Universal Studios, Los Angeles

 

HE’D BEEN there all summer, and Tony Adams, brand-new star just off his first season of Coconut Cove, still hadn’t gotten used to LA. The days were dry and bright, with none of the pregnant, tropical humidity of Key West. Instead he could nearly see the waves of oven-hot afternoon sun rise from the pavement. The Hollywood Hills soared in the distance, and Tony thought if he sniffed hard enough he could possibly smell the Pacific, but somehow he was still sitting right in the middle of Greenwich Village. Sort of. It wasn’t quite right, obviously. There was something a little too perfect in the artful weathering of the fake stones, the trees were missing, everything was awfully… square. There wasn’t that feeling of life seeping out of the streets after generations of love and family and hate. It didn’t feel real. It wasn’t real. Nothing in LA was.

Tony had never felt comfortable in Hollywood, but it was okay, because he didn’t really expect to. There was something about it that hadn’t ever rubbed him the right way. Maybe the baseline norm to be hot and ripped-out and, well, hot, didn’t quite match with his… his anything. He’d never look like Christian Bale or Hugh Jackman. Hell, he’d never look like most of his costars either. Cutter had the ripped-out hot thing going on; Blair might as well be on a runway. Tony was just cute.

Cute.

Fuck cute.

Tony sighed and sipped his sugar-free vanilla latte, a little weird in the middle of his surroundings. He was on a fake New York City stoop on the Universal Studios lot, dressed in fake turn-of-the-century gear—uncomfortable itchy wool pants, button-up, vest, and leather shoes. Give him a hat and he might as well be in Newsies. He thought it was probably the same buildings that movie was shot in, anyway. Maybe thinking Christian Bale was a given. He’d always had a thing for older guys, hadn’t he? He definitely had a thing for older guys.

No. No, older guys. Stop.

Tony winced and pushed the thought away. Along with it, he tried to get rid of flashes of warm skin, the smell of sunscreen and cologne, and kisses that lit his blood on fire. He wasn’t successful. He hadn’t been all summer.

One of his costars walked by in a corset and a long dress. He realized he probably shouldn’t feel too sorry for himself with his uncomfortable, hot costume. The women had it far worse. It was over eighty on the lot, and there were barely any shaded spots to escape from the sun beating down on them in their heavy dresses and layers of whatever the hell they had underneath them. He should be grateful he wasn’t one of them.

Still, Tony couldn’t wait to get the damn wool trousers off and get into some swim trunks and a pool. He was lucky the place he was renting had an awesome pool. Actually, luck had nothing to do with it. It had been a requirement. His costar Marissa saw him sitting on the stoop with his boring sugar-free drink and wandered over. She had earbuds in, an anachronism which still made him laugh, in the middle of their old-fashioned set complete with cobbled roads and a mix of carriages and ancient cars, but she pulled out the earbuds and gave Tony a brilliant smile.

“Hey, Tony. Are we going to see you tonight at Boa?”

He didn’t want to go to Boa. He was tired of the B-list celebrity scene, of paps waiting outside the ropes ready to blind him, of making sure he was with the right people for ultimate publicity impact. Tony hadn’t ever been good at being a celeb before, and he’d never needed to be good at it. But he was a somebody now, thanks to Coconut Cove, which meant playing the game. It was a lot more work than fun.

“Yeah. I’ll be there.” He tried to sound excited. Honestly, there were quite a few days where he remembered what it was like not to be on the it list. Maybe after the buzz and scandal of a fully gay primetime teen drama died down after another season or so, things would feel more normal.

It had been a head rush the first time the movie cast went out on the town. Even the buzz he and the rest of the cast had gotten in Florida all year had nothing on what it felt like to be a kindasorta somebody out in the middle of paparazzi central. But after he got used to it, he started to miss the Pirate’s Booty and their little quirky hotel with the weird cat and palm-shrouded pool. Of course the hotel was out. Everyone had found their own accommodations for the second season, which would start back up in a couple of weeks. His was the tiny guest room in Blair’s new house right by the beach, which was fine with him. Tony hadn’t ever liked being alone.

His phone buzzed in his itchy-ass wool trousers. He smiled when he saw it was Blair. Speak of the devil….

