“Respectfully, he can sweat a little bit,” Harwood recalled thinking at the time. After they met, Harwood had learned that Lemons was an adored photographer — widely respected for his portraits of Black and queer subjects — who had become the youngest person to shoot a Vanity Fair cover at age 23. Harwood assumed he had a lot of dating options: “You really think all these boys are not on his line like that?”
“But he’s cute, too,” Lemons said. “So I expected the same.”
Harwood decided not to put too much pressure on the prospect of seeing Lemons. When he was done with the birthday party, he headed to Living Room, figuring he and Lemons would bump into each other.
And indeed, shortly after he arrived at the party, Lemons turned to his left, and there Harwood was, talking with two mutual friends: Ford and the music producer Kaytranada. Lemons approached him. “It was kind of like a Mr. Pac-Man meets Mr. Pac-Man moment,” Lemons said.
The two danced and grabbed a bite at Prince Street Pizza. Then Harwood drove Lemons to a friend’s home, where Lemons was staying while in Los Angeles for the shoot. At one point, while talking in the car, Harwood serenaded him with a few Justin Bieber songs. “He fell asleep while I was singing, and then woke up acting like he didn’t fall asleep,” Harwood said. (“I’m slightly narcoleptic,” Lemons said.)
The following day, on his way back from visiting the Frieze Los Angeles art fair, the car Lemons was traveling in with a group of friends was hit. The vehicle was knocked through two lanes of traffic, spinning front to back twice. All Lemons could think about was Harwood.
“I just remember everything slowing down, and I thought to myself, ‘I still have not taken this man on a date,’” Lemons said. They got out of the car, and while his friends called the ambulance, he called Harwood. (Everyone in the car sustained some injury, Lemons said, but none were critical.)
