Page 50 of From LA to London, With Love

If I could help even one kid struggling coming to terms with being bi, it would be worth it. I took a long sip of my coffee, pleased that my worries had been replaced with a useful and actionable plan to help others. I knew Mia and Rose would know exactly what to say. My heart filled with warmth. I couldn’t believe my luck that I was about to become business partners with these two wise and wonderful women.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

SOPHIE

WE’D TRANSFORMED the main room at Pride House into a makeshift theater, with a wooden stage facing red plastic chairs lined up in rows. I was checking the auction items displayed on tables next to the stage when the hum of nervous chatter suddenly escalated to fever pitch, interrupting my concentration. I looked up to see the cause of the commotion ,and my heart leaped.

Chris, Jenny, and his bodyguard had walked in.

Jenny gave me a wave, and Chris shot me a big smile, turning my legs to jelly. Excited teenagers surged toward him. Already a bundle of nerves over their talent show performances, Chris’s arrival tipped a couple of them over into hysteria.

I could relate. All day, a kaleidoscope of butterflies had been energetically fluttering in my stomach. One or two of the butterflies were in anticipation of my duties as auctioneer tonight—I always found public speaking a bit nerve wracking. But the vast majority were Chris-induced.

Chris, who’d just walked in wearing a dark green sweater that fit his muscular torso perfectly.

Chris, who was now smiling and laughing with the teenagers, filling my heart with warmth. Taking selfies, asking them questions and listening intently to their answers, and, from what I could make out, giving them a pep talk about their performances tonight.

Chris, who I hadn’t seen since we sat eating chocolate in the kitchen, after I abruptly ended our make-out session just as things were getting steamy. Hands-and-mouths-exploring-feverishly, intense-throbbing-steamy…

Snap out of it, Sophie. You have an auction to run.

Since Chris appeared to have everything under control, I forced myself to focus on checking the auction items.

Twenty minutes later, I was finishing when a familiar cedar scent sent the butterflies’ wings flapping at double time.

“How are you doing?” Chris gave me a peck on my cheek and a quick squeeze with one arm around my waist. Was that just a friendly peck or something more? The squeeze felt more than platonic…I thought…maybe?

“Pretty good. We’ve had a lot of interest, so I’m hoping it’ll be a success. Of course, with you on offer, how could it not be?” My ears burned. That sounded way more flirtatious than I intended.

“I’m sure your auctioneering skills will really make tonight a hit!” Chris grinned.

“I doubt that! I’m just hoping Josh will behave himself on stage.”

We glanced over to Josh, who was with Erin. They were bopping each other on the head playfully with the large foam fake auction hammers we’d bought for the occasion.

Chris laughed. “Yeah, good luck with that!”

Attendees started trickling in. Before long, the room was packed. Looking around the crowd, I spotted the entire gang—Rose, Mia, Sharon, Tina, Amir, Khanh—standing up the back, my dad—Mum had stayed at home to look after Elliot—and, to my surprise, most of the mothers’ group, including Cynthia, who gave me an energetic wave. My heart warmed to see such a great turnout. Just then, Nicole also entered the room. I was so pleased she’d accepted my invitation—I wasn’t sure she would come. I excused myself from Chris and walked over to her.

“Hello! I’m so glad you came.” I gave her a warm hug, making sure my hair was out of the way first. Now wasn’t the time to have another zip incident. “Let me introduce you to my friends.”

We walked over to where the gang was sitting. Luckily for my matchmaking plan, there was a spare seat next to Rose, so I made sure we stood near it as I introduced Nicole to everyone, making an effort to mention a few things that Rose and Nicole had in common. Hopefully I wasn’t being too obvious.

Just as Nicole sat down next to Rose, Alex tapped the microphone and cleared their throat. “Hi everyone! Thanks so much for coming out tonight. I’m Alex, the manager here at Pride House. As you can see, Pride House desperately needs repair”—Alex gestured at an ominous-looking water stain on the ceiling—“so we really appreciate your support this evening so we can continue to provide our LGBTQ+ young people with a safe, inclusive, and affirming environment where they can meet other members of the LGBTQ+ youth community, get peer support, and develop personal and professional skills. Now, unfortunately, Stan Burnley had to pull out of tonight’s event due to some unavoidable personal circumstances…”

A few faces in the audience dropped.

“But, I’m very pleased to announce that in his place, we have none other than Chris Trent himself!”

The room hummed with excitement.

“Some of you may have seen his latest film, Muscle Man 4, which recently opened in cinemas. Now, I’ll hand over to Chris to say a few words. Chris will also feature in our auction later this evening, so stick around for that! Without further ado, please join me in welcoming Chris Trent!”

The room erupted into applause as Chris walked onto the stage. He stood, smiling, waiting for the crowd to quieten.

“Wow! Thank you! Thank you all for the warm welcome. I’m so happy to be here to support this fantastic initiative.” Chris looked around the room. “Earlier this evening, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the wonderful young people who attend Pride House and heard how much the center means to them. While they all had their own unique stories, there were some common themes. In particular, one I heard over and over again is that this is a place, for some the only place, where they feel comfortable being themselves.”

He paused.