Starboys

by Jeremy Jenkins

  My heart was beating fast. I had to remember what Oliver told me to say…

  But before I knew it, my time was up. I was outside face to face with Reese in the dark, the crickets chirping around us and the full moon overhead.

  “What is it, Charlie?” he asked, his voice taking on a more gentle tone.

  “I don’t like him,” I said, just as Oliver told me to say.

  “Don’t like whom, exactly?” he asked, one of his dark eyebrows going up.

  “You know who. Mason,” I said. “I don’t think I can do the scene tomorrow.”

  Oliver told me that that would be the ideal thing to say to Reese; that he cared about his art so much that he would do anything he could to keep things going according to plan. He would give me anything I wanted as long as I agreed to do the scene.

  There was a slight twitch to his mouth as he frowned. “You agreed to do it earlier,” he reminded me.

  “I thought about it more, and I don’t think I can,” I insisted, fixing him with my gaze.

  Everything in me wanted to turn and run away, to get away from his surgical silver gaze. But I forced myself to stay rooted to the spot.

  His eye twitched a little as he looked down at me. He wasn’t used to being told no.

  “You don’t like him either,” I said, pointing out the truth.

  “I’m fine with Mason,” he lied. Even as he said it, I noticed a tightness to his jaw.

  “Well, I can’t do it. He makes me uncomfortable.”

  Reese’s shoulders sagged ever so slightly. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded as slowly as I could, trusting that Oliver was inside as we spoke, trying to steer the conversation to Leo’s “girlfriend.”

  It was all part of the plan.

  “I’m sure,” I said.

  Reese ran one of his manicured hands through his salt and pepper hair. “Is there anything I can do for you that would change your mind?” he offered.

  The way he was looking at me now was… some kind of begging. It looked foreign on his face.

  Regardless, seeing that look on him made me feel… powerful. Like I could ask for anything in the world right at this moment and he would make it so.

  “I want a trailer, like I’m part of the actual cast,” I said, the words escaping from my mouth before I could stop them.

  “Done,” he said without hesitation.

  My mouth wanted to drop open in surprise, but I stopped it. The panic was whirling inside of me. I couldn’t believe that he was going to let me do this — treat me like a real cast member.

  Reese held out his hand for me to shake.

  I looked at it, every single one of my senses on high alert. He was going to take his hand away at any second, refusing me. Hell, he would probably fire me if I asked for more, sending me back to my boring life in L.A.

  Choose love over fear, Hazel’s voice echoed in my memory. Ask for what you want.

  “I want more scenes,” I said. “I want to be part of the cast for real.”

  As if all of my fears decided to come true right at that moment, his face fell and he withdrew his hand.

  “I can’t promise that,” he said.

  It might have been the light of the moon or the fact that I couldn’t see anything right now, but I thought I saw a glint of lust in his eyes.

  “Then no deal,” I said.

  “Well, aren’t you the little negotiator,” he said.

  The fear was welling up inside of me at the taunt. I knew I was pushing my luck with this. My heart was pounding in my chest.

  “You realize I can send you back to L.A. whenever I want,” he said, his eyes expressionless.

  My gut tensed up. This was the most afraid I’d ever been. Here I was living this dream, and I was about to watch it all dissolve into dust.

  But something within me — this resolve that I did not recognize, kept me rooted to the spot. Something about being here, surrounded by these celebrities, knowing that Alina had my back, gave me strength.

  “I know you can send me back whenever you want,” I said, my mouth dry. “And I’m telling you I want more scenes.”

  He cocked his head to the side and looked at me with pure amusement.

  My stomach lurched. I’d ruined it; I’d ruined everything.

  There was no sound except the crickets chirping around us, no light except the moonbeams shining down on his face.

  For a few painful seconds that felt like an eternity, I held my breath. I knew he was going to say no; I knew that I was worth nothing to him. Just some random stylist that was on his set; someone he could replace with a snap of his fingers—

  “Done,” he said with finality, and held out his hand for me to shake.

  I wrapped my fingers around it, feeling like I was having an out of body experience.

  “Welcome to the cast, Charlie,” he said with a gentlemanly smile.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “See? I told you so!” Oliver cried.

  “Keep your voice down!” I hissed, eyeing our surroundings.

  We were hidden behind Alina’s trailer on the beach. The rest of the cast were drinking by a bonfire a few yards away. I could see Alina arm-in-arm with Mason, and they were drunkenly skipping in circles. Leo was watching them with a slight smile on his face.

  “Well, still, I told you so,” Oliver said, his hand wrapped around a White Claw.

  “You just told me to make a demand… I don’t know what came over me,” I said.

  “I’m pretty surprised too,” he admitted, leaning against the wall of the trailer for support. “Well… you asked for what you wanted, and you got it!”

  I was still stunned from the whole thing, a numbness prickling in my fingertips.

  “You’re on the show now,” Oliver said with a smile. “Now, did you do what I asked too?”

  I bit my lip and looked down.

  His face fell. “You didn’t?”

  “Well, it was an intense situation, and it sort of… slipped my mind.” I admitted.

  Oliver took a step back, his face turning to stone.

