Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
After all these years, his voice still has the ability to send shivers down my spine.
Lights swirl around us, and unfortunately a backup band joins in, ruining the emotions of the song, but I was told it was nonnegotiable. The audience has seen our basic acoustic version already, and this one needs to be different.
Still, I block that out and turn my focus on Mason. We’re sitting toward each other, staring into each other’s eyes. And as the song comes closer to the end, our harmonies get more intense.
My heartbeat kicks up a notch because I know what’s coming. We’re going to cause a shitstorm. Sorry to my manager, Keith, who I did not warn about this. I couldn’t. He’d try to talk me out of it.
We hit the last word, and even though I must look wide-eyed and possibly scared, Mason’s confident as he leans in. He strums the last guitar note, right before he takes charge and presses his lips to mine.
We knew we had to be fast because this is on a network that will be pissed over a gay kiss on live television. They will no doubt need to pay fines for this, but we weren’t entirely convinced they wouldn’t cut to a commercial before we got the chance to do it.
Maybe they have cut already, maybe they haven’t, we don’t know. So we stay lip-locked, and even though I want to dive in and push my tongue into his mouth and ravish him after weeks of being apart, I hold back because the soft, chaste kiss sends a big enough message.
The studio dies down to impossible levels of quiet when we pull apart.
The stage goes dark.
And then? The crowd fucking erupts with screams and applause.
“We did it,” Mason breathes.
“We did. Blake is going to kill us.”
Mason smiles, his bright teeth shining in the dark. “I guess the Eleven reunion might have to wait until after the movie wraps filming.”
“I’m okay with that.”
Stagehands come out to take our seats and microphones away, shooing us offstage where we’re met with an alternate universe or a zombie movie. Where people are normally running around, production assistants, producers, and showrunners stand stunned.
Low murmurs from the corner of backstage filter through saying things like “Did anyone know they were going to do that?” and “Is this real? Are we all going to be fired?” “There goes the chance for season two.” My favorite is probably “Is this a publicity stunt?”
Because yes. We would risk everything for a little bit of publicity. Sure.
I wish I could say they were all being melodramatic, but they’re probably not. This is exactly why we wanted to do this. Things like two men kissing on TV should be normalized because news flash: it’s not fucking scandalous.
I intertwine my fingers with Mason’s and drag him to where Alondra and Brian are waiting in the wings. The winner will be announced next, and then it will all be over.
Hopefully we can sneak out of here, but I’m guessing by most of the shocked faces around us, we might have some trouble.
Alondra stares at me.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing at all.” She wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Don’t let anyone get to you. That was brave what you just did, and don’t you forget that.”
“Thank you.”
“Brave or stupid, I haven’t made up my mind,” Brian says. “Though they seemed to love it.” He stares out at the crowd. He’s a label exec, not on my label, so he’s probably thinking how this might affect any of his acts.
Prepare for the domino effect, my friends. At least, that’s the hope.
Hollywood and the music industry have their LGBTQ acts. They’re acts who are put in boxes and marketed in a way that being gay or queer is their main identifier.
Maybe doing this will pigeonhole both Mason and me too, but I honestly believe the more it’s normalized, the better the future will be. Maybe one day soon, a new act could come along, kiss whoever they want on live TV, and no one will even blink.
We’re called back onto the stage, and Mason kisses my cheek before I leave him in the wings.
Our contestants are brought out with us for the announcement, and as Isla takes her spot next to me, she mutters out the side of her mouth, “You two are so cute.”
Umm, thank you?
I guess I’m going to need to find a way to respond to those kinds of comments.
When we come back from the commercial break, the host acts like Mason’s and my performance never happened or wasn’t a big deal. I’m guessing because it was either cut or they don’t want to draw even more attention to it.
My heart’s in my throat the whole time the host talks because I think I’m waiting for it to all blow up in our faces. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. The chaos to start.