That night, lying on the couch in my room, I finally had a certainty: my adventure with my idols had apparently come to an end.

   After the photoshoot, David had simply vanished. I hadn’t even managed to say goodbye to him or to the others. When the shoot ended, I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, everyone had already disappeared from the hotel lobby.

   I asked Edu—who, for some reason, was at the front desk instead of the restaurant where he usually stayed—but he hadn’t even seen them leave.

   At dinner, I didn’t see anyone in the restaurant or in the hallways either. I even ate more slowly, hoping they might show up, but they never did.

   On my laptop, the third episode of LoveHeart was almost over. I knew it was stupid of me. I was in a hotel with dozens of other things to do, the most fun and incredible cast imaginable was one floor below me, and instead of doing something decent to entertain myself, all I wanted was to watch LoveHeart for the hundredth time.

   The story still managed to hold my attention even after I had practically memorized every line and scene sequence. Dylan and Noah were amazing in the books, and the way Phillip and David had brought them to life—carrying the characters’ essence into the series—was so perfect it was impossible to find any flaw in their acting.

   Contrary to what people might think, I didn’t feel that way just because I was a fan. They had both won awards for their performances, not only in the series but in other projects as well—like Phillip, who was currently competing for a British Academy Film Award for his performance in The Stars Dream Too, a production he had starred in the year before.

   That night felt strange.

   Even though there were interesting things to do, nothing actually excited me. Not even the gossip Clarice had told me about Mrs. Gleice—an eighty-seven-year-old woman who had been living in the hotel’s top penthouse for just over two years. According to Clarice, while we were having dinner, the old lady had taken two guys barely over twenty-five up to her room in the middle of the night.

   It was impossible not to laugh imagining Mrs. Gleice actually doing that.

   Still, in the middle of that solitude, a strange ache settled in my chest, as if I had some real reason to cry—when clearly I didn’t.

   Or did I?

   The ending theme of episode three began to play, and frantic knocking on my door made me groan softly.

“Pedro?” someone called, knocking again.

   I didn’t want to leave the comfort of the blankets. Even though I’d taken one of them to be washed earlier—it had reeked of alcohol and was completely stained with paint—I’d been lucky there were two extra ones in the closet. Otherwise, my dad would’ve scolded me for grabbing another blanket from the hotel laundry.

The knocking came again.

   As comfortable as I was, I got up and went to the door. I was a little surprised when I opened it—and at the same time, relieved to see my dad. The reason for my surprise was the shopping bag in his hand. I immediately assumed it was filled with chocolate from the store logo on it.

   “Why did it take you so long?” he asked, stepping inside and heading toward the couch before suddenly stopping and turning back to me. “There’s no one here, right?”

   “Oh, wow. You just caught me in the middle of making out with the invisible person from your imaginary world, Dad.”

   “You can’t blame me for dreaming of seeing you with someone,” he shot back.

   I rolled my eyes as I closed the door and walked over to the couch.

   “If you didn’t spend so much time dreaming about that, you wouldn’t be so disappointed all the time,” I said, taking the bag from his hand and peeking inside to confirm that it really was chocolate.

   “Have you ever thought that if you got me a son-in-law, I wouldn’t be so disappointed?”

   “How are you so sure I won’t get you a daughter-in-law instead?”

   My dad sat down at the other end of the couch, resting his arm along the backrest as he crossed his legs.

   

   “Did you give up on your dream of marrying David? Right when he’s finally so close to you, Pedro?” He tried to keep a straight face but laughed shortly after. “After what they told me, I thought you two were actually going to get married.”

   Sometimes my dad could be even more fanfiction-obsessed than I was, which was honestly embarrassing. Even though I supposedly had “the gift of writing,” he had old-school romance running through his veins. The scenarios he created in his head often made me see him as a sixteen-year-old boy instead of a thirty-nine-year-old man.

   He knew about my sexuality. It had been hard for him at first, but little by little he had come to understand—and to my misfortune (or luck), he ended up encouraging me a bit too much. If it were up to him, I’d probably have been engaged to some random guy by then, about to start my life with a golden retriever as our child.

   He still hadn’t accepted the fact that I wanted a real duck. Not that Gilberto wasn’t real.

   “So you went out with them last night?” he continued. “If you didn’t marry your future ‘perfect husband,’ what exactly did you do that made Clarice call me in a panic?”

   “I didn’t do anything major. I just took them to BlueHouse… They really liked it there. But…”

   “But what?”

   “I think I messed everything up last night. I drank too much and ended up making everyone leave early.”

   “Did they say you ruined it?”

   My dad looked serious, especially with the way his graying hair was neatly combed. But I knew what that fixed stare meant: spill all the gossip, Pedro.

   “No,” I admitted. “Even so, I know I messed up. If Gih didn’t lie, I made a complete fool of myself at the hotel entrance.”

   My dad burst out laughing, leaving me confused.

   “Manoel showed me the security camera footage,” he said between laughs. “That really was embarrassing, son.”

   My face burned. I grabbed one of the chocolate bars and opened it, trying to distract my mind from the humiliation of knowing that possibly everyone in the hotel had already seen me making a fool of myself.

   “If Manoel shared that video, I’ll kill him,” I muttered.

   My dad didn’t stay long. As I had expected, Larissa was waiting for him in the penthouse upstairs. He wanted me to stay with them until it was time to go back home, but I didn’t want to get in the way.

   I went back to my bed, grabbed my phone, and opened YouTube, even though I doubted I’d actually finish any video. I was exhausted, ready to cancel my plans and shut down my laptop when my phone vibrated with a notification sound.

   I had to rub my eyes and blink twice before believing what I was actually seeing.

It didn’t take long for me to open Instagram and confirm that it really was David’s official account messaging me—and not some sleep-deprived hallucination that had suddenly vanished.

I opened the chat and read his messages:

   David:

   Hey, are you awake?

   Damn, it was hard to find your profile haha.

   I know you’re probably asleep already, but I thought I’d message you, maybe I’d get lucky…

   Sorry for disappearing.

   When I went back there, you had already left, and right after that Elisa came back saying everyone had to go with her, so we ended up staying at the studio for a long time.

   Damn, I’m talking too much, aren’t I?

   Anyway, I just wanted to apologize for disappearing.

   Me:

   You don’t have to explain, David. I know you have your work to do. But it’s nice that you cared enough to explain.

   It almost feels like there’s a camera watching my anxiety in here.

   David:

   Fuck, you found my hidden camera. :D

   

   Me:

   Don’t worry, I’ll leave it there. That way you can see how well I dance when I’m alone :)

   David:

   I imagined you did a lot of things when you were alone, but dancing wasn’t one of them haha.

   Me:

   What did you imagine, David?

   David:

  Changing the subject, what are you doing awake?

   Me:

   I could ask you the same thing.

   David:

   Are you dodging my question?

   Me:

   You dodged mine, why can’t I dodge yours?

   David:

   Fair.

   I’m in the elevator, heading to my room. Can you believe I forgot my charger in the van?

   But what about you, what are you doing?

   Me:

   Just lying down. I was watching YouTube and about to go to sleep, but then someone interrupted me.

   David:

   Who was the idiot?

   Me:

   You…