Nolan glanced at Grayson. Nolan wasn’t sure what the kid’s deal was—gay or straight or what, although he assumed gay. He thought he’d caught Grayson giving him The Look a couple of times. And the kid really was very cute. Nolan expected the female viewership to love him. He was on the prettier side of sexy—long eyelashes, big eyes, jaunty hair, soft features. Nolan himself found it very appealing. Except this kid was, well, a kid.
“You ready to start filming?” Nolan asked, mostly to be conversational.
“Sure? I mean, I’m very nervous. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“I haven’t really done a show like this either. I mean, obviously I’ve been on TV, but for, like, three-minute segments where I tell people to decorate with different textures, you know? We’re going to be filming hours of footage.” Truth be told, Nolan was a little worried he wasn’t entertaining enough to keep the audience engaged for an entire forty-two-minute episode, no matter how much he wanted to do the show. “Garrett keeps telling me I should just ignore the cameras.”
“But at least you’ve been on camera plenty of times. My only real screen experience is that I had a minor part in my college roommate’s student film. And he only asked me because he knew I’d been in my high-school drama club. I didn’t tell him it was because I’d had a crush on the guy who played Felix in our production ofThe Odd Couple. Most of my parts were, like, Man Number Three.”
Well, Nolan supposed that answered some of his questions. “You’d never know it. Your screen test was very good.”
Grayson grinned. “Yeah? Thanks. I mean, I did want to act for a hot minute when I was, like, fifteen, but I wasn’t very good at it. But this is not really acting, right? I’m just being myself, but in front of a camera.”
“That’s true, more or less.”
“No one has ever called me shy, at any rate.”
Nolan laughed. “I can see that.”
Nolan hadn’t intended his laughter to sound condescending, but apparently Grayson heard it that way, because he frowned. “Look, I get that I’m young and maybe you don’t take me that seriously yet or maybe you don’t want a costar… but I really want this to work.”
Nolan nodded. He knew he’d been dismissive, and obviously Grayson had sensed that. “Can I ask you why you wanted to do this?”
“I mean, it’s a dream come true. And this all happened so fast. It’s completely crazy. Like, one minute I was picking out linens for my friends’ wedding, then I’m meeting Marla Greene, then she’s introducing me to Garrett Harwood. And the thing is, I love design. I love making spaces eye-catching but functional. I think I’m pretty good at it. But I’ll admit, my career hasn’t exactly taken off the way I expected it to. Just to get a job working for a company like the Restoration Channel would have been enough, but then Garrett told me I could work withtheNolan Hamlin? I’ve admired your work for years.”
Nolan wondered how many years that could have been. This kid had been a toddler when Nolan had designed his first room. “I appreciate that.”
“I mean, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. And, you know, I thought it would bring attention to my business. I had to leave my firm to take this job. I’d like to build my own business, and you have to admit, this is excellent publicity.”
Nolan chuckled. “Well, there is that.”
“Also, you know, I love the premise of the show. I love the idea of being able to use my skills to help other people.”
Nolan looked the kid over. Grayson was a lot, but he had an earnestness about him that Nolan found endearing. Nolan had been in Grayson’s shoes once, anxious to prove himself and be successful doing something he loved. Grayson still had a bit of the entitlement complex that a lot of recent design school grads had, especially those who had done well academically but hadn’t worked in real spaces very long. Nolan had been that way too, once upon a time. It was hard to be mad about it.
“I’m giving you a chance to prove yourself, aren’t I?” Nolan sighed. “I’m sorry if I’ve acted dismissive. I’m not intentionally being rude. And you… seem like a good kid. I think we’ll be fine working together. I’ve had a hard year, that’s all, and it’s been an adjustment getting back into the swing of doing this sort of thing. I’ll try not to take it out on you.”
Grayson smiled. “All right. I’ll take it.”
“Don’t think you can just rest on pretty, though. This is going to take some hard work. Designing a house for a family is a different kind of project than picking out chairs at a wedding.”
Grayson smiled slowly. “I know. I’m grateful for the opportunity, really. And I hope we can be friends.”
“Yeah, me too.” And Nolan meant it. It had been a lonely year, and he could use a few more friends. “Okay, we’ve got eight more of these to watch. Ready for the next one?”
Chapter Four
THE CARthe Restoration Channel provided Nolan and Grayson was a massive SUV that had several cameras installed to film segments in which the stars of the show had conversations while en route. A PA showed Nolan how to operate the cameras—a touchscreen on the dashboard powered the cameras on and off—but the car was parked on Ninth Avenue, where it was not exactly quiet.
Grayson stood nearby fidgeting, undoubtedly nervous about the first day of filming.
Nolan understood how he felt, although he was more nervous about the car ride into New Jersey with Grayson than about filming, per se.
He got in the driver’s seat and tapped on the touch screen. “How do I know the camera is on?”
The PA leaned through the driver’s side window and pointed to one of the cameras. “If the red light there comes on, it’s recording. See?”
The main camera was above the mirror, installed into the ceiling of the car just above the windshield. There were also cameras just above each top corner of the windshield.
