I tell them everything, starting with the moment Cabot and I had in the Jacuzzi to him coming to me and confessing he knew the real reason why he'd been brought onto the show to how things have escalated between us on the physical front.
I save the worst for last, and when I get around to the part about how Riff is blackmailing Cabot, Cyrus shakes his head and mutters something about having an uncle who works for the FBI, who can look into things. Before I can say yay or nay to that, he pulls out his phone and furiously taps away as I continue confiding to my friends about developing real feelings for Cabot.
"I so never pictured you being the next one of us to settle down," Buzz says with a huge grin.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I say to calm him down. "I'm secretly fucking a castmate who I've developed feelings for. That is not the same thing as settling down."
"True. But like you've said—twice now—you've got real feelings for the guy. That's significant since you've never had anything more than a few casual flings. Am I right, or am I right?"
"You're fucking annoying is what you are," I growl.
Buzz is correct, though. Dating has never been a huge priority for me. The show has consumed my life these past few years, and before that in Clovelly, I never found anyone who made me want to pursue anything more.
But I have now.
"Still waiting to hear I'm right," Buzz teases, way too happy with himself.
"Well, of course you're right," I snap. "That's not what's in question here. The thing is, what do I do about it? The showwraps for the season next week, at which point I will be officially unemployed and moving back home to lick my wounds. Cabot's life is here. He's the hot new thing, so I'm sure they'll renew his contract if they haven't already. How can I bring up wanting to be with him when we'll be living on opposite coasts?"
"Could you stay in LA?" Cy asks, done texting.
"Nope. As soon as I'm done with the show, I am out of here. LA is a great place to work or visit, but I don't want to live here."
"Not even for Cabot?" he presses.
I shake my head. "I've put my life on hold for six years for this damn show. I want to do something for myself now. Mom and Dad aren't getting any younger, and I want to spend some more time with baby Brock to lock in favorite uncle honors over Cyrus."
"You know what you need to do," Court says with a chuckle and a knowing look.
"I do." I nod. "I've already started thinking about what I want to say."
"When are you going to do it?" he asks.
"Cabot's got a night shoot tonight, and we start filming our holiday episode tomorrow, so tomorrow night, I suppose."
"Yeah, nothing like pretending it's Christmas in August to get a guy in the mood to open up his heart and make some big life-changing decisions," Buzz jokes.
"Can you please punch him for me?" I ask Courtland who playfully obliges and grazes Buzz's shoulder.
Talking with my friends hasn't revealed anything new. It's only brought into focus what I already knew I have to do—have a proper conversation with Cabot to see where we stand…ifwe stand anywhere at all.
The timing for said proper conversation may not be ideal, but then again, is it ever?
10
Cabot
"And this is our tree," Gabriel proudly announces to the rest of the cast, arm hooked over Seth's shoulder.
We're shooting the holiday special today even though it's only mid-August. This ep will also double as the season finale, which means these will be the last scenes Scooter shoots since it's officially been announced that his contract won't be getting renewed.
The producers split us into groups of two—no surprise who I got paired with—and we were given an hour to decorate a Christmas tree since they're hoping to milk out the finale over a few eps.
We've already seen Blaine and Keegan's tree. They went for a blue and gold theme unlike Scooter and me who just stuck stuff on randomly while giving each other shit about whatever we could think of to keep the producers happy.
"Wow," Scooter says, stepping toward Gabriel and Seth's tree, taking in the impressive sight that looks like it belongs in the lobby of a luxury mountain lodge. "It's incredible, Gabe. Clearly, a lot oflovewent into it."
I grin. Have to hand it to him, he doesn't miss a beat. With our on-screen storyline arc about to be resolved—we've gone from hating each other to mildly tolerating each other after learning we're more alike than we first realized—the producers are really gunning for something romantic to happen with Gabriel and Seth.
