Chapter 12
“You know, I think this manuscript would work better as a screenplay.”
“WHAT?” Your head whipped to the direction of your editor, Regina. Your face creased into an expression that can only be seen as confusion.
“Why not? The more I read this and understand the development of the plot, I keep imagining how great it would look on the big screen. It’s like the characters are just begging to be seen, not just read, you know what I mean?” Regina got up and handed you the edited version of what you’ve written. Your eyes bulged at the chunks of parts she had crossed off. It looks like she’s decided for you on what to do
“Reg...this is...I don’t even know what a screenplay looks like!” you say rather skeptically. A movie? That wasn’t even in the realm of your ideas when you started planning this endeavor.
“Well, lucky for you, I do know someone who could help! What do you say?”
After a few beers and an entire box of four cheese pizza, Regina had sold you into transforming your halfway done manuscript into a movie screenplay. Phone calls were done and meetings were set up the next day.
It took you about a year and a half of work to be able to write half of your book and now that your editor has you convinced that it's better off as a screenplay, you dreaded the possibility of taking another drawn out period of time to turn your manuscript around.
You were back in Regina's home office the next afternoon, waiting for her friend who would help you reconstruct your manuscript into becoming more screen friendly.
"Nervous?" she asks as she hands you a cup of tea. Her phone buzzes before you could even answer, so you just take the proffered cup and take a sip of the tea. Closing your eyes for a second, you hum in satisfaction.
"Ha, I knew you'd like it!" Regina comes back, making you open your eyes and smiling sheepishly at her. Behind her, you see a tall, somewhat lanky guy in glasses. She steps aside and beckons him beside her.
"Y/N, this is Logan, he's one of my long time friends, Logan, this is Y/N, the writer I've been telling you about."
You set the mug down and stand up to shake his hand. Up close, you could see the clear amber in his eyes and you thought he looked adorable when he gave you that shy, boyish grin.
"Hi Logan, it's so nice of you to come down on such short notice. Reg says you could help me rewrite my manuscript?"
He laughs as he takes a firm grip of your hand. He sounded an awful lot like…you mentally shook your head, it had to have been a year now since that time in Chicago, surely he must have forgotten all about you now. You couldn't even bring yourself to think that Instagram post was about you.
"You don't waste time, huh? I like it, I like it," he says to you in response. You blush at your directness and his grin seemed to widen more.
Regina had excused herself, saying she had to call another client, leaving you alone with Logan for the rest of the afternoon. You both dove down to work right away.
"So," Logan turns to you as soon as Regina was out the door. "I read what you got so far and Reg is on to something potentially amazing here. You've been working on it for nearly two years?"
You nod, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "I uh, I only got working on it full time after I got back from a vacation in the US last year. I had an 8-5 prior and um, I wrote in as much as free time in between would allow."
Logan must have sensed your unease and laid a hand on your shoulder. "Hey," he said placatingly. "It's okay for you to take your time. Art doesn't have a deadline. My first screenplay took me five years to complete."
After that first afternoon, you almost only met with Logan regularly. You set out to meet with him every other day except during the weekends, but somehow he had wormed his way into your life that you hung out with him even during Saturdays. A month and a half had flown by without you really noticing because you were having such a good time working with him.
“I have an idea,” he blurts out one Friday afternoon. The two of you were seated at opposite ends of your medium sized dining table--he was editing your work while you continued to write it. You momentarily stopped and looked at him, curiosity etched in your face.
“Oh god, this better not be another idea that would have me puking my insides in a theme park!” you tell him threateningly. He had you try out some exotic food a few weeks back just before you got inside a theme park. You were game and ate your fill, but the experience did a total 180 and you found yourself sick to your stomach that Logan had no choice but to take you home instead and stay with you to make sure you were okay.
He grimaces for a bit but changes expressions immediately. “You hurt me, Y/N! And besides, we both didn’t know you had allergies! Anyway, as I was trying to say, this week has been pretty brutal, don’t you think?”
You think for a moment, yeah, it had been. You nearly had a nervous breakdown over an important monologue scene with your main character. Logan had been so engrossed with editing that he was startled to see you in tears as you stared at your laptop. It was then he hatched his idea for something fun for you to do for the upcoming weekend.
“Yeah...do pray tell what you have in mind?”
“Okay, open your eyes,” Logan speaks behind you after taking his hands over your eyes. You gasp as you found yourself standing at the entrance of an art gallery housing various works from contemporary and classic painters. You may or may not have mentioned this to him prior as you feel your inspiration shoots up to a million words whenever you lay your eyes on exquisite and thought provoking pieces of art.
