Action

by Quinn Anderson

  “Fuck off,” Pete said cheerfully. “How’s that for a bad word?”

  Joshua pretended to fan himself. “Why I never! Much as I would love to trade blows with you, we have a lot of inventory to get through. Grab that box over there and start counting.”

  Pete did as he was told, even though Joshua and he had the same rank. He didn’t mind, as long as something actually needed to be done. However, those times when Joshua ordered him to stack syrup bottles in the shape of bowling pins and play Stockroom Strike with him, he was far less willing to acquiesce.

  They worked together in silence for several minutes. Before long, Pete fell into a rhythm: open a box, count cups and boxes of tea, and scratch numbers onto his inventory log. Wash, rinse, repeat. The monotony of it drowned out thought. For the first time in a week, he went fifteen whole minutes without thinking about Kyle.

  Damn. In his head, the counter reset to zero.

  “So, what’s going on with you?” Joshua asked casually.

  Pete didn’t look up from the box he was prying open. “Why do you ask?”

  “I’m just making conversation.”

  Pete’s skepticism must have shown on his face, because Joshua dropped the casual act. “You looked like you were a hundred miles away just then. And to see a robot like you actually make a facial expression means something must have gone down.” He paused. “Not that I care.”

  “Oh, of course not,” Pete deadpanned.

  “So, what is it? Boy troubles?”

  “Why do people keep assuming it’s a boy?”

  “Because we’re all praying it is,” Joshua teased. “I’ve never met someone wound as tight as you. You need to get some action, stat.”

  Pete smiled serenely. “Ah, yes, that must be it. I’m suffering from a dearth of sexual activity.”

  Chances were he got laid more often than Joshua did. Not that Joshua was unattractive—blond, green eyes, nice face—and he certainly talked about his ventures at the local gay clubs often enough. He seldom mentioned hookups, though, either because it wasn’t work appropriate (unlikely), or because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut long enough for anyone to go home with him. Pete had gotten over his initial workplace crush on him by the end of his first day.

  He managed to dodge the rest of Joshua’s invasive questions until his shift ended a little after two in the afternoon. He gathered his belongings, waved good-bye to Sana, and then headed for LACC’s campus. It was a twenty-minute walk to class when the weather was nice. At this time of year, Pete made it in fifteen.

  When he arrived at CO SCI 104—Mathematics for Programmers—class was just about to start. The computer lab was filled to the brim, as per usual. Generally, the afternoon lectures were jam-packed, whereas the morning ones were populated solely by Pete and a handful of other nerds who never got invited to parties.

  One such student waved at him from the back row. Pete hurried to grab the computer next to him before anyone else could pounce.

  “Hey, Raj,” he said when he was close enough.

  “Yo,” Raj said back, grinning. “Want to play Minecraft with me?”

  “I would, but I actually have to take notes today. I hear the midterm is going to have us all praying.”

  Raj stuck his tongue out at him and turned back to his computer, where he already had the game booted up. He was the only friend Pete had managed to make in the Computer Science Department, and that was only because Raj had sat next to him one day and struck up a conversation. It was nice having someone to discuss programming with. Even his own mother’s eyes glassed over when he started talking binary.

  He threw his bag down next to his seat and settled in. Thankfully, his computer was already on, so when Professor Whiton appeared at the front of the class, he was ready to go. Whiton wasted no time getting into the day’s topic: probability theory. She fired off notes almost faster than he could type, barely pausing for breath. She only let up to take questions. Pete was proud to say he had none.

  He opened up an internet browser and googled their homework portal while she fielded a question about discrete integers Pete remembered from last semester. He logged in and then clicked the Recent Assignments tab. He almost cheered out loud when he saw no new entries. Thank God. He had big plans for the weekend, and having to study was not part of them.

  His thoughts strayed to what Colette had told him at the end of the last shoot. Filming would take place over the course of the next several weeks. She’d more or less ordered Pete to drop his other projects and concentrate solely on Heat Wave. He’d agreed, failing to mention that he had absolutely nothing else lined up anyway.

