)

@TheGoldberg also have a sister that loves that guy. I don't see why.

 

Luca Goldberg (@TheGoldberg)

@AlanKelley I'll second that! I don't know why either.

Two

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ 8 months later ~

 

"Why couldn't you just buy four Meet & Greet tickets at least?" Luca shouts at Chel. He tried so hard to get his mum to change her mind in the last eight months. To just allow Chel and her best friend Emily to go to the Meet & Greet together, but Joan had refused and even had put Luca' name on one of the tickets and Chel's on the other before he could go on with discussing himself out of this shit. He remembers how angry he has been. There was no way he could delete the name on the ticket now, so that the ticket was still usable. Luca was just fucked. And it wasn't in a good way.

God, I wished I was fucked in the good way.

Luca shakes his head. Where are his thoughts going?

Okay, that went off tracks.

"I didn't have enough money dumb-arse. And anyway, I didn't think I would have to go with you. I'd rather go with Emily to the Meet 'n' Greet. Glad she even could get a normal ticket before they were all sold out!"

"And I'm glad Alexis likes this idiot too and got herself a ticket as soon as I told her I'd have to go. Otherwise I would have killed you, Chel."

"Oh, shut up, you wouldn't. Anyway, I bet, deep within, you probably even like Henry. Maybe you even have a crush on him. I mean seriously who wouldn't?" Now she was kidding right?

"Just because he has a pretty face doesn't mean I like him or even have a crush on him." Luca sighs. "I care about something that is called personality, you heard about it?"

"Fuck you, Luca. Don't forget that you have a dumb twitter about your gay life. It's not better than my Henry twitter account!"

"At least I don't spend 24/7 drooling over someone I'll meet at a Meet & Greet for two seconds, maybe get a picture and don't ever see again."

"And I don't spend 24/7 complaining about my pathetic non-existing sex life, thank you very much."

"You don't even follow me!"

"No but I was curious, okay. I wanted to know what you're even writing about. All there's to find are tweets about your parties and complains about your sex life or your stupid uni and I really don't understand why so many people even follow you!"

"Because of the tweets I sent about Henry bloody Shaw I got annoying Shawties following me. It's just your fault."

"I didn't tell you to tweet about Henry! See you seem quite obsessed with him yourself when you complain about him for eight months straight."

Shit!

That was kind of true, though, wasn't it? He had spent so much time to complain about how he has to attend that stupid concert and how much he dislikes that Henry Shaw guy that he seems a bit obsessed in his own way. It has been eight months now and the concert was this Friday. It was Friday, the 13th and well how fitting was that? It was like a damn horror movie, wasn't it? At least for Luca it was.

He could think about spending a Friday evening more efficient than going to a Henry Shaw concert with his 15-year-old sister and her best friend. Gladly, Alexis was with them as well. Luca literally had begged her to come with them as his personal support. He'd for sure need it.

Alexis and Emily couldn't get seats directly next to the tickets from the Meet & Greet but they found two seats a few rows behind. Alexis would sit with Luca and Chel could sit with Emily and fangirl as much as she wanted.

That was the compromise Luca got. It was better than nothing, he thought. It meant he didn't have to be first row at a concert he didn't even want to attend, like at all. The seventh row should be survivable, he thinks.

"No, you didn't", Luca murmurs and stalks out of the living room to go change into some very comfortable outfit but still perfect enough to go clubbing after the concert. That was his own little compromise to make this day not a complete waste of time while staying in Manchester. Emily's mother has promised to pick the girls up after the concert, so Luca could go clubbing with Alexis as long as they wanted. That was the deal. That was why he agreed to go through the horror. Maybe also because the tickets already had the Goldberg siblings’ names on them and so he couldn't really back out anymore but really, now he at least had a little of a reason to even drive to Manchester.

He opens his closet and picks his outfit. It takes him like forever to go for the right thing to wear.

What are you fucking wearing to a Meet & Greet you don't want to go to, but you want to club afterwards?

Maybe he should bring spare clothes for after the concert? But where the hell is he supposed to change? He doesn't want to shift in some ugly arse restroom of the arena or some public one.

 

 

Luca Goldberg (@TheGoldberg)

Today will be like the worst day of my life. Have to go to a Henry Shaw concert! Oh, and it's not the worst… it's a Meet & Greet!!! #help

 

Jenna Miller (@JenJenMill)

@TheGoldberg OMG I HAVE A FANGIRL MOMENT!!! I TOTALLY LOVE HIM!! YOU NEED TO KISS AND TELL LATER!

 

PHAN<3 (@phanisreallife)

@TheGoldberg I can't even imagine what would be bad about meeting Henry to be honest! YOU'RE SO LUCKY!

 

Luca Goldberg (@TheGoldberg)

Do I have to thank my sister now that I get all you Shawties following me because you want all the details?

 

Luca Goldberg (@TheGoldberg)

I just don't like Henry Shaw. I'm not going to apologise for saying that I don't want to go to a concert nor a Meet & Greet! #sorrynotsorry

 

Al (@EleanorBerridge)

@TheGoldberg babe, calm your arse! I will be there too!

 

Luca Goldberg (@TheGoldberg)

Bless @EleanorBerridge for saving my arse! Really appreciate it. Love you very much xx

 

Al (@EleanorBerridge)

@TheGoldberg now shut up before people wonder if you're gay or not. Love you, too, though xx

 

PHAN<3 (@phanisreallife)

@TheGoldberg @EleanorBerridge you two are so cute! If we wouldn't know Luca' gay, I'd totally ship you guys!!!

 

Luca sighs and shuts the twitter app.

Bloody wonderful!

Now he had stupid more and more Shawties following him. He shouldn't have tweeted about Henry Shaw. Not at all!

He had like 2K followers eight months ago. All of them are mostly interested in his gay life. And now? Now there are two thousand more followers. All of them having Henry, Shawtie or Heresa in their name, username or their bio, some even had it all.

Urgh.

He didn't plan on getting into that crap. It was a wonder he didn't get hate tweets yet. The Shawties were such a huge fandom. They basically ruled twitter and when you got them on your bad side, you were just plain fucked.

Okay, better don't go there again.

He knows the Shawties fandom is split into two groups. The one believing in Heresa being real, the other group believing Theresa Rhodes is some cover up for Henry Shaw's homosexuality.

Laughable!

"Now did you finish tweeting, or what?"

Right, they had to leave soon. Manchester. Stupid Henry Shaw concert. The Meet & Greet even more stupid.

Urgh.

"Sure."

The two of them walk down the stairs together and join Chel and Emily in the living room. Luca' sister and her friend sit on the sofa, scrolling on Chel's phone and screaming from time to time and chatting about incomprehensible stuff.

"Girls, we have to leave in a few. Are you ready?"

"OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!" Chel jumps up from the sofa and runs up the stairs, probably into her room. Emily laughs and also Alexis can't stop herself from laughing out loud. Only Luca stands in the room feeling dumbfounded.

What the heck is wrong with the youth of today?

It feels like hours till Chel comes running back into the room, dressed into a whole other outfit and with some Henry Shaw merch.

"Are you now looking like a blonde Henry Shaw double, or what is this supposed to be?" Luca asks his sister, pointing at her new clothes. She wears a white shirt with a flowery bottom up over it, black ripped skinny jeans, brown boots, a necklace saying 'Shawtie' and a fedora. She looked like some stupid hipster. No, actually she really just looked like a bad copy of Henry bloody Shaw. Maybe she looked slightly better than the pop star, just out of the reason that Luca couldn't stand Henry but loved his sister over everything.

"You look so cute!" Emily and Alexis say simultaneously. Chel blushes and then chuckles incessantly.

Wow, they aren't even in Manchester yet and Luca is already done. He has already enough of the three of them. How will he survive?

He shushes them all out of the house and gets into the car. When everyone is in and buckled up, he starts the engine and drives off towards Manchester. Chel and Emily are playing Henry Shaw' songs in the back seats, Alexis typing on her phone and chatting with Luca from time to time and all Luca can do is try not to freak the fuck out.  

  

Two hours later they arrive at the arena in Manchester. Luca has survived so far. God bless him!

They have listened to every single song of Henry annoying Shaw on the travel there and Luca doesn't know how he shall survive even one more song by this guy at the concert. He definitely declares 'What makes you unique' to the most annoying songs of all. How did this guy even get famous with such a dumb song? It's a mystery to him. Anyway, that guy's music isn't his type of music anyway. It's too much of teenage pop and the lyrics are just plain awful.

Nonetheless, that guy has three to four songs that are quite okay. Luca has googled that one song like a week ago. It's one of Shaw's best ones, called ‘Things'. He learned that one of his favourite artists has written it and he did freak out immediately. Of course, this has to be the reason he even liked the song.

Whatever, he stopped the engine when he found a car park near the arena and then all of them got out of the car.

"Damn I'm already knackered just from driving here."

"Shut up Luca, there's no going back anymore."

"There wasn't one eight months ago. You remember mum putting both our names on the damn tickets?" Luca groans. He adored all the woman and girls in his family but that day his mum went slightly too far.

"Yep, I remember. It was a great day."

They cross a street, turn left into another street, cross a zebra crossing and then they are there. Finally. At the arena. And it seems so… finally. So terrible like it's coming, the horror.

Luca feels uneasy again. The last time he felt that terrible, was the night eight months ago when his mum had announced that Luca would for sure attend this stupid concert with Chel.

No, actually he feels even worse than that. He feels like he's going to throw up.

The girls next to him on the other side are scarily excited, even overexcited. Even Alexis is a little hyper.

Oh my gosh, why can't Chel be old enough to go alone?

They walk up the few stairs up to the public open space before the arena. Luca looked up the time.

4:20 pm.

Just in time. The Meet & Greet will start in 10 minutes. They have to find the doors. It isn't easy to find anything here. They all haven't been at this arena before and there are so many people that you couldn't really make out the signs that were supposed to help find the way.

The four of them walked up to the long waiting line and found that there are actually two. The shorter one apparently for the VIP tickets which included the Meet & Greet. Chel said her goodbye to Emily and hugged her tightly.

Holy shit, you're not dying! You'll see each other again in two hours!

While Alexis and Emily stay in the long queue for the normal tickets, Chel and Luca walk up to the short line that just has around eight more people standing there.

At exactly 4:30 a woman came out of the front door of the arena and announced that the people with Meet & Greet ticket are now allowed to enter. More instructions will follow when all of them are inside.

Just a minute later all ten of the VIP people (all of them being girls except Luca) were let into the arena.

Wow, damn amazing and not weird at all, note the sarcasm.

The woman asks how all of them feel and lets us get in a line, with the person next to each other that where together here. They ended up in four groups, Chel and Luca being the last ones in line.

The first group is requested to follow the woman while the rest is watched by two broad-shouldered bodyguards.

Five minutes later the next group is called in and again five minutes later the third group.

We're next, help!

"Oh my god, Luca, please tell me I'm not dreaming. I'll meet Henry bloody Shaw in a few."

"Shut up, Chel. I don't even know why I am here. What am I supposed to do in there?" One of the bodyguards ogles him strangely. He obviously wasn't used to people at concerts that didn't even like to be there, especially when they're about to meet the famous star personally.

