My Million Dollar Boyfriend

Chapter 26

A few days passed since Claude's dispute with Noah. Social media didn't blow up as much as Florence had expected, but he still told Claude to keep a low profile for the time being.

It's the last day of shooting for Sydney's music video. Florence let out a deep sigh when he heard the director shout 'cut'.

"That's a wrap, everyone!" the director said while an assistant came rushing to Florence and his co-star to give them a bottle of water and a towel.

Florence thanked them and glanced at his co-star. "Thank you for having me," he smiled politely at her. "I hope my lacking acting skills didn't ruin any of the shots you were in. If it did, my apologies."

"No, not at all!" she replied, shaking her head frantically. "You were amazing! If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were a professional!"

"Really? Thank you," Florence said, showing her his million-dollar smile. After saying goodbye to her, he went to his dressing room. He pushed the door open and stared at Claude with a blank expression, who was sleeping on the couch. He silently closed the door and tiptoed to him.

Up close, Florence noticed the dark circles under Claude's eyes. "How late did he go to sleep last night?" he murmured, stroking his cheek lightly as he took a good look at his face. "He's pretty handsome when he's quiet like this," he whispered with a slight chuckle. Right when Florence wanted to take his hand away from Claude, his arm got pulled to Claude.

Claude snaked his hand around Florence's small waist and smirked at Florence's flustered face. "Like what you're looking at?" he asked, using his finger to trace Florence's spine. "You can always touch me, Flory. I won't bite," he smiled.

He used all his force to push himself from Claude's chest and tried to get his heartbeat under control. "Like hell I would," he scowled, which Claude couldn't take seriously. Rather than looking intimidating, Florence looked more like an angry cat in Claude's eyes. Florence heard his phone vibrating and got off Claude's lap to answer it. "Hello, Florence speaking."

"Hey, Florence!" Paris greeted. "Come to this location when you're done and be quick! We can't let this opportunity slide."

Florence furrowed his eyebrows when he heard Paris talking to someone in the background. "For what exactly?" he asked and turned to Claude who grabbed a makeup wipe and started to wipe Florence's makeup away.

"I'll explain it to you when you get there," she replied quickly. "Bye!"

"Wait!" Florence let out a frustrated groan when Paris ended their call. He looked at Claude watching him curiously. "Can you look up this location for me while I change?" he asked, giving him his phone.

"Sure." He tossed the dirty wipe in the trashcan and put the address in Google maps. "It's not far from here if we take the subway," he commented.

"Let me see," Florence said and put his shirt on with one swift motion. Claude showed him the phone screen with all the options available for them. He went to the large mirror with all the face products scattered and took off the rest of the foundation. "I'll order an uber when we're done," he said after a while as he started applying light makeup on his face.

Less than an hour later, they were already standing in front of one of the large skyscrapers in the city. Florence confidently walked in with his phone against his ear dialing Paris' number. "I'm here," he announced after she picked up. "At which floor do we have to be?"

Paris asked the person she's with on which floor they were on. "On floor 34," she replied as he pressed for that floor. "When you're there, go right and we'll be on the third door of your left."

"Thank you." Florence hung up and turned to look at himself in the mirror.

Claude watched him fix his hair again and turned Florence's chin to him. "There's no need to fix anything, Flory. You already look gorgeous," he said, making Florence blush out of embarrassment. "Focus on me instead."

The elevator doors opened on another floor as Florence swatted Claude's hand away. More people joined them in the elevator, making it more cramped. On the 34th floor most of them, including Claude and Florence, went out of it and went their own way.

Florence looked around and followed the directions Paris gave him. After a few minutes of walking, they stopped at an office door. When Florence wanted to knock, the door opened and they saw a smiling Paris.

"You've made it!" She saw Claude right behind him. "And with some company too. Come in and take a seat. I like to introduce you to a director and good friend of mine, Laura," she said as Florence shook her hand and sat down next to Claude.

"Sorry I called you in such a hurry," Laura smiled sheepishly. "I told Paris that we could meet another day but she insisted that you have time today."

Florence refrained from glaring at Paris. "It's alright. Would you mind explaining why we're all here?" he asked.

"Laura here, wants you to be the main character of the new TV show she's directing," she replied as Laura nodded. "I showed her a few clips Sydney sent to me and she was impressed with your acting."

"With some practice and hard work, I'm certain that your promising talent for acting will flourish into that of a professional. But of course, the final decision is yours to make," Laura said as Florence looked a little taken aback at her. "So, what's your answer?"

Florence glanced at Claude who wasn't by his side anymore. Instead, he was watching the video Paris showed Laura with a serious expression.

"He's pretty good, huh?" Paris smirked, winking at Florence.

Claude chuckled. "That's expected from my Flory~," he said, smirking at Florence who averted his eyes from him when they met.

"I'll do it," he smiled at Laura as Paris typed a note to herself about it.

"Great!" Paris grinned, turning her phone off. "You won't regret this, Florence. I've read a little through the script and it seems like an interesting story."

"I did my very best with this one," Laura smiled and went to her desk to grab a script and contract for Florence. "The person who'll be playing the love interest is somewhere here in the building. If you see them, why not get yourself acquainted with them?"

As Laura told him that, they heard knocking on the door. The door opened and Claude raised his eyebrows at the person standing there. He couldn't hold a smile back when he saw that they also were surprised to see him.

"Claude?!"

A/N my back is killing me. Was almost the whole day at work and my period cramps are beating the shit out of me. AND I still have some dumbass homework to draw and clean the kitchen. It's almost midnight, so I gotta bounce. I'm gonna drink a few painkillers and don't kill mice

-Jerry Da Mouse