Page 116 of Total Creative Control
Even so, Aaron had other commitments that had to be met, no matter how busy he was in his main job, and this call was one of them.
Aaron held his finger on the call button, as though he could physically drag the lift to his floor with how hard he was pressing it. Finally, the painfully slow doors shuddered open, and he hopped inside, stabbing at the button for the fourth floor.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, grinning at the text notification fromMy-Incredibly-Well-endowed-Lover—the contact name thatLewis had insisted Aaron use for him.
“Where r u?? Call starting NOW! I need u!”
Aaron texted back,“ETA 45 secs”
The horribly slow lift finally juddered to a halt. The doors opened half an inch, stalled for several tense seconds, and then finally, reluctantly, opened the rest of the way.
Aaron jumped out as soon as there was enough space to squeeze through and jogged to Lewis’s office.
The rest of the floor was empty, the lights all muted, just that one room blazing. Aaron let himself in, winking at Lewis, who had already dialled in to the call.
“It’s all right,” Lewis told the others, palpably relieved. “He’s here now. He’ll, uh...” He waved frantically at the screen. “...get the video sorted.”
Amused, Aaron took the chair Lewis had already set next to his, behind the desk. “What’s wrong with the—?”
“I don’t know!” Lewis’s hair had the spiky look it got when he’d been pulling at it. “They can’t see me. The camera’s on, but it’s just not working.”
After a quick glance at Lewis’s laptop, Aaron reached out to smooth down Lewis’s hair, then slid the camera cover off the lens.
Lewis just looked at him. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Grinning, Aaron squeezed into view on the webcam. “Hi,” he said, lifting a hand in greeting. “Sorry about that, and sorry I was running late.”
Brad and Ava, from the Telopix media team, smiled back at him through the computer screen. “Hey,” Ava said. “Awesome to talk to you again, Aaron. We really appreciate you guys doing this so late in the day for you.”
“No problem,” Aaron said, before Lewis could gripe about the time. “I was still here anyway. And it’s always a pleasure to talk aboutLeeches—uh, that is,Bloodsuckers.”
“Awesome!” she trilled. “We just wanted to touch base on a couple of details about the panel before our call with the Comic-Con people this afternoon.”
Telopix were launching their version ofLeeches—now calledBloodsuckers—in September, and the first episode was premiering in July at Comic-Con International in San Diego. Getting a panel at the event was a massive coup, something Aaron still wasn’t sure Lewis fully appreciated. Since starting his role as Director of Fan Relations, Aaron had focused on opening up a two-way channel of communication between existingLeechesfans and both the RPP and Telopix teams. After more than a year of official fan events, both online and in person, the buzz around both shows had started to gather serious mainstream attention—helped by Skye and Faolán’s first, and frankly scorching, on-screen kiss inLeeches—and when Aaron had approached Comic-Con, he’d found himself pushing at an open door.
“So,” Brad said, straight white American teeth gleaming, “the awesome news is that theBloodsuckerspanel is already sold out!”
“Awesome,” Lewis repeated drily. “I’m awestruck.”
Beneath the desk, Aaron squeezed his knee, half in amusement and half in warning. “Itisawesome,” he said, raising a brow at Lewis.
It really was, and the most exciting thing for a fanboy like Aaron was that he and Lewis got to go to San Diego Comic-Con—the Mecca for pop culture fans the world over. Assuming, that was, Lewis didn’t bolt in horror at the thought of appearing on a panel in front of thousands of fans...
Turning back to the screen, Aaron said, “So what did you guys want to discuss?”
And just like that, Brad and Ava snapped into work mode in that unsettling way corporate types had of switching from best friends to ruthless bastards in the blink of an eye. After about an hour of dotting i’s and crossing t’s, and agreeing to a list of actions as long as Aaron’s arm, the meeting wound up.
Brad and Ava wished them an ‘awesome day’, and Aaron ended the call.
The office was suddenly very silent, still, and quiet, and they sat for a moment without speaking, absorbing the peace. Aaron was reminded of those nights back when he’d worked for Lewis and they’d stayed late to tinker with script revisions, eating pizza, and polishing lines.
Good times, those.
“What are you thinking about?” Lewis sounded fond, amused, his eyes as warm as his voice in the way they so often were these days. “You’re smiling.”
“Am I?” Aaron felt his smile broaden. “I was just remembering eating pizza with you in here, back in the day, going overLeechesscripts after everyone else had gone home for the night.”
Lewis huffed out a soft breath. “I remember.”