The First Part

Chapter 2

I wonder what I'd say if I knew back then, that the brown-eyed boy'd be my best friend

And the one I'd give my heart to

The boy had brown doe eyes (Aaron realizes later on that his eyes were more hazel than brown), tidy blonde hair, and a giant grin on his face. He had a hand held out, waiting for Aaron to shake it.

'Aaron Cardoner,' he introduced as he clasped the boy's hand.

'Hurston. Leo Hurston.' he said in a cockney British accent.

That sounded familiar...'James Bond?' Aaron asked.

Leo chortled at his response, 'you've watched the movies?'

'A few.' Aaron answered.

Leo smiled, 'yeah well, a bunch of MI6 agents have said that James Bond is very unrealistic.'

Aaron had never been one to make conversation. He preferred to keep to himself and give one-word answers to any probing questions. Usually, he would've answered with an "Okay", but Leo had a look on his face, a mischievous glint in his eyes that convinced Aaron to say a little more.

'And how would you know that?' Aaron remarked.

Leo let out a hearty laugh and was about to say something, but the casting director, Angela, cleared her throat and they remembered that they were part of an audition.

So they read their lines and stared into each others' eyes as though they were in love. Aaron gave Leo invisible flowers and screamed a tearful confession about how stupid he was to have let him leave California. They both put their hearts into those lines, and their hard work paid off.

A couple of weeks later, Aaron got a phone call. He got the role. He was going to play Jackson Shipman in Maroon. They said that he gave the best performance out of all the people that went that day. She also said something about how much he and Leo were perfect for the roles. But Aaron wasn't really listening, he was too busy imagining how proud his family would be.

[Years later, Angela would say during a wedding that she knew they were perfect for the roles (and each other), the moment they shook hands.]

Except, his family wasn't proud. They were furious with the fact that he had gotten the role of Jackson because apparently being gay was a sin in their eyes. His mother said that it was going to poison his mind. And his uncle, like always, started ranting about how he hates gay people.

Of course, Aaron didn't agree with that. He didn't care about that. He liked girls, it didn't matter to him if some guys liked guys, or some girls liked girls. Yet his family was here saying that loving people was a sin.

And usually, he'd do whatever his family asked of him, but he wanted the role of Jackson. It was the first role he'd auditioned for without his family's interference. So for the first time ever, he argued back. He told them that it was just a character, he wasn't gay, and he wouldn't just turn gay because of a role.

Reluctantly, his family let it go. And a week later, he showed up on set.

✯

When he got there that day, there was already a group of people there. There was the casting director, Angela. The director, Julian. And-

'Aaron!' said with a familiar British accent.

Leo was there. He didn't look any different from the other day. His smile with dimples still etched on his face.

'I see we both made it.' Aaron said, accepting a side hug from the blonde. He hadn't been hugged in a while, especially not after what happened with his family. But if Leo noticed him flinching, he didn't say anything.

The rest of the people were introduced to him:

Elise Lirette, who played Chloe. She had long dark hair and dark brown eyes and was just slightly shorter than him. She's French and was born in Paris. She did theater and musicals before auditioning for TV shows.

Amara Thompson, who played Shara. She had wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, and she was wearing heels so she was probably as tall as him. She had an arm wrapped around Elise and Aaron wondered whether they knew each other before this.

Oscar Emmott, who played Lawrence. He looked a lot like his cousin if it weren't for his blonde hair. The fact that he's taller than Aaron remains, though. He's also British but his accent sounded slightly different than Leo's.

Zachery Lim, who played Thomas. He's the tallest of all of them, he has short black hair and black eyes. He's Korean but he says his family has lived in the US since he was a baby. Aaron knows him from a soap opera that his mother watches.

And of course, there was Leo, who played Aidan.

They began filming a couple of days later. The first episode aired seven months later and was an instant hit for teens and young adults. Suddenly Aaron—and the other cast members— were swarmed by the public media. They had to attend interviews, talk shows, red-carpet events, and photo shoots.

Aaron kinda forgot about how "disappointed" his family was about his role. They couldn't say much now since Jackson was the role that pushed him into stardom. And now his cousin was asking for tickets to award shows and live streaming any family events he shows up at, Amara says that it's because he wants clout.

But no matter how annoying his family was, it was nice to know that he had another family waiting for him at show premieres and award show nominations.