  “Are you serious? You got Reese alone — and you didn’t let it ‘slip’ that Leo kissed me?”

  I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. “Wait, that’s what you wanted me to say? Earlier when we were in that hidden bar, you told me to tell Reese that Leo was getting all handsy with you when you were sizing him for his armor,” I said, trying to keep the story straight. “And that was made up.”

  “Well, this is made up too,” he said a little too quickly. “All you were supposed to do was to plant the seed of jealousy with Reese and get him to suspect there’s something between me and Leo!”

  I paused, not sure if I could trust him. Something in the way he said it was made up poked at my curiosity, tempting it out into the open.

  “There’s nothing between you and Leo… right?” I asked, not daring to believe it.

  His eyes were wide and green in the moonlight, and I knew the truth.

  Still, I couldn’t believe it.

  “…right, Oliver?”

  “What does it matter if it’s true or not?” he snapped. “Of course it’s made up. But the thing is, Reese has no idea about it. You dropped the ball.”

  I knew he was lying; the truth came out in his hesitation.

  There was an unpleasant knotting in my gut. I couldn’t bear to think of Leo and Oliver all over each other, but my mind wouldn’t stop torturing me with it. It was all too easy to picture the scene; Oliver going into Leo’s trailer one night to size him for a costume. Oliver getting up close and personal, pinning the fabric all over Leo’s body.

  He was shirtless, of course. My mind was making him shirtless.

  Then Oliver would start roving his hands all over Leo’s torso and start kissing his neck, and Leo would lean back to meet his lips…

  “You had a thing with Leo,” I accused, pointing at him. “You did, and now you’re trying to get with Reese!”

  He gritted his
teeth, then looked down.

  It was true. It was all true.

  I felt like I’d rolled over a log and found a bunch of nasty bugs crawling underneath, scrambling to find a hiding place in the darkness.

  “You tried to manipulate me,” I said.

  “Oh, get off your goddamn high horse, farm boy,” he snapped. “You’re not above it. You went outside with Reese. You made your demands. And look what you got out of it!” he said, backing up towards the bonfire with his arms outstretched. “Welcome to the fucking cast,” he spat, as if his words were acid. “Thanks for nothing.”

  And just like that, he turned and marched back to the bonfire.

  I was brimming with bright green jealousy, fueled by it. I took a few steps to follow him, but he was already too far ahead of me.

  My mind kept tormenting me with images of Oliver kissing Leo, their bodies wrapped around each other, writhing in a bed.

  Just when I was reaching out to grab his shoulder, it was too late. He was already at the bonfire. He crushed the empty White Claw can with one hand, cast it into the flames, and then pulled Leo in for a kiss.

  Everyone stopped chattering, and all eyes were on the two men.

  After a lingering second, Leo pulled away first, put his hand against Oliver’s chest and said, “What are you doing?!”

  “Refusing to keep this a secret anymore,” Oliver said, his words tumbling out of his mouth with a slur.

  Dozens of eyes danced between Leo and Oliver. I’d never seen an audience so captivated.

  “I’m straight,” Leo said. “I have a girlfriend.”

  When Oliver told me that Leo’s girlfriend was fake, I only half-believed him. I knew that I was willing it to be true, clinging onto the thread of a possibility that he might be into me.

  But now listening to the way that he proclaimed he had a girlfriend in front of all of his coworkers, I knew it could only be a lie.

  He was trying too hard to pull a veil in front of everyone’s eyes.

  “You’re not straight,” Oliver said. “We hooked up!”

  Several people around the fire gasped.

  Alina was watching with horror in her eyes, trying to figure out how she could defuse the situation. Mason was watching with a delighted smile on his face and took a sip from his beer.

  “Don’t make up lies just because you want attention,” Leo snapped.

  “Pretty pathetic,” Mason said from where he was sitting.

  “Shut up,” Leo snarled.

  That only made Mason smile more. His eyes were darting from Leo to Oliver, then to me.

  I knew there was some kind of evil plan unfolding in that dark mind of his.

  I was still paralyzed, feeling like the wind was knocked out of me. The truth seeped into my bones like poison leaking into a reservoir.

  Oliver and Leo hooked up. Oliver and Leo hooked up. Oliver and Leo hooked up…

  The jealousy was blotting out all of my thoughts and I squeezed my glass too hard.

  The wine glass’ stem snapped off, and then all the eyes were on me.

  “Clumsy!” Oliver shouted, desperate for scraps of attention. “Guess what, everyone? Charlie and Reese are hooking up!”

  There were several more gasps as the audience looked from me to Reese. Reese stood up.

  “That’s enough, Oliver. You’re drunk.”

  “Is it true?” A crew member shouted, pointing to me. “Are you two fucking? Is that why the Google Doc with the script added his name this evening?”

  “This is getting out of control,” Reese said with his arms out.

  “No, we want to know!” Another crew member cried. “Are you two fucking? Is that how easy it is to get a part in The Black Castle?”

  “You’re fired,” Reese hissed, the bonfire dancing in his eyes.

  “What?!” The crew member cried. “Why?!”

