"Do you not remember?"
"It's all still a bit vague."
"No, she turned it around. I mean, she literally had to tell herself off mid-speech, but no, she ended up giving the most terrific speech of the night."
"You're just saying that because you're biased."
"Probably," said Cody. "The two of us are friends for life, so..."
It was kind of sweet that Cody felt that way, but Arun wondered if it really would be true. Friendships have a way of fizzling out in the most unexpected of ways. He wasn't sure though if maybe that was him hoping that might happen.
Cody smiled to himself. "Do you remember the speeches you gave?"
Arun stared blankly ahead. "I sort of remember the first one, for the screenplay. I know I told myself not to be all gushy or anything, and just make it about how everyone who worked on the film did such a brilliant job of bringing the script to life. It might have been pretty dry actually."
"It was an uneventful speech," said Cody. "And the other two?"
"No idea."
Before Arun had even had time to realise his mistake and prevent Cody from doing so, Cody had leaped out of bed and had grabbed the iPad, that was on the dresser to his right.
"Let's take a look," he said. Even his head, which was reminding him of how foolhardy it was to be so active in its current state, couldn't stop him from bouncing around in excitement.
"No," said Arun. "That sounds like a dreadful idea. I don't need to remember anything specific to know that they were probably awful."
"Tough," said Cody, flinging himself back into position next to Arun. "It's happening."
He loaded up YouTube and searched for videos of last night's Oscars. Unable to prevent any of this from occurring, Arun snatched the iPad off him, stating that if they were indeed going to put themselves through this torture, they might as well do it in sequential order, therefore starting with Cody's speech for Best Actor.
"Fine," said Cody. "I'm quite sure that my speech was hilarious."
Arun let out a short, sharp, delighted laugh. Details of his own speeches weren't especially forthcoming but his memory had definitely kept hold of Cody's.
"Not even close," he said, tapping on the relevant video.
The video began to play, with last year's Best Actress winner walking out onto the stage.
"Whoever chose the colour of that dress needs shooting," said Cody, eyes glued to the screen.
She proceeded to read from the autocue, Arun noting that she'd clearly practiced saying one of the nominee's names.
"Thank God," said Cody. "We were spared all that horrific nonsense that they usually throw in. All that How do you pronounce that? bullshit."
Arun laughed. "Yeah, just learn the damn name, it's not difficult."
In the video, the time had come to read out the list of nominees. When it got to Cody's name, the camera cut to him in the audience, beaming like a little school kid.
"I thought we'd agreed that we weren't going to look as though we wanted to win?" said Arun, kicking at Cody's legs under the bedcover.
"Easier said than done."
"Huh, and you call yourself an actor?"
"An Oscar-winning actor, fuck you very much."
Arun pointed at the screen. "Oh, I remember this bit."
Upon hearing his name being read out as the winner, Cody got up from his seat and turned to Arun, who had done the same, kissing him on the lips in front of everyone in the theatre. He then headed towards the stage, bounding up the steps, taking them two at a time ("Oh, eager," said Arun, watching the video with delight).
Looking a little bit overwhelmed and a touch nervous, Cody stood behind the microphone, holding his award, and waited for the applause to die down before launching into his half-rehearsed speech.
"Thank you very much. First of all, I'd like to thank whoever it was who pulled my name out of the hat, because clearly that's the only possible way I could have won this award."
"That's actually quite funny," he said to himself, in bed. "Nicely played."
Arun shook his head in disbelief at Cody's ego.
"I didn't mean it of course," Cody said, tearing his eyes from the screen to look at Arun.
"No shit."
The two of them carried on watching Cody's speech. As they watched it, Cody began to grimace, his face dropping in relative proportion to how much Arun had begun to smile in smug joy. The speech had taken a soppy and sentimental turn, the result being that it looked as though Cody was going to cry as he was making it.
"And after everything you said about Amelia's speech," Arun said to him.
"I got caught up in the moment," Cody said, feeling that he might also shed a tear now too. "Ah!" he said, tapping a finger nail vigorously on the screen, not wishing to pause the video. The camera had cut to various people in the audience, who were all clearly affected by what Cody had been saying. "Look, they all get it."
"No," said Arun, his voice gentle, "I get it too. Being open about our relationship is a good thing. It's what people need to hear. I'm just surprised you said any of it, that's all." He rested his head on Cody's shoulder. "Good for you."
His speech finished, Cody walked off stage to thunderous applause and the video stopped.
"By that point," said Cody, taking the iPad off Arun, "I couldn't wait to get off stage. And it wasn't just because of the speech, though yeah, I'm surprised at myself for being so open. No, I think I'd underestimated what it actually meant to win. Sure, it's recognition from your peers and people who have trod this path before me, but it's also validation. I am more than what people thought I was." He bit his lip. "I must admit, I was getting close to doing a Gwyneth."
"Thank God you didn't" said Arun, removing his head from Cody's shoulder and staring at him in relief.
