U-N-I

The following story is entirely a work of fiction. The characters are not based on any particular celebrity but the story is about fictional characters, who are celebrities in the story. The music used in this story is music by the band Coldplay and I mention Liam Gallagher in this chapter.

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After a month without seeing my friends, having Jordan around was refreshing. I had missed hanging out with him, I had missed the laughter. I had missed goofing around and making jokes. I had missed being able to talk freely and without restraint about any topic. He wasn't Rob, but still, he was my best friend and his presence was making Rob's absence easier to endure.

As soon as he got to New York, time began to go by quickly. We had decided to leave and go back to Dublin just after Jimmy's birthday. It was Saturday and our flight was on Tuesday. As Jimmy had invited over one hundred people, he'd hired a catering team for the party. Around eight, guests started arriving in twos or fours. Soon, the party was well and truly underway and things became hectic in the kitchen for the catering staff, that didn't arrive early enough to set up and looked overworked and understaffed.

Jordan and I began helping out. I was in the kitchen, quickly assembling melon, mozzarella and Prosciutto skewers when Jordan walked up to me. Uncharacteristically, he just stared at me for a moment without saying a word, as if he was waiting for me to say something.

I turned my head to look at him and chuckled,

"Fucking say what you gotta say!"

Still, he didn't speak and kept staring at me, waiting.

"What?" I insisted.

He shook his head,

"You knew he'd be here tonight, didn't you?" he asked.

I understood that he was talking about Damien and felt nervous about it almost instantly. I stared at him for a second before concentrating on what I was doing again,

"I knew who would be here?" I asked with a smirk.

"Don't play dumb. Did you?" he asked again, getting annoyed with me.

I shrugged my shoulders lightly,

"I figured as much," I admitted, "Why, is he here?"

"Yeah. Just walked in with another dude... I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, but,... don't!" he said, genuinely worried.

I looked up at him again and said reassuringly,

"Look, if he's here, that means he still hasn't got the message. I need to just... talk to him," I explained.

He frowned,

"For fuck's sake. What's with the drama? Isn't being gay supposed to make things easier? How many times do you have to flush to get rid of him?"

I laughed,

"Hopefully, this should be the last time. Don't worry. I know who I want to be with, and that's not him. Just make sure I don't end up alone with him for too long," I chuckled.

"Jesus Christ. I'm only one man!" he exclaimed and turned his head to peer into the living room, "I don't know the guy he's with, but if he's fucking him, he's not doing a very good job," he joked.

I assembled one last skewer and handed him the tray as I told him to make himself useful instead of talking shit. He went back into the living room and I stayed in the kitchen, hoping that somehow, I'd be able to hide in there long enough to figure out how to best handle the situation.

"Seems like we've got quite a lot friends in common," I heard only a moment later.

"Have we?" I asked, not even turning my head to look at him.

He walked up to me and, as I had started assembling appetizers on an empty tray, he asked if I needed help. I answered that I didn't and looked up at him. He smiled at me before turning to the guy he was with and introducing me to him.

"This is Josh," he said, I wondered for a second if he was dating him, but to be honest, I didn't really care.

"Hey, how's it going?" he said in a friendly manner and immediately added, "so, you're the guy?"

I briefly looked at Damien. Had he talked to him about me?

"He's the guy," Damien said with a small laugh.

"I guess I should be thanking you. He was pretty miserable because of you."

"Shut up!" Damien said, rather self-consciously.

He laughed and grabbed a couple of appetizers. Then he turned around, patted Damien on the shoulder and headed out of the kitchen.

Damien gazed at me with a shy smile,

"I wasn't that miserable."

I watched him and went back to assembling the appetizers,

"You really have to stop doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Showing up wherever you know I'm gonna be," I answered, looking back up at him.

He shrugged his shoulders,

"We didn't get a chance to talk the other day."

"I thought I'd made myself clear."

He didn't respond and grabbed an appetizer as well. He brought it up to his mouth and rested one of his hands loosely on the table,

"Jordan keeps glaring at me. Is he gonna kick my ass? Should I be worried?"

I chuckled,

"He might. I take no responsibility for Jordan's actions. He's unpredictable."

"Alright," he chuckled too, "I'd better watch my back."

