Scene Change - 7. Chapter 7

When I parked up at Joel’s he appeared before I’d even found my mobile to message him. It’s a good thing that he’s keen, right?

“Wow - nice one Connor, this looks awesome!”

“Thanks.”

I helped him get his couple of bags inside - there’s not a lot of storage space in those old cars. As soon as we were in Joel leaned over and kissed me, just lightly, on the lips. It did nothing to settle my nerves.

The drive took us almost two and a half hours. There wasn’t much chatting as it’s kind of loud when you’re hurling along the motorway, so Joel spent most of the journey critiquing my music taste. Fortunately he seemed to find plenty of stuff that he liked, so I guess we have some stuff in common there. Inevitably the slowest, and most tedious part of the journey was driving into the city to get to the hotel. Having splashed the cash a little for something actually nice, rather than just functional, I knew I’d made the right decision when were were met out front. In the UK we’re not usually very good at that sort of level of customer service, so it’s a welcome surprise when hotels can actually park your car and deal with your luggage for you without hassle. Joel gave me a smile as we stood at the check-in desk, which I like to think was one of pleasantly surprised appreciation.

It took a few minutes to check in and receive our key cards, and our bags were already in the room when we got up to it, with suits already hung up too.

“OK, so, as long as we can be out of here fairly soon, we can definitely get dinner first.”

“Sounds great Connor. Where are you thinking?”

“There’s a few good options by the theatre so I thought we’d just head over and then choose.”

