Popstar - Lashton

02 | future boyfriend

"Well I'm Mr. Popstar
Boy on the string"

"You want me in a relationship?" Luke asked, disbelief filling his voice. His last relationship, with another rising star, Sierra Deaton, had not gone well. They'd been cute for some months before all the fights had happened, and Luke had done his usual thing and escaped in a bottle. Then he had cheated and basically ruined any chances of ever getting back together.
Which had been fine, until Sierra had written an album based of their relationship (and everyone knew) that had become an immediate hit, and now anytime he walked into a store, he could hear her voice. It was like reliving the break up once again.

Luke was over her, but it still hurt. It was his own fault, of course, but knowing he was the cause didn't make the pain go away.

"Now go take a shower, change your clothes and look somewhat presentable before you meet him," Brian said, and with a gesture, shooing Luke away, but Luke stopped in his tracks.

"Excuse me, but did you just say him?" Luke asked he had heard wrong. He had to, there was no way he was fake dating a male. It just wouldn't happen.

"Yes," Brian confirmed, as it wasn't a big deal. But it was. Oh God, it was.

"I am not gay, or bi, I'm not into males, I refuse to fake date a male. A woman I can handle, but a male? No, no. I refuse."

"None of your female relationships seems to go very well, and besides it'll help you reach out to a new audience. People will look up to you as an LGBT celebrity, it's more controversial yes, but it'll give new rewards. Not to mention, if you come out as bisexual it'll be more talked about." Luke could tell that Brian had already decided that Luke would date a man, but Luke didn't want to go through with it. Not only would it hurt his pride, but it was uncomfortable. Was he supposed to kiss someone of a gender he wasn't attracted to?
It was disgusting that Luke was going to pretend he had a sexuality he didn't have just for the fame, for the press. For the attention.

"That's basically lying. I'm not gonna pretend like I have a sexuality I don't have."

"And you're not lying to the media, to the fans all the time?" Brian challenged, and Luke stayed silent. Sure, he lied, he lied about his alcohol intake, Luke lied about not doing drugs, he lied to look better. But those lies never hurt anyone, lying about his sexuality – although it was a lie, like the others – was different.

"Now go shower, I tried doing this the nice way, but now we're doing it my way," Brian said this in a voice Luke feared. He used to hear more often when he was younger and knew not to cross Brian when he was in this mood. He hadn't heard in a long time and hoped he wouldn't hear it again. Ever. Brian's nice facade was just that. A facade.
He was brilliant at his job, and nice to Luke, mostly, but sometimes, he showed the monster that was deeply buried behind the fake smiles and the professional language he used.

Luke had, had it coming. Brian had dragged him to endless rehabs, he tried to reduce Luke's intake of alcohol. He tried to make him better, but Luke was unfixable. At least that was Luke's conclusion since he was still going strong on his old habits. Brian had tried so hard to make Luke, less of a wreck, but didn't work.
So he'd given up. Luke could be as much of a wreck he wanted to, as long as it wasn't in the media.

Fifteen minutes later Luke was dressed in a white shirt and black pants. Nothing special really. His hair was still wet from his shower, and he had bothered to shave, so was an improvement. Brian came crashing into Luke's hotel room and started to drag him towards an office-like room, he had borrowed from the hotel.

The room was empty, well not empty, it held expensive furniture, and the walls were decorated with pictures, and fancy wallpaper, with weird patterns and what not. Luke took a seat in black leather sofa and eyed Brian with an impatient look.
He just wanted to leave.