As if there were any feelings there in the first place.
8
Jeff
I arrived at Kile’s condo bright and early the next morning. When I knocked on the door, he looked even less pleased to see me than he had the first time around, which I wouldn’t have guessed was possible. He didn’t say a word. Instead, he stepped back into the living room and left the door open so the crew could all pour in. They immediately started setting up their equipment.
“Good morning,” I said to him with a smile and offered my hand for him to shake. He looked at it disdainfully, rolled his eyes, and shook it anyway. “Way to be a sport,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder with my free hand. “This won’t be so bad. Who knows? You might find after a while you actually start to like me.”
“Don’t count on it,” he said, breaking our grip with a shrug and tucking his hands into his pockets. “So, what’s all this about?” he asked, nodding at the crew with their cameras and tripods and microphones.
“Standard operating procedure. The crew needs time to get their equipment up and running and to get the optimal lighting in here. I don’t think that’ll be too hard, though. You’ve got great natural lighting, which really helps everyone look younger on camera.”
“Not all of us need it,” he said with a smirk.
“Now, now. Play nice. We’re only at the start of this thing, let’s not bring out the claws just yet. Save that for when I really deserve it.”
“What makes you think you don’t deserve it now?” Avery asked and I gave him a stern look. “Fine, fine,” he groaned. “But what’s the point of setting up all of this crap when we’re going to be leaving soon anyway?”
“Leaving soon? What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you check my schedule? I’m giving a speech at George Washington today,” he said and my face flushed with annoyance. No one had told me this and I had checked Avery’s schedule. This appearance at a university wasn’t on it.
“I take it that’s a no,” he said with a smirk. “Wow, you really do keep getting the short end of the stick, don’t you?”
“Something like that, yeah,” I said. “Well, whatever. When are you supposed to be there?”
“They’re expecting me by 10. There’s a bit of a, uh, security concern.”
“What?” I asked. When I signed up for this project, the last thing I’d expected was to run into the potential of getting shot at. “Why? What did you do now?”
“I didn’t do anything. The student body was less than happy about my invitation, so they used their first amendment rights to protest me coming. The university disinvited me as a result, which caused another riot, and so the university had no choice but to reinstate my original invitation.”
“Wow. I didn’t think there was anyone with a brain who liked you or anything you had to say,” I said and Kile stared at me blankly. “OK, but I don’t understand. What’s the security concern?”
“Well, campus police told me that there might still be some people who aren’t happy to see me. So they’ve asked me to sort of sneak in through the back door to be as discreet as possible.”
“You’re about as discreet as a hemorrhoid and just as much of a pain in the ass.”
“I bet you know a lot about hemorrhoids, don’t you, old man?”
“Very funny. So, how long is all of this going to take?”
“I’m not sure. They gave me a place to park my car and said they’d drive me the rest of the way. Like I said, they want me at that place by ten,” he said. I glanced down at my watch to find that it was already 8:30 so that didn’t leave us much time to get the first on-camera interview done.
“Alright, fellas. We need to pick up the pace on the setup. Miss Thing here needs to be at an undisclosed location by 10 and we need to be there with him,” I told the crew. I still hadn’t learned their names but it didn’t matter much.
“Are you sure we can pull that off? We’ve got to tear everything down when we’re done here,” one of the guys asked me, a chubby man my age.
“It’s Ross, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“OK, Ross. Here’s how it’s going to go. You’re going to get this all done and you’re going to tear all of your equipment apart in time for us to be in that car with Kile or I’m going to find someone who can make that happen for me. Understood?”
“Right, of course, sir,” Ross said.
“Don’t call me sir,” I said and Ross’s face turned red.
“Are you always this forceful with your staff? No wonder no one liked you at GNN,” Kile said.
“I’m not forceful, I’m assertive. There’s a difference.”
“You ever notice how the word ‘ass’ is at the beginning of ‘assertive’?” he asked and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
“You ever notice how you look much less appealing without makeup on?” I shot back and Avery’s face cracked.
“That was low, even for you,” he said. “I’m not used to a crowd of men invading my house at 8 in the morning, so excuse me if I look a little less put together than I normally would.”
“Whatever, just go do what you need to do to look nice for the camera. We’re going live in half an hour.”
“Half an hour? There’s no way I can pull that off.”
“Find a way,” I said, resting my hands on my hips as I met Avery’s gaze and didn’t break it. His eyes flashed in the light, a mixture of hatred and surprise, before he turned on his heel and disappeared down the hallway to his bedroom.
When he was out of earshot, I let out a sigh. I really didn’t have any idea what I was getting myself into when I’d agreed to do this project. I knew that Avery was a diva—who didn’t?—but I couldn’t have prepared myself for what I’d seen so far and it had only just started. It was sure to get worse but I couldn’t and wouldn’t allow him to screw this up. He’d never met someone who dared to boss him around, much less someone who could actually do it, but he’d met his match with me.
Many things could be said about my work ethic but one thing that was absolutely true was that I got things done, no excuses. So, to my annoyance but not my surprise, I had to call for Avery again 20 minutes later when he still hadn’t emerged out of his cave.
