The moment Anthony had been waiting for had finally arrived.
It was time for the kiss.
He’d brushed his teeth, flossed, gargled with mouthwash twice and chewed half a pack of Dentyne so his breath would be minty-fresh.
He and Max were going to go through his screenplay from beginning to end, acting out every scene, and then they were going to start filming next week. The first scene Anthony planned to film was the kiss, which took place in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. When Max asked him why he was shooting the scenes out of order, Anthony explained he wanted to film as many exterior shots as possible while the weather was still good. He also told him that this was the way many directors shot their movies, which was true. He certainly didn’t want Max to think he had any ulterior motives for wanting to shoot the kiss first!
The doorbell rang and Anthony hurried from his bedroom, only to stop in his tracks when he saw Paolo heading for the front door.
“What are you doing here?” he wailed.
“I live here, remember?”
“But only on weekends!”
“Check your calendar. Today’s Friday. That’s part of the weekend.”
“But not until after five! It’s only three thirty.”
Paolo folded his arms over his chest. “Okay, what’s going on? Why don’t you want me around? What are you plotting that I shouldn’t know about? Or do I not want to ask?”
“I’m not plotting anything!”
“Then why don’t you want me here?”
The doorbell rang again.
“Max and I are rehearsing Not All Italian Boys Are Straight in the living room.”
“And that affects me how?”
“I don’t want an audience.”
“That’s a twist. You usually love having an audience.”
“Not today.”
“What’s the big secret?”
“Paolo, please,” Anthony begged, as the doorbell rang a third time.
“Tell me why you don’t want me around,” Paolo insisted. “Otherwise I’m not going anywhere.”
Argh! Today of all days Paolo decides to be more annoying than usual!
“I don’t want to make Max uncomfortable,” Anthony admitted. “We’re going to kiss for the first time and I don’t want anyone watching.”
“Oh…”
“Yes! Oh… It needs to just be me and Max. Now leave. Vanish. Vamoose!”
“Fine. I’ll go where you always banish me. My bedroom. Satisfied?”
“Make sure you stay there,” Anthony said as the doorbell rang again. Was it his imagination or did the ring sound impatient? Oh, no! Maybe Max thought no one was home and was getting ready to leave.
“I’ll be right there!” Anthony called out, shooting daggers at his brother. “Go!” he insisted.
“I’m going. I’m going. But first I want you to answer a question for me.”
“Now?”
“You’ve been rehearsing this screenplay for weeks and today’s the first time you and Max are going to rehearse the kissing scene?” Paolo shook his head. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think Max is telling you something, baby bro.”
Anthony covered his ears with his hands. “That’s right. I don’t want to hear it and I don’t have time to explain things to you. Why must you always be the voice of gloom and doom?”
“Because I’m your big brother and because I care?”
“Well I don’t want you to care today!” Anthony snapped. “Just keep your theories to yourself and go to your room!”
Paolo held his hands up in surrender. “I’m gone.”
Once Paolo was out of sight, Anthony took a deep breath, trying to calm down before opening the front door. Sometimes his brother made him so angry! Did he think he was that stupid? That naïve? Of course he had been wondering why Max didn’t want to do the kissing scene. But the wondering was over. Today was the day.
“Sorry it took me so long,” he said, opening the front door.
Max smiled at him, his cheeks red from the brisk October air and his hair tousled from the wind. He looked so adorable! It was all Anthony could do to stop himself from running his fingers through Max’s hair, smoothing it back into place.
“I thought maybe you’d forgotten we were supposed to rehearse.”
Forget? How could I forget? I wasn’t able to sleep a wink last night. I’ve been up since six o’clock this morning counting down the hours!
After taking Max’s coat and hanging it in the front closet, Anthony led Max into the living room.
“So, are you ready to get started?” he asked, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach and keep his voice steady. He was so nervous! What if this turned out to be a disaster? What if when they finally reached the kissing scene and it was time to kiss, Max pushed him away and told him he couldn’t do it. That the idea of kissing another guy was revolting to him and even though he thought he could do it, he really couldn’t and he was dropping out of the project. The movie wouldn’t get made! His admissions packet for UCLA would be incomplete because there wasn’t time to get another actor to play Michael. He wouldn’t get into the college of his choice!
He felt a hand shaking him. “Huh? What?”
“You spaced out,” Max said.
Anthony blushed. “Sorry. I was thinking about the script.”
“I’m ready to start whenever you are.”
They started from the first page and the dialogue flowed smoothly as they remembered all their lines. They were no longer Anthony and Max, but Dominick and Michael. After forty-five minutes, they finally got to the kissing scene.
