by TJ Klune
“You must like me a lot, then.”
“So much,” Josy agreed. “I’m pretty sure it’s love.”
Quincy snorted. “That’s good to know, seeing as how you’ve told me that many, many times.”
“’S because it’s true.”
Quincy smacked a kiss against his forehead before rolling off him. “Damn right it is.” He pulled the comforter back up and over their heads, and it was almost like they were in a blanket fort. Josy approved. He rolled over to face Quincy, their faces only inches apart.
“I’m a little scared,” he admitted quietly. “I know I shouldn’t be, but I am.”
“I know. But even if it doesn’t happen, it’s okay. You’ll see.”
Josy reached up and traced a finger over Quincy’s eyebrows. “Thanks.”
“For?”
Josy shrugged. “Being alive and stuff.”
“Oh. Is that all?”
Josy kissed him. He couldn’t not after that. Quincy’s pelvis was pointed at him, after all.
Sometime later, Quincy pulled away with a gasp, lips swollen, brow furrowed. “What time is it? Oh my god, we’re going to miss it!”
“Noooo,” Josy moaned. “Less talking, more kissing.”
Quincy shoved him away, throwing the comforter off them. He reached for the remote on the nightstand on his side of the bed and straightened out his glasses as he sat up against the headboard. He pressed the Power button and the TV mounted on the wall in front of their bed came to life.
Josy stared at the ceiling as Quincy started flipping through the channels. He thought of the kid in the block-of-cheese costume.
He thought of standing in his underwear outside a laundromat with a woman named Starla.
He thought of the We Three Queens, their pink jackets sparkling in the sun as their Vespas raced down the road at thirty miles an hour.
He thought of Lottie and her drag-queen hair.
He thought of Xander and Serge and Casey taking him in and never letting him go.
He thought of Gustavo Tiberius, who believed in him more than anyone.
And he thought of Quincy, of course. He always did. He probably always would.
It was going to be a good day. No matter what happened, it was going to be a good day.
“Your phone buzzed last night,” Quincy muttered. “After you went to sleep. Think it was a text.”
Josy sat up next to him, their shoulders brushing. “Okay,” he said. “I’m ready.”
Quincy smiled brightly. “I know you are. Me too.”
They grinned goofily at each other before Josy reached over for his phone.
Four text messages, the screen read.
From Gustavo.
Which was weird, because Gustavo never texted unless Josy did first.
“There it is,” Quincy whispered. “I think they’re about to announce your category.”
Josy opened the text messages.
The first: I did it.
The second: I asked him.
The third: He said yes.
The last: Will you be my best man?
“Holy shit,” Josy breathed.
“What the—are you crying?”
“Yeah,” he said through his tears. “I absolutely am.”
And on the screen, an actress looking far too perky for the early-morning hour said, “The Golden Globe nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Musical and Comedy are—”
More from TJ Klune
A How to Be Novel
Gustavo Tiberius is not normal. He knows this. Everyone in his small town of Abby, Oregon, knows this. He reads encyclopedias every night before bed. He has a pet ferret called Harry S. Truman. He owns a video rental store that no one goes to. His closest friends are a lady named Lottie with drag queen hair and a trio of elderly Vespa riders known as the We Three Queens.
Gus is not normal. And he’s fine with that. All he wants is to be left alone.
Until Casey, an asexual stoner hipster and the newest employee at Lottie’s Lattes, enters his life. For some reason, Casey thinks Gus is the greatest thing ever. And maybe Gus is starting to think the same thing about Casey, even if Casey is obsessive about Instagramming his food.
But Gus isn’t normal and Casey deserves someone who can be. Suddenly wanting to be that someone, Gus steps out of his comfort zone and plans to become the most normal person ever.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
It begins with a message that David cannot ignore:
I want to see you.
He agrees, and on a cold winter’s night, David and Phillip will come together to sift through the wreckage of the memory of a life no longer lived.
David is burdened, carrying with him the heavy guilt of the past six years upon his shoulders.
Phillip offers redemption.
Do you believe in love at first sight?
