The Assistant | Scavi

The Meeting

Scott arrived at Fantasy ten minutes before the meeting. He smiled when he saw Avi in the foyer. He stepped inside. "Hi, Avi."

Avi turned around and immediately beamed at his boyfriend. "Scotty! Why are you here?" 

"Esther asked me to attend the meeting? Because it might be about me, too..." Scott explained. 

Avi nodded. "True." He took his boyfriend's hand and squeezed it softly. "How was your day?" He asked while leading his boyfriend to a secluded corner. 

"Good. I was in the park and the café with Mitch. It was great to catch up with him" Scott explained. "And you?"

"Well, I was at therapy. It was good. She took it easy on me, because of the upcoming meeting" Avi explained. 

"I get that" Scott replied. "Anyway, shall we head upstairs?" 

Avi grimaced. "I'd rather take you home," he said. "I don't want to go up there and have them dish out on my private life.

Scott smiled. "I know, Avi. But if you come clean now, you will never have people ask you about your marriage again. I don't want out relationship to be a soap opera either, but remember when you told me that you want to be able to go out and be happy? This is the first step."

"Or the end of my career" Avi said gravely. 

Scott shook his head. "It won't be the end of your career Avi," he said. "Sure, it's not easy for you, but they'll accept you. This may cause a stir now, but then again most people like you for your music and not for your relationship or sexuality."

Avi sighed, but he nodded. "You're right. At least I hope so" Avi said. He looked around and when he was sure that they were alone, he leaned up and kissed Scott's lips. "I needed this," he said. "Come on, let's go."

Scott was surprised when Avi held his hand while they were walking upstairs to the meeting room. He only let go as they arrived there and went inside. 

Scott was surprised to see so many people sitting at the conference table. He only knew Esther and Peter, his manager, but the other people were foreign to him.

"Avi, Scott. Good to see you" Esther said happily and hugged both men. "Sit down, we'll start right away."

Avi sat down next to Scott and looked around. "So..." he started. "Let's get this done, shall we? I haven't been in town for the past days. What is up?"

"Well," Esther began. "You know about the pictures. And while they have been out for a few days now, it's only now that media has gotten interested in them. They're all coming up with their own stories which is why we have decided that it's time to sit down and find a strategy to deal with this."

"I understand, but why do we need this many people just to talk about it?" Avi asked immediately. "I thought this would be between Peter, you and I, Esther."

"Avi. We know that you don't like these huge meetings, but since this is a sensitive topic we decided to invite the legal department, the publicity department and two of our diversity representatives. And of course, Jonathan, who is on your management team as well in case you forgot" Peter spoke up. "Now, Avi. The main issue, for the media and the record company, is the fact that there are pictures out of you and Scott while everyone says you're married. Even in interviews during the tour, you confirmed this."

"I did," Avi said. "Because it is easy. It is easy to say that you have a wife at home, but that she doesn't want to be in the limelight. Then everyone shuts up with their privacy-invading questions immediately. I mean look at Dolly Parton. She has been married for over 5 decades and there are only a handful of pictures of her and her husband. And I am nowhere near as famous as she is. And it would've worked out if not for the pictures someone took when I was in a place I thought I was alone with Scott."

"But what would have been your plan, Avi? Tell everyone you're married while you travel the world with your personal assistant?" Peter returned. "Scott would probably disapprove of this decision."

"This is a private matter between Scott and me" Avi returned. 

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Why don't we ask him? After all, he came here for a reason."

"Avi is right. It is a private matter. And until the pictures came out, we had it under control" Scott confirmed. 

"And what about that ominous wife of yours? I mean even if you're not on social media, some people were able to dig up pictures from your wedding" Peter prodded further. 

"I was married," Avi said. "Even when I was contracted by Fantasy, I still was living with her. But we divorced shortly after and she moved out of California. We're still friends and she knows that I haven't been able to talk about the change in my relationship status. I didn't see any need for that either. All I want to do is make music. I don't want my private life to be public." 

"Yes, but now it is, Avi" Jonathan spoke up. "And what we want to do is find a way to make dealing with it bearable for you. I am usually a strong advocate of letting media think what they want but a married man being seen with a different person, no matter if it's a man or woman, is very bad publicity."

"But what do you want me to do? Get out there and be like 'oh, by the way, I like men?' I don't want that, I never wanted any of this" Avi said.

"Well then you shouldn't have lied in the first place" Peter shot back. "Look, there's this problem we need to deal with and it's about your sexuality. But we cannot deal with it when you keep running away from it."

"His sexuality is not the problem" a young woman, probably on of the diversity representatives, spoke up. 

Peter rolled his eyes. "I know, but-"

"No but. What you are saying right now is the reason while so many women and men struggle to be open about their identity. What I see right in front of me are two men who love one another. To me this is beautiful. I agree that something needs to be done so Avi doesn't look like a man who cheats on his wife, but like a man who has the courage to be who he is" the woman returned.

Scott smiled. He liked that she was standing up for them.

"Okay, my wording was maybe a bit unfortunate, but the essence of it is the same" Peter said. We need to handle this situation, no matter how. Maybe it would even be good publicity to tell your story? Show everyone that it is okay to be, you know..." 

"See? The fact that you can't even say the word shows that for some people it is not okay to be different. And how do you know how Avi identifies? Just because he is in a relationship with a man right now does not mean he is gay. Maybe he is bisexual or pansexual? Or maybe he does not want to label himself at all?" The diversity representative argued. 

"Is this going to be a meeting about my client's future or a lesson on your culture?" Peter shot back. 

During this discussion, Scott was looking at Avi, saw that he sank back into his seat and got smaller, until all of a sudden he banged his fist on the table "Enough!"

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