I nodded.

"So... how come he's here, but Rob isn't?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation casual, but going straight to the point.

"He's got other commitments," I responded.

He grabbed another appetizer and after a brief hesitation, he asked,

"Do you wanna tell me what happened between the two of you?"

"Why do you assume something happened?" I responded.

"You've been here for quite a while without him, haven't you?"

"So?" I said, turning my head so my eyes met his, "We're not joined at the hip."

He just held my gaze,

"Aren't you?" he responded doubtfully.

"I had a lot of editing to do for the record."

His eyes narrowed,

"Since when do you do the editing alone?"

I didn't answer so he added cheekily,

"Did he cheat on you?"

I snorted,

"No... Not that I know of."

"Then what?" he insisted.

I moved the tray I had finished filling to the side of the table. A girl from the catering staff immediately grabbed it and rushed out of the kitchen to serve the guests.

"It's just...," I began saying as I started placing ready-to-heat appetizers on an empty tray. "he's very famous. And that makes things a bit complicated."

He gave a slight nod and pushed his lips together,

"Doesn't he enjoy it? He seems to handle fame pretty well."

"Yeah, he seems to... But he doesn't," I explained.

"He's full of contradictions," he responded.

I shook my head slightly,

"Don't act like you know him."

He didn't answer and added after a short moment, obviously trying to change the subject,

"I've watched the 'One love Manchester' concert from June, after the attack. How was it?"

I smiled softly and immediately seized the opportunity to talk about music and to stop talking about Rob. I started telling him about the benefit concert that had taken place in response to the bombing after Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester.

"It was great. It was a good way to come together and say 'Fuck you, terrorism.' When they asked if we wanted to be a part of it, we knew we had to turn up for it. The atmosphere backstage was so strange though. But the crowd in Manchester was just perfect."

"Yeah, it was an amazing thing to put together. Everyone looked so emotional. ... Another great 'Fix You' moment by the way," he smiled.

"I know. This song works on so many levels."

He grinned,

"And sharing the stage with Liam Gallagher, you absolutely nailed the guitar solo."

I grinned too,

"Thanks. Again, we got to play with one of our heroes from when we were growing up. He's a true Manchester legend!"

"Yeah, he is." he agreed. "Regardless of his attitude."

"He was alright. He was great actually. Just a shame Noel didn't turn up. He was a surprise guest. Everyone in the audience was in shock. They arranged a private jet to fly Liam out to the concert 'cause he first had to play a gig in Germany at the Rock am Ring."

"Yeah, I heard him say in an interview that he would have definitely got back for it, no matter where he would have been in the world."

"Yeah. He really wanted to be a part of it. So, he was rehearsing

'Live Forever'

with his band, and I dunno, for some reason, he decided he wanted the performance to be about the words and the melody and what the song was all about. He just wanted to sing it, and have the people sing it back, you know, just sing it together. So he was like, 'oh fuck, I'll sack the band, would you just play the guitar? 'cause you know, you're alright, and it's all about coming together this gig ... and you and I are gonna live forever and stuff like that".

"Fuck, that's awesome."

"I know. Honest,

'Live Forever'

was like, one of our favourite songs growing up. We used to cover it all the time when we started the band. I can play it with my eyes closed, and so can Rob. So we said yes right away. I mean, he's quick to criticize, but he seemed to like us enough, that night anyway," I chuckled.

"It was a really good live performance of the song."

"I don't know. I didn't read what people thought of it. I'd rather not."

"I'm telling you. It'll be a classic. It was the best he's sounded in years," he joked.

"Yeah, he's back!" I exclaimed," he really put his heart into it. He reminded people he's still one of the greatest rock stars ever. He sounds much older now but he still sounds great."

He remained silent as I placed the tray in the oven and then he added, changing the subject again,

"You really do like to cook, don't you?"

I smiled slightly at his attempt to start a more personal conversation,

"I would hardly call that cooking," I said, because I was indeed a bit of a cooking enthusiast.

"Well, no one else but you is helping with the food."

"I guess that's one thing my father taught me. He always used to say that he hated all the Irish junk food."

I wondered for a second why I was mentioning him. I had never talked to Damien about my family. It wasn't a subject I would broach with anyone, except for the people closest to me. I figured that knowing that I had to go back to Dublin a few days later and talk to my mother again was stressing me out more than I wanted it to.

