by K. C. Wells
“Same here,” Webb said.
“’Kay,” Danny said. “We sharing?” He glanced at Elliot. As far as he was concerned, it was a foregone conclusion. Why wouldn’t he and El be sharing a room? Out of all the guys, they’d gotten closest with each other.
“Okay.” Elliot gave him a shy smile.
“Let’s go get our stuff put away, and we can come back down.”
Elliot nodded, stood, and followed Danny to the stairs.
THE next morning, Danny was up by six. Elliot was just a lump under his covers when he went into the bathroom to take a quick shower. He heard stirring in the bigger room just as he was finishing up his hair, making sure it swooped artfully off to the side and didn’t have any weird pieces sticking up. Katie was always giving him crap about how much he loved his hair… but hey. A guy had to look good, right?
Thinking of his girlfriend made Danny cringe. He’d meant to call her the previous night to let her know how he was settling in, but he’d gotten so caught up in talking to Elliot after they unpacked that he’d completely forgotten about it. That was getting easier and easier to do the more time he spent with Elliot and the guys. It made Danny feel guilty, even if it should have been understandable that he’d be distracted with everything that was going on. As soon as the cameras started rolling, they weren’t supposed to really call out anyway.
I’ll text her tonight…. If we have time.
A sudden knock at the door startled him into dropping his comb. “Hey, you almost done in there? Some of us have to use the bathroom, you know.”
Danny grinned at Reece’s sleep-roughened voice. Fresh out of bed, Reece’s accent was thick enough he was nearly impossible to understand. “I’ve barely even started,” he teased through the door. “I still need to manscape.”
“Aww, c’mon, man, that’s disgusting! I don’t wanna hear about that shit.” Danny heard a thud against the door. Maybe Reece’s forehead. Maybe a shoe telling both of them to shut the hell up.
Danny laughed and unlocked the door to find Reece standing there with a raging case of bedhead and wearing a matching flannel pajama set, of all things.
“Did your mommy buy you those for Christmas?” Danny asked with a snort, then dodged when Reece took a halfhearted swing.
“Asshole,” Reece muttered. “You probably used up all the hot water too.”
“Dude, there are fourteen people in this house. You can’t blame me.”
“Sure I can.” Reece grunted and brushed past him. “You better head out unless you’re planning to watch.” He started to unbutton his top.
Danny snorted and crossed the bathroom to the door that led to his and Elliot’s room. “Tempting as that is, I’ll pass. I’m not trying to go blind.”
“Blind from the greatness,” Reece drawled. “They don’t call me anaconda at home for nothing.”
Danny couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing, but still pulled the door shut behind him hurriedly, wheezing and muttering “Anaconda” under his breath.
“Hey,” said a sleepy voice. “What’s so funny?”
Danny looked over to find Elliot sitting up in bed, his hair a rumpled mess but still oddly adorable. “Reece and his massive anaconda.”
Elliot blinked at him. “What? Ew.”
Danny grinned and shook his head. “Never mind. You gonna take a shower after Reece? I’m getting hungry.”
“I’m pretty much always hungry. But I need to get ready. There are cameras out there.” Elliot waved at himself.
“It’s cool.” Danny walked over to his own bed, which was directly across from Elliot’s, and flopped down on top of it. “I’ll wait for you. Probably should call Katie anyway.” He didn’t want to look like he was reluctant to talk to his girlfriend. But he was.
WHEN Elliot finally got into the bathroom, he took his time showering. He tried to tell himself it was because he was nervous. Truth was, he didn’t want to hear Danny talking to his girlfriend. Little couple moments, I love yous, that kind of stuff made her more real. And as much as Elliot hated himself for it, he wished Katie didn’t exist. As long as he didn’t have to hear Danny with her, he could pretend she didn’t.
When Elliot got back into the room, showered and changed, Danny was standing at the window, gazing out at something Elliot couldn’t see, his phone in his hand at his side.
“Everything okay?” Elliot asked.