"Last group!" The woman shouts out of a room to their right.

"Lu, just in case I shall faint, can you please kick me or throw water on me and if it doesn't help can you tell Henry I'm his biggest fan?"

"Yeah, sure", Luca answers annoyed and pushes his sister towards the ajar door.

As soon as Chel enters the door, she starts to cry and murmur and she's close to screaming. She's overwhelmed by her feelings and Luca knows she has to comprehend herself to not immediately storm into Henry, hugging him. He'd love to take her into her arms right now and sooth her down but that would probably be the last thing she wants right now, being comforted by the big brother.

Luca follows his sister slowly into the room, all eyes on him too now.

Damn, nothing's even close to this feeling. Every damn presentation in uni feels easier to handle than a damn meeting with someone I don't even like!

He looks around; there are four more men in the room, watching them cautiously. They're probably all bodyguards, although one of them is dressed in a too nice-looking suit to be a bodyguard. Besides he's holding a clipboard in the one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other.

He lets his glance wander and then his eyes land on a tall figure. A person dressed similar to his sister: black ripped skinny jeans, weird bottom up shirt with flamingos on it, buttons open almost to the belly button, exposing two birds tattoo. He's wearing his usual brown boots and his hair is put back in a men's bun.

And then his blue eyes stare into green ones and the world seems to stand still.

There he is, Luca's Friday the 13th, the horror on two legs – Henry Shaw.

Three

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a weird feeling for Luca. He doesn’t really know Henry, not really at least and still all he knows about the curly lad in front of him, makes him dislike the younger guy so much. Luca can't quite place the feeling he just has. It's just plain weird. It really feels like the world has stopped, so the both of them can stare at each other everlastingly.

Although, Luca doesn’t even want to look at Henry bloody stupid Shaw, doesn’t even want to be in the same room with him. But here he is because his little sister isn’t allowed to go alone and he's kind of forced to be here today.

Now, can Chel get her hug and her picture or whatever and then can we fucking get out of here again?

“Hi, oh my gosh. Can I hug you?” Chel shatters the awkward silence and somehow breaks the spell that holds Luca in its ban (that did make him stare at Henry Shaw and stare and stare). Luca looks away at the same time as Henry looks at Chel. The tall guy smiles at Chel and nods frequently.

“Yeah, of course, sure”, the pop star stutters and Luca chuckles.

Did Luca intimidate Henry? Well, he wouldn’t know with what exactly. Maybe Henry Shaw isn’t used to boys coming to his Meet & Greets? Or just maybe it’s because Luca just looks so damn sexy, too sexy for such a damn meeting and Henry thinks Luca is some mega gay fan and feels intimidated by that fact? Just because he’s as straight as a ruler or even a homophobe?

Okay, he can't really stand that guy but it’s pretty much obvious that Henry isn't homophobic though. Isn’t Henry friends with Sara Lavigne who’s bisexual? And also, Nicholas Giles, radio host for BBC1 radio and kind of one of Luca’ biggest gay idols?

Luca sees a flash of light and looks up from the spot on the ground he was looking at for the last few seconds after staring and staring at Henry Shaw.

One of the guards is holding Chel's phone and apparently has taken a picture of Chel next to Henry, Chel hanging on the celebrity's arm as if they met at a club and now were leaving to head home.

Funny that.

Luca groans and Henry looks over to him.

"Do you want a picture too?"

"For sure not, thanks." He fishes his iPhone out of his pocket and looks up the time. 4:45. The doors open at five, then he finally can sit down next to Alexis and chat with her about other shit, anything but Henry stupid Shaw. "Chel, are you done? Can we go?" He asks his sister eagerly.

Luca really doesn't want to be in this room for just one more second. He'd love to leave this room, this arena and if he's honest he doesn't even have to stay in Manchester for any longer.

"You aren't here for a picture or an autograph?" Henry asks perplexed, obviously he can't believe that someone would buy a VIP ticket with Meet & Greet and then not want anything from the star.

To be honest, it is a tiny little bit weird.

Okay, well. When Luca thinks about it, it really seems odd, doesn't it? But it wasn't his fault! He would have gladly swept tickets with Emily, so she could meet Henry too and fangirl her arse off together with Chel but of course Joan had to put her children's names on it.

”No”, Luca simply answers.

“This is my brother, Luca”, Chel introduces him.

As if Henry famous Shaw would care about his name, or him at all.

Luca rolls his eyes at his sister. What even does she think? He doesn’t want Henry Shaw to know his name but then again, what does it matter. Henry will have forgotten his name as soon as he’s out the door again. Maybe he’ll remember him as the only person he ever met at a Meet & Greet that wasn’t totally crazy for him. Maybe it’ll even bug him for a while. Luca doesn’t care. He’s not here to please Henry annoying Shaw but his mother. Yes, he’s just here because of her and his sister who wanted to be here so badly, that he’s forced to play babysitter at a concert he’d never have attended voluntarily.

Life is so unfair.

“Why are you here then?” Henry asks, now apparently curious why someone would pay so much money for a concert ticket, where he doesn’t even want to be.

“I’m here because of her!” Luca points at Chel and groans again.

“Yeah, I’m a big fan. Mind signing my phone case, this shirt, your last album and your new single? The song is SO good! You did so wonderful with ‘Life story’. I bet the whole album will be fantastic!”

Chel cannot shut up, can she?

“Of course, love”, Henry says and takes the pen out of Chel’s hand. He quickly signs everything Luca’ sister is holding out to him. Then Henry turns back to Luca who still stands awkwardly by the door. Luca didn’t really walk far into the room because what for, really? He planned of being out of the room again as soon as possible. By now, he was there far too long already.

Henry smiles at Luca and then asks, “Seriously why are you here?”

Didn’t Luca already answer that? What was so hard to understand?

“Already said I’m just here because of my sister.”

“That can’t be all, can it?” What is he on about?

“Our mother wouldn’t have allowed her to go, so I had to come as well.”

“Haven’t you actually thought about telling your mother you’ll go with your sister but in fact you just drive her and a friend while you do something else in Manchester during the concert and then you just pick them up again?”

“You really think you’re smarter than the rest of us. I would have considered that, but I discussed about not having to go until my mother placed my name on the ticket.” Henry starts to laugh, and Luca just can stare at the celebrity confused.

What the fuck is wrong with this guy?

“And you’ve never been to a concert as big as this one, have you? There's no need to put your name on the ticket and I think Luca is easily changeable into Lucia, don’t you think? None of the door guards would have been wondering; none would have even checked if it really was her name. It would have been really easy, so why are you here?”

“Maybe I didn’t know, yes. Are you done questioning me, or what? I think you have better shit to do than talking to someone who for sure doesn’t want to talk to someone like you.“ Everyone in the room is quite shocked. Never before had anyone talked to Henry like that.

“Eh, Henry. I don’t want to interfere, but the time is already up.” The guy with the clipboard says, walking towards Henry.

God bless this clipboard guy!

But Henry doesn’t make a move or does throw Luca and Chel out just like this. Actually. he seems not to care that he gives the two of them more time with him than the other groups, more than his management allowed.

 “Thank you, Marcus but can I have a couple more minutes please?”

Okay, what the heck is that about? Time’s up. Now let us go!

The guy that is apparently called Marcus gazes at Henry in disbelief and so does Luca. Luca is… he can't even describe it. Mostly confused. He did insult freaking fucking Henry Shaw and he does not even blink.

Why does this guy not just go back to his backstage area and does whatever he does previous to a concert? Why does Luca have to stay in a room with the devil himself?

"Why do you not like me? No, actually why do you dislike me so much?" Henry asks curiously and strides towards Luca.

"The media is full of you. Everywhere I go people talk about how hot you are and amazing and how desirable. I don't get why everyone wants you. You're not funny and half of the shit you wear is ugly as hell. You hang on every woman's arm as if it was totally normal to flirt with just everyone. I don't even care if you also sleep with all of them like media says but I wouldn't be surprised if you do. But the worst is that all my sisters love you. Your shitty music is on like every fucking minute. I don't even want to walk in any of their rooms because all I'd see is your damn face on their walls", Luca lists all the reasons he can find why he dislikes Henry. "Can we go now, Chel?"

No one moves. Everyone in the room is in some kind of shock. Never in the last three years has anyone attacked Henry like this. Nobody has ever told him so many things they didn't like about him. And when someone did insult Henry it was mostly one reason and it was just lame insults and something he was able to just shrug off. But how Luca pictured him was just not him, not at all. How did he get such a bad image of the pop star? Was this really all people saw in him when they just looked at his image and media picture? Was he really just that, a fashionista who was a disaster or a master from time to time? Someone that looked like a womaniser who's fucking every girl that is totally willing? When Henry thinks about it, it is a hideous scene he has in mind. And the worst is that it's so far away from how he really is and how he wants to be seen from others.

"You don't know the real me", Henry mutters but Luca doesn't listen. He has enough, has been long enough in this shitty room. Luca needs to leave, now. The air is already thin, he needs air, needs room to breathe. Mostly he needs to see something else than Henry pain in the arse Shaw.

Luca walks around Henry who looks after Luca who grabs his sister's left hand and drags her to the exit. Chel has to grasp hard on her signed items to not lose them while the two of them rush to the door.

The blonde girl is so embarrassed by her brother she wants to look apologising at Henry but at the same time she just wants to get out of there as quickly as possible, almost as much as her brother wants to. Luca didn't just embarrass himself but also his sister. She's quite ashamed to be related to him right now.

Really, why did Luca have to come with her? They should have thought about the fact that Luca was easily editable into Lucia and no one cared about names on tickets anyway. Chel wants to get swallowed up by a deep, deep hole and never come out of it. Luca just fucking humiliated her in front of her freaking idol, in front of Henry lovely Shaw. He did insult him as everything he was not. What even has gotten into him?

"You just really don't know me!" Henry then suddenly shouts, just as Luca and Chel leave the room.

"I don't give a fuck!" Luca hollers back. Then they're gone and Henry's left behind thunderstruck.

 

Henry stares at the open door, feeling totally dumbfounded and flabbergasted.

"That was crazy!" Marcus seems to be the first to be out of the shock state they were all in for at least five minutes. "I think this guy is insane. Shall we call security and throw him out of the arena?"

"No", Henry answers.

"You're sure?" Marcus looks appraisingly at Henry, not quite certain on what was to do in such a situation.

"Yes, thank you Marcus. He paid for the ticket, a ticket is really expensive. I don't want it to be wasted."

"But he doesn't seem to really care about being here."

"Doesn't really matter, does it? Practise what you preach, Marcus. Be nice to everyone", Henry exclaims and walks out of the door, just like the blue-eyed boy before him five minutes before.

The doors must be open by now and he should be backstage already for at least ten minutes.

Stupid time table, there isn't even time to breathe!

"Your sentence is 'Be nice to nice'. Would that mean 'Be rude to rude'?" Marcus and the guards follow the pop star suit and instead of taking the right door that Luca and Chel had to go through, they leave the anteroom through the left door in the direction of the backstage area.