  Colette was willing to work around his schedule, to a certain extent, but she’d made it clear he’d be scheduled on weekends once she confirmed dates. That worked out great, as far as school was concerned. He only had class Monday through Thursday anyway. His job, however, was another story. He might be able to pull it off, since he usually worked Friday nights, and porn was more of a day gig, but there were no guarantees. If something came up, he’d have to hope Sana was feeling generous. Of his two bosses, she seemed less likely to murder him if he asked for a day off.

  Pete sighed to himself. He prayed his schedule would work itself out. Not because he thought Sana would mind, but because he didn’t want to feel like he was letting her down, or worse, hiding something from her. Which, of course, he was.

  He checked back into the lecture to see if they’d moved on to anything new. Whiton was giving an in-depth answer to a basic question about data compression. Nope. A glance to Raj revealed he was engrossed in his game. Pete wondered why Raj had even bothered to show up.

  Opening a new browser tab, he logged on to Facebook. He hardly ever posted anything—for a variety of reasons—but it was better than fretting about Kyle for the umpteenth time. He scrolled through his newsfeed, which featured memes, political tirades, and pictures of food. The usual.

  He stopped when he saw a status from his mom talking about how she’d tried to make risotto and had blackened their best (and only) saucepan. He shook his head and typed a comment begging her to cook only when the fire department was on standby. She responded within seconds, flooding him with laughing emojis. Sometimes he regretted teaching her to text.

  Pete scrolled for another few minutes, one ear cocked toward the professor, before boredom overtook him again. He opened a third tab and stared at the blank search bar, wondering what he should do next.

  An idea popped into his head, and he found himself typing before he could think it through. He entered Kyle Darko into the search bar. The results took all of two seconds to pop up, and when they did, he was grateful he was sitting in the back. He quickly turned on SafeSearch, and the graphic images disappeared again, leaving links to a variety of porn websites. The school’s firewall would block them if he tried to click on them, but he could still read their metadata.

  Pete skimmed their titles: Hot Str8 Boyz, eXXXotica.com, GurlsNGays, and more. It looked like a good mix of both straight and gay sites. So, Kyle was a true crossover, then. Emphasis on was if what Colette had told him was true. Pete tried not to speculate about other people’s sexual orientations, but at least one mystery about Kyle had been solved: he liked men. All question of him being gay for pay had been obliterated from Pete’s brain the moment their lips had touched. Kyle might be faking his interest in Pete, but his interest in men was sincere.

  Clearing his throat, he clicked the next button. Another page of results loaded. He wasn’t certain what he was looking for. Maybe a personal website or a wiki page. If Kyle was new to porn, though, he might not have his own site yet. Pete had opted for a blog, which he hadn’t posted on in weeks. At least it was free.

  He made it through another page without finding anything more interesting than a brief interview Kyle had done for a local skin mag. It consisted of two questions: what were Kyle’s favorite scenes to film, and what did Kyle find most sexy? Much as Pete was loath to admit it, he’d hastened t
o read the answer to the latter. Kyle was most attracted to confidence. Figured.

  Maybe he should give up. Hmm. He decided to try his luck at one more page. He perked up when it loaded. The first result was a Facebook page for Kyle Darko. Pete’s heart spasmed against his ribs.

  He clicked the link and jiggled his leg with impatience as he waited for it to load.

  When it did, he almost didn’t know how to react. He spent a long minute staring blankly at the profile. It wasn’t a fan page, like he’d expected, but a public profile. With friends and wall posts and pictures and everything. It looked as though Kyle actually used it.

  Pete stared, mind whirring. Did Kyle have friends who knew he was a porn star? It couldn’t be. He clicked on the About Me section. Links to the same websites Pete had seen earlier popped up, in addition to an online portfolio. Beneath that, there was a space for a bio, in which was written: “Lover by Trade. Porn Star by Name. Check out my work if you want to see what all the fuss is about.”