“Oh my god, Logan,” you gasp once more as he takes your hand to guide you through. You also notice that there’s nobody else inside but the two of you.
“Logan, we’re the only ones here?” you query.
He lets go of your hand and runs it at the back of his neck, his trademark sheepish smile on display. “I uh, I maybe am friends with the owner? And um, I wanted to uh, do something nice for you. You’ve been working so hard and I thought well, you did say you like looking at--”
You launch yourself to him for a hug. You hear him let out a startled gasp of his own before you felt his arms wrap around you as well.
“Thank you,” you whisper as you burrow your face in his chest. “This is one of the nicest and sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.” Logan hugs you just a little tighter to him before letting you go and showing you around the gallery.
You both were towards the end of the exhibition when your eyes were drawn to an installation in a corner of the room you were currently in. It was a swirl of copper wires that seemed to move like lazy bonfire but were really constructed to look like a tree. The lighting that surrounded it made it look like a hazy vision from where it was perched. You tried to see if there was a title card like the other pieces but there was none.
“This is my favorite piece,” Logan says as he comes up behind you. You continue to stare at it, transfixed. You could only nod, your mind racing a mile a minute with thoughts you’d like to put on paper. If you were looking to be inspired, the piece you were looking at just did the trick.
“Y/N?”
The force by which Logan called your name snapped you back to where you are. You swivel in your place and you nearly knock both of you over as he was standing so close to you. His quick reflexes instead had him gripping your waist and pulling you close to him. Your instinct was to brace your hands on his chest.
You dare to look up and find his eyes regarding you with an expression you haven’t seen from him before. It was as if he was seeing you for the first time. He tilts your chin up with his thumb and index finger and before you can even say anything, he presses his lips gently to yours. You suck in a breath in surprise but respond anyway by kissing him back. Closing your eyes, you try to get further into the kiss but a different face pops up in your head, forcing you to push off of Logan.
Even after all this time, you were still stupidly head over heels for Sebastian.
“Logan, I’m sorry, I can’t--”
He smiles sadly back at you. It’s as if the look in your face told him all he needed to know.
“It’s okay, it’s me who should apologize. I should have asked you first. I can see it all over your face, Y/N. Whoever that guy is, he’s lucky to have your affection. I hope he’s not dumb enough not to return it.”
“Jon...I’m not sure I can--” Sebastian began to say. But the Spanish male model in front of him shook his head. Jon broached the idea of introducing Sebastian to one of his friends, but the latter had been iffy on the idea from the very start. The last time he attempted to date ended in a messy disaster and since the first time Jon had mentioned his friend to him, his stomach did a couple of somersaults and not of the positive kind.
“You have no choice eh? She is coming to Esmeralda’s birthday celebration next month, just give it a chance. I give you her number, she already has yours, just one text and if you don’t still like her, just let her know, she will be cool with it,” he responded in heavily accented English.
He tossed and turned his phone and in between staring at the contact card of Maya Uriarte, Jon’s friend. She’s pretty, he thought and he suddenly remembered the last time he got laid. Maybe she could be down for a couple of days of good, mindless sex and that’ll be the end of it. He chuckled, since when was the last time he thought with his dick instead of his head? Shaking his head, he sent a text to Maya and tossed the phone down on the sofa.
To his surprise, Maya seemed to be on the same wavelength as he is. They hit it off almost immediately and before they both knew it, they were looking forward to meeting in person in Spain in a few days.
Jon had a knowing smile on his face as he saw his two friends hug it out like they’ve known each other a long time. Sebastian saw this but paid no mind as he grabbed Maya’s hand to walk to their respective rooms. He didn’t waste time and pounced on her right away as soon as she let it slip how she wanted him. He was right this instance, thinking with his cock led to some very great results. Maya was a fucking champ and they went at it for a few hours before they got called out for the dinner celebration for Esmeralda’s birthday.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” he tells Jon who can’t seem to stifle a shit eating grin around him. “We had sex, it was fun, that’s it.”
“Yeah,” Jon waves a hand. “I knew that, I just didn’t think you’d jump each other right away.”
“Four weeks worth of sexting and video calls makes up for a shit ton of sexual frustration,” Sebastian responds before taking a sip of his beer. Maya comes back and sits beside him, draping a leg over his thighs.
“Miss me?” Maya leans close before touching her lips to his. She giggles before pulling away and fiddling with her phone. Sebastian could only smile in response.