"No, it's 'Be nice to nice and nice to everyone'."

"Since when? Today?" Marcus counts himself to those people that are really close to Henry, know him really well. He's also considered a friend, although he's his personal assistant. That's probably even better than just working together, to be honest because Marcus just knows Henry on a whole different level. It's so damn helping to have him keeping his appointments in order and at the same time being a friend when there's no one else around. Even though, Nathan was there most of the time too anyway.

As they enter the backstage room a blonde guy storms into Henry.

Speaking of the devil…

"Henry, you're late! Where have you been?"

"Some guy insulted him at the Meet & Greet. We all were shocked as hell. Can you believe it he did shout at Henry and scolded him as womaniser and you don't want to know what else."

"WHAT?" Nathan's eyes nearly pop out of his head.

Why would anyone even insult Henry? He's like the kindest person on earth!

"Let's not talk about it boys, okay? We've got a show in an hour and we are ten minutes late, aren't we Marcus?" Marcus blinks frequently. Wow, how Henry just shrugs it off as nothing has just happened.

Of course, usually Marcus is the one always being organised, but right now he still is kind of paralysed. It feels like someone has slept him right into the face or hit him with a baseball bat.

How was he supposed to do his job when his friend was slaughtered like that from some guy that didn't even know Henry, the real Henry? How must Henry feel right now? How was he able to just dismiss the incident as though nothing has happened?

"Yeah, sure", Marcus gets over his lips, leaving the chat unchallenged. The three of them leave for the make-up room because time's precious.

Four

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Luca and Chel stumble into the anteroom the woman from earlier awaits them already. She doesn’t smile like she did when they arrived. It’s possible that she knows about the incident, that she knows about Luca insulting the famous Henry Shaw.

“Please exit through the right door. Then you have to walk down the hall and back to the main entrance. From there you'll find signs to show you how you get to your seats.” She pauses for a moment before she picks up two bags that stand on a table next to the right door. “This is the present you get for buying the VIP package with Meet & Greet. Have fun with it and enjoy the concert.”

By now, Luca has already let go of his sister’s arm and both of them take their bag, Luca murmurs an almost inaudible thank you and then opens the right door to get back to Alexis. He never wanted to see her more than right now.

Luca feels kind of bad for insulting Henry Shaw but then again in his opinion the younger lad deserved to get an honest statement from him, not an act trying to play along as if he was here voluntarily.

Whatever.

He just walks out without really looking back if Chel's following him suit. Because of her he’s even here, to take care of her, be a big brother. But today he doesn’t want to be any of that. Luca doesn’t want responsibility, not today. Or that’s what he tells himself at least.

Chel thanks the woman kindly and then tries to look apologising for what happened with Luca at the Meet & Greet. She’s still ashamed of being here with someone who was so rude to someone who did nothing to him in return. All Chel wanted was enjoying the Meet & Greet and then the concert from her idol. Of course, she knew that it’ll be hard with Luca having to be there because he disliked Henry so much (Chel really couldn’t think of reasons why he did till Luca slammed all his reasons into Henry Shaw’s face).

“Are you out of your mind?” Chel asks when they got out of hearing range of the woman. Luca turns around to his sister and looks at her.

“I was just being honest!” Luca shrugs. What does his sister want from him? She's the reason he had to be in a room with Henry Shaw in the first place. Did she expect him to be all excited? Say yes when asked if he wants a photo with a person he dislikes?

Hell no!

“I can’t believe you, Luca! You just destroyed a wonderful moment for me, but you don’t even care. You always just care about yourself. You’re one of the most selfish persons on earth. You don’t know shit about Henry. Everything you threw at him is media Henry, not the real Henry!”

“How can you be so sure that he’s a saint?” Chel rolls her eyes.

“I don’t think Henry’s a saint, but I know there’s more to him than just his media image!”

“People in this business are all shallow and empty shells. Henry can’t be different!”

“You’re being ignorant! Not everyone is the same, you idiot!”

Yeah right.

“Fame is getting to everyone, I tell you.”

“Think what you want but I can’t believe you had to destroy something that was supposed to be special for me. I hate you.” Chel almost runs back to the main entrance. She's glad she'll barely see him at the concert, just for the fact that he'll sit seven rows behind her with Alexis and she'll sit front row with Emily.

That's something she won't let him destroy as well. He had damaged enough for one day; even a week, a month. Chel didn’t know that she could be so angry at her big brother whom she loves so much most of the time. But today he simply crossed a line and he doesn't even recognise, doesn't care.

When they arrive back at the main entrance it’s already 4:59. A guy from security asks them if they need help to find the right door that leads to the floor seats. Luca and Chel both deny at the same time. They still get led towards the concert hall.

The other eight VIP fans are already sitting in their front row seats when they enter. Chel walks towards the stage and shows a guard her ticket before he lets her take her seat. Luca follows her sullenly; he shows his ticket but doesn’t sit down yet. What for? Emily will be here soon and take the seat.

While Luca is standing, staring around and being in awe of how huge the hall is, Chel’s inspecting the content of the VIP bag. There’s a poster, a tour shirt, a wristband, a keychain and a portable battery charger in it.

“I’m sorry, Chel”, Luca suddenly says.

“For what?” His sister looks up from her gift bag to see her bother looking back at her apologising.

“For ruining your Meet & Greet”, Luca answers and then adds, “I know how important it was for you to meet Henry. It wasn’t fair of me to wreck your moment like that.”

“Your apology won’t make what you did undone, you know.”

“I know, Chels. And I guess I deserve that you’re mad at me, but I want you to know that I love you and I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Yeah, that would’ve been even better, wouldn’t it!?” Chel says sarcastically.

In that moment Alexis and Emily come strolling into Luca’s view.

Finally.

Luca was already wondering when Alexis would finally save him from the awkwardness between him and his sister after the incident at the Meet & Greet.

The two girls show their tickets to a guard and are let to the front row block. Alexis sits down on her seat in row seven while Emily walks towards Luca to switch place with him. Before Emily can reach the two siblings a security guy is stepping in and telling her she’s not allowed front row.

“It’s okay. I’m switching my seat with her because she’s my sister’s best friend”, Luca explains but the guard just stares at him unfazed, not letting Emily pass. “Come on, where’s the problem?”

“A ticket is not assignable to another person. I’m sorry.”

“But who the fuck cares if I sit on this seat or my sister’s best friend?” Luca shouts and is really mad now. He doesn’t want to sit front row, so close to the stage, so close to Henry fuck-you Shaw. For sure, he wouldn’t survive the damn concert next to his fangirling sister who might even cry or worse, hyperventilate. Luca isn’t ready to put himself through this, not ready at all. Especially now that they aren’t on best terms with each other. Chel has to calm her embarrassment towards Luca down first which might take weeks. So now is totally not the time for this. He might freak out if he really has to stay there.

“It doesn’t matter, Sir. I just follow the rules. You’ve got VIP tickets, you’ve been to the Meet & Greet and so this front row seat is yours.”

“Is this your final say?”

“It is indeed, Sir. I’m really sorry.” When the guard, whose name is apparently Darren (when you can believe the nametag he’s wearing) finishes his sentence, another guard named Phillip comes around to take over the shift from Darren. Darren whispered something into Phillip’s ear, Phillip then nods and then guard one is moving away from the scene.

To Luca it’s off control now, he thinks. He’s not in the mood to start a fight with the second guard which has for sure got instruction to not give a damn about what Luca says just to get to switch his place. Luca feels like in prison now. The guard probably even has the allowance to not let Luca out of the arena before the show is god damn over.

Okay, maybe this is a little overdramatic. 

“I’m sorry Emily.” Luca really is. If it was for him, she could even sit on the damn stage to be even closer to her idol, Henry Shaw. He didn’t plan to sit that close to the stage, so close to a concert he doesn’t want to be at and for sure he doesn’t want to sit so close to a person he doesn’t like.

This is god damn shit fate!

Emily wanders back to row seven and Luca collapses into his seat.

He feels like he’ll die today.

 

Henry is backstage getting ready for the show. He’s standing in front of his hanging rail bare-chested, picking out his outfit right now. His opening act is already with Luisa, the stylist. Nathan is running around checking his guitar equipment and Marcus is trying to get the backstage chaos under control.

“Marc, can you stop for a second and help me pick out a shirt? You too, Nathan!” He shouts at his friends that scurry around him like weasels.

“Seriously Henry, you are the style guru, not us”, Marcus says and continues working.

It’s not Henry’s problem which clothes fit together. It’s more of a I-don’t-know-which-one-looks-better situation. He’s not even sure why he cares. Henry never did before, but today he does. He wants to look good, really good. Why, he isn’t sure himself. Maybe it has something to do with this boy. Luca, was his name, right?

Henry has never been insulted like that in the last few years. It was quite a shock to him and everyone who was with them in the room. The popstar feels awfully sorry for the boy’s sister. She must have felt totally embarrassed.

Somehow that whole insulting thingy isn’t why he can’t get the boy out of his head. The boy’s so good looking. Henry thinks he has never seen anyone as attractive to him before. Most of his so-called relationships were PR stunts and had nothing to do with him being involved with the woman.

Henry knows that he’s not just attracted to women but also men. To him it’s not about gender or just the look alone even. For Henry personality is the most important part.

And still, Luca’s look alone left Henry breathless and speechless. He’s so beautiful; Henry can’t even really find words to describe him. Henry just never felt like this. Never felt such an attraction towards someone just alone from the appearance.

It’s really confusing for Henry because why would he be attracted to someone who has insulted him? Everything that Luca has said was actually just his image, his media picture. It wasn’t really an offence towards the real Henry Shaw, but it hurts that there apparently are people out there that see him like this. In fact, Henry has never thought about what his image really showed of him. He’s not sure why he never did.

Henry picks the pink shirt with the white dots and Harryhhh

puts it on.

As he is buttoning his shirt, two guards walk past the open door, talking about some boy having a VIP ticket and still wanting to switch his seat with someone from row seven.

The person they’re talking about couldn’t be anyone but Luca. Henry is sure, so he calls out to them, making them stop in their tracks.

“Can we help you, Sir?” One of the guards asks when Henry appears in front of them.

“Who did you just talk about?” He asks, just to be sure he didn’t understand their conversation the wrong way.

“There’s this boy in the arena. He was at the Meet & Greet I suppose because he has a VIP ticket with Meet & Greet plus front row seat.”

“What about him?” Henry is more than curious. Front row? How should Henry survive a concert where the most beautiful creature he’s ever seen is sitting that close to the stage he’ll be on? How is Henry supposed to function and not just stare at Luca like an utter idiot?

“He wanted to switch his seat with a girl he claimed as his sister’s best friend. I’ve got the instructions to not let anyone in the VIP row except they have a ticket, Sir.” The guard with the nametag ‘Darren’ says.

“It’s just a switch though, isn’t it?” At that Marcus stops in his hustled track and stares at his friend and boss in quite a confusion. It was his rule in the first place and now he changes them to let the boy, who insulted him, sit seven rows behind. Well, it kind of stands to reason.

“Sir, the boy obviously is the owner of the ticket. A ticket isn’t assignable to anyone else.”

