“Believe it or not, I was a shy kid, couldn’t really figure out what I wanted to do, but tried a bit of everything. I loved sports but never really stood out or wanted to. When my baby sister Sarah was really young, Mom took a second job at night to help pay the bills since I was half a decade older, I helped out by babysitting.” Audrey had begun tracing patterns on my forearm, and I moved to interlace our fingers together, hugging her hand to my chest.
Being a big brother was one of my proudest jobs, and it felt good to open up to Audrey about it. “Sarah liked reading, and she loved bedtime stories, so I started messing about with the voices as I read to her just to make her laugh. Her favorite wasThe Twits, do you know it?”
“No.”
I twisted a little so that I could see her face, huffing as my body reminded me of how sore I was. The fond look in Audrey’s eyes was almost overwhelming, so I leaned in to kiss her before I said something stupid. It was soft and sweet, and for a long moment, I forgot that she wasn’t my girlfriend, we weren’t dating, and I shouldn’t be thinking about researching faraway resorts with in-room spas so we could do all the things I wanted to but couldn’t right now.
I leaned my head back against her when our lips parted, my eyes trained on the ceiling. “I found I liked playing around at being someone else, so when I hit high school, I tried drama. Theater still gives me anxiety, but I like film and TV. And I’m good at it. I’m just not so hot on the press and attention.”
“Well, now I feel bad.”
“What for?”
“I, um, may have looked you up.”
“May have, huh?” I pulled my hand out of her grasp to tickle her.
“Ok, ok, stop!” She giggled and wriggled her foot out of my grasp, water sloshing against the tub. “I felt terrible for not knowing who you were at the bar that first night, so I did some research.”
“Not everything they say is true, you know. Most of the interviews we give are fluff pieces, and after a few hours, you get bored enough you just start talking nonsense.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re preparing me for something awful?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I guess I just don’t want you to think that’s me, is all. It’s all most people see.”
She considered this. “I’m sorry.”
“Why? It’s not your fault. It just comes with the job.”
“Still …” She sighed. “If it helps, I only ended up looking through some photos. You get topless a lot.”
My laugh bounced against the tile. “You do one shirtless scene …”
“I don’t think anyone is complaining. I’m certainly not.”
“See something you liked?”
She chuckled to herself. “Actually, there was one that made me laugh; maybe you can explain it to me,” Her phone was lying on the floor on top of her pants, and as she stretched out of the bath to get it, I started to wonder which one she was referring to.
Maybe it was the shoot where they had me on top of a children’s rocking horse in jeans and a cowboy hat? It was for Vogue, but still … Sometimes I really did wonder about this job.
I watched as she opened her Instagram app, scrolled through, and saw what looked like a series of bar and restaurant accounts. I assumed she followed for work purposes, followed by an overwhelming amount of photos of dogs dressed in various outfits.
Fuck, she was adorable. I buried my smile into her neck.
Finally, she found what she was after. “Here it is! Ok, you have to tell me, who pissed you off here?”
When I saw the photo, I started laughing. Of course, it was that one. How could I forget? That damn photo the promo team had taken at the table read had been retweeted so many times I’d lost count. Usually with the hashtag #bedroomeyes.
I was surprised at her interpretation of it. “What makes you think I was angry with someone?”
She lifted a hand to trail a finger along my chin. “Your jaw gets kind of set when you’re holding something back. Plus, it sort of looks like you want to kill whoever you’re looking at.”
Catching her hand with my own, I proceeded to kiss each fingertip. “That’s Wes’ fault.” I twisted as best as I could in the tight space so I could kiss her. “He was messing around during the table read. He knew the camera crew was behind him, so he’d sent me a text telling me my pants were undone.”
Her laughter echoed around me, and I sunk back into her, happier than I could remember feeling in a long, long time.
“Funny, you’re the only person who has seen that photo and saw I was angry, except for Sarah.”