Lips, don’t fail me now! Anthony prayed as he closed the distance between himself and Max. They were sitting on the couch, which, when they were filming in Washington Square Park, would be a park bench. The one thing that Ian had told him more than once when they were together was that he was a great kisser. Ian might have lied about everything else, but Anthony was pretty sure he’d been telling the truth about that. Ian had loved kissing him.
Anthony wrapped his arms around Max’s shoulders, pulling him close. It felt so good having his arms around him! He wished he could press his head against Max’s chest and just cuddle with him. But that wasn’t in the script. Rats! Was there time for a rewrite? Maybe he could work it in. Until then, though, there was only the kiss.
Anthony gazed into Max’s eyes, hoping he could see inside him. Hoping he could see that the feelings reflected in his eyes weren’t Dominick’s feelings for Michael, but his own feelings for Max.
And taking those feelings, using them to give him strength, to show Max that he cared about him, Anthony leaned in and pressed his lips to Max’s.
It was a soft, gentle kiss. Tentative. Exploring. Then, as his lips pressed against Max’s, deepening the kiss and giving him a taste of what he’d been denied for so many weeks, it became bolder. Hungrier. He wanted more. Much more. He moved his hands from Max’s shoulders and cradled his head as his kiss turned into an open-mouthed one.
At first, Max stiffened when Anthony’s lips locked with his. There was no mistaking the body language. The tension in his muscles. He wasn’t enjoying the kiss. He didn’t like it.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think Max is telling you something, baby bro.”
Why was he hearing his brother’s voice?
Get out of my head, Paolo. Now! Out!
This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. If he was aware of Max’s discomfort, then it was going to come across on camera. And that wasn’t good because Max’s character was gay and what gay guy didn’t like kissing another guy? Max’s character was supposed to be enjoying this.
But then something happened as Anthony’s kiss changed and became bolder.
Max started to relax. The stiffness and tension left his arms. He sort of melted into Anthony’s embrace, wrapping his own arms around Anthony’s shoulders, pulling him close and deepening their kiss with an open-mouthed one of his own.
Anthony was stunned.
Max was kissing him back!!!
Calm down, Anthony. Calm down. This does NOT mean anything. Max is not kissing you. It’s Michael. Michael is kissing you back. And you’re not Anthony, you’re Dominick. This is a scene from your movie. It’s not real. Keep reminding yourself of that. It’s NOT real!!!
But real stars fell in love every day from working together, he stubbornly reminded himself.
Why couldn’t it happen to them?
Why couldn’t this kiss be real?
The kiss had to be real.
Max wouldn’t be kissing him this way if it wasn’t.
Finally, he had the proof he’d been waiting for!
Max was gay!
And maybe this was the moment Max had been waiting for as well.
Maybe Max did feel something for him and this was his way of telling him!
Anthony could have gone on and on kissing Max, but they had to get through the rest of the screenplay. Now wasn’t the time to find out if Max had feelings for him. Anthony broke their kiss and pulled away from Max, giving him a sly smile as he delivered his next line.
“For someone who’s never kissed a guy,” he said, “you sure knew what you were doing.”
The rest of the rehearsal went well. They even went through the screenplay a second time, including the kissing scene. Anthony almost pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming when Max suggested the second run-through.
“Just to make sure we’ve got it knocked. Are you game?”
What was he going to say? No? Of course not!
And when they kissed again, there was no hesitancy on Max’s part. His lips met Anthony’s when they were supposed to and melded with his in a kiss that was sweet, magical and perfect.
This can’t be acting. It just can’t. It’s too good not to be real.
When they finished rehearsing, Max gave Anthony a high-five, telling him he couldn’t wait to start filming the next week. As Anthony walked him to the front door, he wondered if the next time they kissed—in front of the camera—would be the last time they kissed. Or could it be the beginning of something else?
Ten minutes after Max left the apartment, Paige showed up to find out how the rehearsal had gone.
“Break it to me gently,” she said, taking off her scarf and tossing it on the couch.
“We kissed,” Anthony said. “Twice.”
“Twice?” She stopped unzipping her jacket. “But there’s only one kiss in the screenplay.”
“We went through it twice. The second time at his suggestion.” Anthony shrugged. “What can I say? These lips are addictive!”
“I will not be jealous, I will not be jealous,” Paige began chanting.
“You got a kiss from him,” Anthony said as he went to hang Paige’s jacket and scarf.
“But he meant to kiss me on the cheek!” Paige reminded. “That’s almost brotherly.”
“Speaking of brothers,” Anthony scowled as Paolo entered the living room, “mine almost ruined things!”
“I kept my end of the bargain. I stayed in my bedroom when Lover Boy was here. Now he’s gone.” Paolo flopped down on the couch and aimed the remote control at the TV. “Did you get to kiss him?”
Anthony stuck his tongue out at Paolo. “Yes, I did.”