“I ask you kindly to let the boy switch. I don’t think he’d be happy in front row.”

“Why would he be at your concert and have a VIP ticket when he doesn’t even want to be here obviously?”

“He’s here for his sister, that’s all. Let him switch!”

“As you wish, Sir”, Darren replies and walk away to declare his commission.

“I understand that you don’t want the boy near you that insulted you so badly but you’re breaking your own rules here. You made the rules in the first place, so people that got a ticket can put their names on the ticket and no one else can use it as theirs to get a better seat that they didn’t pay for.”

“Thank you very much, Marc. I know what I’m doing.”

“Don’t let this idiot get to your head, yeah? Just because one person doesn’t like you, in fact kind of hates you, doesn’t say anything about you as a person. He just doesn’t know shit about you.” With that Marcus turns around and hushes out of the room, who knows where to. Marcus is always on the move. He’s the best assistant Henry could wish for and the fact that Marcus’ also one of his best friends makes him even more irreplaceable.

Don’t let him get to your head? Well, the sentence should be: Don’t let him get to your heart. Don’t fall in love. That be more accurate.

But to be honest, Henry thinks he already did, head over heels.

 

Luca can’t relax. He’s too annoyed with the situation. Who made this dumb rule that tickets aren’t allowed to be switched? Who had the brilliant idea that it would help in any way to make tickets unassignable? To Luca it’s totally unnecessary.

Chel next to him is tweeting and messaging with Emily about how shit all of this was and it being terrible fate. When Luca is being honest, he’s quite surprised that Chel hasn’t tweeted about her embarrassment at the Meet & Greet yet. Luca himself wasn’t even in the mood to tweet. What shall he even post? That he kind of destroyed his sister’s Meet & Greet because he just hates Henry and he couldn’t keep himself together?

Sure, his followers would love him even more – not. Especially his new Shawtie followers would start a shit storm towards him. They would love to tear him apart for shouting all the insults at their hero. He wouldn’t give them the benefit of the doubt. Aka, what they don’t know won’t hurt them – or better him.

Luca fishes out his iPhone because he could at least tweet that he was in the arena and maybe add a picture from his view. People would probably freak the shit out because real fan girls would immediately notice that he’s front row. His Shawtie followers would totally demand any information about the Meet & Greet and they would want pictures and videos so badly. Luca just doesn’t want to have evidence on his phone that he has even been there.

“Excuse me, Sir”, a voice startles him to look up from his phone which he just unlocked by now. Luca looks up and sees the guard from earlier, Darren, look down at him. “You’re allowed to switch the row. I shall lead your sister’s friend here, so she can take your place while you’ll take hers.”

“Why did you change your mind?” Luca asks, completely confused to why he’d be allowed to switch now.

“I didn’t. It was an order.” By now Chel looks at her brother questioning. He just shrugs his shoulders at her. “Are you coming, Sir?”

“Yeah, sure.” Luca has never been out of a chair faster than right now. He’s glad that he won’t be front row. Seventh row was still really close but it’s manageable for him, so he thinks.  

As soon as Luca is out of the seat, the guard already starts walking away from the stage. Luca says his goodbye to Chel and then follows the guard quickly. It’s the first time he hasn’t hugged his sister goodbye but he’s quite sure that Chel wouldn’t appreciate to be even touched by her brother right now. She’s still angry at him, will be for the next few weeks till Luca does something amazing and then she acts like nothing even has happened. Chel just might dig up all of it the next time she has to find arguments to fight with him. He can live with that.

When he sees Alexis, he waves at her and she smiles back at him. Emily jumps right out of the seat and runs to Luca.

“Oh my god, are we now allowed to switch places though?”

“Yes, obviously”, Luca answers monotone. He’s kind of glad he can make Emily happy with just something so simple. If he’s quite honest it’s also making him happy because he can hope for some idiots in the front stand up or put up some huge posters to block his view on the stage. Luca wouldn’t even be sad about this.

Emily hugs Luca and then she looks at Darren.

“Do we have to do something or can I just go to my friend?”

“Sure”, the guard says and Emily’s off running towards the stage to sit down next to Chel.

Luca thanks Darren and then takes his place next to his own best friend. Darren leaves again, maybe to go backstage again or wherever he’s been disappeared to.

"How did it go?" Alexis asks, and Luca really doesn't want to answer that. He doesn't want to lie but also doesn't want to tell his best friend the truth.

"I never go to a Henry Shaw concert and Meet & Greet ever again", Luca simply answers. The two of them leave it to that and start talking about other topics till the show starts.

 

The opening act comes on stage at exact 6 pm. It's a band Luca has never heard of till now. They aren't even that bad, Luca thinks.

Their show is over faster than Luca has thought it would be and it's kind of sad, really. Mostly because now he'd have to expect the main act soon, that is Henry Shaw.

"How was the opening act? I think they were brilliant!" Alexis shouts over the loud music the arena plays to bridge the time gap till Henry Shaw finally enters the stage.

"I agree. I need to look them up later."

"So, it's not so bad so far, is it?" Luca knows Alexis's right. So far, the only horrible thing that happened was the meeting with the pop star himself. Apart from this the day hasn't been a total disaster and the opening act was a good compromise to make Manchester not a damn complete waste of time.

Alexis and Luca go on talking till the lights go out for the second time to announce the arriving of the teen idol. 

When the screaming starts in the arena, Luca knows that he's there. On stage.

Henry starts his show with the song that made him famous and Luca is already annoyed because he just hates this song so much. The star waves into the audience and smiles and jumps and is acting like a flicking fucking four-year-old. He looks through the mass of people, as if he's looking for someone.

Between his songs he's talking about not necessary things and introduces his next song. The fans seem to love it.

When 'Things' starts, Henry still seems to look for someone and in the second verse green eyes meet blue.

The rest of the show seems like the boy on stage is just staring at the blue-eyed boy in row seven, but Luca knows that every girl in the arena would say that later. Anyway, why would Henry annoying pop star Shaw watch him through the rest of his show?

Right, he wouldn't.

Five

 

 

 

 

 

 

I survived, is the first and only thing Luca thinks when the show is finally over. Well, Luca has to be honest, it wasn’t really that bad. Henry sounded really good live and the four songs he kind of liked were now somehow one of his favourite songs and he’s even danced to one of them (though he’d totally deny it when asked about it). The pop star also performed his new song and first single 'Best Song' of his not yet released album. It was a really great song and more mature. Luca hopes internally that the whole album will sound more mature. He might even start liking the prat’s music then.

“Are you still alive?” Alexis asks and watches him suspiciously.

“Imagine, yes, I survived and I’m still alive.” Luca jokes sarcastically and Alexis chuckles. She knows Luca good enough to know that he doesn’t even mean it in a bad way. Alexis even thinks that her best friend actually liked the concert, just doesn’t want to admit it.

“Just admit that you liked Henry live and he isn’t that bad.”

“Sod off, Al!” Luca won’t confess shit. Maybe she was kind of right, yeah but still. No need to declare his undying love to Henry Shaw immediately. That came close to saying he liked the pop star’s music somehow, for Luca at least. Alexis wouldn’t understand. Of course not. Luca doesn’t understand a lot of the shit himself. He just knows he hates the guy, can’t stand him for dear god.

“How you wish”, Al says when the mass of fans starts to swarm out of the arena.

When the arena is already half empty and the stage is getting vacated, cleaned and decomposed, Chel and Emily walk towards them. The two of them still are in a state of exhilaration.

“… and oh gosh, then he looked in our direction all the time. I bet you’re totally his type Chel!” Emily shouts and jumps around like a little kid and Luca is so confused about girls right now. He’s gay, sure but sometimes girls just act totally immature and annoying.

“Oh shut up, Em. I’m for sure not his type.”

“How can you know, idiot? I swear to god he stared at our block all the time and I’m quite sure it was directly at you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Henry just looks around. Everyone in this block could say, he just looked at them the whole time. Bet Henry didn’t really see anyone in the crowd good enough to just stare at this person for the entire show. Anyway, why would he?”

“Because you’re beautiful!”

“Not beautiful enough to be in Henry’s league”, Chel says and kind of ends the stupid discussion. Luca’ sister is right, he thinks. Henry could have looked at anyone. Didn’t he think himself that the pop star seemed to just stare at him the whole time? So, yes, for once his sister did think rational, logical.

Alexis next to him just smiles politely and pushes him softly towards the aisle. He almost stumbles over a post of the seat at the end of the row and just doesn’t fall because he leans towards the tier.

They make it out of the arena without another incident.

Emily’s mother is already waiting for them at some light post on the way to the roofed car park of the arena.

The two younger girls say their goodbyes to Alexis and also mutter an almost inaudible bye towards Luca, who doesn’t get looked at nor gets a hug. Luca knows he has fucked up big time tonight. Making Chel really angry at her big brother is really hard to do and so it’s indeed rare. Today Luca just really did something he shouldn’t have done. He even feels a little bad about it. Mostly because he doesn’t want to be on radio silence with his favourite sibling. Luca doesn’t think he did anything wrong, really. He was just being honest. Maybe a little brisk and a tad too rude but in Luca’s opinion Henry Shaw should accept it as it is. Even think about it and learn something out of it. What he shall learn, Luca isn’t that sure though. Luca isn’t even sure why the fuck he even thinks about Henry Shaw. This so-called idol and famous pop star isn’t exactly on his list with people that are important, nor on a list with people he’d like to meet again. Sure, he hasn’t really had a real conversation with the guy but to Luca his image was enough. When he was being honest, he doesn’t want to see beneath celebrities’ images. He’s just so sure that there’s nothing to be found. Empty shells, spending too much money on things they don’t need and looking down at anyone who doesn’t earn at least a million a year, that’s what celebrities are to Luca. Nothing more.

Well, Luca could definitely think about better people to talk to. So, yes, Henry Shaw definitely isn’t on any of Luca’s lists. Except maybe the ‘Things-I-Got-Chel-Angry-With’ list. And there's nothing else on there, really.

Alexis looks at him questioning as soon as the girls got into the car.

“Don’t look at me like this, Al.”

“You fucked up big time, didn’t you?”

“No commend.”

“What did you do, Luca? It was just one bloody evening! Couldn’t you get your shit together?” Al sounds annoyed. Luca doesn’t want to tell her. He already got Chel against him, he for sure didn’t need Alexis being angry at him for scolding the untouchable Henry Shaw.

“Not going to answer that.”

“Did you insult Henry, or what?” Alexis jokes.

Awkward silence.

“NO WAY, YOU DIDN’T!”

“Shut up, Al, okay? I've already got my well-deserved punishment with Chel being mad at me for weeks now. I don’t need you telling me how much of an idiot I am, thank you very much.”

“Fine. I pretend like this isn’t the biggest scandal of all Luca Goldberg scandals in all time.”

“Stop sounding so dramatically. I was just being honest, that’s all.”

“Yeah sure”, Al says sarcastically and with that their conversation is finished. Luca asks which club they want to go to and Alexis fishes her phone out of her bag to check the address of the club she has looked up back home in London two days ago.

 

Henry gets backstage and feels kind of exhausted.

