The 17-Year-Old Itch

by M. J. O'Shea

  FIVE DAYS later Tony was home. Well, the place he thought of as home more than any other place he’d been. He landed in Miami in the afternoon and drove down US 1, feeling better and better as the miles went by in a swirl of mangroves, endless bridges, and deep turquoise water. By the time he pulled into Key West, he felt like he really was home. After a quick stop at Blair’s mom’s house and a few more minutes of driving, he was sinking into the cushy guest bed that would be his for the next eight months.

  He was more than ready for it.

  Tony did what he always did when he was anywhere near the ocean and had a few hours to spare. He ditched his airplane clothes and his lace-up shoes, pulled on a pair of board shorts, stuck his feet into flip-flops, and went to the beach. Blair’s place was on a quiet street with access to a beach that only his neighbors would go to. It was completely silent. He sat there, happily, alone for once but in a weird way not lonely at all, and stared at the sunset. Tony loved Key West at dusk, how the sky turned coral-orange and the heat gentled. He wriggled his toes in the sand and thought about the many reasons he was more than happy to be back—and ignored the one huge reason he wasn’t.

  Don’t fucking think about him. He’s not worth it.

  Hopefully it’d work. His reminders to himself not to think about… it, about his encounter with abject humiliation, never worked. At least not so far.

  It could’ve been worse. Everyone else could know.

  As far as Tony was aware, nobody else knew. Not even Blair or Levi, other than in a general way. He was really hoping to keep it like that. If the whole cast had known he was a big reject, then he might have had to stay away. As it was, he was hoping Mack’s dad Evan got written off the show and he never had to see that asshole Casey Sherman ever again.

  You thought about him.

  Fuck.

  Chapter Two

  “THIS IS Devon Jones, here, with Hollywood Spin. We’re back with the stars of Coconut Cove just as they’re getting ready to start season two! I’ve heard that there are some exciting new things about to happen this season. Can you fill us in?”

  Tony smiled. “Nothing’s ever boring in Coconut Cove. We’ve learned never to be surprised by anything that Dakota and the other writers have in store for us.” Which was true. Joey never seemed to change, not that Tony really minded, since he liked his mild-mannered character, but some of the others had gotten huge U-turns since the beginning of season one. Made for exciting read-throughs in the conference room.

  “So, we’re starting this season after the Christmas holidays?”

  “Yep.” Tony nodded. “Since there are so many characters to get to know, the timeline will be slowed down to half a school year per season.”

  “I like that,” Devon said. “Gives us more Coconut Cove.”

  Levi winked at him. “We like that too.”

  “I hear you have a new romance on-screen, Levi.”

  Levi chuckled. “I think it’s been coming for quite some time. Tony and I pretty much expected to be a couple on-screen by the time we came back from break.” Levi looked a little embarrassed. “Looks like we weren’t wrong. But it’s great. We’re good friends anyway, so it’s no big deal.”

  “Friends?” Devon asked, his eyebrows raised high. Tony wanted to sigh. The gossip columns and TV shows were constantly trying to hook him up with one of his two closest friends. They were amazing guys, and totally hot of course, but he’d appreciate if they were treated like actors and not the teenaged characters they played on TV. They were professionals. He forced a laugh. It looked like Levi did too.

  “Well, we’re all pretty close on set. You know how those things go,” Tony said. He realized he’d just made it sound like a massive orgy and blushed hard. On TV. Fantastic.

  “We’d like to!” Devon said with a huge, exaggerated wink. “Anytime you guys want to invite us out for a day on set, feel free.”

  The cast chuckled. Tony knew he wasn’t imagining Levi’s tiny punch on his side. He deserved that. Probably best to keep his mouth shut.

  “What else is happening this season? Any other insights?”

  “You know, we don’t always get to see the scripts ahead of time. I do know that Kelly is a free agent,” Howie said. He grinned, and Tony smacked him on the leg. Half the time he wondered if they should gag Howie before interviews. He never followed protocol. Ever.