Paolo looked away from the TV. “But you know you were just acting, right? That the kiss wasn’t real.”
“I thought that at first,” Anthony said and then turned to Paige. “But when he suggested we do it a second time, I don’t know, Paige, I think he was trying to tell me something.”
“Tell you what?” she asked.
“That he likes me.”
“Then why wouldn’t he say it?” Paolo asked.
“Because he’s afraid.”
“Of what?”
“I think he might be closeted.”
“And I think you need a reality check,” Paolo said.
“What are you doing here?!” Anthony screamed. “Last time I checked, this was a private conversation between Paige and me.”
“Fine. I’ll butt out. But here’s a news flash, Ants. Max wasn’t kissing you. He was kissing Dominick.”
“Maybe the first time we kissed. But not the second,” Anthony insisted. “He wanted to kiss me again. I know he did. Why else would he have suggested we do it again?”
“Practice makes perfect?”
“Oh, go back to your stupid TV show!”
Paolo sighed. “The two of you have wasted enough time on this joker. I’ll bet he even knows what’s going on and is getting his jollies by jerking you both around.”
“Max wouldn’t do that!” Anthony exclaimed.
“How do you know?”
“I just do!”
“You don’t even know if he’s gay or straight!” Paolo shouted. “Trust me, if he was gay and he was interested in you, he’d be finding a way to make the first move.”
“He did. Today! When he kissed me a second time.”
Paolo ignored Anthony’s comment. “As for you, Paige, what I said to Ants also applies to you. If Max was interested, he’d have already made a move. And if Max is straight and he’s not interested in you, then he’s nuts.”
“Thank you, Dear Abby,” Anthony sneered.
Paolo shut off the TV and angrily tossed the remote onto the coffee table.
Anthony’s eyes widened. “Temper, temper, Pow.”
“I’m outta here. The two of you don’t want to listen to a word I have to say? Fine. Keep making fools of yourself over this guy. I just don’t want to see you both get hurt. That’s all. Excuse me for caring.”
After Paolo left the room, Anthony raised an eyebrow at Paige and smirked. He hadn’t thought it was possible, but what he had just seen had confirmed his suspicions.
“What???” Paige demanded. “Why are you making that weird face at me?”
“Did you see how upset Paolo was getting?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Haven’t you been noticing, Paige?”
“Noticing what?”
“Paolo’s jealousy.”
“His jealousy?”
Anthony sighed. “Come on! The clues have been there. Almost from the very beginning! I had started putting the pieces together myself but then told myself I was being crazy.”
“Paolo’s jealous of us?”
“No! He’s jealous of Max!”
“Max?” Paige looked at Anthony in confusion. “Why would he be jealous of Max?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Anthony said, looking at his nails before locking eyes with Paige. “Maybe it’s because he wants you for himself!”
Paige’s mouth dropped open in shock as Anthony started laughing hysterically. “You should see the look on your face,” he howled, clutching his sides. “It’s priceless!”
“You didn’t just say what I think you said. Did you?”
“I did! Paolo likes you. You should have seen how jealous he was the weekend you were in the Hamptons with Max.”
“Paolo was jealous? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought I was nuts! But I’ve been noticing that every time the two of you have a fight, Max comes up.”
“You’re jumping to conclusions. Paolo does not like me. And I don’t like him! He’s rude and arrogant and he’s obsessed with sports.”
“Why else would he be looking out for you?”
“Same reason that he’s looking out for you. The big brother gene.”
Anthony thought it over. “You think?”
“I know.”
“Well, maybe you’re right. But I’m going to keep a close eye on Pow and see if I can find anything out.”
“You’re wasting your time. Besides, I’m not interested in Paolo. I’m interested in Max!”
“Ah yes, Maxie! The reason we live and breathe! We’ve got to strategize for tomorrow’s Bachelor Auction.”
“How much do you think this is going to cost us?”
“Money is no object!” Anthony said. “Remember, it’s for charity!”
“We’re not going to have to spend everything we have, are we?”
“We want to win him, don’t we?”
“Yes, but how much do you think he’ll go for?”
Anthony shrugged. “A couple of hundred? No more than a thousand.”
Paige sighed in relief. “That’s doable. I was thinking the price might go higher.”
“For Max? Paige, he may be a catch, but he’s not the catch of the day! There are a lot more hunkier, handsomer guys at Peppington Prep with richer daddies than Steve Coulter. I have a feeling our Max is going to be an overlooked item at the auction and that’ll give us the perfect opportunity to scoop him up.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“I don’t think we should make the first bid. Let’s wait and see what happens. I mean, I’m sure someone will make an offer for him, but let’s see what the starting bid is, and then if he gets any other offers.”
“Sounds good to me!”
Anthony looked at his watch. “By this time tomorrow, we’ll have our answer!”