“Ha!” Drew sat up straight and gave him a guilty look that lacked any repentance. “All right, you caught me.”
“I promise not to tattle,” Steve said solemnly.
“I guess since your aspirations are not casting, acting, or producing, I can let you in on a few secrets.” Drew leaned forward, darting his gaze to the door to the room before resettling it on Steve. “The thing is, I don’t actually like everyone I’ve ever worked with.”
“Oh, you don’t say,” Steve said. “Gosh, there’s a shocker. I feel so jaded now. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover. Where are my rose-colored glasses?”
“Shut up! You asked for this revelation and now you’re stuck with it.”
This time Steve didn’t bother hiding the smile. “All right, I’ll bite. Do you hate Gloria Pearl? Leigh Miller?”
“I don’thateanyone,” Drew protested. “I don’t want anyone to think I’m….”
“A diva?” Steve suggested innocently.
“Difficult,” Drew finished, shooting him unconvincing eye daggers. “But Austin Sparks wanted your role in this movie, and I amso gladyou took it before someone said yes to that.”
Steve felt a moment of vicious satisfaction, but it faded, and then he didn’t know whether to be surprised or touched. Finally he settled on “Aww. You like me,” and batted his eyelashes. Juvenile, yes, but so was this whole project.
“I do, but it’s just—something about him rubs me the wrong way. He….” Steve got the impression he was about to say more, but something must have stopped him, because he shook his head and changed directions. “You know how some people you click with right away and everything’s smooth and good, and you just get along with them and trust them? And after a short time it’s like you’ve known them forever and you’re totally comfortable?”
Not anymore, he didn’t—or at least he hadn’t before Drew. But lately he was remembering it did happen. “Yeah.”
“Yeah,” Drew echoed. “This is like, the opposite of that. He’s like a hemorrhoid. In the right circumstances, you might forget about him for a while, but he’s still a pain in the ass.”
Steve didn’t bother trying not to laugh. “I see. Well, I’m glad I don’t have the dubious honor of being a pain in your ass.”
At that moment the door opened and Chantelle came in carrying a six-pack of Perrier. “I’m not even going to ask,” she said. “Steve, can you put these in the fridge?”
When he stood up to take them, he caught the expression on Drew’s face: pinched around the eyes and mouth, lips pressed uncharacteristically flat. Did he regret that Chantelle had interrupted them? Had he been about to say something else, and now he felt like he couldn’t?
No. That was reading too far into it. He was probably just holding in a fart.
Sure enough, when Steve turned around from stashing the water bottles in the minifridge, Drew looked perfectly relaxed.
Steve was just seeing things he wanted to see. It wouldn’t be the first time. He took a deep, quiet breath and reminded himself to focus. This movie could make or break his career as a writer. He needed to be at his best.
And that meant no distractions.
Chapter Seven
DREWtalked himself out of asking the question at least four times over the course of the afternoon. But then Steve would make him laugh or flub a line or forget it entirely and ad-lib something ridiculous, and Drew would remember how much he enjoyed spending time with him, and he’d think it was a good idea again.
He blamed Leigh.
Seven excruciating hours after they began, Nina finally called, “Cut! All right, I get it, you guys are juiced. Go home.”
Drew could have kissed her. In fact, why not. Maybe it would snap him out of his… whatever this was. Sudden tendency to overthink. He handed his “wallet” to Flora, the prop master, and swanned down to the director’s chair. “Nina, my love! Beautiful, wonderful, merciful—”
“You’re full ofsomething,” Nina grumbled, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as Drew pressed his lips to her cheek.
“Gracious, benevolent—”
“Old,” Nina broke in, swatting at him. “When you were small, you had the protection of child labor laws. How come there’s no version for old farts like me?”
Okay, now he felt like an ass. “Are we working you too hard? We could get an AD in here, probably. I know a guy. Or a girl. I can put in a word with the producer.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“That’s very sweet.” Nina patted his cheek. “This is a one-off shoot, not a regular day job. I’ll be fine. Get me something pretty for Bosses’ Day and we’ll call it even.”