Danny turned and looked at him, his preoccupied expression easing into his familiar wild grin. “Yep. Fine. Just getting a little nervous, I guess.”
Elliot returned the smile. “You’re so, like, confident. I didn’t think anything would scare you.”
Danny shrugged, his shoulder lifting beneath the fabric of his expensive polo. “You’d be surprised.”
“Did you get a hold of Katie? It’s still kind of early, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, we talked for a minute.” Danny looked out the window again. “She never sleeps past seven. Morning person like me, I guess.”
Elliot looked down at the carpet and scuffed it with his foot, trying hard not to hate that Danny knew when and how Katie woke up in the morning. Don’t be an asshole.
“Cool,” he forced himself to say. “Want to go grab some breakfast? I think better on a full stomach.”
Danny chuckled softly and shoved his phone into the drawer by his bed. “I think we all do. Come on. Let’s go see what the other guys are doing.”
THE five of them got downstairs to find that breakfast had been set up buffet-style on a long sideboard against the wall in the dining room. Elliot got in line between Reece and Danny and watched, horrified, as Reece piled his plate high with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and even some biscuits and gravy.
“How can you eat all that?” Elliot asked. He’d been hungry in his room, but the moment he’d stepped out of it, a thick ball of tension had started forming in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t think he could eat much more than a piece of toast and some fruit.
Reece shrugged and chomped into one of his sausage links. “I get extra hungry when I’m nervous,” he said around a mouthful of food.
“You’re extra hungry all the time,” Webb muttered. Reece elbowed him in the side.
“Jerk.”
“Douche.”
“Guys….” Tate glanced significantly toward the camera.
Elliot shook his head and plopped a croissant and two slices of cantaloupe onto his own plate. He looked up, the tension in his stomach mounting when the door to the kitchen swung open. He expected to see the director and maybe a few cameramen. Instead, an older woman walked into the room, holding a white carafe in one hand and a tray of big, gooey cinnamon rolls in the other. She smiled at them and set both items on the table instead of carrying them over to the sideboard.
“Hey, boys,” she said. “I’m Josephine. Help yourself. These are fresh from the oven. And this is a pot of dark roast, but there’s decaf over on the sideboard if you prefer.”
Elliot drew in a shaky breath and tried to collect himself enough to return her greeting. Luckily, the other guys jumped in, their introductions and compliments about the food covering a typical awkward Elliot moment. Still, his face burned, and it was a struggle to stop himself from squirming in his seat. Jesus, man. Chill out.
Under the table, a hand settled on his knee and squeezed gently.
“You’re going to be okay,” Danny whispered near his ear. “They’re going to love you.”
Elliot shot him a grateful smile and reached down to cover Danny’s hand with his own. Danny’s skin was soft and warm beneath his fingertips. For a second, Elliot wished he could lace their fingers together and hang on for dear life. But somehow it helped just to have Danny’s solid presence at his side.
And Danny was right. He would be okay. Because he had his new best friends. Because he had Danny. There wasn’t any need to be scared.
“Thanks,” he whispered back.
THE first day of filming wasn’t anything like Danny expec
ted. Mostly the camera crew hovered in the background while everyone in the house settled in. The Band Campers were instructed to set up promotional Twitter accounts and spent a while doing that. Twitter was another way they could entertain the fans they would supposedly have, and they were told to “Keep it fun,” whatever that meant.
After lunch, they were instructed to go out to the pool and “act natural” so the camera crew could get some candid shots for the show’s opening credits. Danny stood next to Chris at the edge of the pool for a while, watching as the OCD guys tossed a couple of the girls from The Pixies into the water. It looked like fun and everyone was laughing, but the only reason Danny had focused on them was so he wouldn’t stare too hard at Elliot. Elliot with his damp, dark curls and wet, clingy board shorts, his smooth bare chest, and all his pale, creamy skin dripping wet and perfect. Shit. Danny wanted to touch. Badly. Really badly. So he carefully avoided looking… save for the few times he couldn’t help it.