"Agreed. I was walking a fine line between sentimental and cloying there wasn't I? An explosion of tears would have tipped me over the edge."
He flicked the video away, taking him back to the search results.
"Right," he said. "Your turn."
Arun groaned.
"What?" said Cody. "It's only fair."
"I know," said Arun. "It's just, some of it's come back to me now and I think I might have gushed rather too much about you in my speech. Which is entirely your fault."
"Me?"
"Yes. The speech you made must have had an influence on mine."
"Well, let's see shall we?"
Arun put his head in his hands. He heard the video start and wondered if the room they were in was too high from which to make his escape. He spread his fingers apart, peering through them to watch how the events had unfolded. He saw himself, when his name was announced, almost leaping out of his seat in the theatre.
Cody laughed. "I honestly thought you were going to punch the air then."
"See, that's your fault too, for putting the idea in my head when we were in the limo. You're such a bad influence." He elbowed Cody's side. "God I hate you sometimes."
"Nah," said Cody. "You love me really."
Arun put his head back on Cody's shoulder in response.
The video progressed, showing that, thankfully, Arun did nothing as ghastly as punch the air. Instead, he kissed Cody, and then Amelia (who was bouncing with delight), before shaking hands with a couple of other people and then making his way to the stage.
"You'll notice," said Arun, waggling a finger in front of the screen, "that I'm taking the steps at a more calm and measured pace. Not leaping up them like an eager child."
"Whatever," said Cody.
To Arun's relief, the speech he made wasn't as dreadful as he'd feared, though he was forced to return his head to his hands at one point.
"Most important of all though, I need to thank Cody, my beautiful magician."
"What the hell does that even mean?" said Cody.
"He's the one who made all this happen. Without him, it'd still be nothing more than an idea in my mind and this magnificent dream might never have c
ome true."
"There it is," said Cody. "Captured for all eternity. The worst speech ever."
"True," said Arun, his voice resigned. "But at least I can defend myself by reminding you that I'm not the actor here."
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. I told you not to wing it. Always come prepared."
"Come on," said Arun, taking the iPad off him. "Let's get this over with."
The orchestra swelled up, hints of pomposity and grandeur in the music they were playing. Onto the stage, clutching the envelope for Best Picture, came Maximillian Miller, one of Hollywood's legends. His hair completely white and his face looking a little gaunt, he still walked with the sureness and strength of a man half his age.
During his career, which was still active, he'd written and directed more than forty films, which had netted him six Oscars. Despite Maximillian being close friends with one of the other filmmakers whose movie was up for this very award, Arun felt a tingle of anticipation. Of the nine films nominated, The Snow's Fire was the only one to have been written and directed by the same person. The award being presented by a fellow writer-director was surely not a coincidence.
Getting to the announcement of the winner seemed to take forever. There was the preamble and the requisite jokes. Then Maximillian did a bit of ad-libbing (which was funnier than the scripted stuff) and then there was a whole list of names to be read out for producing the nominated films. Eventually though the result was declared and, as was expected by most people in the room (considering that plenty of the night's previous awards had gone their way), The Snow's Fire was announced victorious.
Arun got to his feet. He waited, looking at Cody with a huge grin. Cody was still sat in his seat, in disbelief. No matter how expected it might have been, hearing their film's name read out as the winner took a little getting used to, as did the thunderous applause that greeted it. He looked up at Arun and shook his head slowly. This really was happening.
He composed himself enough to be able to stand up and the two of them embraced, holding each other for what seemed like forever, as though there were no-one else in the room. They pulled apart then moved back in for a kiss.
"We did it babe," said Arun.
Cody said nothing. His voice wasn't working. Even if it was, what was there to say?
Amelia was beside them, arms outstretched and the most joyous of expressions on her face.
"Congratulations," she said, wrapping her arms tightly around Arun, her words almost lost amongst the noise of people cheering.
"You should come up there with us," he said.
She let go of him and took a step back. "Absolutely not." She lunged at Cody, showering him with kisses. "This is your moment. You adorable, wonderful darlings." Arun had told her many times during the shooting of the movie that she'd contributed more than enough for them to consider it her film as well. As nice as this was, Amelia treated it as nothing more than the lovely gesture that it was. She wasn't listed as a producer—that title belonged to just Arun and Cody—and more importantly, she knew in her heart that it was their film and no-one else's.
She stepped back over to her seat, standing alongside everyone else who were still stood applauding and cheering.
Arun and Cody headed up the steps, exchanging a look of thrilled pleasure. At the microphone, Arun put his arm around Cody's waist and pulled him closer. Cody turned his head and looked at him, surprised that he was so willing to show their closeness.
The audience's appreciation finally died down and they all took their seats. Cody looked down towards Amelia and, even though she was quite a few feet away, he could see that her eyes were welling up already.
They'd agreed beforehand that, should this moment actually happen, Arun would do most, if not all, of the speech. Unlike the previous ones though, Arun was glad that he hadn't prepared anything, for it would have come across as forced, obviously scripted and completely insincere.
