Page 52 of If the World Was Ending

“I thought you said you jerked off last night?” Hunter said. Colby was moving, taking the phone with him into the bathroom from the looks of the tiled wall now behind him.

“I did but like… It’s different with...”

“Someone?” Hunter offered because Colby seemed to be struggling for the word.

“Yeah.” Colby’s face took on something Hunter couldn’t place. He swallowed and nodded at the same time, before his eyes moved to look at something other than Hunter. “I should go. I want to sleep off this buzz and get up early and work on the song without Trevor bitching in my ear.”

“Okay. Yeah. I need to get some rest.” Hunter said, and something was off. He knew what it was for him… the words of Chris Westchester bounced around his head. He had been warning Hunter, he just didn’t know it.

But things were different now with the industry, right?

“Talk soon?” Hunter said.

Colby’s blue eyes moved back to the screen. He gave Hunter a dimpled smile. “Of course.”

And then Colby ended the call. Hunter blinked at his suddenly black screen and tried not to let the darkness seep into his soul, but it felt like it was. And that darkness was panic and despair. Because what if this was something? What if he couldn’t just walk away from Colby and stop this thing they were doing? What if he wanted more? What if Chris was right and he couldn’t have this thing with Colby and his career?

Chapter 17

Staycation

He read the script as Margo navigated traffic on their drive to the Ivy. Margo had handed it to him as soon as he slid into her passenger seat. It was sent to her specifically for him by a guy named "the new development guy" at Magenta Studios — Jesse.

Hunter explained the Jesse thing to Margo, who was flabbergasted he didn’t think to mention it earlier, and then began to read the ensemble rom-com script as Margo lectured him on how he needed to tell her everything all the time.

“I didn’t know anything would come of it. I was going to mention it, though. Eventually.”

“Hunter, if anyone from any studio or network so much as picks you to light their cigarette, I need to know about it immediately,” Margo scolded. “Now read.”

Hunter read. The script was called Staycation, and it was about three female friends who don’t have the money to go anywhere on their vacation, so they swap houses and act like they’re on vacation. A slew of hilarious misunderstandings and romantic encounters happen for them. Apparently, the role they want Hunter for is a hunky gardener who ends up falling for one of the women as he helps her battle a beetle infestation in the prize-winning garden of the house she swapped into.

Margo pulled up to the valet parking and plucked the script out of Hunter’s hands. She tucked it in her bag and handed the valet her keys, and Hunter followed her inside to the table she’d reserved. They sat down, and she ordered a bottle of sparkling water and two lychee martinis. She reached across the table and tapped Hunter’s hand, which was gripping the table like he was a nervous flyer on a flight full of turbulence. “What are you thinking?”

“I can’t wait to tell Colby I might get another role.”

“So, you want to do this?” Margo asked with a cheeky smile.

“Of course! Anything that keeps me a working actor, I’ll do.”

“Honey, I think you get to be a little discerning now,” Margo chuckled. “And we should be. But this is a great opportunity. They want a chemistry read, but it’s basically yours.”

“Unless the actress and I don’t have chemistry.”

Margo rolled her eyes at his words. “Hunter, if I don’t think you could create chemistry with actresses, I wouldn’t rep you. You’ve got this.”

Hunter gave the waiter a grateful smile as he poured them both some water and left the bottle on the table.

“We’re cooking with gas now, Hunter. And things are only going to heat up once the movie airs,” Margo said, reaching for her water. Her nails were short but blood red and perfectly manicured. She was probably his mother’s age, but she looked younger. “But it would also be helpful to your career in the ongoing run if you started giving yourself credit.”

“I mean… I know I did really great in that role. I could feel it in every take. I had great chemistry with Mikayla, and Eugenie was a breeze to work for as a director,” Hunter lamented as he reached for his own water and was thrilled to see he wasn’t shaking anymore. “And I learned so much from Chris.”

Margo smiled again. “Chris Westchester. I used to rep him. Well, I mean not technically. I was an intern assigned to his agent’s desk to help his agent’s assistant. But I got to be around him and meet him and even went to the set when he did that thriller in the late nineties.”

“That was like his last big project for a while,” Hunter replied, putting his water down and opening the menu. He didn’t know why he bothered. Every time he went to lunch with Margo, she ordered for them both. And she was never wrong about what he’d like. She was like some kind of tastebud clairvoyant.

Margo nodded and sighed. “Hollywood is ridiculous when it comes to being queer. I mean, they’ll accept it, but you need to play by the rules, and Chris didn’t.”

“What are the rules?”