Still, he considered that a success. How could it not be when everything in him was demanding that he just give in and admire the view? From the very beginning, no matter where Elliot was or what they were doing, Danny’s gaze instinctively sought him out. It was like everything else was boring shades of gray, and Elliot was a solar flare, bright and burning. Danny never wanted to stop looking. And, honestly, that freaked him out a little.
He couldn’t believe Elliot was so worried about the cameras and the people watching. His sweetness and shy charm were bound to win everybody over. In Danny’s opinion, Elliot really didn’t have a clue how very beautiful he was, how his smiles made Danny, everyone, want to smile back and give him whatever he wanted.
Danny had already seen some of the girls in the house sneaking glances whenever Elliot was distracted. Elliot hadn’t appeared to notice any of the looks, though, too caught up in laughing and roughhousing and generally being his perfect dorky self with the other guys. Danny liked that. It made him feel strangely gratified that Elliot didn’t pay much attention to the girls.
Oh, he was friendly enough—he grinned and talked and joked with them. But never once had Elliot given any of them that one smile that seemed to be reserved for Danny—small, sexy, with a little crook at the corner. He was pretty sure Elliot didn’t realize he was doing it, but it drove Danny nuts. He was just so innocent and open, and, damn, even his mop-top of curls was beautiful, and Danny just wanted to—
The shove at his back cut off that thought. One second Danny was beside Chris and the next he was underwater. He surfaced to find Reece nearly doubled over laughing.
“S-sorry,” Reece choked out. “You were just spacing out. I couldn’t help myself.”
Danny fake growled and lunged toward the edge of the pool, grabbing for Reece’s ankle, but Reece was too fast. He dodged and took off toward the house. Almost made it all the way inside too, when suddenly Tate appeared seemingly out of nowhere and caught him around the waist, sending them both sprawling to the patio. Danny laughed and shook his head as the cameramen swooped in to film Tate and Reece as they grappled on the ground. That was going to leave some bruises.
“SO, TODAY was interesting,” he said to Elliot when they were in their room at the end of the night. They weren’t filmed as much as he thought they’d be. There were lots of breaks, and they even had some days off blocked into their schedule. Still, it was a lot. And it would be hard to get used to.
Elliot turned over in his bed and smiled sleepily. “Yeah. I’m sure it’ll be different tomorrow.”
Danny nodded and opened his mouth to say something else, but the buzzing of Elliot’s phone made him pause.
Elliot grabbed it from the table beside his bed and glanced at the screen, his smile widening when he read whatever message had just come through.
“What is it?” Danny asked, curious despite himself. Elliot had never mentioned having anyone special back home, but Danny didn’t want to assume.
Elliot looked up from his phone. “My friend Sara. She’s asking how everything is going.”
“Oh, she’s the one you mentioned before, right? The one who talked you into auditioning?”
Elliot nodded. He had the phone gripped in both hands as he used his thumbs to type back a message. “Yeah. I was worried she might be kind of jealous, you know? I went with her for moral support, and now I’m here and she’s still back home.”
“And is she?”
Elliot shook his head. “Nah, I don’t think so. We’ve been texting the last few days. She just seems happy for me, really.”
“That’s good,” Danny said. Katie seemed happy for him too when they talked. It was too bad that at the end of their conversation that morning, he’d realized he spent nearly the entire time talking about Elliot and, to a lesser degree, the other guys. Only belatedly had he remembered to ask her what she had planned for the day.
He’d felt awful after they hung up. He loved Katie. He knew he did. But the butterflies that overwhelmed his stomach whenever Elliot was close, the way he constantly needed to touch Elliot—his lips, his skin, his hair. That crazy smile he couldn’t seem to control whenever Elliot was near. He’d never felt any of that with Katie. Not even at the start, when they’d been kids.
Danny wasn’t sure what to think about any of it. What he did know was that he loved to be around Elliot, loved to make Elliot laugh. That sound was quickly becoming one of Danny’s favorite things. He wanted to hear it all the time. Because it was warm and irresistible and it made him feel—
“Hey, Danny?”