Henry’s fucked.

He wishes it was the right way, but it isn’t. The curly boy is feeling down.

There comes the most beautiful creature he’s ever seen to one of his meet & greets and then it turns out that the blue-eyed boy hates him. The pop star has felt so dumbfounded when the boy has insulted him earlier to the show, in a room with his bodyguards, extra security people, Marcus and the guys little sister. Henry can’t believe that even though all of the things he has thrown at him, he wasn’t able to detach his eyes from the boy through the whole concert. He’s not sure if he has been too obvious with his glares but most girls in this block where Luca has sat might just have thought that he was looking directly at them. So, whatever.

Nathan storms into the room and grins ear to ear like a god damn Cheshire cat.

“Henry, are you finally ready to go?” The blonde boy asks with an Irish accent. It’s his birthday and they will go out tonight. Henry’s guitarist and best friend is overexcited. They aren’t going out much anymore. It just wasn’t possible anymore with how famous Henry has become. Just three years ago Henry was still able to walk through the streets somewhere without getting recognised or people really didn’t know him because they didn’t watch X Factor. Today he’s stalked everywhere he goes. At every corner he walks by it seems there are people interested in him and asking for pictures and or autographs. His privacy became non-existent and he had to hide all of his secrecies behind closed doors.

He didn’t care much about it though. It wasn’t like he had someone else to hide. All there was to it was a little secret. Henry’s always honest to his fans and still he has this dirty little secret. Okay, it’s not that dirty. It’s just him being bisexual and not straight like everyone thinks. Till now it never was a question, no reason to label himself anything. Henry has never said he’s straight or bisexual or anything else. He lets people think what they want. Labels aren’t his thing. Love isn’t something you’re able to label, so Henry thinks.

Henry grabs his jacket.

“I’m ready”, he exclaims and smiles because birthdays are holy to him. Birthdays always allow him to go out and give a flying nothing if he’s found by paparazzi and fans, or not. He’s going to celebrate his best friends’ birthday as if it was the last day he’s allowed to be outside – what he literally is. At least as just him, Henry – not the infamous Henry Shaw, the pop star.

“About time, Shaw.” Before they can exit the building – of course they are using a secret exit, so they won’t run into some fans that still hang around the arena to get a glimpse at private-Henry – they are stopped by Marcus.

“Guys, where are you about to go to?”

“Partying of course. It’s my 20th birthday today!”

“Can I come?” Marcus asks, and Henry almost laughs out loud. Henry’s personal assistant is more than that. He’s also a friend of him and Nathan. There’s no reason for him to ask them if he’s allowed to tag along. Henry and Nathan just are confused that prude and un-spontaneous Marcus Pearson wants to go partying with them.

“Sure”, Henry and Nathan say simultaneously. They grab their friend in between them and leave the arena, followed by Henry and Nathan’s bodyguards Paul and Mick.

 

Luca and Alexis found a cute little club which is very much jam-packed by now. It appears to be one of the most highly desired clubs in town. The two of them are here for at least three hours already and the place seems to fill up more and more. 

Is there a celebrity in here or did I miss a sign saying, ‘booze for free today’?

Luca thinks that both of his thoughts are stupid. It might just be a really well frequented club, that’s all.

“I’m at the bar when you’re looking for me”, Alexis screams into her best friends’ ear and leaves Luca in the dancing crowd. A lot of girls already tried to flirt with him, but he politely warded them off. He doesn’t like to let girls think they had a chance with him.

Now Luca’s dancing with a guy he didn’t understand the name because it’s too loud in the club to understand anything when you’re not interfering the other ones’ sphere of personal privacy. Luca’s 51 percent sure his name’s something with L as well.

“Where’re you from?” The guy asks and dances closer to Luca than he did a few minutes ago. Well, at least now Luca does know that he wants something from him.

“’M from Doncaster. What about you?” Luca replies and dances closer to the guy whose name he still doesn’t know for sure. Maybe he should ask him again later.

“From Manchester. Why are you so far away from home? Are you on holidays here or something?”

“No, was here for a concert and to babysit my underage sister at that said event.”

“What concert?”

“Do you know Henry Shaw, the infamous pop star and womaniser?” Luca’s opponent rolls with the eyes and sighs.

Does that mean he dislikes the guy as much as Luca does?

“I know him. Not much of a fan. What about you?”

“Not at all. Had to bear a meet & greet with him and the first thing I did was telling him what I really think about him.” Luca’s a bit tipsy. He’d never tell anyone about that incident. It was kind of embarrassing that he got his sister to be ashamed of him. "Think I shouldn't have done that though."

“Sounds horrible. Glad you survived.”

“Me too, believe me”, he says.

The music in the club is amazing and Luca’s dancing since he entered the dancefloor. He enjoys the attention he gets. Also, the ladies’ attention. But really, when the guy – he’s dancing with now – approached, he’d been utterly excited.

He and Alexis will stay at a hotel in Manchester tonight because they’ll be too drunk to drive. It also will be a bit too late for the travel back home to London. And to say it in Alexis’s words ‘LuLu, I want to have some fun. Don’t destroy this for me.’ So, they even booked two double rooms just to be sure. Although Luca's sure that Alexis is so deeply into Dean that with having fun she just means leading someone on but how can he be sure with that girl? Anyway, Al knew Luca wouldn't hesitate to take some guy back to the hotel room and she was the last person to be in the way of Luca's one-night stands.

Now Luca is glad about it. He quite likes that guy that moves against him. The best part is the guy doesn’t live near him. Manchester isn’t really around the corner from London, so he’d be safe from desperate stalking and begging for dates. Dating just isn’t something Luca does. Dating is for people with relationships and relationships are for the weak. All of Luca’s relationships have taught him that you always just give everything away and make compromises and in the end you are the one with the broken heart. Good friends and one-night stands, that’s Luca’s compromise.

“So, you’re from Doncaster?”

“Yeah but I live and study in London.” Luca hopes this already tells the guy he’s not into relationships and just wants a decent fuck for the night. Not that he gets the idea of dating him and maybe a long-distance relationship.

“London must be amazing. I’ve only ever been there once for a concert when I was seventeen.”

“Glad you’re not seventeen anymore”, Luca leers, hoping the other one follows the ambiguity and gets what he means. As it seems the other boy catches on with what Luca meant and almost laughs from the saucy remark.

“I’m glad, too.”

“What was your name again?” Luca blurts because he just can’t take it anymore not to know. Maybe it's also the thing that he's got too much to drink by now and can't coordinate his words anymore.

“You’re fast in forgetting, I see.”

“It’s not like that”, Luca starts. “It’s just so bloody loud in here, I didn’t catch the whole name. I know it starts with L as well.”

“It’s alright. I’m Lance”, Luca opposite says and smiles.

So, Luca was right. He’s glad he didn’t embarrass himself with remembering the wrong beginning of the boy's name.

“I’ll remember that one.” Luca will. Maybe not forever but for now. It’s always like that. He finds some guy in a club or bar, goes home with them and the next morning it’s a quick goodbye. Then he never sees them again (at least not like that, maybe once or twice on the streets) and a few weeks or months later it’s already hard for him to remember their names. Just some he knows by heart. All of them are kind of friends of his now.

“Will you drive back home tonight?” Lance suddenly asks, and Luca almost laughs because to him it’s quite a stupid question. Every sober and reasonable person would know that it makes no sense to drive back home after partying. Especially because London's kilometres away from there. It’d take Alexis and him hours to get home and by then it’ll be morning already. But Luca doesn't think any of them is sober anymore by now.

"No, I'll stay at a hotel."

"Really, will you?" The other guy smirks and Luca knows what this means. He's got himself a fuck for the night. Achievement completed.

"Yes, I will. In a room with a king-sized bed all for me, myself and I. What a pity, isn't it?"

"Could change that." Smirking again. Lance really got the whole point. So Luca hopes at least. To Luca Lance doesn't look like someone who's into relationships either. It's not because he's a stereotypical macho kind of guy but more of how he acts and how he moves. It's kind of like Luca approaches someone he wants, it's how he talks with someone he wants. That's it.

"We could", Luca says and smirks right back at the guy he will take back to his hotel room tonight.

"When will we go then?" Lance asks straight forward, and Luca notices his bladder for the first time this night. He hasn't gone to the lavatory in hours. The alcohol didn't really help the thing either.

"Can go as soon as I've been to the toilets. 'M back in a sec." With that Luca leaves and walks over to the bar where he finds Alexis immediately. She's the one surrounded by a lot of guys, all staring at her and trying to get her attention. It's kind of funny when Luca thinks about it. He never has thought about it how similar he and Alexis actually are. Although Alexis isn't just into one-night stands. She's got Dean already anyway.

"Excuse me." Luca has to say to squash through the crowd of guys. "Sorry", he says when he steps on some feet and then rushes further. When he reaches Alexis, he tabs on her shoulder. She doesn't notice him immediately. "Al." His best friend turns around, smiling at him, cup with alcohol in the right hand and left hand on one of the guys behind her. Alexis might be a little too drunk to remember that back home in London she has someone waiting for her who's kind of her boyfriend. And anyway Luca's quite confused since that guy doesn't really look like someone Alexis would fancy. "Al, I found a guy I'm taking back to the hotel. Going to the lavatory now and then 'm leaving. Are you alright on your own or shall we leave together?"

 Al looks back at the guy she's holding on to. He seems to be soberer than she does and to Luca this is a pretty good thing, or maybe it's a really bad thing. Luca really can't tell because he's too drunk to seriously think about it rationally right now.

"Going to go to the lavatory, too, then coming with you. Tom here will accompany us, right Tom?" Al now looks at the guy with black hair and blue eyes and yes, he's definitely not her type but she's probably too drunk to actually care.

Tom nods slightly and all guys that have surrounded Alexis the whole time leave one by one, probably noticing that there's nothing to get here anymore.

"Y-You", Al starts and stares at Tom. "Stay here, wait for me. 'M back in a few." She puts the cup on the bar, kisses Tom on the cheek and then grabs my hand and drags me to the lavatories.

We pass the VIP lounge which is bursting at the seam with people dancing, drinking, laughing and chatting uncontrollable. Luca just can make out some blonde guy with some weird as paper hat on his head. He can't really see much before he's dragged further by Al.

"So, what about that Tom guy."

"Oh, he's brilliant. We like the same movies and same music. Told him about you and you being gay and he's totally okay. Not some homophobic arse. Really like the guy."

"Ya know he's not ya type, right?"

"He isn't? Wouldn't take him with me if he wasn't would I now?" Luca just rolls his eyes at his drunk best friend.

"What about Dean? You remember the guy back home in London you're obsessed about?"

"Oh. Shit." It just hit her apparently. "Got to leave Tom here then."

When they finally reach the doors to the lavatory, they hug and part their ways.

Luca opens the door to the men's loo, walks in and runs into someone.

"Arse-", Luca starts but when he looks up, he stops because he's staring right into the beautiful emerald green eyes of Henry bloody god damn Shaw.

Six

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Oops", Henry says and Luca's so in shock that for a moment he forgets that he hates the guy he's confronted with now.

Again.