“Avery!” I barked down the hall.
“What?” he shouted back.
“Are you almost done? We’re all waiting for you,” I said and caught Ross rolling his eyes like he couldn’t believe he’d gotten drafted into doing this either. I didn’t blame him. It was more like babysitting than making anything of journalistic substance.
“Well, you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer. I’m not ready,” he said and I had to pinch the bridge of my nose to keep myself from screaming.
“Pick up the pace, we don’t have all day.”
“Just because you’re more washed up and wrinkled than my worst pair of jeans doesn’t mean I need to match you,” Avery shouted. I went to the nearest wall and repeatedly smacked my forehead against it, hoping one of the times might actually send me through and end this misery. When my forehead started to sting—really, truly sting—I shoved back from the wall and charged down the hall. If I had to drag Avery in front of the cameras, I would.
Inside his bedroom, he stood in front of a massive antique vanity, leaning forward while he applied even more makeup than he normally caked on. Worse, he wore an all-white suit with a black, plunging v-neck shirt underneath to show off his chest. The outfit made him look like a walking photo negative.
“What the hell are you wearing?” I asked, resisting the urge to laugh.
“High fashion. Not that you’d know anything about that,” he said, ignoring me as he continued fiddling with his makeup.
“Kile, you can’t wear that on camera,” I said. “You’ll disappear, especially with all of the other white stuff in your living room.”
“Maybe I want to disappear. And why can’t I wear this? This is my show with my rules, reme
mber?” he asked and I opened my mouth to fire back before I thought better of it. He was right. Lee had stressed that before I left the office this morning to come here. No matter how outrageous or ridiculous the suggestion, Avery was in complete control of the direction of the show and I had to follow along.
“I think the real reason you don’t want me to wear it is because you can’t stand the idea of having to stare down my chest for the whole day.”
“Please. The only thing I’m thinking about is money when I talk to you,” I said. There he goes again, trying to seduce me, I thought. I’d known it would be coming at some point but I thought he’d wait a little longer than this to trot out his act.
“If you say so, but don’t think I don’t see you staring at my ass,” he said, winking at me in the mirror.
“Alright, enough of the clown show. If this is what you want to wear I can’t stop you but we really need to get this going.”
“You need to get the sand out of your panties. If you’d waited another three minutes I would’ve been out there without you having to come in and nag me. But I guess that’s what dads your age like to do, huh?” he asked as he turned to face me, leaning back against the vanity to pucker his lips at me in a faux kiss.
Ignoring the comment, I turned around and went back into the living room where the camera crew stood around uncomfortably, unsure of what they were supposed to do. I couldn’t wait to see the looks on their faces when Avery stepped out.
“Places, everyone. The Queen is ready for her closeup,” I said, clapping my hands to get their attention. They all lined up their cameras at the two chairs Ross had pushed together, beautifully lit by a combination of the golden morning sun pouring in through the windows and two tall light reflectors. I sat in one of them and tapped my fingers against the armrest, counting down the seconds until Avery came out of his room.
“What are you looking at?” Avery snapped at one of the crew as he glided into the living room. He sat down across from me and pulled his knees up to his chest, still barefoot.
“Alright, are you all ready?” I asked over my shoulder. Ross gave me the thumbs up.
“Take it away, boss,” Ross said. I crossed one leg over the other and fixed my eyes on Avery, doing my best not to smile. I raised up three fingers and counted down.
“Hello, and thank you all for joining us today. My name is Jeff Taylor and I’m joined today by Kile Avery,” I introduced us. We didn’t have a name for the show yet and I didn’t know how else to start things so it seemed good enough. Avery waved and smiled at the camera.
“Now, as most of you will no doubt know, Mr. Avery and I have had our differences in the past so this pairing will probably come as a surprise. Let me assure you, Mr. Avery and I have reconciled and we’re both excited to be part of this new project with NewSpin, aren’t we?”
“Couldn’t be happier,” Avery said. It was amazing how quickly he could transition from difficult diva to camera angel. “And please, call me Kile, Jeff. No need for stuffy formality between us anymore.”
“Good, I’m glad to hear it. I want this to be as relaxed and real as possible, despite all of the cameras here. So, for the first part in this series, I thought it would be a good idea for me and the audience to sit down and try to get to know you, get to know where you came from, since it’s a bit of a mystery,” I said. Kile smiled at me.
“There’s no mystery there. But for those who don’t already know the story, it goes a little like this: one day I got fed up with the things I was seeing in the media about love and marriage and how it’s the be-all, end-all for relationships, so I picked up my phone, recorded a video and uploaded it. Five years later, here we are,” Avery said. “I don’t really understand the power behind it myself but clearly what I said resonated with people because that first video is still my most viewed to this day.”
“Interesting. I haven’t seen it. What’s it about?”
“Well, the Supreme Court had just agreed to hear a case on marriage equality. Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing moment for the LGBTQ+ movement but it wasn’t the end of the road, despite what many in the media were saying. Including you, if I remember correctly,” Avery said. Of course he’d take a swipe at me, I thought. But I wouldn’t give in, wouldn’t let him get a rise out of me because I knew that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted me to lose control on camera again. Not today.
