The next day, Joe went off to the set without me. We didn't think it was right for me to come to set uninvited. Especially on a huge movie like this. I stayed home for most of the day, spending it in a large, oversized sweater and my underwear. I didn't feel like going outside today. It was a lovely English summer day, but I just didn't want to leave the apartment. I watched The Great British Bake Off and a bunch of other shows off Netflix that were all based around Britain. I watched some British comedies and shows, just to get it through my head that I was now living in this country for six months.
It was a lovely day indoors. A day that I would have killed for in those 6 weeks Joe was gone. I was just so busy doing covers and backlogging videos that I barely had any time to breathe, let alone relax. I opened my laptop and uploaded a new cover. The first one from London. But, none of my fans knew that. They didn't know I left for London. For all they know, I'm a single woman living in LA. I left them in the dark for a reason. If they knew that all this was happening while I was still figuring it all out, then everyone would be on my back. Wanting to give me advice or give hate comments about my decisions. I just wasn't ready for that. And I knew I would have to face them eventually.
Joe and I agreed that tonight would be the night that we filmed our relationship announcement video. It would go up next week, but I needed time to make sure it was perfect and showed how happy we truly were in this relationship. At around 6 o'clock, the front door unlocked and I realized that the day went by super fast. I got up off the couch to meet him by the front door. I got to the threshold of the living room doorway and stopped. I gave him a small smile as he put his keys on the end table by the door.
"How was driving on the wrong side of the road?" I asked. Teasing him about it.
"Difficult. I kept veering into the next lane. Thankfully, there weren't that many people on the roads." He walked up to me and put his arm around my waist and lazily kissed me on the lips. "How are you?" he asked, still holding me.
"I'm good," I said. "Just enjoying some relaxation time." I was actually enjoying it a lot.
"Is that the reason for this outfit?" He asked. I nodded and laughed. "It's nice, I like it." He kissed my cheek and he walked into the kitchen.
"Easy access," I joked, mimicking his favorite line when I wasn't wearing pants.
"Truly," he retorted. He grabbed a glass from a shelf and started to fill it up with water. "Hey, did you say something to Brian yesterday? I mean, other than the meeting I was there for?" He seemed concerned. I hadn't told Joe about the interaction because I didn't want him to get in trouble because of me. And I knew if I told him, he would feel responsible to apologize to all the people I might have offended by my actions. I was worried about why he brought this up. I thought I screwed up bad.
"Yeah, kinda, why did I do something wrong?" I was genuinely worried. My face dropped into a serious one. I didn't know if I had screwed up really bad or not.
"No, you didn't. It's just that..." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"What?" I asked.
"He asked where you were. Like, by name and everything. Not just where my girlfriend was, but where was Julie. I didn't think you made that big of an impression, but I guess you did. He and Roger agreed that you can come to set anytime you want. Every day, actually if you want to." He had a confused look on his face the whole time he talked. "I just, I didn't know they liked you that much. I mean, I know I like you that much, but they only met you for a minute."
"Well..." I started. Joe looked up at me, hoping for some kind of answer to what made these Queen men so interested in me. "I can't speak for Roger because I only talked to him when you were around, but I did talk to Brian again." Joe raised an eyebrow at me. I walked over to the counter and sat on it. I let out a big sigh. "While you were changing out of your Deacy costume, I..." I said the next part fast. Hoping that he wouldn't catch what I was saying. "I went up onto the stage and I started playing Freddie's piano and I played Bohemian Rhapsody. I guess, Brian was still up there for some reason and he heard me playing and he said he really liked it and he told me he wouldn't tell anyone that I was up there." I gave a gritted teethed smile at Joe.
"You did...what?" His tone of voice was more serious. He was a bit mad with me, and with good reason. I let out another sigh.