Of course, this plan, as finely tuned as it was, did not come to fruition. Mostly, or perhaps completely, because as soon as we started to undress to change, things got a little out of control. In all of the good ways that they can.

~~~~ 

Laying in bed with Joel’s arm under my neck, feeling his body so warm and damn perfect next to me, it’s a pretty special feeling.

“So… we didn’t do so well at the whole ‘taking it slowly’ thing.” Joel said.

“No, I noticed that. Or at getting dinner before the show. We’re going to have to hurry now as it is just to get there.”

“Yeah, but we’ve kind of eaten.”

We both laughed at the immature humour.

“You know that’s barely one food group. We’ll get dinner after the show, OK?”

“Fine with me Connor.”

We reluctantly left the bed, showered quickly, which also meant separately, and got dressed to go out. In twenty minutes we looked damned respectable.

Whilst Joel was showering I called Rachel to check in with Leon. He was, of course, completely fine, but it was reassuring to know that.

It was almost seven by the time we got in to the theatre foyer, which meant there was limited time for mingling. I grabbed us a couple of glasses of champagne before starting the rounds of the people I really shouldsay hi to. But before we’d taken three steps, there was a very stunning girl on my arm.

“Connor! Wow, look at you!”

“Hey Kerry, and likewise! I didn’t even know you owned a dress?”

She smiled as she punched my arm.

“So, you should meet Nic. Nic, this is Connor, my boss. Connor, Nic.”

“Hi, great to meet you at last.”

I knew that Nic was Kerry’s partner, although to be honest, I’d always assumed it was a guy, but this was most definitely a woman

“And if we’re doing introductions, Joel, this Kerry, my assistant who makes my life a whole lot more possible. Kerry, Nic, this is Joel. My, er, date?”

Joel and I looked at each other for a second, both obviously running through what best might describe our relationship. Joel smiled.

“Yeah, let’s go with that. This is Joel, my date.”

It was all very relaxed and friendly. We agreed to meet up with them during the interval. Just as we were leaving Kerry leaned close to me and whispered.

“You're so gay.”

“Fuck off, lesbian.”

We both laughed before dragging our respective partners towards more people.

“OK, so, you up for some people meeting Joel? There’s a few people I really have to say hi to.”

“Sure, lead the way, I’ll be right beside you.”

A brief circuit of the room led us past Anthony the Director, Maggie the Producer, Kathleen the costume and makeup designer, and Stravoula, who was called the production assistant, but in reality she knew basically everything about the whole show. Everyone was happy to see me, pleased I could make it and incredibly complimentary about my work, which was a pretty nice experience. And Joel, he was the perfect guy, even managing to look like he was paying attention and interested. The bell sounded to prompt us towards our seats, which I took as a reminder to get some fresh champagne.

“You doing OK so far Joel?” I asked, handing him a fresh glass.

“Sure, it’s kind of cool seeing you with all of these people who obviously love your work.”

“It’s weird that this is our date. Sorry.”

“It’s OK Connor, I promise, I’m having a good time.”

“OK, well, let’s go find our seats and you can see what all the fuss is about.”

“Awesome. So, just so I know, exactly what bits are you responsible for?”

“OK, well, staging, set, and lighting design. So, if anyone stands on it, if it moves, or if it lights up - that’s me. And Kerry, because she’s been the one doing most of the checking that things actually work as intended.”

“But you’re the one who had the imagination to create it in the first place, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

It’s actually a whole lot more complicated than that, but it wasn’t the right time to get into a conversation about how you interpret artistic vision into something that’s actually physically possible.

“Cool.”

We took our seats and a few minutes later, the performance began. It’s was strange sitting there and watching it again, as I’d seen it so many times before, the most recent being when Kerry FaceTimed me a rehearsal whilst I was cooking dinner, but everything feels different with an audience. I kept looking over to Joel, and every time, he seemed to be genuinely enthralled by what was going on up on the stage. It’s a story about love and war, and definitely not light hearted or easy going, but thrilling in it’s own way. The end of the first act see’s the two main characters finally tell each other how they feel, just at the moment that their home is bombed. The entire set looks as though it explodes, walls fall down, rubble is everywhere, dust clouds and screams puncture the air, and it’s not clear whether or not either character has survived. It’s a scene that took considerable effort to bring to reality, but even if I say it myself, it worked amazingly well.

I snuck away during the interval to call Leon one final time, he should be going to bed soon. Despite Rachel’s reassurances that this was still the case, I got the impression that that was only for my benefit. But at least he was OK. Joel appeared just as I was saying goodnight.

“Everything OK"

“Yeah, of course, just me, worrying about nothing.”

“It’s one of the things that make you adorable.”

Joel gave me a quick kiss before we headed back for the second act. All in all the play was very well received, with lots of positive comments flying around afterwards. Of course not towards me, generally, as normal people don’t think about that side of things, they just enjoy the story. After half an hour of mutual appreciation in the form of the after-show drinks, I said my goodbyes and headed off. It was only polite to invite Kerry and Nic for a drink with us, although I was happy that she declined. So the two of us headed across town a little way for what I am confident is the best non-stupidly priced steak in London, before getting a cab back to the hotel. Before the theatre we had been rushed, hurried, and I don’t like admitting it, but maybe desperate. But round two was a whole other experience. We still didn’t manage to ‘take things slowly’, at least not in terms of what we did, although how we did it was definitely more relaxed, and left me feeling pretty damn good.

A late check-out and thankfully relatively low traffic drive back to Brighton meant that Sunday was nice and relaxed. I dropped the car back at the garage before walking over to pick up Leon. Joel opted to not go straight home, but come with me instead.

“Wow, you boys look like you had fun, and tired. Did you not get much sleep?”

Rachel greeted us both with a hug and a mischievous smile. Leon was much more direct and launched himself at me for a hug, although I can pick him up so that’s not at all a bad thing.

“Are you staying for coffee?”

“Yeah, sure, thanks.”

The three of us chatted downstairs whilst Leon and Andre maximised their playing time. Joel surprised me by how much he was able to talk about the play, and how open he was about having a great time. It was nice to hear, even if I felt a little awkward. Having collected Leon’s things and thanked Rachel for maybe the fifteenth time for looking after Leon, it was time to head home. Joel offered to come with us, under the guise of helping me carry our bags. Leon was telling me about all the fun stuff he’d been up to and had obviously had a great time. Finally home, and reality was staring me in the face. It was Sunday afternoon and I had all the usual dull housework stuff to get done.

“Do you mind if I just hang out with you guys for the afternoon?”

I’m sure Joel knew he was impossible to say no to when he smiled like that.

“Of course you can, but I have stuff to do, you know, laundry and ironing, it’s totally thrilling.”

“That’s OK, I won’t get in the way I promise.”

He kissed me again, and I have no idea if Leon saw us or not, I just know I worried about it. But honestly, it was pretty nice just having him around. Joel ended up staying for dinner and I couldn’t help but smile to myself as the three of us sat at the table eating. After Leon went to bed we sat and talked and half watched TV for a couple of hours. It was lazy and relaxed, and very comfortable. Just being able to sit next to him, lean against him, feel his arm around me, I knew I wanted this to happen more often. Even if it felt as though we’d been a couple for months, I was trying to remind myself that this was technically only our second date, and I shouldn’t get so carried away. But it’s easy to do when things feel so good.

“I should probably get going.”

I knew he was right, it was getting late.

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’ve had a great time Connor, and not just last night, today as well, thank you.”

“Good, I’ve had a great time too. And I promise I won’t make you go and see a play next time.”

“Oh? You’re expecting a next time?”

I was briefly confused and panicked before realising that he was obviously joking, which made Joel smile.

“Besides, it’s my turn next time, OK?”

“OK, although I already know that you’re taking me to Morello’s.”

“Oh you do huh? I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

Joel playfully nudged my shoulder, which turned in to tickling, which turned in to kissing. When he finally left I knew that I’d made the right decision, Joel is definitely special enough.

I finished tidying away from dinner and checked on Leon before getting ready for bed myself. There was a pile of drawings he’d brought back from Rachel's and I picked them up, wondering where we were going to make enough space to put them up. He’d told me earlier that they were pictures of what he had done while I was away, which made me smile because he sounded like it had been for weeks rather than hours. There was also a picture of me, and I presume Joel, and we were both smiling.