Danny blinked, coming out of his thoughts. Elliot had put his phone down and was facing him again. His brown eyes looked huge in the semidarkness of the room. “Yeah?”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Elliot said softly. “I never knew how much my life would change when I went to that audition. I’m glad you’re a part of it now.” He paused, looking abruptly self-conscious. “I mean,” he added in a rush, “I’m happy to have all the guys. We all get along, and it’s great. But I… well, especially you.”
Danny smiled. Elliot had gotten a little awkward and rambly at the end there, but Danny understood. He felt the exact same way. “Me too, El. I’m happy to have you too.”
“OKAY, guys, just act natural. Be yourselves… well, yeah. Just be yourselves. This one can be nice and short. Just introductions, maybe one or two little facts per guy, and we can be done, cool?” The cameraman swiveled his camera around on a tripod and aimed it at the couch where all five boys were piled.
“We’re ready,” Danny said confidently.
Ready? Elliot wasn’t so sure. He fidgeted in the corner of the couch while Webb and Reece flicked each other on the ears, Tate tried to keep order, and Danny laughed. I can do this. There aren’t many people in the room. It’s cool. Elliot was fine as long as he didn’t think about the thousands of people who would potentially be watching it later.
“We’re rolling in three… two… one…. Go!”
“Hi! We’re Static!” All of them chorused together, waving at the camera. Then Danny made one of his signature goofy faces—sticking out his tongue and crossing his eyes—and instead of introducing themselves, everyone laughed. Webb punched Danny lightly on the shoulder, and he pushed back, and before long all five of them were in a puppy pile in the middle of the couch.
“Gentlemen,” Tate reminded them. Then he turned to the camera. “Hi. I’m Tate. I think it’s going to be my job to keep these monkeys in line.” He smiled and winked and turned to Webb.
“I’m Webb. I like to write and I like to sing and I wish I could’ve met Kurt Cobain. I love Nirvana.” He gave the camera a shy smile that Elliot knew the girls would be swooning over. He was glad he was at the end of the couch. Reece then Danny and he was up. His stomach flipped.
“Hey,” Reece said in his slow drawl. Elliot knew this would be easy for him. “I’m Reece. I’m from Alabama and I like to play the guitar.” He lifted his six string from where it was resting on the floor, then raked his fingers
through dark hair and gave the screen a long look.
Damn, they’re good at this….
“I’m Danny.” Danny made another face at the camera. It was dorky and cute and Elliot couldn’t help staring. “I have a thing for pickles.”
Elliot tried not to laugh. Like really tried. It was hard with everyone else snickering behind their hands. “I’m Elliot,” he forced out on a laugh. Then he looked out from under his bangs and waved at the camera. “Hi.” That was about all he could handle before the nervous giggles came back. He couldn’t help it. He just waved again and hoped someone else would take over. Thank effing hell for Danny and Reece.
“We’re Static!” Danny said.
“Be sure to check us out every week on Band Camp,” Reece added.
“And check out our page on Band Camp’s website!”
“You can find us on Twitter too,” Elliot added, shocked he was even capable of speech. “All the links are on our page!”
They all waved at the camera for a second before Danny launched himself at Webb for another round of horseplay.
“And that’s good,” the cameraman called out. “You guys are done.”
They ignored him. Danny had managed to shove his foot into Elliot’s stomach. He grunted and lunged in to wrap his arms around Danny’s waist and tickle him. Tate, who liked to pretend he was above the rest of them when they started acting like morons, must have noticed that Elliot was tickling Danny and yeah, he wasn’t so above that. He joined right in, tickling and tackling until Danny and then Elliot were both nearly crying from laughing so hard.
“All right boys. We need to get The Pixies in here for their intro. Time to clear out,” the producer said from the doorway.
Elliot dragged himself off the couch and reached down to help Danny from where he was halfway on the couch and halfway dragging on the floor. Danny grabbed his hand and used it to haul himself to standing. His hair was standing straight up, his clothes were rumpled, and Elliot found himself leaning closer. Danny smelled really good, and his eyes were so green and sleepy and….