“I’d better take this.” Tony gestured to his phone. Marissa nodded with a grin and mouthed, “See you later,” before wandering off.

“Hey bro, what’s up?” Tony had been texting and emailing back and forth with Blair since they’d broken set back in the spring for the summer hiatus. He still missed him. It was surprising how close they’d become. Or maybe not so surprising. They’d worked well together since the very first week of filming—most of the cast had. It wasn’t a shock at all that a lot of them had gotten to be friends.

“Not much. Just got back from a hike. Sander’s taking a nap, and I’m chilling on the back deck of our cabin.”

Blair sounded relaxed and happy. Pretty much the opposite of hot, uncomfortable, and tired. He knew it had been a good move for him to take the part. Period pieces added serious actor cred to his resume, and it was nice to not have to worry every day about water weight hiding his abs in board shorts.

“Where are you again exactly?” he asked Blair. Tony just knew it was somewhere in the mountains. He forgot where, other than Canada. Not that it mattered much for Blair and Sander. He imagined they spent most of the time in bed.

“Whistler. It’s beautiful up here.”

Somehow Tony thought Blair had probably seen more of the inside of his cabin than the actual mountains. He snorted at the idea.

“I’m sure it is.”

Blair chuckled. Tony was always surprised by how bashful Blair could be after all this time. “We’ve been hiking. You have to make everything seem like porn, don’t you?”

“It’s one of my skills. Not going to lie.” Tony laughed, relieved to have a conversation that felt comfortable after so many weeks of being completely out of his element.

“How is LA? Ready to get out of there yet?”

He was so ready. So very, very ready. Well, maybe not quite ready to get back to everything he left back on the island, though. He was feeling something in between desperately wanting to go back and dreading it with everything he had.

It can’t happen with us. You know that….

Tony winced. Again. Then he realized Blair was still waiting for an answer.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see you, man. Have you talked to Levi?”

Blair sounded like he was chewing. “Yeah. Sorry. Was eating lunch. I did. He spent most of the break at home with Whitney and his mom, I think. She was sick.”

Levi had sent him a few messages, but not too many since all of the rumors of their nonexistent offscreen romance had blown up. He was sure the producers loved it. Hell, maybe they were providing the gossip rags with the rumors themselves to boost ratings, but it made Levi act really weird. If anyone listened to the gossip magazines, Tony was stringing Blair and Levi along at the same time. You know, having nothing to do with their actual boyfriends. He guessed Levi and Whitney were still too new to not make it awkward. Sander just laughed.

I’m such a Casanova. Breaking up relationships right and left with my nonexistent charm.

He was too busy trying to hold his head up in a major role on a surprisingly popular television show to manage to break two hearts at once. Or any. Tony thought of all his days in commercials and bit parts and wondered if he hadn’t known where it was at back then. Sure, the money was a hell of a lot nicer on this side. But he wasn’t in love with some of the stuff that came with it.

“Hey, Tony!” one of his other castmates called from the street. Brian. He was cute, about Tony’s age, and he was completely sure Brian was into him. Tony wished he could be into him right back.

We’ll never work…. It’s better to forget about what happened….

The moment came with the usual twinge of pain that hadn’t quite faded. Tony wanted to slice out whatever part of his brain was responsible for his memories. He’d like them gone, thanks. “Hey, Bri.”

Blair giggled from the other line. “Who’s Bri?”

“Castmate. You’d like most of these people a lot,” Tony told him. “Unlike certain people we get to work with all year.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not missing Howie. I know you had a secret crush on him. It’s not good for you to hold these things in, man. I’m here for you.”

“How’d you guess?” Tony giggled. “I keep a shrine by my bedside so I’m reminded of him every day we’re not together. I’m counting down the days until we can rekindle our flame.”

At that Blair laughed aloud. “I miss you, T. Two more weeks.”

“Yeah. This wraps in a couple of days, and I don’t really have anything keeping me here. You mind if I head down early?”

“Not at all. Your key is with my mom. She’s been using it to feed my fish while I’ve been on vacation.”

Tony breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t realized just how much he wanted to get out of the Hollywood scene until Key West was staring him in the face. A few more days… he could do it.