  “You aren’t supposed to tell them that part,” he scolded jokingly. Tony hoped he’d made it look like a joke, anyway. As usual, he would’ve happily strangled Howie. Dude never did seem to figure out what not to say.

  “Oh, well, now they know! Kelly is single and ready to mingle. Hopefully they find me, I mean him, a cute boy to kiss all season.”

  “Flynn, what do you have to say about that?”

  Flynn chuckled nervously. They hadn’t prepared any answers for that, because it wasn’t supposed to get out. There was going to be chaos with the fans. Tony sympathized with Flynn. “I’m interested to see how the writers worked that one out. It’ll be interesting to play a single guy again!”

  He did pretty well. Tony was impressed. Howie, on the other hand, was about to get a nice ass-kicking. Tony decided he’d put up with Casey forever if they just wrote Kelly off the damn show. Everyone wanted Howie gone.

  Maybe he could sweet-talk Xara into it….

  FIRST DAY on set. Tony tried to talk himself into relaxing, but he knew it wasn’t going to happen. He was starting off his Coconut Cove career with a scene shared with Blair and the girls. Tony tried to calm his belly down, but it was hard. Damn hard. He’d had to learn more lines for one episode than for most of his career combined.

  “New? They’ve been here for weeks,” Tony whispered. Then he practiced one of Joey’s signature laid-back shrugs.

  The nerves were something he hadn’t expected. After all, he was supposedly an industry veteran, even if it was mostly in the background. The less-experienced actors like Blair were depending on him to be solid.

  He shook it off and headed toward the courtyard set. Blair wasn’t likely to be in any better shape than he was. He’d already filmed a scene earlier in the week, but the poor dude was so green Tony didn’t know how he managed to keep breathing through the day. He remembered his first role ever. It wasn’t one of the central ones in a brand-new prime-time show. Tony would have thrown up daily. He knew Blair would get it, though, with a bit of practice. Bitchy but insecure Ryder was in there. The kid just had to find him and he’d be good to go.

  Tony nearly fell when he ran into a rock-solid chest. He stumbled and managed to right himself with the help of a strong hand under his elbow.

  “H-hey.”

  If I stutter one more time around him, I’m going to punch myself in the face.

  Because it was Casey. Of course it was. They hadn’t had much contact since drinks his first night in town, but he’d know that smell anywhere, and the light chuckle. Tony looked up and was swallowed in Casey’s friendly smile.

  “You doing okay?”

  Tony shrugged. “First day on set. Just a bit of jitters.”

  His shaky hands had nothing to do with Joey and everything to do with the man who made him sweat. Casey seemed oblivious of his effect.

  “You’ll be great. You just have to get this one under your belt, right?”

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  Then Casey did something Tony never expected. He reached up and cupped his cheek, rubbed his thumb gently on the side of Tony’s head. Tony shivered hard and leaned into the touch. It seemed like everything stood still for that one short moment while he nuzzled Casey’s big hand and wondered when this had become his life. He was about to reach up and cover Casey’s hand with his own when it disappeared.

  Casey’s eyes grew wide, slightly panicked. “Um, sorry. You’ll be awesome. I’ve got to go.”

  And in that second, Casey disappeared and Tony was left wondering what the hell had just happened and how he could turn back time and live it again.

&n
bsp; Back on the set

  PART OF Tony couldn’t believe they were back. It felt a little like a surreal high school reunion. Everything looked so very familiar but so alien at the same time. Obviously the fans had found out when they were starting again—someone on the set must’ve clued them in. Even though the set had a lot of restrictions that hadn’t been in place last season, there were tons of people waiting outside in public areas for autographs, hugs, and selfies. Their popularity had grown so much during the year. Tony knew the network had been pimping the return of Coconut Cove like no tomorrow. It had obviously paid off. Which explained the huge crowd outside of the fencing and Howie’s brand-new arena-sized ego. Yeah. Howie’s ego was worse. Tony would’ve said that was impossible. He was sadly more naive than he’d thought.

  “Morning, minions. How’s it feel to start another season as my supporting actors.” Howie grinned at those of the cast who were lucky enough to get first call that morning at butt-fucking too early to do anything but moan and groan.

