Warner Park

Epilogue

Andy

I watched as Vince made his way around the circle of nameless faces so gracefully, like a full-fledged adult that he was, greeting people formally and further making me feel like a little kid that got dragged out somewhere he didn't feel he should be.

I was entirely overwhelmed.

Vince wanted me to go to this dinner party with him, it was a celebration of the film premier next week. I was excited to go, but I didn't know what to expect.

I don't think anything could have prepared me for something this high class. I felt so out of sorts.

"Vince!" An older man with sharp blue eyes and a solid jaw approached us, reaching out a hand that Vince took with a laugh.

"Hi, Robert, it's been a while --"

"Too long!" Robert looked at me. "You have an assistant now or something?" He was obviously referring to me, just standing there like an idiot.

Vince clenched his jaw and I nervously started fidgeting with my hands. Vince was struggling with this -- keeping me a secret. I knew he was.

He had decided to wait on coming out, to wait on us going public with the fact that we were together, but now that he was actually doing it I felt my heart break every time I watched him avoid the topic. I wondered how many times he had to avoid talking about me when he went to New York to promote the movie.

"This is Andrew, we co-starred on a project together last year --"

"That's right! I'd forgotten about your reality TV stint." Robert laughed. "It's been all about this movie for months now..."

Robert's eyes suddenly grew wide with realization that he didn't really acknowledge me. "Damn, I'm sorry, Andrew... Where are my manners all of a sudden?"

He chuckled, offering me a handshake as I politely smiled back.

"Just messing around, no hard feelings -- Robert, I'm the line producer on the film." He introduced as he smiled, meeting my eyes with genuine humor glinting behind his gaze.

"You can call me Andy," I introduced, "I'm, uh..." I didn't know what to say. Vince told me to stay vague, let him give details for right now, but that felt... Weird. We hadn't practiced or anything. We hadn't gone over things. He just told me to keep things hushed for now.

I was trying. It was still totally weird.

"I'm a former reality TV show host..." I explained. "Among other things."

Yoga instructor, Vince's lover, you know... Just other things.

I shook Robert's hand, and Vince looked away, putting his hands in his pockets.

Robert told me about his son who co-hosted a gameshow for three years before it got cancelled. Relay was finally going to be on TV soon and I reminded him the date and time of the premier, because he said he wanted to watch it.

His laugh made me laugh, because it was one of those high pitched laughs where you could tell the person just couldn't help but lose themselves in humor. Overall, Robert seemed nice enough.