Doing alright // Hardzello

Chapter 3

After a long day of filming, they decided to go out for dinner together. Rami was planning on joining them as well, but his girlfriend, Lucy,  was arriving as well. So, he decided to pick her up from the airport. That left Gwilym, Ben and Joe. They decided to go to a little Italian restaurant close to their hotel. Gwilym sits down next to Joe.
"How is your dad doing?" Ben asks while looking at Joe. His dad was diagnosed with cancer not too long ago. It had been tough on Joe, to not be home with him. Joe looks down.
"Not that great. Mom texted me to tell me that he wasn't able to talk at all today," Joe says. He scratches his face before quickly letting his hand run through his eyes. Gwilym's hand finds its way to Joe's back.
"I'm sorry to hear, man. If you ever need someone to talk to, you know that we are here for you," Gwilym says while he carefully rubs his hand over Joe's back.
"I know, thanks, guys," Joe says. He takes a deep breath before looking up. Ben is shocked when he sees the look on Joe's face. Joe loves his dad. Everyone knows that. It's clearly affecting him even more than Ben thought.

"Can we maybe talk about something else?" Joe asks. Ben and Gwilym immediately nod.
"Maybe we can talk about how good Ben looked with make-up on," Gwilym says. Ben rolls his eyes.
"It did look pretty amazing," Joe says. Ben looks at him to meet his eyes. Joe has a tiny smirk on his face.
"Well, the red lipstick suited you as well," Ben says. Gwilym keeps quiet while he looks back and forth between the two.
"Don't get me started on your little skirt," Joe says. Ben shakes his head while laughing loudly.
"Your wig, man, your wig. That wins everything," Ben says. Joe sighs loudly.
"What about my perm then?" Joe says while taking off his hat. For the movie, they gave him a perm. Which was very unfortunate for him. He was convinced that he looked absolutely ridiculous with it. His friends liked to make fun of it. 
"Hey, Joe, did you know perm stands for permanent?" Gwil asks while poking Joe.
"I do now," Joe says while sighing loudly.

After eating their food, they make their way over to the hotel.
"This was fun. Better than sitting alone in my hotel room the entire evening," Joe says. Ben and Gwilym nod in agreement.
"Do we dare to stop by Rami's room to say hi to Lucy?" Ben asks. Lucy was one of their co-stars as well. Rami had fallen madly in love with her since the day they met.
"Well, I would love to, but I don't know if it is smart," Joe says.
"We could always text them to ask them if it is okay?" Gwilym suggests. So, that is what they do.

After receiving a text that they could come over, they make their way to Rami's hotel room. The moment Joe knocks on the door, it opens. Lucy falls into a hug with him immediately. Joe and Lucy were very close friends as well. They have really grown to care about each other.
"Good to see you again," Joe says.
"Well, good to see you as well. Your hair got even crazier," Lucy says while letting her hand ruffle through Joe's hair.
"Unfortunately, yeah," Joe says. Ben steps forward to give Lucy a hug as well.
"Nice having you here again," Ben says. After he has let go, Gwilym steps forward.
"Please don't leave us again. Rami couldn't shut up about you. It was annoying," Gwilym says. Lucy giggles while giving Gwilym a hug.
"Gwil, you were not supposed to say that," Rami says while pushing Gwilym's shoulder. Gwilym only smiles widely.
"Sorry, mate," He says while putting his hand up in surrender.

"Do we have to film a scene with you tomorrow?" Joe asks while looking at Lucy with squinted eyes.
"No, they gave me a day to recover from my jetlag. Maybe I am coming along to set, though. We will see how I feel tomorrow morning," Lucy says.
"Depends on how late Rami makes it tonight," Ben says while wiggling his eyebrows. Joe laughs loudly while Rami rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, about that, it's time for you guys to go," Rami says while pushing Ben towards the door.
"Keep him in control," Joe says while shooting Lucy a wink. He is just in time to hear Lucy giggle before the door is shut behind them.

"That guy is crazy about her, isn't he?" Gwilym asks.
"Totally obsessed," Joe gives as an answer. Gwilym stops at his hotel room.
"Well, goodnight, guys. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget to set your alarm, Joe," Joe rolls his eyes. Both he and Ben say their goodnight before walking down the corridor together. Rami and Gwilym have their hotel rooms on the same floor while Ben and Joe have their rooms a floor higher. They step into the elevator together.
"Have you already gone through your script for tomorrow?" Ben asks. Joe hums.
"I'm going to facetime my dad in a few minutes. So, I don't really have time later tonight. Because after that I won't be able to read anything," Joe says. He bites on the inside of his cheek, trying to suppress any emotions. The last few weeks had been tough on him. He knows that he can talk to Gwilym, Ben and Rami but he doesn't want to bother them. So, most of the time he just suppresses his emotions until he is alone in his hotel room again. That doesn't make it easy for him, but at the moment it feels like he hasn't got a choice.

Ben sees the look in his eyes immediately.
"If you ever need to talk about it after you facetimed him, you can just come to my room. Just knock on my door. I can either talk to you about it or talk about something else to distract you a little. I'd be more than happy to help," Ben offers. Joe looks up to meet his eyes.
"Thanks, that is sweet," The elevator door opens. Both of them get out. They arrive at Joe's room first.
"Goodnight," Joe says while opening the door.
"Goodnight, say hi to your dad from me," Ben says. A small smile spreads on Joe's lips.
"I will tell him," Joe says. With that, Ben walks towards his own room. Joe closes the door behind him with a pounding heart. Why is Ben so perfect?

***********

Hey guys,

It's been a while, but I'm back! How are y'all doing?

Take good care of yourself and others. Stay safe, stay healthy.

Goodbye,

Xx Itsametaphorjoe