"Hi", it blubbers out of Luca's mouth before he even realises it.

Dammit. Luca, you don't like the guy. You insulted him in front of your sister who's undyingly in love with the pop star. Why ya tryin' to make convo?

"Going to insult me again?"

"Guess you've got enough of the truth for one day."

Silence.

Raised eye brows towards Luca.

"I just have one question", the pop star starts. "Do you always run around, telling everyone what you think about them straight to their faces without actually knowing them?"

"Do I have to know you? If I'm being honest, I don't want to. I'm pretty much sure there's nothing for me to find, so why even try?"

"You're very judgemental, you know. You have an image of someone in your head and you're not even trying to find out that they aren't actually like that." Luca wants to laugh at this because he's never been wrong before. Every person he had an idea of how they were, were just exactly how he imagined them to be in the end. Most people actually disappointed him even. So why try to get to know any person for real? It'll always just lead to disappointment and Luca was already fed up with the feeling of that. He had enough of that in his life already. Luca might not know Henry Shaw personally, actually doesn't know anything about him other than what media says but to Luca it was enough to get the picture. Rich womaniser playing with every woman who's willing to come along and let the pop star in their panties. He's having some public relationship with them and then he lets them fall back down into reality which is him not being interested in any stupid real relationship.

That's even worse than what he himself is like, Luca thinks. He at least gives everyone the knowledge of him being unavailable, him being just after a fuck for the night, nothing emotional. Henry doesn't. He's playing some fucked-up game and Luca doesn't know how girls can be into that kind of thing. How can it be attractive to someone, trying to change someone who makes it so clear that he's just being the person he really is?

Luca doesn't get the whole drama. Doesn't get the obsession about Henry Shaw. Sure, he's good looking, but to Luca that's all there is to the guy.

"Going to tell me now that you're a saint, not a sinner? That you're a good guy? That all the media has to say about you is some crap they just make up? My deepest apologise that I don't want to get to know the 'real' you."

Luca walks past the curly one. He's in the lavatory for a reason. Besides, Henry must have somewhere to be, right? Probably being in the VIP area and finding some new girlfriend. Or weren't girls from random clubs his thing, just models and other singers like that Theresa Rhodes Luca couldn't stand either? Luca actually doesn't care about that. He doesn’t care about Henry Shaw at all.

"Never claimed to be a saint but you don't know anything about me and still you judge me as if you know me since I was a little boy", Henry says, and Luca is perplexed for a second because he didn't expect the pop star to still be there.

Why can't this boy just leave? Leave him alone in general?

"I know enough." Luca doesn't think he sounds convenient but what does he care. All he wants to do is leaving the restroom, taking Alexis safely to the hotel; giving that cute guy a ride to his hotel room and then have a nice fuck all night long. That's what he wants, not some annoying conversation with Henry Shaw.

"What exactly do you know then?" the celebrity asks, and Luca just wishes for someone to enter the room, for someone disturbing this private bubble the two of them got into. Luca doesn't want to be in a bubble with Henry Shaw, not even a metaphorical one.

Henry walks towards him and it makes the older boy uneasy. God be dammed, he's peeing right now, and Henry fuck you Shaw is disturbing him pretty much. That's at least what he'd call it.

"You should at least try to get to know me. Spend some time following my everyday life. I think then you can judge me as much as you wish but till then you don't know anything at all about me." Luca blinks, once, twice. Did he hear correctly? Henry pop star Shaw is standing in a club's restroom while he's peeing and kind of asks him to spend some time with him? What even is this? If it wasn't so stupid, Luca could think Henry Shaw just asked him out on a date. But firstly, Luca doesn't do dates and second Henry Shaw knows he hates his guts. Funny that. And besides, Henry Shaw was straight.

Luca blinks again because he can't really make up his mind about this. Can't decide if it's worth it, changing his own rules. Didn't he always say he won't ever try again to get to know someone? Never ever, would he try to see behind someone's façade and look if there's more to find? Luca's still sure there's nothing underneath Henry Shaw but emptiness. Somehow though, Luca has the sudden want to know for sure. Have a last try of finding out that not everyone's just like their outside picture makes them out to be. Then he thinks about Chel. How he made her be ashamed of him today and how much she loves the guy with the green eyes that somehow stare at him through the mirror and it's scaring him. It's scary, mostly because he's in a damn loo and peeing right about now. It's the weirdest situation Luca's ever been in.

"You want me to follow you around like a puppy?" Luca asks in disbelieve, zipping his trouser close and strolling to the sinks at the other side of the room, passing Henry. Luca doesn't want to look at him but somehow he just can't help himself, he has to. He watches the pop star's reaction and it's ridiculous, really because the younger one starts to giggle and follows Luca to the sinks.

"No, I want you to try to open your mind. Try to see me for who I am and maybe then you can understand me better. Maybe we could even become friends." Friends? Luca Goldberg, gay guy and random university student for Drama & Theatre. What does Henry – straight as fuck, respectable reputation as bad boy and womaniser, with millions on his bank account because being a pop star – Shaw want from him?

Luca is about to say no immediately but something stops him. Something tells him he could challenge the celebrity. Get something out of it because Luca is so damn sure he won't ever be friends with Henry Shaw, not even ever like him. So yes, Luca hesitates to say no. He thinks about the chances he has. Henry wants him to try to see the real him, well Luca could at least try, for a price of course because he still can't think of any reason, he would cave in and change his mind about the super star. So why not ask for a challenge, when he's so certain to win it anyway.

"I could try, yes but what do I get for succeeding? What do I get when you can really convince me that you're different than all the other shallow and empty shells?" Henry stares at him in the mirror. He probably didn't even expect Luca to even consider the idea. Luca chuckles, while washing his hands and drying them on a paper towel. His chuckle seems never-ending and the older boy isn’t sure if it's actually that funny or if he's just too drunk to think clearly with his mind.

"What exactly do you have in mind?", Henry asks, and Luca is so perplexed that his obnoxious chuckle stops immediately. Is famous Henry Shaw seriously going to accept a challenge by a mortal gay student? It feels so preposterous that Luca feels the need to laugh but he stops himself before a sound leaves his lips. Suddenly he thinks about what his award could be when Henry would not be able to convince the blue-eyed boy that he's different than he thinks he is. It's really hard to think about it because Luca just knows Henry's going to fail and he needs a pretty good prize.

Then suddenly he thinks about Chel and how he made her feel today, she was ashamed about him in front of Henry and all his security people. He remembers that she's pissed as hell at him and that will last for some time. So, all of a sudden Luca knows what he wants, he knows it's splendid because now he's going to win this for Chel.

"Well, you go try to convince me that you're more than what media says about you and if you can't I want you to befriend my sister."

"Your sister?" Henry raises an eyebrow at him. Yes, sister.

"I think I owe her something after tonight and you being her friend would be a dream come true."

"I don't have to date her, right?" Again, Luca is close to open his mouth and laugh because does Henry Shaw really think he'd want him to date his little sister, his favourite sister? Luca isn't really sure if he even wants Henry to be a friend of Chels because he just can't stand the guy and is sure this won't ever change but since his sibling loves the pop star, why not give it a shot. Let Chel find out herself about Henry being a shallow soul.

"How can you even think that I would let you date my sister? First, you're four years older and in her age it's a massive age gap and second, I can't stand you one bit, why would I want a brother-in-law whom I hate to death?" Henry looks pained, but it doesn't matter much to Luca at that moment. A second later the famous celebrity looks collected again.

"Wouldn't think of it. She's not really my type anyway." Yeah right, because she's blonde and blue-eyed. That's just so Theresa-Rhodes-like and you haven't been with that media-bitch for ages. Yeah, right. Luca just glances at Henry in disbelief but leaves it at that.

"Yeah, right", Luca then says though. He's not sure if he had better shut his mouth but he doesn't really give a damn about it. This is just Henry Shaw, some singing lad who's being a media marionette. The blue-eyed boy could think about more important people he wouldn't speak his mind directly like this but that was different with Henry here, obviously.

"Well, accepted but what if I really can show you that there is a real-me behind all the media image there is? What will I get when I actually win?"

"What do you think about then?"

"How about you just owe me something when I win and like you wished I'm going to befriend your darling sister when I fail. Deal?"

"Deal", Luca says and now he's actually not that sure anymore if this was so intelligent to challenge Henry. He starts to think about what would happen if Henry's really going to succeed, if he really can change his mind about the pop star. What would be the thing he'd owe him? Is this whole game really worth getting Lottie some wish she had for 2 and a half years now?

While Luca is thinking about it further, Henry types away a message on his phone. When Luca notices he can't help himself but question who it is that Henry is texting.

Probably one of his rich friends, some models or singers that will be potential future girlfriends for a few weeks, Luca just thinks and let's that thought slip his mind. It's not like it's important, is it? Why would it matter to him who Henry is texting to?

When Henry finished his message, he looks up to find Luca staring at him questioning.

"That was just Nathan, my best friend and guitarist. He's looking for me. Told me a lot of girls are asking for me to come back to the VIP room", Henry answers an unspoken question.

Of course, he had to mention that a lot of girls are awaiting his return from the restroom, Luca thinks sarcastically. He wonders how many minutes they were in this room together already.

"Like I'd care", the older boy starts. "I don't know how long we're in here already, but I know that it'll end now since I'm going to leave right about now. And isn't there a place you're awaited? We both better leave."

He's not sure why Henry stayed behind in the first place. The pop star was about to leave the loo when Luca came in. There has been no reason to stay and start a conversation with the shorter boy.

"Yes, I'm obviously expected to come back to the table soon. I should head back soon but first I need your number."

Wait. What?

"What for?" Luca is confused. Actually, he's really massively confused. What would Henry rich and famous Shaw need his number for?

"There's a challenge going on between us from now on, you remember? You've just agreed to it a few minutes ago." Luca stares at the taller boy in disbelief for like the hundredth time this night. He can't believe that he surely means it, that he seriously got himself into this shit.

Damn Lottie!

Hopefully it's worth the whole drama and he wins this crappy challenge thing that was kind of his own idea. He could bite his arse that he didn't think about it twice before agreeing to some deal that doesn't sound so amazing anymore now that he thinks about it in a soberer state of mind.

"Right."

"I think we need a timescale for the challenge."

"A timescale?" Luca feels himself getting more and more confused. Maybe it's the alcohol or maybe just the fact that he can't really value the whole damn situation. Of all people it's the most surreal thing to meet Henry Shaw in a random club. Even worse is the fact that now he has a deal going on with the pop star and is about to exchange numbers with him.

What even would Lottie do to him to get to his phone if she found out?

Luca isn't really sure he wants to know. He's actually one hundred percent sure he won't tell any of his sisters about this new acquaintance before nothing else is manageable anymore. Hopefully this really doesn't blow up into his face later on but right now the older one's mind isn't able to deliberate anything at all.

The blue-eyed boy almost missed the other one's answer of his baffled question, but he snaps out of his thoughts just in time for him to hear the words spoken out loud.