“So then maybe it’s no surprise that your video took off. It must’ve been pretty polarizing.”
“Having an outside opinion on anything, but especially on sex or relationships, is always polarizing.”
“Is it really an outside opinion, though? Lots of people these days engage in casual sex and don’t think twice about it. Sure, there’s still a bit of a social stigma but it’s not anywhere near as bad as it used to be.”
“Maybe not, but a stigma still exists. A two-person relationship is still regarded as the only one that matters. Personally, I think that’s bullshit,” Avery said. “I don’t think sex needs to be tied to any kind of relationship at all. Why can’t it just be an exchange of pleasure with no strings or expectations?”
“I guess there isn’t a good reason but I’m not the one that needs selling on that idea.”
“You sure about that?” Avery asked, his brows raised.
“I’m sure,” I said, though the heat on my face increased—and it wasn’t from the lights. “So, take us from point A to point B. How did you get from posting phone videos to YouTube to being a sensation with The Flame?”
“Honestly, lots of luck and just being in the right place at the right time. I feel so lucky that I’ve been able to turn this into a career.”
“Was it something you’d always wanted to do?”
“Not exactly. I always knew I wanted to be on TV in some capacity but I thought I’d end up in off-Broadway shows or something. I went to school for theater,” he said, which I didn’t know until now but it made perfect sense and explained his ability to act on camera. He laughed when I didn’t respond. “Yeah, most people don’t know that about me so I guess there’s your first exclusive.”
“Thanks, I’m sure people will find that interesting. Which school did you go to?”
“I’d really rather not say. I didn’t graduate so it’s a bit of a sore subject.”
“No shame in that, especially not for someone in your shoes, right?”
“Of course not, I’m not ashamed. I just want to protect some part of my privacy, you know?”
“Sure. Well, I suppose we’ll have to pick up from here at a later time since you’ve got to jet off.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Avery said and I raised my hand to signal the crew to stop recording.
“That’s it?” Ross asked.
“For now. Get started tearing down, we need to move quick.”
“So do I,” Avery said, darting up out of his chair to run back to his bedroom. He emerged a few minutes later, Superman style, wearing a form-fitting black suit, a deep maroon undershirt, and a shining brown pair of loafers. He hadn’t washed away his makeup but despite it, I had to admit he looked good. Like, really good.
“Do you pick your outfits yourself or do you have a wardrobe team?” I asked as I removed the microphone from my jacket pocket.
“I do most of it myself but I get help from time to time,” he said, straightening his jacket and running a hand through his hair to make sure it wasn’t standing up anywhere.
“I’m impressed,” I said and he looked surprised to receive the compliment.
“Thanks,” he said, looking at me with a furrowed brow. Without another word, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, tapped a few times on the screen and held it up to his ear. “Hey. Yeah, I’m ready. Send the driver,” he said. “Thanks,” he finished and hung up. “OK, my driver is on his way. He’ll be here in about ten minutes.”
“You heard him, boys. You’ve got ten minutes to tear all this down or figure out what’s essential to take with
you to the speech.”
“Who said you were invited?” Avery asked.
“You know the deal. Wherever you go, we go,” I said.
“With my approval. I don’t recall you asking for it.”
“Come on, Kile, now’s not the time for this.”
“I make the rules, remember?”
“Yes, you make the rules. Believe me, I haven’t forgotten.”
“Good. Then ask nicely.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, fine. Kile, may we please accompany you to the speech?”
“Now was that so hard?” he asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels, a cocky smile on his face.
“No,” I said and motioned to the crew to get moving since they’d paused uncertainly during our back and forth.
“Good. Let’s head downstairs. Stephan doesn’t like to wait,” he said and didn’t wait before heading out of the door. I chased after him and hung out of the door.
“The crew and I will have to take a separate car,” I called since he was already halfway down the hall to the elevator.
“No. You and Ross can come with me. I don’t want to draw more attention to us,” he said without turning to face me.
“That’s not enough, he can’t capture everyth—”
“Not my problem. Are you coming or not?” he said as he rounded the corner.
“Shit,” I cursed before going back inside. “Alright, change of plans. Ross, bring whatever you need, you’re coming with Avery and me. The rest of you will have to stay here or go back to the office,” I said. Ross’s eyes went wide.
“Boss, I don’t think that’s a very good idea, we won’t be able to—”
“Don’t you think I know that? Get moving,” I interrupted. He rolled his eyes and huffed and puffed but within minutes he had a camera bag draped over his shoulder and we dashed out into the hall to the elevator. Kile, of course, had already gone downstairs.
I smashed the down button repeatedly and tapped my foot while we waited for the elevator to come. When it did, I stepped inside and let out a “Thank God” for the fact no one else was inside. Ross stepped in and I pressed the button for the ground floor. Seconds later, we spilled out into the lobby of Kile’s building and found him standing outside staring at his phone. A car pulled up to the curb, an all-black SUV, and Kile opened the door.
Clickbait (Off the Record Book 1) Page 8