Love Someone {Hardzello love story}

Three

It was three hundred and sixty-nine days later that he finally saw Joe again. He had seen him through technology. FaceTime and Instagram updates and what not. They would chat whenever they had time and the group chats with the other guys were still up and running. They were involved and connected but not as much as they'd like to be.

The miniseries turned out to be a hit, far more than anybody ever expected. Ben got to travel all over the world. Wales and Scotland. He had met up with Allen in Ireland and stumbled into Gwilym in Vancouver. He had plans to head back to LA but they always fell through and while he found a strange comfort in being in his homeland once again, it wasn't the same as sitting out on the beach, soaking up the sun.

With the mini-series being as successful as it was, the BBC was discussing it becoming something of an anthology series. Each season a different story to tell with different characters, but the same actors.

American Horror Story had been thrown around all over Twitter, but Ben didn't care too much. He knew what they were doing was great and was glad to be a part of it. He was being seen as something more than just a pretty face. A real actor with real talent. People were impressed. People wanted more.

Ben wanted more too. He had done interviews and other auditions. He got callbacks. Lots of them. Chemistry test and what not. Things were looking up. The future was bright for Ben Hardy, but yet so dark at the same time.

There was no denying that he missed Joe and while London offered a lot to him that didn't make the longing any less painful. He had been to clubs and parties. He met dozens of interesting people, beautiful people, but they never mattered.

He never went home with anyone, mostly because his home was over a thousand miles away. He buried himself into work, deciding that his main focus was going to be his career. Whenever anybody interviewing him would ask about his love life, he kept it short and sweet.

There's someone out there for him somewhere.

Ben knew where he was and someday the world would know too.

The closest Ben got to California was when the cast had been invited to a press release and extra interviews in San Diego. They had their own little panel, something to meet the fans. There were talks about it recently being uploaded onto Netflix, bringing in a whole new array of fans. It was a wild ride, to say the least.

Ben had contacted Joe, to see if he would be interested in meeting up, but to his dismay, he was forced to decline. It appeared creating a mini-series took less time than making a film and Joe would be on location in Boston when Ben was in San Diego.

So close and yet so far.

He tried not to let it bother him. The experience in itself was phenomenal. Meeting fans and getting his name out there was great and meeting up with Rami was also a treat. He was raving about the series and how great it was for him. How hard he had worked and how nice it was to see it all paid off.

Ben was pleased, but he wasn't happy. Not even when his agent called him bright and early in the morning, waking him to tell him the series had been nominated for a BAFTA. It was an honor. One Ben hadn't ever dreamt of. He was ecstatic and had plenty of people to celebrate with.

Just not who he wanted to.

He didn't push the issue, however. Didn't bother Joe more than he should have. He was a grown man with a career of his own to focus on and Ben wanted him to enjoy the same thing he was feeling.

The acknowledgment. The praise. Joe deserved it all. In Ben's opinion, Joe deserved the whole fucking world and if that meant Ben had to step aside so he could live his life without him in it, then so be it.