"What's the deal with him?" he asked. "You seem to hate his guts."

"Really, you've noticed?" I asked as I started the last remaining tray.

"I seem to recall you and Rob backbiting him a few times, yeah."

"Oh. We must be doing it without realizing it anymore... I've got a fucked up family," I said flatly, not making eye-contact with him.

"Don't we all?" he asked, not dropping the subject, "My parents got divorced when I was ten and they've never been able to get along since then."

I shrugged and blurted out,

"Yeah, well, my mother's a good catholic woman who cheated on her husband, got pregnant with me, and then had him raise me as his son because she wouldn't get an abortion. So he's always resented her for it and hated me."

He didn't say anything so after a few seconds, I looked up at him. He just stared at me, a bit stunned. He searched for something to say but no words came out of his mouth. After a few seconds, he stuttered,

"Ok, you win!"

I let out a chuckle,

"I don't know why I'm talking about them."

"Did you know he wasn't your father?" he immediately asked.

I shook my head no,

"No. They did a great job hiding it from me. And when you're a kid, that's not something you even think about."

"Shit. That's heavy. Is your real father French though?"

"Yeah, he lives in Bordeaux. Hardly speaks a word of English."

"Really? My aunt lives there. I used to go there on vacation."

I smiled,

"Small world. We used to go to Frejus, on the Mediterranean coast."

"I'd love to go back there. It'd bring back good childhood memories. I haven't spent any time in France for like ten years. I mean, except for Paris."

"Yeah, me neither."

He smiled,

"See, there's something we could be doing together."

My eyebrows furrowed and I shook my head,

"Don't do that!" I said and placed the last tray in the oven.

I decided that I had done enough to help out in the kitchen so I turned to Damien and said, "After you!" he looked at me at bit too intensely at that instant but finally turned around and headed out of the kitchen.

We went back into the living room to get a drink. The guests were all mingling, talking, laughing and hanging out as they drank cocktails and ate the appetizers. Soon, the buffet was served. The entire living room and balcony was full of people and most of them wanted to talk to us. Jordan and I talked to a few people from the music industry. Some of them were famous, others famous maybe in their own minds. We had to answer the same recurrent questions,

"Are you working on another album?",

"When is your next record coming out?",

"We should try to work together."....

Once the music began playing loudly, everybody began to party and dance. I partied with Jordan and a bunch of beautiful girls who were in awe of us, as well as a kid who couldn't have been over nineteen, and who was overtly gay and pretty fun to party with. I tried to stay away from Damien as much as possible but the more the party progressed, the harder it got. After an hour or so, he came up to me, wrapped his arm around my waist, pressed his body against mine and whispered in my ear that he wanted to talk to me in private before walking away.

I watched him head up the stairs, even though th party didn't extend up there. I knew I was going to follow him, I had to do this. I felt anxious and my head was spinning, although I had hardly drunk a thing. I was thankful for that because I might not have been able to handle the situation very well otherwise. I wasn't even one hundred percent sure that nothing would happen. As I began heading toward the stairs, Jordan stopped me dead in my tracks by calling my name loudly over the music.

He grabbed my arm and asked in my ear to make sure I'd hear him,

"Where the fuck d'you think you're going?"

"To fuck his brains out!" I answered matter-of-factly.

He just looked at me and ordered somewhat playfully,

"Stay where I can see you!"

"Jord, it's fine," I said as I began pushing him backwards to reach the bottom of the stairs.

He pushed back, obstructing me from going up them

"You've asked me to make sure you wouldn't be alone with him."

"For too long...," I added.

He tutted,

"If you're not down in five minutes, I swear, I come up there!"

"Fine. I don't need more," I said, trying to shrug him off.

He shook his head,

"You haven't had sex in over a month. You might not need more."

I laughed, because even though he didn't need to know that, I was indeed going through a horny phase. He asked suspiciously,

"How drunk are you?"

"Not drunk at all! Do you even know me?" I exclaimed and leaned even closer to him, "Although, I might not resist the temptation to get wasted after this," I said with a laugh, I felt like I had been taking things way too seriously in the past few weeks.