  “Insubordination,” he said, his voice dripping with command. “In case you’ve forgotten, even though we’re in Italy, you’re still employed in California. And California is an at-will employer state!”

  “But—”

  “ANYONE ELSE?!” Reese cried, his white wine glass trembling in his hand.

  The dozens of people around the fire fell silent.

  “That’s what I thought. Any more talk of rumors that aren’t true, and we’ll talk.”

  The air was quiet, and even the crickets had stopped chirping. The only sound was the roaring of the ocean. Though truthfully, I was surprised that it too wasn’t cowing down in Reese’s presence.

  “I want her gone by tomorrow,” Reese said to one of his set managers.

  “Understood,” he said, and then approached the woman.

  She was uttering protests as the man marched her back towards the cluster of trailers on the beach.

  As the moment died down, there was an awkward silence in the air. Though, since this was already a rowdy party and people were already drunk, it didn’t take long for the noise level to return to normal.

  It was like nothing had ever happened.

  Reese beckoned for me to come over to him.

  As if following a magnet, I wound my way through the people and stood by his side.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, his silvery eyes full of concern.

  “I am now,” I said, my hand only now starting to steady. “Thank you,”

  “That happens every time,” he said, looking off into the blackness of the sea.

  “What?” I asked, taking a sip of my bitter pinot out of the stemless glass.

  “Someone accuses me of sleeping with someone,” he said smoothly.

  I thought of Mason, the one he supposedly had a relationship with. As soon as my mind landed on him, I could feel those cold blue eyes watching me from behind.

  “Isn’t that kind of part of the package of being a director?” I asked, the snark coming out of my mouth before I could stop it.

  “What, sleeping with the cast, or being accused of it?” he asked, his eyes clear.

  Even though I’d been watching the wine in his glass go down, he didn’t seem to be getting drunk at all.

  “Both I guess?” I said.

  The corner of Reese’s full lips twitched up.

  “I mean, people are always going to talk,” I amended, attempting to smooth over this snag.

  His shoulders relaxed, a detail that was imperceptible to anyone except me.

  He opened his mouth to say something, and I thought something profound was going to come out. Instead, he said, “You’re probably the most sober one here, and my stage manager is taking care of that problem. Would you mind walking Oliver back to his room? He’s pretty drunk.”

  My face fell. I thought I had been given the same privileges as one of the normal cast members; weren’t we all playing royalty?

  I looked at Reese’s eyes again, and they were hard. He wasn’t asking me; he was telling me.

  He wanted me off the scene for now.

  A quick glance at his wine glass revealed to me that his hand was shaking ever so slightly.

  “Yeah, I’ll take him,” I said, watching as his eyes jumped to Oliver and Leo.

  They were standing a little further from the bonfire now, having a heated discussion.

  Reese was looking at Leo a little more intensely than necessary.

  When I approached Leo and Oliver, Leo looked up at me and his face changed.

  Relief.

  Before now, I was anxious about the whole thing. But now I felt a soothing calm flow through me, knowing that I’d do anything to help Leo.

  I touched Oliver’s shoulder and he protested, the slurred words tumbling out of his mouth as he struggled to stand.

  “Get your… get those hands off me…” Oliver said with an exaggerated shrug.

  “Come on,” I said, detesting the person I was obligated to protect.

  He resisted some more, saying he had to talk to Leo.

  I leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Shut the fuck up and come with m
e, or Reese is going to fire you.”

  Oliver stiffened, and I knew that out of everything else, that was the one thing that stuck.

  He went all quiet, his shoulders sagged, and then he mumbled, “Okay.”

  Half an hour later after I’d called a Lyft with my brand new cast member access code, we were pulling up to the two-star hotel that the production company had the lesser crew members stay in. Oliver’s room was on the third floor.

  I knew because until tonight, my room was near his. Though after I’d shaken hands with Reese earlier, he told me that some crew members were going to move all of my things into my trailer for me tonight.

  It was already becoming real.

  For some unfathomable reason, Oliver seemed to get drunker and drunker as we got closer to his room. His arm was around my shoulder and I was helping him walk.

  The only thing that was remotely comforting about doing this was thinking of Leo’s face when I removed Oliver.

  This is for him, anything for Leo, I thought to myself.

  Oliver was still mumbling insults at me.

  “That’s no way to treat someone who’s trying to help you,” I scowled. “Now what’s your room number?”

  He said it, and I made him repeat it twice.

  We stumbled to the door like a four-legged monster, and he leaned up against the wall.

  “Here we are. Do you have your key?” I asked, placing my hands on his shoulders.

  His head was lolling around from the alcohol, and he flung his arms around, trying to bury them in his butt pocket.

  I rolled my eyes and reached around his back, sliding my hand into his butt pocket. I had to lean against him to get in, feeling the warmth of his hard body against mine.

  “Mmm,” he moaned, leaning into me.

  “No, we’re not here for that,” I said, blushing.

  I couldn’t deny that being this close to him was causing a stirring in my pants.

  Thankfully, my fingers closed around his keycard and I slid it out.

  “This it?” I asked, holding it in front of his face.

  His eyes locked on it and he nodded.

  “Good, let’s get you to bed…” I said as I swiped the key in the door.