The Obscure Downsides of Fame (New Edition)

64 || everything, all simultaneously

"I'm turning nineteen. And no, I'm not proposing," I clarified. 

"But it feels like I'm not far off," he said, but he didn't push. No, he only squinted as he tried to read my face, before trying to pick a movie on the screen, his leg still bouncing up and down rapidly.

"You're not," I said without thinking.

"Sorry, what?" he asked. It was the only moment I could still go back, but I forced myself to speak before I got the chance to overthink again.

"You're not that far off," I said. "Take a guess."

Hunter smiled, visibly relaxing in the chair. "You're blushing so hard right now," he said, shaking his head in amusement. "What's her name?"

My face went blank. I wasn't expecting him to assume I was dating a girl, which was stupid in hindsight since I was still in the closet. These past few days I'd just been so comfortable on set, that I forgot my character wasn't me.

"Not a girl?" he guessed after a few seconds of awkward silence. I shook my head.

More silence passed, and I just stared out in front of me, at the TV screen. I wasn't even watching whatever I put on. All that was going through my mind was: fuck, did I really just come out to someone?

"It's the keys to your house, isn't it?" he asked. It spooked me a little, so I flinched. He seemed rather calm this time around, and he had a faint smile on his face.

"Y- yeah," I breathed out. I was giving him the keys to my house. The beach house I loved so much ever since I was a child, because it was the only place where my parents would spend time with me. It was rare, but it was reality once upon a time.

Maybe my parents wouldn't keep me company there anymore, but it was my place now. Oakley could come over whenever he pleased, and there'd be no impromptu drug testing.

"Do you think it's a good idea?" I asked.

"The keys?" he asked, and I nodded. "I don't know what your boyfriend is like. How long have you been dating for?"

"Almost eight months," I said, no need to count the months as it was all I'd been doing the entire flight. "It's not like I'm asking him to move in or anything. I just... I want him around."

We were supposed to be landing in less than an hour, and now it was me who was getting nervous.

"Relax, Nolan. You're not proposing, remember? Eight months should be fine."

Right. Not proposing. Yet somehow, it still felt like I was.

Hunter and I sat in silence for most of the flight, it was only occasionally that he had something to say. Sometimes he'd ask questions about Oakley, asking me what he was like, or if there's any possibility he'd met him before. Sometimes he'd talk about himself, like school plays he'd been in, and crazy audition stories. I knew it was to get his mind off the flight, but I wasn't much help as I consistently had very little to say.

My mind was on my birthday, and giving Oakley my keys, and kissing him after being apart for over a month.

An eternity later, the plane finally landed. I didn't have any checked-in luggage, so as soon as I got off the plane, I speed-walked toward the exit with a smile on my face, only briefly saying goodbye to my cast members. We weren't done filming yet, so I'd get to see them again within the next week anyway.