Paul Auster doesn’t. Paul doesn’t believe in much at all. He’s thirty, slightly overweight, and his best features are his acerbic wit and the color commentary he provides as life passes him by. His closest friends are a two-legged dog named Wheels and a quasibipolar drag queen named Helena Handbasket. He works a dead-end job in a soul-sucking cubicle, and if his grandmother’s homophobic parrot insults him one more time, Paul is going to wring its stupid neck.
Enter Vince Taylor.
Vince is everything Paul isn’t: sexy, confident, and dumber than the proverbial box of rocks. And for some reason, Vince pursues Paul relentlessly. Vince must be messing with him, because there is no way Vince could want someone like Paul.
But when Paul hits Vince with his car—in a completely unintentional if-he-died-it’d-only-be-manslaughter kind of way—he’s forced to see Vince in a whole new light. The only thing stopping Paul from believing in Vince is himself—and that is one obstacle Paul can’t quite seem to overcome. But when tragedy strikes Vince’s family, Paul must put aside any notions he has about himself and stand next to the man who thinks he’s perfect the way he is.
Sequel to Tell Me It’s Real
Do you believe in love at first sight?
Sanford Stewart sure doesn’t. In fact, he pretty much believes in the exact opposite, thanks to the Homo Jock King. It seems Darren Mayne lives for nothing more than to create chaos in Sandy’s perfectly ordered life, just for the hell of it. Sandy despises him, and nothing will ever change his mind.
Or so he tells himself.
It’s not until the owner of Jack It—the club where Sandy performs as drag queen Helena Handbasket—comes to him with a desperate proposition that Sandy realizes he might have to put his feelings about Darren aside. Because Jack It will close unless someone can convince Andrew Taylor, the mayor of Tucson, to keep it open.
Someone like Darren, the mayor’s illegitimate son.
The foolproof plan is this: seduce Darren and push him to convince his father to renew Jack It’s contract with the city.
Simple, right?
Wrong.
Sequel to The Queen & the Homo Jock King
Together with their families and friends
Paul Auster
and
Vincent Taylor
request the honor of your company at the celebration of their marriage.
Readers love How to Be a Normal Person by TJ Klune
“Fans of TJ Klune will not be disappointed…. The well paced and well developed story hits all the emotional highs and lows that all I can say is I recommend this to everyone who loves MM romance!”
—MM Good Book Reviews
“It’s a feel good, be good kind of book. It’s a book that says, be who you are, love who you are, and find people who are searching for the same thing. Well done!”
—Diverse Reader
“…I’ve got a lot of love for this book and for the author. He constantly surprises me, amazes me, gives me Wookie cry face, and makes me snort water out of my nose. Mostly though, he makes me feel….”
—Rainbow B
ook Reviews
When TJ KLUNE was eight, he picked up a pen and paper and began to write his first story (which turned out to be his own sweeping epic version of the video game Super Metroid—he didn’t think the game ended very well and wanted to offer his own take on it. He never heard back from the video-game company, much to his chagrin). Now, over two decades later, the cast of characters in his head has only gotten louder. But that’s okay, because he’s recently become a full-time writer and can give them the time they deserve.
Since being published, TJ has won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance, fought off three lions that threatened to attack him and his village, and was chosen by Amazon as having written one of the best GLBT books of 2011.
And one of those things isn’t true.
(It’s the lion thing. The lion thing isn’t true.)
Facebook: TJ Klune
Blog: tjklunebooks.com
Email: [email protected]
By TJ Klune
Into This River I Drown
John & Jackie
Murmuration
Olive Juice
AT FIRST SIGHT
Tell Me It’s Real
The Queen & the Homo Jock King
Until You
BEAR, OTTER, AND THE KID CHRONICLES
Bear, Otter, and the Kid
Who We Are
The Art of Breathing
The Long and Winding Road
ELEMENTALLY EVOLVED
Burn
GREEN CREEK
Wolfsong
Ravensong
HOW TO BE
How to Be a Normal Person
How to Be a Movie Star
TALES FROM VERANIA
The Lightning-Struck Heart
A Destiny of Dragons
The Consumption of Magic
A Wish Upon the Stars
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
How to Be a Movie Star
© 2019 TJ Klune.
Cover Art
© 2019 Reese Dante.
http://www.reesedante.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-782-2
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64080-783-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018941443
Digital published February 2019
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America