"I know I wasn't supposed to be up there, but I just couldn't help myself. I've watched that concert so many times and I can't tell you how much I've wanted to play that piano and have just a taste of the life those guys had. That's why I started performing for my fans. So, I could have a little, tiny taste of that rock star life. I think everyone wants a taste of that life. I just couldn't help myself. I'm sorry. I know I could have put your job at risk if someone caught me, and I would have felt so terrible if that happened. But it didn't, thank God. Because Brian was up there, and no one else." I stopped talking and waited for a response. We had gotten into small fights before, but they had never really gone anywhere. They were mainly because of miscommunication or forgetting something, so I was prepared for a reprimanding from him. But, it didn't happen.
"I don't like that you did that." I put my head down. "But, you got in good with Brian, so you must have done something right. And you're right. If you were caught, I would have been responsible. So, I'm glad Brian was the only one up there too. And I will take you to set when you want to go, but I guess I need to keep a close eye on you the whole time," he laughed. I laughed too. He set his glass down on the counter and came over to me. He put his hands on my thighs and tried to look in my eyes while my head was still down. "Hey," he said and I looked up at him. "It's okay. I get it. Hell, I once sat in Spielberg's directing chair when no one was looking." I chuckled softly. "I get it. I don't like that you did it. But, I get it." I threw my hands around his neck and we hugged.
"Thanks, and I'm sorry." I kissed his cheek as his hands grabbed at the excess fabric around my body in the hug.
"Well, you get to come to set more often, so I guess it was a win-win for everyone," He laughed as he pulled away from the hug. He put his hand on my cheek for a second and then pulled away. "Are we gonna film that video tonight?" he asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, if you're up for it," I replied.
"I am." He said. "But, you don't look too ready for it," He pointed his finger up and down my body, pointing out my lack of pants and the sweater that let my bra strap take precedence on my shoulder. I laughed.
"I guess I'll go change. I'll meet you in the living room in like, 15 minutes." He nodded and we left the kitchen. I changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants, still comfortable clothes, but they were more presentable on camera. I grabbed my camera and tripod out of their bags and I brought them with me into the living room. Joe was sitting on the couch watching whatever I left on the TV. Some sort of cooking show. I set up my camera and tripod to face the couch. I asked Joe to sit on another chair in the room so the video would begin with just me in the frame. I made sure everything was perfect. The only thing I didn't have were my bulky lights from home so the lighting would be a little off. I sat on the couch after I pressed the record button.
"Are you ready?" I asked him.
"Are we going already?" He shot back. He was worried and I could tell.
"Well, it's rolling, but I'll just edit this out." He took a sigh of relief and he sat back in his chair. "I'll cue you for when you should come sit next to me, okay?"
"Okay," he responded. He had been an actor all his life, so I hoped that he would be okay being on camera with me. But this was uncharted territory for him and I could tell he was nervous. I took a deep breath.
"Okay, I'm gonna start now." Joe nodded and sat back a little more in his chair. He liked watching me film, but he rarely got to see me just talk to a camera like this. "Well, this is different," I said as I gestured around the room. "There have been a lot of things that I've been keeping from you guys. So, the title didn't lie that this was a big update. Like a really big update." I had planned on titling the video as such. You needed those clickbait titles sometimes. "First things first, there will still be videos coming out every week and there might be a few vlogs thrown in here and there as well. I know you guys want some more of those, and they're coming." I took a breath. "Okay, that was the easiest update to say. Onto the next one. I moved again. Not permanently, but just for about 6 months." I slowed my speech down. I wanted my fans to understand every word I was saying and I didn't want there to be any confusion. "I came out here for a reason, and we will get to that in a second, but I will be here for six months. That means that sadly, I can't do any concerts until after I get back. This kind of came up suddenly, so I understand if you are angry or mad at me for it. I get it." I stopped a beat and looked over at Joe, he was smiling at the words he used earlier on me. "How am I doing so far?" I asked him.
"Great, keep going." He egged me on. I took another deep breath.