  It was probably still dark outside, and Tony hadn’t had the ritual latte he’d gotten used to in California. He wouldn’t have a problem taking Howie out. The rest of the cast would probably cheer. He wondered when the producers would pull an Aaron Spelling and ask the writers to chuck Kelly off the show so they wouldn’t have to deal with Howie again. Sadly, Howie’s character was popular, so it wasn’t likely any time soon.

  “Howie, why don’t you fuck off over to a corner somewhere where you won’t get on anyone’s nerves,” Tony muttered. Yes. Day one off to a fantastic start. Ready to be back.

  Tony didn’t think of anything else. Or anyone else. Definitely didn’t look for him either. Fuck.

  “Hey, sweetie!” Eugenia called. She looked at her clipboard. “Looks like no major hair changes for you. I’m just going to freshen up your highlights and do the usual trim and deep condition.”

  Of course. Joey never changed, just like Tony never got to change either. He took another look at his script for the day. He had a lot of scenes, quite a few of them with Flynn. That was a nice change. They hadn’t been in many scenes together in the first season unless it was with the whole cast.

  Tony ran his lines to himself while Eugenia worked on his hair. The dye jobs always took the longest, even if at the end he could barely see what she’d done. He supposed it had to look natural—like tiny little sun-kissed streaks rather than hours in a stylist’s chair. Tony tried to be patient, but he wasn’t the best at sitting still. Never had been, unless he was plunked in front of a video game.

  “Hey there.”

  Tony looked up to see Flynn smiling down at him. He was almost done. He had to be. It felt like he’d been sitting in that chair for all of eternity.

  “You wanna run through our first scene today?” Flynn asked. He had his script in his hand.

  Tony flipped back to that section and nodded. “Yeah. I’m consoling you over your breakup with Kelly.”

  Flynn leaned forward. “I’m not gonna lie,” he whispered. “It’ll be nice having most of my scenes with other people. At least until they decide to hook us up again.”

  Tony didn’t blame him for wanting a break from Howie the Horrible. “You think the writers will put you two back together?”

  “Probably. The fans seemed to like us that way.”

  “Yawn,” Tony said. “I think you’d be better with… I don’t know. Ryder?”

  Flynn burst out laughing. “How weird would that be. The queen of the world and the outsider. We’d be so awkward together.”

  “You’re not an outsider anymore. That was just season one.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Don’t you know how these things work? You’re one of us now. Ryder will probably remind Mack that he used to be a nobody a few times, and then it’ll be back to normal. Anyway, I think Mack and Ryder could work. Sharp tongue and brooding half hippie. You’d even each other out.”

  “I’ll be sure to pass that on to Dakota. He and the other writers will get right on it.” Flynn snorted.

  “You do that.” Tony laughed with him. It was always interesting when they got their new scripts from the writers with the plot twists and make-out sessions, which Joey had quite a few more of than he’d had in season one.

  “Must be nice for you to at least have most of your romantic scenes with Levi and not… well, asshat over there.” He gestured at Howie with his chin.

  Tony shrugged. “I mean, yeah, we’re friends, so that part is cool, but it is a little weird, even if it’s what we’re trained to do.”

  “Make out with your pal?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Like I said. I’d take that any day over you-know-who.”

  Tony laughed again. “He’s Voldemort, now, is he?” He punched Flynn lightly. “Be careful what you wish for. Next thing you know we’ll be locking lips.”

  “They’re never gonna hook Joey up with Mack. Our characters are so platonic.”

  Tony raised his eyebrows. “Never say never.”

  Far stranger things had happened already on Coconut Cove.

  TONY AND Flynn traded lines and tried to slip back into the roles of Joey and Mack while Eugenia finished Tony’s hair. By the time Tony stood up, he was highlighted and blown dry. Plus, he and Flynn had their first few scenes down pat. They were both shuffled through wardrobe and onto the set of Mack’s backyard, where his dads might be. Tony tried to tell his heart not to palpitate. It didn’t quite work.

