Page 57 of The Dramatic Life of Jonah Penrose
Jonah focused his attention back onto the screen and his friends beside him, who didn’t have a clue as to what just unfurled before them. Bastien swung his arm around Jonah’s shoulder, face too close as he belted into his microphone. Even drunk out of his mind Bastien sang like an angel, his voice pitch-perfect, and Jonah let the idea of Broadway cross his mind for a moment. New York didn’t know how lucky it was for Bastien Andrews to cross the sea and spread his talent over there. When Jonah looked back into the crowd, he saw Dexter dancing with Sherrie and Romana, the same smile he had on his face when he sang on the stage himself, and he looked up at Jonah and cheered while singing along. Had hereally turned down the advances of someone else because he wanted to be with Jonah? Or was it just politeness, seeing as Jonah was right there and making out with someone else in front of him was low even by Dexter’s standards?
The answer came when Jonah left the stage and Dexter pulled him close and kissed him, openly, in front of strangers, in front of their friends, and in front of the rest of the crew who had come out to let down their hair after another full-on week at the theatre. He heard a cheer, Bastien’s and Sherrie’s voices leading the rally, and Dexter kissed him deeper as he wrapped his arms around his waist and held him close.
“What happened to being secret and casual?” Jonah shouted over the music when Dexter finally released him from the kiss.
“I’m sorry,” Dexter said suddenly, and Jonah’s eyes widened, expecting him to repel him across the room and pretend he didn’t just kiss him in front of everyone. “For being weird in the dressing room earlier. Because, seriously, fuck casual. Fuck secret. We don’t need to be those things. We aren’t those things. Fuck them.”
Jonah tried not to smile too much; he couldn’t let Dexter see how happy those two words made him, but he couldn’t stop himself, and Dexter smiled right back, and holy hell, Jonah couldn’t get over just how beautiful he was.
“Come with me?” Dexter asked, taking Jonah’s hand into his, and Jonah let him pull him through the throng of people, ignoring the cooing noises from their castmates while hiding his smile with his free hand.
“Where are you taking me, Mr. Ellis?” he asked as Dexter led them out the front of the bar, where a string of people stood along a wall smoking and vaping, the smell of nicotine mixed with summer berries and bubble gum almost nauseating. “It better not be a back alley.”
“I’m taking you home with me.”
Jonah stopped and cocked his head to the side, doing his best impression of a pigeon eyeing up a Krispy Kreme wrapper on the floor. “Did I say I wanted to leave?”
“Are we gonna play that game?” Dexter stepped toward him and tucked a curl behind Jonah’s ear. “You want to stay, babe? We can stay.” He spokewith the voice he knew made Jonah weak at the knees, low, as if he didn’t want anyone in the world but Jonah to hear his words. “But I’m sure I can put my mouth to better use than singing karaoke.”
“What’s brought this on?” Jonah asked with a laugh. “Was all that flirting turning you on?”
“Flirting?”
“With the guy in there. I saw.”
Dexter smirked. “The flirting made me realize I didn’t want to flirt with anyone other than you.” He squeezed Jonah’s hand lightly. “Come home with me?”
“So we can fuck casual?”
“So we can fuck casual.”
The Northern Line ushered them into a stifling hot carriage, still filled with tired bodies despite the unsociable hour, though Jonah knew it couldn’t have been as late as he thought, given the trains were still running. Dexter kept pressing kisses to his forehead as they stood in the carriage. Usually such public displays of affection made Jonah a little nervous; being gay meant still looking over his shoulder for someone who felt the need to throw hate his way. But no one took any notice of them. They looked at their phones or reveled in drunken conversations and didn’t bat an eyelid when Dexter took out his phone and snapped a photo of him and Jonah, Jonah’s head resting on his shoulder as he pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Jonah half wondered if Dexter was drunk; he’d never been so open with their situation, he’d never kissed him in front of anyone else, and to do so in front of so many people they worked with must have meant something.Fuck casual.
“I hate the tube,” Dexter said as they came to their stop and the doors opened, allowing them to disembark to the equally stuffy platform.
“I know. You say that every time we get on it.”
“Can’t break the habit of a lifetime.”
Emerging from Camden station finally allowed them a breath of fresh air, and Jonah inhaled deeply as Dexter fiddled with his phone besidehim. Jonah glanced at his screen as they walked and saw the photo Dexter took on the tube: them together, the perfect image of a couple, loved up, traveling home together. Then he saw Dexter typing something, a caption, and he realized Dexter was posting the photo.
“Wait. Are you posting that?” Jonah asked as they made their way down Kentish Town Road. “Colbie might—”
“Colbie can’t tell us what to do,” Dexter said. “But, if you don’t want me to...”
“No. It’s not that I don’t want you to. I just... your fans can be pretty intense. They’re going to jump all over that. I mean, the stuff we’ve posted before, it’s friendly, there to be taken as more if someone looks. But that? That’s obvious.”
“Is it too much of afuck casualstatement to make?” Dexter asked as he turned his phone over in his hand.
“Maybe?” Jonah could see a warring range of emotions spreading across the other man’s face. “Earlier today we were a secret. Casual. Now... now you want to post that?”
“I thought... I thought this was what you wanted?”
“I do,” Jonah said quickly and took Dexter’s hand into his, reassuring him. “Let’s just... enjoy this tonight, yeah? Enjoy being no longer casual without posting it on social media?”
“But, Jonah,” Dexter said as he allowed a smile to reach his lips again. “Nothing is official unless it’s on social media, don’t you know that?”
