Beautiful Box Set

Chapter 11-2

Monday can’t come soon enough. All weekend long, Johnny’s on edge—every time his cell rings, he’s sure it’s Lou with news from the audition. They want to schedule a screen test, or they’ve lined up a dinner to introduce him to the rest of the cast, or they’ve made their decision and when can he swing by to sign the paperwork? Twice he dials Lou’s number and stares at it, his thumb hovering over the SEND button, sure his manager knows something he doesn’t.

Twice he closes the phone without connecting the call.

Brett tells him not to worry. “Your headshots are amazing,” he reminds Johnny. It’s early Sunday morning and the two of them are barely dressed, Brett on the sofa watching the game and Johnny pacing aimlessly with his cell in his hand. Brett glances up every time he passes by. “Roxy Greene’s going to take one look at them and say, ‘This is him. This is the guy I want to fall in love with.’ Trust me.” Catching Johnny’s hand in his, Brett reels him down to the couch beside him and leans in for a kiss. “It’s not hard to do.”

Johnny’s heart stutters in his chest, and for the first time all weekend, he forgets about the audition. He forgets about Lou, the movie, and anything that isn’t the man next to him, holding him tight. Did he just say the L-word? Johnny isn’t sure, he’s never heard it before. It hasn’t been long between them, true, but to Johnny, it feels like a lifetime since they met, and he can’t imagine a day without Brett in it.

He wakes on Monday with the thought that he’ll go to Lou’s office and sit in the lobby all day if he has to, anything for a bit of news on the part. Was he always this anxious in the past? He doesn’t remember—after the audition for Zack, he never had to try out for a role again. Because he wants this job so badly, he tries to pretend he doesn’t by planning what to do when it falls through. He’ll ask Lou for a real role then, not some chick flick bit part, and maybe he’ll smile more in the interview before the audition. Now that he knows there is one, he can prepare for it. He’ll need to run through those questions again, see if he can’t have better answers prepared….

The ringing of his cell interrupts his thoughts. For a moment longer he lies in bed, listening to the ring tone, then he vaults out of bed and scrambles through the ticket stubs and receipts and change on his dresser until he finds the cell. Flipping it open, he glances at the caller’s name before he raises the phone to his ear. “Lou? Hey.”

“Johnny.”

He hears the disappointment in his manager’s voice and thinks the worst. I didn’t get it.

But Lou says nothing else, so Johnny takes a steadying breath and swallows down his fear. “Yeah? I’m here.” He turns, sweeping the room with a glance, and for the first time realizes he’s alone. Repositioning the mouthpiece, he calls out, “Brett?”

“Johnny,” Lou says again. “Pay attention, will you? Who’d you tell about the audition?”

“What?” Johnny snags a pair of worn boxers off the floor and cradles the phone between his shoulder and ear as he steps into them. When the waistband snaps into place, he pads out of the bedroom, into the hall, heading for the living room, but he already knows Brett isn’t there. “The audition? I don’t know, why?”

Lou answers with another question. “Who knew it was a Roxy Greene film?”

“You.” Johnny stops in the hallway and pouts into the empty living room.

“Don’t be a smartass,” Lou warns. “Who else?”

Johnny sees a note tacked to the door of his apartment. “I don’t know,” he admits. The note’s from Brett, saying he has an early shoot and it was so hard to leave Johnny in the bed looking so damn hot, but maybe they can catch up later in the day? Call me. XOXO. Johnny grins at that. “Lou, why? I don’t know who else knows about the film, all right? I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Are you sure?” Before Johnny can reply, Lou hurries to explain. “I got the latest gossip off the Z-23 website first thing this morning. They posted pictures of you heading into the studio and the reporter claims, and I quote, ‘A source close to the former child star gave Z the exclusive scoop that JT is auditioning for the male lead in the rumored Roxy Greene blockbuster, due out next summer.’ How do they know that?”

The question hangs unanswered between them. Johnny’s mad about the phrase, former child star. It lumps him in the same has-been category as Gary Coleman, the Coreys, and every single one of the Brady kids. Honestly, he’s an adult. Can’t they drop the whole JT business and use his real name? “It’s Johnny now,” he grumbles.

“You’re missing the point!” Lou sighs, frustrated, and Johnny thinks maybe this isn’t a good time to ask if he got the part. “This was top secret, Johnny. I told you no one else was supposed to know. And then you go and blab about it to that shiftless boyfriend of yours—”

“I didn’t!” Johnny cries. “Leave Brett out of this, Lou. I didn’t tell him shit.”

But he did, didn’t he? The memory washes over him like a slap of cold water, chilling him. In the bathroom at the studio, when he managed to get a moment alone, he’d called Brett and told him about the audition. He’d mentioned Roxy then, he knows he did.

Fuck.

Something in his sudden silence tells Lou all he needs to know. “Get down here,” the manager growls. “We’ll see if we can’t smooth this over somehow. You weren’t supposed to know, and I shouldn’t have told you.”

“Have they called?” Johnny asks, hopeful.

But Lou says, “Not yet. Maybe no one’s seen it. I’ll see if Sam’s girlfriend can change the story or something, edit that bit out. Everyone knows those assistants practically run the office. Can you be here by noon?”

“Sure.” Johnny nods. He feels numb inside—did Brett tell someone about his audition? Who else would’ve known?