"Please, indulge yourself!"

I smiled and he asked,

"How drunk is he?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed, "Come on, get out of my way," I said.

He let go of my arm and raised his hands, saying as he let me pass,

"Just remember that I've tried to stop you! Don't do anything you'll regret!"

"I won't!"

Once upstairs I noticed the bathroom door was slightly ajar, I walked inside and closed the door behind me. I looked at him and he stared up at me with his beautiful blue eyes and smiled.

Here we were again.

"Hey," he said quietly.

He was having a hard time keeping his eyes from moving down my body and he had the same intense expression that he'd had the day he kissed me in the studio. But somehow, the look on his face made me think that this would be his last attempt at seducing me.

"Whatever you have in mind, you know I didn't come up here for that," I said.

"Just tell me to leave then."

I said nothing and he stood there for a moment as we stared at each other. My chest was heaving. I had just been dancing and I felt like I had just finished a three-mile run. Damien looked like he was thinking a million thoughts at once.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, running his hand through his hair, "I hate how you make me feel. Every time I think I'm over you, and then I see you again...."

I rolled my eyes slightly,

"Why did you come to the studio last week?"

"Because, I needed to see you again. Because I thought I was over you...," he said and then stared at me for a few seconds.

His eyes brightened and I thought he was going to add something, but instead, like lightning, he came rushing toward me. There was a fire in his eyes as he reached up and grabbed the back of my head and pulled me toward him until our lips met. He was kissing me hard, and making no apologies for it. For an instant, I felt almost paralyzed by the intensity of the kiss. He pressed himself against me as he continued kissing me, and I could feel him hardening as my back knocked against the wall.

"Stop!" I almost yelled and pushed him off me, "Fuck, I'm not here to have sex with you...."

He backed away from me and touched his lips as he looked at me, breathing hard,

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

For a few seconds, he just watched me,

"Why do you keep acting like this is one sided...? You're attracted to me,'' he stated.

He was saying this all very calmly and maturely. He didn't sound desperate, I liked that.

"I am attracted to you, I think that's obvious. But that doesn't mean my feelings are any less for Rob," I had said his name, and I could tell it upset him.

He seemed to think about what he could do or say next,

"Yeah, well, I don't think I'd be capable of being attracted to anyone else if I was with you," he said. "Maybe your feelings for him aren't as strong as you want to think they are."

"Don't start telling me about how I feel or should be feeling. You've said so yourself, you've never been in love with someone."

He came closer to me and placed one hand against the wall behind me,

"I am in love, ever since I met you," he said, gazing into my eyes.

I raised my eyebrows at him,

"Stop doing this to yourself. Your 'so-called' boyfriend is downstairs and you're here, trying to...."

"I don't care about him," he interrupted me, "I want you," he said in a low tone, "just give me a chance."

"I can't give you a chance," I responded dryly.

"Then, why did you follow me up here?"

"Because I need you to understand that you can't be with me."

"I don't think that's true," he whispered as he placed a single kiss on my cheek, "you're just afraid to admit that you aren't sure if you are with the person you should be with. You're afraid to give me a chance."

I lightly shook my head,

"No. Damien, I'm happy with my life. I'm happy with who I'm with," I said, trying to pull away from him. It was all too much, he wouldn't let me go. He pressed his body into mine, brought his lips to mine and began kissing me intensely again. I resisted at first, but the feeling of being kissed quickly overwhelmed me. His strong hands held the sides of my face and he tried to use his tongue to part my lips. For a second, I let him and began kissing him back.

'This is just so wrong,' I kept thinking to myself as he continued his assault on my mouth.

I had to stop this. Damien's hands moved down and started to unbutton my shirt and his lips trailed my jawline and throat. This was the time to stop it, I knew, but I didn't end it yet. His warm hands began to caress my chest, making me start to stiffen as his lips moved to my neck and then slowly down my chest. I knew that it was time to make a decision. As I saw it, I had two options. First, I could let the overwhelming wave of lust overtake me, have sex with Damien, break his heart, break Rob's heart, putting myself into the role of a complete asshole. Second, I could stop this all right now before a lot of people were left feeling hurt and confused. Damien's hand moved to my belt buckle. I obviously decided on option number two.