"Yes, like a firm date when the challenge ends and one of us wins. It's better to agree on a time now before we postpone the date just because none of us wants to lose the thing, am I right?" Luca just nods. He wouldn't have given it a second thought, wouldn't have exchanged numbers or anything, really. For him all of this was more like a joke that turned out more serious than he would’ve thought and he's not sure if this ends up being the first-ranked thing on the list for 'worst ideas of his life', or not.

"What stretch of time do you have in mind?"

"How about six months? For most people this is more than enough to really get to know someone. For some people even enough to already ask their partner to marry them." Luca stares at Henry startled because what the hell did he just say? Why did he start talking about relationships now? It's not like this is anything but a farce and most probably to entertain the bored shallow celebrity. Maybe Henry has already figured out that Luca was gay and now tries to make fun of it? Or maybe Luca was just thinking too much about some things in general.

"Why not", Luca just says absent-minded.

"Wonderful", Henry smiles brightly down at him and then pulls out his phone from his trouser pocket. "Here, just type in your number."

The shorter boy takes the phone and types in his number and texts himself a short 'hi' and with a 'here ya go' he gives back the iPhone again. Henry nods at him and puts away the device again.

Smiling, Henry opens the door for Luca and lets him exit first. Luca doesn't really notice Henry's good mood, didn't notice any glance by the younger boy the whole time. He's too far into his thoughts and the need to finally leave, Anyway, if there was just a moment for Luca to stare at Henry then it really just was because confusion made him stare at him like a deer caught in the headlights. It wasn't at all because the pop star really was good looking, even beautiful.

He was though, Luca had to admit.

 

They exit the lavatory together when a fully drunk guy passes them, rushing to the toilets.

"Some people just never know when to stop." Henry sounds affected. Like it really concerns him that people get so drunk and it's the first time since the X Factor times (yes, he had to watch the whole series when Henry Shaw was a participant) that Henry surprises Luca truly. Before he can even ask about it, someone runs into him, almost setting him flying to the ground.

Luca looks up, just to find an acquainted face.

Leon, no, Liam, no, Logan, no. Well, Luca can't actually lie about it that he wasn't interested enough in the guy that he remembered his name and after all that has happened tonight, mostly the bullshit in the lavatory, didn't really help his mind to remember it.

"I was looking everywhere for you. Already thought you might have left without me." The boy looks quite unsettled back and forth between Henry and Luca. "Wait, you look quite familiar."

And suddenly Luca remembers his name, does know that he should leave as soon as he can and not look back at someone he can't stand, period.

"Lance, I've just been in the loo, but we can go back to the hotel now." Luca doesn't really take a heed of Henry's presence anymore. He just wants him to finally disappear, so he can live on his life like nothing happened.

"Great, waited for long enough to go to bed already."

Henry clears his throat and at this Luca pays attention to him again, turning around to look at him.

"It was really nice to meet you twice tonight. I think this is where our path separates. I wish you a very pleasant night." Henry sounds on edge for the first time tonight. He didn't even sound that aggressively when he did insult him earlier this afternoon. Maybe Henry Shaw the womaniser just realised that Luca Goldberg is in fact the opposite of straight, one hundred percent gay and just maybe Henry Shaw was homophobic. At least that would fit into Luca's image of the pop star.

Without giving Luca the chance to say a word, Henry Shaw leaves the two boys behind and disappears into the crowd of dancing figures, most probably walking straight back to the VIP area, to all the girls awaiting him.

In fact, Henry does but his mind isn't there anymore. Actually, his mind is just running about the fact that Luca Goldberg is in fact gay.

Seven

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luca wakes up the next morning, more confused than ever, with a bestial headache. He isn't really sure where he is right now but looking around the room, lets him guess that he's in a hotel room – most probably in Manchester. Alexis and him planned on staying in a hotel after they went clubbing nevertheless. He even planned on taking someone back to his room last night.

With a banging head, he remembers everything that happened last night: The huge disaster at the Meet & Greet, the things he’s said, the concert itself, clubbing with Al and finally meeting Henry Shaw again in the lavatory of the club they’ve went to. There is also a small memory of some other guy he met while clubbing somewhere back in his head. Logan, Landon, no Luca is quite sure his name was Lance. Actually, it doesn't really matter to him anyway because he'll never see him again.

Then he remembers what happened after Henry had left. Luca and Lance standing all alone in the hall in front of the restrooms. He remembers how Alexis stumbled out of the ladies’ room and had to hold onto her best friend for dear life, so she wouldn't tip over and fall head first down to the ground because she was bloody wasted. Alexis has been drunk like hell last night and she hasn’t been in a while. She didn’t really have a high tolerance for alcohol anymore and last night she was probably drinking twice as much as Luca did. He thinks his amount of alcohol the other night was already crazy enough for one person alone.

Let's be real though, he had agreed to a deal with the infamous Henry Luca-Goldberg-hates-him-so-much Shaw just because he was basically unable to make important decisions anymore. It was not possible for Luca to have done that in a sober kind of condition, really. No way.

Alexis wasn't just drunk last night, though. She's been totally hammered and Luca knows because she let them all know and maybe remember that moment for a very long time.

 

***Flashback***

 

Luca and Lance have just agreed to leave to the hotel and help Alexis come along, as much as you can help a completely drunk person walk anywhere. Before they could even try and get Alexis between the two of them to steady her while walking, she starts shivering for a moment and then clears out her bowels onto Lance's feet.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." Now it's time for Luca to feel embarrassed and he thinks he deserves it very well after all the shit he actually pulled that night. It somehow was like justice of some vis major.

"Yeah, it's alright", Lance assures Luca. Both of them look down at Alexis, who has let herself slide to the ground on the wall behind her. She looks miserable and Luca thinks it'll be the worst time to take a fuck back to the hotel and have his fun while his best friend might get another shiver attack in the room next to him. He would probably not witness anything if something’s happened. He thinks it's not really safe for Al to be on her own tonight.

Luca gets ripped out of his thoughts when Lance speaks again.

"Luca. Ya know I'd love to come back to the hotel with ya but I think you should take care of this one." He points with his finger towards Luca's best friend and shows a pitying smile.

"I think you're right." That's all Luca says. He kind of has no words left right now. It was fucked up justice, wasn't it? Luca has fucked up the Meet & Greet for Chels, so Al has fucked up his night's fuck. Well, Luca thinks he's even with that mysterious judicial system now. "I should help Alexis back to the hotel and then take care of her till she sobers up."

"I'm going to help you, get her to the car", Lance says and Luca doesn't understand which car he means. Luca's car is back at the arena, they left it there because they knew that they wouldn't be able to drive anywhere anymore after partying hard anyway. They had already planned to use a cab to get back to the hotel (with or without a night's fuck).

Lance is already about to walk towards Alexis to help her to get up from the ground when Luca still doesn't understand what car Lance has been talking about. He for sure won't get into a car that Lance probably will be driving himself (if he's talking about his own car) because Luca doesn't want to die yet. Luca thinks 21 is far too young to die and anyway he would never ever get into a car with a drunk person behind the wheel. No exceptions made.

Luca isn't drunk enough not to recognise what he's doing. Well, if someone asked he was totally rat-arsed when he agreed to the stupid challenge thing with Henry Shaw but no one needs to know, right?

"What car?" Luca chirps and feels like a complete idiot.

"I've called a taxi when you went to the restroom more than five minutes ago. Thought you'd be back much earlier but I guess the taxi driver just waits and waits out there."

Luca laughs. Of course, Lance wouldn't be that irresponsible. At least he didn't seem like someone that would drink and drive. Apparently Luca has been right about him.

"Well, either he's still out there waiting for us or someone else stole our cab. Everything's possible." Now Luca feels like it's safe to go and help Alexis up the ground, so he walks towards her and puts his arms around her shoulder.

"If that happened we still can call a new one. When it should end up being the busiest day for taxis in Manchester's history, well, then I still can call my flat mate."

"Interesting."

Lance shrugs and smiles sheepishly at him. He glares at Luca for mere seconds before he comes to help him steady Alexis, who gets up completely clumsy, lanky limbs going all over the place, unsure what to do with her legs. She looks a lot like a new-born calf that doesn't know how to get up and walk just yet.

"WhearesDeeeeean?" Alexis lulls incomprehensible.

"Is she always as drunk as that?" Lance looks at Luca, quite the confusion in his eyes visible.

"No, I just think Dean and her still haven't sorted things out. Ya know Al isn't the best in just speaking her mind, letting Dean know she wants to be more than friends. She's totally racking her head about this and it's quit ridiculous if you ask me." Luca loves her though, even if she's annoying him about Dean for almost a year now, just because she can't collect her courage and make a first step.

"You sound like she really means a lot to you though", Lance says and Luca smiles because of course that dork does. She's been his best friend since the first day of sixth grade. They've been together through thick and thin, have always been there for each other no matter what.

"Yes, I love her. Well, not like that, though. She's my best friend for about 5 years already. We kind of know everything about each other." Luca looks at Lance but he just nods and helps Luca to get Alexis up from the floor. They should leave and get to the cab as soon as they can. The taxi Lance called might be gone by now though but still, Al should get to the hotel room and lie down and sleep.

 

***End of Flashback***

 

Luca also remembers how they had to call a new taxi and had to wait a couple of minutes for a new one to arrive, the journey to the hotel and how Lance had even helped Luca to bring Alexis to her room. After they had laid her down on the bed, she immediately had passed out. Lance said his goodbye but not before he asked Luca for his number and of course Luca gave him his number, typing in numbers with clouded view. He had gotten very tired but it had been 4 am in the morning, so it wasn't really surprising.

After Lance had left, Luca had fallen onto the bed besides Alexis and immediately fell into a deep sleep, happy that he didn't have to wake up anytime soon.

Now Luca is awake and still feels tired. He didn’t get more than six hours of sleep but it didn’t matter because Luca and Alexis had to go back to London soon. The drive home would take over four and a half hours. It’ll be late afternoon when they arrive back home.

Luca looks around and gets back his orientation. Yes, hotel room. He lets his gaze wander and sees Alexis still sleeping in the bed next to him. They haven’t slept in one bed together in ages, not that he really remembers anything of it. It didn’t matter anyway.

Luca gets up and washes his face in the bathroom. Then he shakes Alexis awake and eventually they get dressed, pack their things together and leave Manchester in the direction of London.

 

The next day Luca had to get up early in the morning because he had agreed to an early shift.

Stupid, Alisha, he thinks to himself. Actually it's her shift because Luca never does the morning shifts but she had called in sick yesterday. Like fuck she is!

Luca doesn't like getting up at such an ungodly time. He's so used to waking up at 8 am the earliest. With a morning shift in sight he got up at 4:30 this morning. He tried not to wake Zachariah while getting ready for work. Luca knew only too well how Z’d react to getting woken up before he was ready to. If to say he was the biggest drama queen in the morning, that would be a big understatement.

Just on time he walked through the doors of the coffee shop. Some guy he's never seen before is standing behind the counter and preparing the coffee machine.

When Luca approaches the boy turns around and Luca feels like falling down a big hole with no ground in sight. The boy is very good looking. No, actually more than that. Just dead arse gorgeous and stunning. Totally Luca’s type. Muscular, tall, brown hair and daring green eyes.

