The Premiere Day

Chapter 5

Since Joe had agreed to Diana's suggestion, she went to get the suit he had chosen and picked up another one, so that he could have a second choice. They had agreed (at the meeting they had the day before) that Diana would take the suits to Joe's house so Joe could try them and Diana could make any adjustments that were needed. Meanwhile, Natalie was very stressed, looking for hairdressers who were not on their busy schedule and who agreed to tidy Ben's hair the way he wanted.

Joe and Ben, on the other hand, were very calm. Deservedly, they now had a period to rest after so much work, especially Ben, who had been in two movies. Joe had suggested to him that they should wander around New York to go to some places where Ben had not yet gone.

After breakfast, they left the house. Joe took Ben to Central Park, where they spent a few hours taking several pictures and recording several videos. Every now and then someone would recognize them and come and talk to them asking for a photo. They promptly stopped what they were doing and responded to the request. Joe spoke a little more than Ben, but they were always very nice.

With all that walking, they got tired and decided to stop for something to eat. Ben commented that he liked New York, but that he might never be able to live there.

"And I don't think I could get out of here," Joe replied. "Even with my allergies and this chaotic traffic, at least here I'm close to my mother, and New York has things that you can't find anywhere else."

"I agree," Ben said. "But England also has things that you can't find anywhere else." And he smiled while drinking a sip of water.

"But you never know, anything can happen," Joe said. "For now I prefer to stay here."

"Speaking of your mother, how is she?" asked Ben.

"She's fine," Joe replied, chewing a piece of his sandwich. "She's taking care of the dance studio by herself now, and that takes up a lot of her time," he paused for a moment, and it seemed that his eyes were brimming with tears.

Ben realized that Joe must have been remembering his father. Although it had been some time since he had passed away, to Joe it seemed it had happened yesterday. He missed his father very much, and every day he remembered him when he woke up.

"Why don't we go see her on Friday?" Joe asked, returning to normal.

"Friday?" Ben asked.

"Yes, you have the day off, right?"

"I do," Ben replied.

"We could visit her, she really likes you, and then you could get to know Hyde Park," Joe said, smiling and eating his sandwich.

Ben was happy to see that his friend looked well again and agreed to the request. After they finished eating, they left Central Park.

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Natalie was so excited that she couldn't stop smiling. Diana had just arrived and was curious. She really wanted to know what was the reason behind her friend's happiness.

"What happened?" Diana asked. "Why are you so happy?"

"I finally found the person who's going to do Ben's hair!"

"Ah, but these are good news! I'm happy for you!" Diana replied, sincerely glad for her friend.

"And you, did you get Joe's suits?" it was Natalie's turn to ask.

"Yes, I did," Diana replied. "I hope it's all right."

"Oh, yes," Natalie continued. "Are you aware that they will travel on Friday? Ben called half an hour ago to let me know."

"Yes," Diana replied, "Joe called me too, I think they're going to his mother's house, and that's why everything must be ready until tomorrow."

Natalie nodded and got back to her calls while Diana put Joe's suits in the wardrobe they had at the office. Next day would be long.

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Ben and Joe went to a few more places before finally heading to Rami Malek's house. Lucy would be there too, and the guys wanted to invite them to do something that night, maybe go to a fancy restaurant or something like that. That's why they had big smiles on their faces when they rang the doorbell.

"Hello, dorks", Lucy said after opening the door.

"Dorks? Is that the right way to call your loving friend?" Joe asked, trying to sound indignant.

"Yes, when they have those looks on their faces", she answered pointing at their faces. "C'mon in".

They entered and immediately asked about Rami. Then, Lucy led them into his bedroom.

"Hi, guys..." Rami greeted Ben and Joe as they entered his bedroom. He was sat on the bed, his nose was red, and he looked like he hadn't slept very well.

"What happened, mate?" Ben asked, truly concerned.

"A cold", he answered smiling. "A cold happened."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, man!" Joe said. "I had two of those in less than a month, and I know how you must be feeling."

"Yeah, it sucks" Rami said and sneezed.

Lucy sat by his side on the bed and stroke his hair. "Poor baby", she said and pouted. Joe and Ben looked at each other and smiled. They were grown men but Lucy and Rami's romance made them soft all the time.

"Awwwwwww" they said, at the same time, making fun of their friends.

"Stop it!" Lucy said smiling. "So, Ben," she went on "6 Underground premiere is in three days, right?"

"Oh, yes!" Rami said. "How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, I'm ok" he answered, his smiling proving he was telling the truth. "Joe is coming with me".

"Really?" Lucy asked. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah, we even have assistants" Joe said.

"Assistants?" Rami and Lucy said together.

"That's so not you!" Lucy laughed. "This was Ben's idea, right?" she couldn't stop smiling.

"Yes, we don't want some bad choices to happen again, if you know what I mean" Ben said, while looking at his friend.

Joe just rolled his eyes and pretended they weren't talking about him.

"Oh, no!" Lucy said, laughing out loud. "No, please!"

"C'mon, you look so stupid, stop it" Joe tried, unsuccesfully, to sound as if he hated all that, but inside he knew he loved that interaction he could only have with those amazing people he was lucky enough to have met almost two years ago.

"We came to invite you to go out with us, later" Ben said, when he saw Joe wasn't ready to talk because of all the laughs.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Lucy said. "But as you can see..." and she looked again at her boyfriend, with a sad smile.

"I'm sorry, guys" Rami said, "but I can't go".

"No, don't be sorry", Joe said, now fully recovered. "We understand!"

They said their goodbyes, and Joe and Ben came back home. They would go out by themselves, and they wanted to enjoy their time together as much as they could. But without Rami and Lucy, they would be back home earlier than they had thought.