~~~~~

The days passed by, quickly becoming a few weeks, and things were properly good. Joel was spending a lot more time with Leon and me, and we had a couple more ‘dates’ although that seemed like an overstatement already. We hadn’t explicitly had a conversation about it, but we were most definitely a couple, Connor and Joel. And maybe even a family, because so much of our time together was spent at home with Leon too. And their relationship, despite the awkward start, was also working out well. Leon had also worked out that when Joel was around he had at least a chance of getting a different answer if he asked the two of us separately. Of course for anything in any way important Joel would usually defer to me, but it was kind of cute to see Leon doing this.

The first big development was the next weekend that Rachel offered to look after Leon again. Both Leon and I were excited about this. Although instead of doing anything ‘big’, Joel took me out for dinner and the plan was just to hang out on our own for the weekend. Morello’s is a very upmarket restaurant, and after I’d stopped worrying about the prices we had a great night out. After dinner we headed for a nearby bar.

“So Connor, do you want to come back to mine since we’re on this side of town?”

“Sure, I guess that makes sense.”

Despite my earlier cleaning and tidying and putting on clean bedsheets, I was more than happy to go to his place. Apart from just wanting to see where he lived, if it was closer, then that was a good enough reason. It really wasn’t that far away, but Joel booked a cab anyway. I knew he lived near the marina, so I was expecting something pretty nice, but following him in to the block of apartments I knew that I’d already underestimated just how nice. When the lift opened on his floor, there were only two doors. I tried to remember how big the building was. Either there were other lifts servicing other floor space that I hadn’t seen downstairs, or this was going to be a massive place. And wow, there were not any other lifts.

Joel showed me around what was an truly enormous apartment. Three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a lounge with wrap around windows covering three sides. The view was properly stunning.

“So what do you think?” Joel asked.

“I don’t know, it’s kind of… cramped, don’t you think?”

Yeah right, because my whole flat would fit in his kitchen. And yet, it was hard to be impressed. Sure, the place was huge, and it was easy to see how you could do so much with it. And yet, he hadn’t. Sure there was furniture and pictures and all the stuff you’d expect, but it may as well have been the show home that he just bought and moved in to. There was nothing that seemed warm, or personal, or very ‘Joel’ at all. But I didn’t have long to wonder about that as we were making very good use of an oversized sofa. Before we were completely naked, Joel led us through to his bedroom, which was equally oversized. I briefly mused on the idea that at least the two of us were perfectly well proportioned, before spending a couple of hours testing that in several different ways.

In the morning we showered before heading out for breakfast because predictably enough Joel had nothing in to eat. I took him to Georgio’s and introduced him to my favourite full stack bagel before heading back to mine so I could get some clean clothes. That took longer than it needed to because it involved me getting undressed, and, well you know how it is, there’s that insatiable aspect of a new relationship that we were still working through. I made us some tea and we cuddled and chatted, making the most of time alone before picking up Leon. There was a comfortable pause, and I could see that Joel was thinking about something. A moment later he smiled as he turned to face me properly.

“What?” I asked.

“I was just thinking, I like it better when we spend time here.”

“You do?”

“Definitely.”

“Because you like small cramped spaces? I know that’s not true, your place is about eight times bigger than here!”

“Yeah, maybe, but here, it’s… OK it’s stupid, but it feels like a home. I just sleep at my place.”

I pulled him back close to me, silently enjoying the feeling of knowing that he liked it here, with me, with us.

Thanks for your perseverance   I say this every time, but it’s true, your comments and feedback are very much appreciated.