“The coffee machine is not ready yet but maybe you'd like to order something else?” The green-eyed guy asks and now Luca feels more like laughing because what?  Luca’s no customer. He’s worked here at Davie’s Coffee Beans for two years already but the guy that is confusing him for a customer has never been here before. Not behind the counter or in front of it. He’d remember that face.

“Oh, no, I'm not a customer. I'm Luca. I'm a co-worker actually.”

“I'm so sorry. I'm Jonah, the one with the morning shifts.” Luca thinks about how he could take all morning shift possible just to see that gorgeous face again.

“Nice to meet you. I'm the one with the evening shifts, except for today of course.” Luca sounds ridiculous. It's not like he just works in the evening. He's also got midday shifts but still he's never seen Jonah before. Definitely he'd remember that.

“Nice come back”, Jonah says smiling, then he’s continuing to prepare the coffee machine.

 

The shift with Jonah was chilled, even though the morning shift seemed to be one of the most exhausting working hours Luca has ever had. There was not a single minute to relax till around 10 am. From then on the mass of people decreased tremendously. Finally Luca was able to breathe again. He never had a more stressful shift but at the same time he's never had a better colleague to work with. Everything has had an order and was organised, not how it was with other co-workers that were complete slobs. Getting work done is so much easier when there is a structure to follow. With Jonah everything seemed easy to handle.

When there are just a few people left in the café, Luca and Jonah make themselves Caramel Macchiatos and sit down on a table near the counter. Of all his colleagues he liked Jonah the most now. Okay, he was just second place since Alexis started to work here a few weeks ago too. Nevertheless, he has never had a shift with his best friend, not yet. Luca smiles at his co-worker.

“So, I assume you study.” Luca says out of nowhere.

“Yes, I do.” Jonah doesn't sound like too much like a Brit. Luca already noticed that when they met this morning and also while talking with the customers or exchanging orders with Luca. He wasn't sure what accent Jonah has or if his accent would be helpful to reckon where he’s from. The small boy has never been good with accents. He couldn't even pin down the British accents to their areas. So how should he be able to do it with foreigners speaking English with their accent?

“You're not English, are you?” Luca just kind of lets his question drop out of his mind. He doesn't really care if he sounds noisy right now. He's too interested in Jonah at the moment to wonder if he came around as intrusive.

“No, I'm German but it was my dream to study English language and literature in England.”

“Your English is very good for someone who's not native.”

“Well, I guess if you love a language for so many years already, it just comes easier to you to learn it. I love English.” Jonah smiles and Luca finds the boy even cuter than he did this morning. To Luca it took more than a dream to fulfil it in the end. It took courage and ambition, and moving to another country, not knowing anyone, to study what you love in a language that you love but isn't your mother tongue, is still hard to reach for Luca. He wouldn't be that brave but then again, Luca didn't speak any other language fluently. There were a few French words and sentences he knew and a bit of Italian but that's about it. Foreign languages have never been his thing. Call it lazy or blinkered, he doesn't really care. He's always survived with English wherever he was, so to Luca there was no need to learn a new language.

“You're very brave to me.”

“Thank you but I don't really feel brave.” Luca ignores what Jonah is saying next because it just sinks in what he studies and he remembers that Alexis studies English language and literature too. There're lots of universities in London, so what was the chance of the two of them being at the same one? Still, there was a chance and it definitely wouldn't be the first time for Luca to meet someone by coincidence.

"…honestly, I totally believe–" Mid-sentence Luca interrupts the other boy and it bubbles out of his mouth what is on his mind for the last few seconds.

"Do you know someone called Alexis Jane Burridge?" Jonah is confused, doesn't understand at first. He wants to ask if Luca can repeat the question but Luca already notices that he left him completely dazed and disorientated. "I'm sorry but you said you study English language and literature and Alexis is my best friend. She studies the same thing, also in London, so I thought maybe, just maybe you've met."

"Yes", is all Jonah can get into words. He's still a little unable to cope with all of this. A few seconds later he has got himself settled and then he smiles. "She's in my course, actually. Alexis is really nice. As far as I know she works here too, doesn't she?"

"Oh yes, she does. Usually I have most my shifts with her but now that Alisha is sick, it seems I got the shifts with you." Luca hopes he doesn't sound rude, doesn't sound like he hates working with Jonah and would rather have his shifts with Alexis again because that's not the case. If Luca was actually honest, he'd totally love to have more shifts with the good looking boy. Deep down he really hoped, Jonah wasn't straight or taken, or even worse would want a committed relationship because he would definitely never be ready for that no matter who came along. He swore it to himself and Alexis. Relationships just weren't worth all the pain and hurt that came with it. You've always got less than you gave and Luca wasn't willed to do that anymore. Fuck relationships without feelings. One Night Stands, that's what he does, that's what he’s good in.

"It's not too bad, is it?" Jonah asks and Luca chuckles about it.

"No, absolutely not. I can imagine worse people to work with than you. If I'm being honest, I really enjoyed working with you today.” Luca smiles at his co-worker.

Jonah smiles back and wants to say something but his phone vibrates and cuts him off. He looks at his phone and cringes. Apparently it's no one he wants to get texts from but Luca doesn't think he's not in a position to ask Jonah who it is. The other boy sighs.

“I'm sorry, Luca. I need to call him back.” Him. Luca tries not to read too much into this. It could be Jonah’s brother or father or just a mate. It doesn't have to mean he's gay. “My ex is annoying me for ages now. I think I need to tell him to stop texting and calling.” Ex. Him and ex. There's no way now that he could’ve misunderstood that. Now he's happy because he didn't even have to ask Jonah if he's gay but he's got the answer. Kind of. He doesn't know if he's gay or bi or whatever he labels himself but he knows he's into blokes. 100% sure about it because he’s had a boyfriend before. Hopefully this was his latest ex and he was single now. Well, Luca didn't even mean to think about this. Jonah seems like a genuine nice guy. Someone that is good with relationships but probably bad with sex relationships. That doesn't seem to be his thing but Luca can't be sure. He's been with boys that just needed that after a failed relationship – an uncommitted sex relationship just for fun. Luca’s always been fast to agree, mostly because they always ended to be uncomplicated. Complicated wasn't anything he liked, no one did.

“Luca!” Someone shouts after running into the shop with loud echoing steps. Luca turns around and sees Zachariah who leans against the bar, breathing heavily. “I need a strong mocha, now.”

“Strong mocha? What's up, mate?” Luca knows that something happened, something bad because Zachariah never orders strong mochas in any other situation. He drinks coffee, yes but never mocha and never as strong as possible. It kind of became their thing to communicate. Luca walks up to the counter to make his best friend’s order.

“Had a fight with Perry. She just doesn't get that I don't have so much time for her right now. I've got that important essay for my arts class. It's my main course. I can't fail because some stupid essay about the arts of the 16th century.”

“Renaissance, eh, mate?”

“No, Mannerism. Wished I got Renaissance but some girl in my class got it before I could even blink. Seriously our professor prefers girls before boys in everything. It's not fair at all.” Zachariah sighs. Luca knows that some professors are unfair but he's never heard about one giving all the hard essays to the males. Then again he was very sure that Zachariah will master this paper, no matter what.

"Can't be that bad." Luca tries to make Zachariah feel better but he's sure what he just said didn't really help at all. Instead of saying more, he makes Zachariah's mocha and adds extra coffee to make it even stronger, just like Zachariah needs. He then places the mug in front of his best friend who smiles slightly.

"You're the best, Luca." Zachariah takes a sip and seems to be more relaxed than he was just a few seconds before.

"What are best friends and roommates for?"

"To be honest, I wouldn't know what to do without you working here. No one would make me a better blow-off-steam mocha in the whole wide world. Seriously, not even Al." Zachariah pauses for a second and Luca stares at his best friend with a quite confused face. There's something to come and he wasn't sure if it was something good when his other best friend was involved. "By the way, can you give me Alexis' number? After three years of knowing you two, I still haven't got her number and I need it now."

"What for?" Luca doesn't like people asking him for Alexis' phone number and there have been lots of guys doing that. She was good-looking and nice to almost everyone, though she was shy from time to time. He doesn't give her number away to anyone though. It's a principle he doesn't bend, not for anyone. Luca didn't know Zachariah didn’t have Alexis' number yet. He finds it weird but Al must have had a reason to never give it to him or they just never had a reason to exchange their numbers. Anyway, Luca doesn't feel himself in a position to act without Alexis' consent.

"I need the English literature of Mannerism and I can't find shit about it. All I know is that Mannerism was mostly common in Italy but I need to make a reference to the English literature of the 16th century. This has nothing to do with arts anymore, so this is totally not my kind of speciality."

"I can't give you her number without her permission but I can text her that you need something from her. She can come over tonight and then she can give you information and if anything else is needed you still can ask for exchanging numbers but I don't want to help you getting myself into trouble with my other best friend."

Luca gets his phone from his pocket and unlocks it. He opens his messages and notices that he has one that is marked as unread. It's from an unknown number but since he remembers giving his number to Lance who he met in the club two days ago, he sends the number a short 'hi' back and then texts a short message to Alexis to inform her about Zachariah's art essay. Just a second later Alexis answers him already.

Tell Zac I’ll look it up and I'll be over tonight. We can discuss everything then. Laters. Xx

"As I said, Alexis will come over tonight", Luca says and smiles. Zachariah emptied his mug by now and seems to be on his way out again.

"I can't thank you enough. For the mocha and the text to Al."

"Don't thank me, Zac." Just when Luca finished his sentence, Zachariah's mobile rings and he groans when he sees the caller.

"Have to go. My girl is calling for me. See you tonight." Zachariah answers his phone and leaves the coffee shop again. Jonah comes back a few minutes later with an annoyed expression on his face.

"This guy makes me angry as hell. He won't understand that I don't want to be with him anymore. Blocked his number now."

"Why does it seem like everyone around me has problems with their relationships? My best friend is nagging me about some bloke but does not make a move to let him know that she wants to be with him, my other best friend has a relationship crisis with his girlfriend because she got clingy while he has stress with uni and you don't seem happy that your ex is running after you. See, that is why I don't do relationships in the first place." Luca grins at Jonah who sits down on a bar chair, facing Luca who still stands behind the counter. 

"You do it the right way, should try it too." Jonah just says and they start working again after a bit of chatting and more chatting.

 

Luca's shift ends at 12:45 when Janice took over the shift from him. Jonah has finished an hour earlier and left with Luca's number in his phone. They promised to meet outside of work once in a while, to be friends, of course. Or really to be friends with benefits.

Luca is on his way back to the dorms when he gets a text message. He didn't expect anyone's message but sometimes he got stupid 'You've won the jackpot' texts.

It wasn't one of those. Instead he was looking down onto something he didn't expect at all.

In bright letters there is to read:

Didn't expect you to text me. Don't hate me that much after all, do you? Any plan of starting the challenge yet? Looking forward to your next message. All the love, H.

Luca stares blankly at his phone. This must be a joke.

Impressum

Texte: © V.J. Albert
Lektorat: Aliana Thompson and Nia Greenman
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 21.08.2016

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For Allie and Nia, my best friends.