  Tony had always liked the set for the B and B’s backyard. The property they were using was adjacent to the main set for the school and the interiors. It had an old banyan tree that had been trained into an arch over the years. Beyond that arch was a gorgeous shady oasis with a lawn and then an expansive patio surrounded by palms and hibiscus and more huge sprawling banyans. In the far corner was a deep turquoise pool. If he could have any backyard as his own, Tony would choose that one. As long as a certain person stayed the hell away from it. He and Flynn were situated at one of the umbrella tables, reclined on cushioned chairs with tall drinks and a plate of cookies.

  “Sorry, my dads are a little old-fashioned. I didn’t know you were going to get cookies and lemonade like it’s first grade again,” Flynn said. He managed to make himself look so different when he played Mack. His grown-up face melted into the tough exterior and squishy interior of an insecure teenager. It was kind of amazing to watch. The guy seriously knew his shit. Tony liked working with him.

  Tony let his face relax into a smile as well and tried to ignore the cameramen, Xara, and her assistant, Amy, who hovered nearby.

  “Jeff is cool. Where’s your other dad?” Tony asked. He was glad as hell Evan wasn’t in the scene with them. The last thing he needed was to try to do his job in front of Casey-goddamn-Sherman. If his friendship with Mack was developed over the season, he probably would have to eventually. But it was nice to have a reprieve on day one at least.

  THEY DID a few more takes before Xara called a wrap on that scene. It felt like putting on an old pair of jeans again after they’d been lost in the laundry for months. Comfortable but a bit of an odd fit. Tony figured he’d get used to it all again. He was, after all, happy to be back for the most part.

  “Good, guys. That’s a break. Miss Cook is going to be on set tomorrow, so make sure your lines are perfect, okay?”

  Tony and Flynn both nodded. It was always a bit more stressful when the executive producer was watching and not sitting in her office somewhere doing producery things. She was nice… but she was still in charge of them, their paychecks, and the show’s very existence. No pressure. “We’ve got it, Xara. No problem.”

  “Great. Good work today. Welcome to season two!”

  Everyone shuffled off their marks and stretched their way back into their own personalities. Tony had never seen someone who did it exactly the same way, but they all did it—took a moment to get out of character. It was kind of a weird feeling, like shaking off someone else’s skin.

  “See you at the barbecue
tonight?” he asked Flynn.

  “Of course. We’ll be there.”

  Tony smiled. Flynn and his boyfriend, Seth, were exactly what he wanted to be someday, with a guy. A new guy. Preferably not one who was seasoned and gorgeous and blond with sexy laugh lines and freckles from years in the sun, damn it. Shit. Someday Tony was going to stop thinking about him, if he had to go in his brain and rip every thought out one bloody thread at a time to make it happen.

  TONY WAS wandering back to wardrobe to turn in his pieces for the day when he ran into a solid wall of flesh. He inhaled, and there it was. Bleu de Chanel and fuck, fuck, fuck. Déjà vu.

  “Tony.” There it was. That deep gravelly voice that didn’t turn his feet into swarms of butterflies that wouldn’t hold him up. Nope. Not at all.

  He jerked back hard. It was embarrassing how quickly he reacted. “Hi. Um, Casey. Hey.”

  Fantastic.

  “Hi. How are you?”

  And that’s when he stopped feeling awkward and started feeling mad. He looked up at Casey—sexy Casey with his outdoorsy perma-tan and soft blond curls—and glared hard. “Really? Are you really asking me how I am right now? I’m fantastic. How else would I be?” Tony rolled his eyes.

  He didn’t need this. Not after he’d practically thrown himself at Casey last season, carved out his dumb beating heart and served it on a platter only to have it handed back with a “No thanks, kid.”

  “That’s not fair, Tony.”

  “Fair?” Tony backed away even farther. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “You know what? Screw you. I really don’t have time to get into this again with you. Last time was enough fun. I’ll let you know when my pride is ready for a repeat performance.”

  He turned and fled toward wardrobe. He wanted to get into his own clothes, get his makeup off, and get the hell off set before he ran into Casey again and made another fool of himself. That seemed to be his lot where he and Casey were concerned.