We're going to need more than five minutes

You remember Jordane?

(YouTube video from Veronica de Carlos Barros 🙏)

They were just making love under the shower when they heard a female voice yell from downstairs. „Good morning... Lana?"

She gasped in his ear: „It's Sarah, she's here... she's got the keys. Nevermind, she can wait, keep going", then she yelled as if nothing happened, „Hey, Sarah! I'm still in the shower, I'll be down in a sec, just make yourself at home!"

Eventually she came down the stairs, wearing a black jumpsuit with straps, her wet hair tied up in a towel and a satisfied, post-coital glow on her face. She smiled innocently when she greeted her assistant who had already started carrying in all the gifts and flowers: „Good morning, how are you doing today?"
„I'm good, thanks! How are you?"
„I'm fabulous, you have no idea... So, how are we gonna do this, where do we start?"

They heard footsteps approaching, Jordane joined them with a shy smile waving hello.

„Oh, and Jordane is here", Lana said as casually as she possibly could, as if this was totally normal and Sarah wasn't perfectly capable of immediately grasping the implication of him being here, both of them freshly showered, at nine am. Either way, she didn't need to justify herself towards anybody. „He's... well, he's here. That's it. That's the tweet. You know him from set, of course?"

Sarah nodded, not in the least surprised, acting just as casually as her boss. She would never allow herself any different reaction. What a trooper she was! „Of course, hi, good to see you, Jordane!"

„Likewise, happy to help out!"

They were unpacking and sorting through dozens and dozens of flower arrangements and gifts, flipping through cards, notes and sweet messages, trying to find a worthy place for everything in the house. For him, it was the perfect opportunity to get to know her a little better, see how she lived, what she liked. The amount of detail and love she gave to every little piece of furniture, decoration or picture of the wall touched him somewhere deep inside. Then his eyes were drawn to her record player and an impressive collection of records. His heart started beating a little faster as he reached out for one, picking it up carefully like the valuable treasure it was.

He felt her arms wrapping around him from behind, her hands placed on his belly and her warm breath tingling in his neck. „You doin' alright there?"
He smiled and nodded, showing her the record. „You like Bob Marley?"

„Are you kidding? I LOVE Bob Marley!"

She took the record from him and put it on, and the sweet tunes of ‚Is This Love?' started to fill the room. She smiled, then looked over her shoulder and assessed that Sarah was still busy in the kitchen. Her smile widened as she took his hands and started dancing with him. He was surprised at first, then gave in and danced with her, pulling her closer. Again and again she stole sweet, little kisses from him, gently caressing his neck and the back of his head and taking in his soft gaze into her eyes and his warm, happy smile on his lips that was just for her. It was such a sweet and intimate moment that she shared with him that it made her heart flutter, and her heart had already had a lot of emotions to deal with all morning as she was trying to wrap her head around the amount of love and support she had been sent by her incredible fans from all over the world.

Eventually Sarah came into the living room and they broke away instantly, very busy with absolutely random things all of a sudden. Again – not as if she didn't have a clue what they had been doing here, but Lana still didn't feel comfortable to make out with her lover in front of her assistant, that poor woman had enough to deal with as it was.

„Alright, so... I think I need a moment to collect myself, and then I want to go live. What time is it? Oh geez, I was supposed to visit Levi, but I think I'm not gonna be able to make it on time. I'll give them a quick call and tell them I'll be late."

When she was finally ready to start the live video, she turned to Jordane and said: „I'll probably be moving around quite a bit, so if you don't want to accidentally be on camera, you may want to go to a different room, or maybe even outside to the backyard? You could go and enjoy the sun by the pool? I think I'll need about an hour or so."

„Okay, sure." At first it sounded a little harsh to him that she so absolutely wanted to avoid him being in her video, but then he quickly realized that she was right. It would look weird for her fans to see him just casually lounging on her couch. They hadn't really done much promo yet for the show, so it wasn't likely that too many would recognize him as her cast mate, but still. So he gave her one last quick kiss and retreated to the pool in her backyard.

After sitting there for a few minutes he couldn't resist any longer, took out his phone and tuned into her live video on Instagram. And he had the weirdest sensation when he saw her smiling face light up his screen, heard her infectious laugh, it was as if he had already missed her from just the few minutes that he had been sitting out here by himself.

He watched her present her flowers, one bouquet more beautiful than the next, there were also teddy bears, candy, chocolates, even a bottle of champagne. One thing was clear: if he was planning to bring her any gift at all in the near future, he had to become extremely creative, because the classics that you'd give to a woman would be off the list for a while now.

Some of the flowers and gifts were not even for her, they were for her dogs, for her friends or even for her assistant. He couldn't help, but wonder... What if her fans would learn about him? That he was, well, not exactly her boyfriend or dating her, but being a man in her life somehow, someone she somehow cared about enough to let him get close to her, physically and emotionally? Would they praise or curse him? Would het get flowers and teddy bears for sleeping with her? For making her happy? A sweet and weird thought at the same time.

He heard her read innumerable of the most beautiful messages her fans had sent her that brightened up his heart and soul and brought a proud smile to his face. That was his girl! Oh well... in a way. He knew this wasn't supposed to be a proper relationship. Still, he felt incredibly close to her, and he couldn't help but assume she felt the same way about him.

He was so happy to hear that so many were seeing in her exactly what he was seeing in her as well. She brought so much happiness, love and joy to so many all around the world. She was truly someone special, and he couldn't believe how he got so lucky as to deserve being with her, couldn't believe that he had been spending the past two nights with her. And just now he realized that very casually, somewhere between the lines, without ever speaking about it explicitly, they had mutually agreed to turn their one night stand into two nights, which tonight would very likely become three. This thing between them had become a real affair, and they were now lovers. A thought that made him both, insanely happy and proud, as well as freaked him out and terrified him to no end, and he couldn't help but ask himself whether he was playing with fire here? And yet, he felt completely safe and right whenever he was with her.

After she had said goodbye to her fans and ended the live, it only took about ten more minutes until she joined him outside by the pool, instantly climbing on top of him, straddling him lying on the sun bed, then she leaned forward to kiss him deeply.

„Hey you", she finally whispered against his lips, „How you doin'?"

„I'm amazing", he replied, gently caressing her back, „And you? How was it?"

„Don't tell me you didn't watch."
He laughed. „Alright, alright, you got me. That was so... I don't even have words to describe it. So beautiful, warm, touching. All that love, support and kindness, not just from your fans to you but also, and maybe especially the other way around." He ran his fingers through her hair. „Watching this was such an incredible, inspiring and truly special experience, as cheesy as it sounds. You touch so many people's hearts, baby, and you touched mine."

She seemed honestly moved by his words, her eyes even beginning to shine a little, as she lifted up his hand and pressed it against her chest so he could feel her heartbeat, then she kissed his fingertips.

For a few seconds they both relished this moment, both of them feeling closer to each other than they could put into words. Two people, one heartbeat. Then she recollected herself with a sigh. „We gotta get going, Levi is waiting. Are you ready? You still wanna come?"

„Absolutely, I'd love to! I'm ready, let me just put back on my shirt."

„Only if you absolutely have to..."