She freezes, holding the phone away when I reach for it. "Hey, Andrew.Please don't freak out."
"Why?"
She hesitates before handing the phone back.
Oh.
Vince doesn't just have an Instagram account... he's verified with eleven million followers and a feed full of professional photos that are going to haunt my daydreams for the rest of my life.
I instinctively put a hand on my chest as I scroll through his profile.
There are red carpet photos, rare candid shots, promos for his movie, old pictures of him and Sam looking like a million bucks at press events, and professional modeling shots that are honestly too much to handle.
"I'm definitely not freaking out that my boyfriend has eleven million followers and didn't tell me," I say, mostly to myself.
"Sure," Cynthia replies, smirking as she glances at her own phone.
I stare at her blankly. "Why the hell did he tell me he wasn'tall thatfamous?"
She laughs. "He probably doesn't think he is. Fame has levels, right? He's not Brad Pitt, he can still walk down the street without being mobbed. But in the industry? Everyone knows him. You're in LA, Andrew. There are a lot of well-known people with money here."
I groan and sip my coffee, feeling self-conscious as Cynthia tries to stifle her amusement. She finishes her cappuccino and says goodbye, leaving me to sip my second cup alone and process the shock.
How have I worked with Vince for months and never bothered to Google him?
I have been living under a rock.
Honestly, I've been in survival mode since arriving. Busy sticking to routines, trying to pay bills, and getting my business off the ground…
Is it oblivious of me? Definitely. Is it stubborn? Probably. But Ididn’tcare who anyone was when I first moved here. I wasn't trying to impress anyone, I just needed to survive.
It suddenly makes sense why Vince is so careful about his image and why Kaitlynn had been so insecure about other women around himafter they moved here.
How many eyes are on him?
I suddenly realizemy ignoranceis a blessing in disguise.
If Ihadknown about his fame back then, I wouldn't have been able to talk to him. I wouldn’t have asked him out to lunch. I wouldn’t have flirted with him at the concession stand. I wouldn’t have pinned him down into the mattress my first night at his place.Running buds wouldn’t be a thing.I already thought he was out of my league... this would've sealed it.
After a deep breath, I follow a few more people on my new social media accounts: the guys from the queer campers group, Malia and Tina, and even a few of my siblings.
Malia DMs me almost immediately, her excitement practically leaping off the screen. I can't help but grin.
Scrolling through her feed, I see what I suspected after meeting her. She's a pro. Her modeling shots are stunning, all clean lines and effortless cool. A few thousand followers track her page, but her posts aren't overly personal. Most are professional photos, with a few quirky exceptions: a fisheye lens shot of her eating a donut, a picture of a potato with a fork stuck in it.
It fits her. Private, but with this playful, confident edge I love.
Both Malia and Tina have completely captured my heart. They are everything Vince worries he isn't raising them to be: driven, smart, hilarious, and self-assured.
They are exactly like their father, even if he can't see it yet.
Chapter 36
The Double Coming Out
Vince
TwoweeksinNewYork without the love of my life.