"I moved to London." I revealed. "I have always loved this country and this city, as a lot of you know. It's the country of many of my favorite TV shows and bands so it shouldn't be a complete surprise that I moved here, honestly." I chuckled at my own joke, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit. I talked for a little more about moving to London and the process of getting here, but I needed to get to the big reveal or none of this would make any sense. "Now, I said I would get to why I moved here. And I will. But, there is something else I need to say first." I took a couple deep breaths. "I'm really nervous guys," I said, aimed at the audience. "I have...a boyfriend." The second the word left my lips a huge smile ran across my face. I slapped my hand over my mouth to hide it, but it was already recorded for the world to see. "Oh my god, that felt so weird to say in front of a camera." I looked over at Joe who was smiling from ear to ear. "I have a boyfriend and I love him like crazy and hopefully he loves me just as much," I gestured my hand towards him and he nodded aggressively. "He's over there and he nodded," I said, informing the audience. "Um...we've been dating for about six months and we met through a mutual friend. Remember the friend that I said I was catching up with in LA, yeah, he set us up. And I can't thank him enough for it." I smiled at Joe again. I straightened myself in my seat. "His name is Joe and he's an actor. And I'm here with him because he's filming a movie. We didn't want to be in a long distance relationship for six months, so I decided to come here with him so we would be together." I gave him a small smile. "So here he is,"
I gestured my hand to Joe, waving him to come on the couch with me. He got up from his chair and walked over slowly, making sure he looked as good as he could in front of the camera. He seemed a little bit uncomfortable even though he had spent his whole life in front of a camera, acting in many wonderful movies. He sat down next to me and placed his hands on his legs.
"Hi," he waved at the camera. I looked at him and then back to the camera. I felt his eyes on me and I turned back to him. We locked eyes and started to laugh. I leaned my head on his shoulder for a quick second and then went back to talking to the camera.
"This is Joe," I said.
"Correct," he responded. I gave him a quick look and then turned back to the camera.
"He is my boyfriend and he is an actor. He's actually a very well established actor. And some of you might already know who he is and some of you might have no idea who he is, but I'm sure you know him. He was in The Pacific which was a show on HBO that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produced. He was in Simon Birch, which was another fantastic movie. But, probably," I started giggling through my words as Joe smiled over at me. "the most memorable role you had was in...Jurassic Park." Joe threw his hands on his face like he was shocked. "Yes, that's right. I bagged myself the little boy from Jurassic Park." I laughed. "Joe has been acting forever and he's in another movie, that's filming right now that I mentioned, and it will be his best one yet. I can already guarantee that."
"Aw, thanks, babe." He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.
"Oh, and also, this isn't his usual hair," I pointed at his head. Joe reached up and ran his hand through it. I chuckled. "He needed to have it permed for the movie, so this is what his normal hair looks like." I had planned on adding in a photo of Joe from some red carpet event to let the people know what he would normally look like.
"Yeah, trust me, I hate it as much as you do," he joked towards me and the audience. I smiled and let out a light laugh.
"Is there anything you want to say to them?" I asked him.
"No, not really. I'm sure I'll see a lot of questions in the comments, so I'll just answer those." He talked to me the whole time and not the camera, but it just made everything more authentic that way.
"Alright," I chuckled. "Well, I think that's it from me today. I'll probably be having a Q&A stream tonight, the day that this comes out, to answer any questions you have, because I know there are going to be questions. Ok, bye!" I waved at the camera and Joe followed suit.
"And cut," he said, clapping his hands together and chuckling. I slumped back in the chair and looked at him. I put my hands over my face and he leaned back as well and hugged me, even in my awkward position. He started kissing my face and hands, trying to push my hands out of the way. He pulled away as I pulled my hands from my face.
"Okay," I said as I got up and I started toward the camera to turn it off. Joe had grabbed my waist and pulled me down onto him and the couch. My legs draped over his lap and my butt landed on the couch. He kissed me on the lips quickly.
"I think that went well," he said.
"Well, we have to see what the response is first," I replied. He let go of me and I turned the camera off. I looked over at Joe and he seemed to be beaming. I pushed the tripod and camera to the corner of the room. We sat and watched some random shows and cuddled until it was time for bed.