"I honestly cannot believe that this is happening," he said. It got a few cheers from the crowd. He laughed. "It seems crazy that someone like me can be stood up here, someone who for a long time never thought as though he fit in. I have so many people to thank that there just isn't time. We all want to get out of here and party, right?" More laughter and cheering from an audience that was fully on his side. "So I think I'll just say thank you to everyone who was involved in making this film. Every one of you is as important as the next and it's been a pleasure working with you." He paused and took a breath, steeling himself for what he wanted to say next. "What I do want to say though is this. I've learnt so much during the making of this film. My life has changed immeasurably since then. The world is such a brutal place and it only seems as though it's getting worse out there. So what I've learnt might seem insignificant to some people but I believe that it's the most important thing of all. When the world is so tough, what you truly need to get through it is love." He turned to face Cody. "I know I'm repeating myself here but there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't be up here if it wasn't for you and I can't thank you enough. I love you with all my heart and I'm so grateful that we live in a world where we don't have to hide that love."
Once more, the two of them felt as though they were alone. It was probably only a matter of seconds that passed but as they looked into each other's eyes, it felt as though they'd spent the most blissful eternity staring at each other.
"I have very little to add to that," said Cody. He swallowed hard, fighting the urge to let the tears flow. "I love you too."
Arun removed his arm from Cody's waist and took his hand instead.
"We should probably leave it at that," said Arun, "before things get too soppy."
"Too late," muttered Cody, off-handedly to himself, though of course, the microphone picked it up and everyone laughed once more.
"Thank you so much for this," said Arun, holding his Oscar high.
They both stepped back from the microphone, looked around and headed in the direction indicated off stage, to applause that threatened to bring down the roof.
"Congratulations guys," said Maximillian, once they were back stage. "Terrific speech."
Arun burst out laughing and Cody quickly followed suit, leaving Maximillian stood there, a grin on his face but without a clue as to what was going on.
"Did we really just do that?" said Arun.
"I think we did," said Cody. "We really did just say I love you in front of a billion people."
"We are such idiots."
Maximillian stepped in between them and slapped them both on the back.
"No, gentlemen," he said, "what you are is first-class narcissists and I couldn't be happier for you." He pushed through them and walked off. "Enjoy the rest of the night," he said over his shoulder. "You deserve it."
People were milling around them, looking and smiling at them as they went about their business. A man came across to them, middle-aged and with a heavy five-o'clock shadow, smiling just as broadly as everyone else.
"The press are waiting," he said, nodding to a door over by the far corner.
"Okay," said Cody. "Just give us one minute."
The man nodded and headed over there, waiting by the entrance.
Cody turned and took both of Arun's hands in his, once again looking him right in the eye.
"Is this not everything you could have hoped for?"
"It's perfect," said Arun. "You're perfect. We're perfect. This whole damn world's perfect right now."
"And I will do everything I possibly can to try and keep it that way for you. Forever."
Arun took a step forward and kissed him. It'd be nice if he could keep him this happy forever, but it was an unrealistic goal. Instead, Arun was more than happy to settle for Cody just being there with him every step of the way, regardless of what life threw at them. On his own, he'd probably do alright. With Cody there though, he knew he'd be fine.
From Cody's point of view, it was pretty much the same. He saw Arun in his future every step of the way. H
e would be quite content to only ever act in films that Arun made, wanting to be by his side for every moment of his remaining life.
"Now then my handsome lover," said Cody, "let's go and deal with these vultures."
They made their way towards the press room, Cody's arm affectionately loose around Arun's shoulder, Arun's arm wrapped tenderly around Cody's waist. They disappeared into the room. The people going about their business back stage all stopped in amazement at the sounds coming from within the press room. Judging by the whoops and cheers and clapping, it seemed that even the notoriously hostile media were on their side.
Maybe everything was now alright with the world.
Also by Chloe Parker Boulder
How We Fell In Love
A Solitary Life
How We Fell In Love
For Josh Johnson, life was all about having fun, and to him, relationships were nothing more than one-night stands. Sex without love and without the hassle of having your heart broken. And he was perfectly happy with that.
But then he got a new job and it changed everything. That's where he met Tim, the shy, quiet young man with whom Josh would be working.
Join Josh as he races through the heart-warming and sweet tale of how, despite their different outlooks on life and the barriers that Tim puts up, the two of them fell in love.
A Solitary Life
For the last decade, Parker Finn has lived a solitary life, happily alone in the farmhouse that he inherited.
But there have always been doubts, buried deep, occasionally bubbling up to the surface, that something might be missing.
When his intrigue is piqued by a young man sat at the side of the road, Parker finds those doubts pressing at him with a force like he's never experienced.
Unable to resist, he helps the young man out and something unexpected blossoms.
But the young man has a past that isn't easily buried.
And Parker has secrets of his own too...
The Movie Star's Secret Page 13