  Well, that clinched it. This page was definitely run by Kyle. That sounded just like him.

  Pete scrolled through his wall. He told himself that he was just confirming what he already knew, but that was a lie. In truth, he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to learn more about him. This was the first real insight he’d gotten into his mysterious costar.

  Kyle wasn’t from California like Pete was. He was originally from Miami, which actually made sense. His in-your-face attitude was much more East Coast than West Coast. And he had tons of friends. Tons. His wall was covered in page after page of posts inviting him to drinks or proclaiming what fun they’d had with him at such-and-such event. There were plenty of posts from guys too, saying how hot he was and entreating him to work with them. That part made Pete kind of proud. Out of all these potential partners, Kyle had chosen him.

  He checked out Kyle’s family information next, though he didn’t expect to find anything. Kyle might have friends on his page, but surely he wasn’t out to his parents.

  To his immense surprise, there were five people listed as his siblings, including a woman named Vivian who looked so much like him there was no question she was his sister.

  Pete spent a minute processing this information. Kyle had siblings, and they knew he was in porn. Christ. He couldn’t even fathom that. To a lesser extent, he was also surprised to learn Kyle wasn’t an only child. He’d sort of pegged him as one.

  As that thought resonated in his head, he finally realized how creepy he was being. Stalking his coworker on social media. It was a public page, but still, he was months deep into his profile. No one with a mere passing interest in him would be looking at his beach photos from this past summer.

  Pete closed the tab, mentally berating himself even as he was grateful he finally knew something about Kyle. As if he needed fuel to feed this weird fixation he was developing. Why was he spending time on a dude who blew so hot and cold, he reminded Pete of the broken AC in his car? He needed to get a grip. Especially considering he had no idea what things would be like the next time they saw each other.

  Admit it, said a traitorous voice in the back of his head, you like Kyle. And as much as you keep denying it, you think he likes you too.

  In his head, Pete jabbed the Escape key, shutting that line of thinking down. The last thing he needed was a crush on a coworker. Office romances were just as messy in porn as they were everywhere else. Sometimes even more so, in a literal sense.

  And there was still the small matter of how much Kyle looked like Pete’s ex. That added a whole double layer of weird to the situation. Pete had done his best to push that fact out of his brain, but now he had to wonder if some part of him didn’t think Kyle was a second chance at making things work with him.

  He put his face in his hands. God, why did this have to be so complicated?

  Mercifully, Whiton interrupted his thoughts by announcing when their first exam would be and where they could find the study guide for it. Pete looked at his notes. He had a grand total of three paragraphs typed. Damn.

  Pete was lying on his bed, staring at his ceiling—as was his default brooding position these days—when his phone rang next to him. He turned his head to look at it, and upon seeing Colette’s name, rocketed up into a sitting position.

  For a full ring, he watched it, apprehension creeping through him like mist over the surface of a lake. She could be calling to schedule their next filming session, or to ask what the hell he’d done to Kyle. Either way, at least the waiting game was over.

  He snatched his phone up before it could ring again. “Hey. What’s up?”

  “Morning, sunshine,” Colette said.

  So far, so good.

  He switched ears. “Good morning.”

  “You sound awful. Rough night?”

  “Kind of. I didn’t sleep well.” He felt a little better already, though. If she were calling to fire him from the project, she wouldn’t be so jovial. She’d told him once that turnover was expensive.

  “Hopefully my news will cheer you up. Remember when I said I’d call when Yolanda and I had the schedule worked out?”

  “Of course.” He leaned forward with anticipation even though she couldn’t see him.

  “Well, my little starlet, the time has come. We’ve got the next session all planned out.”

  He pumped a fist silently in the air. “When are we filming?”

  “That’s part one of why I called. We’re not filming.”

  “Why not?”

  “I promised you some modeling work, didn’t I? It’s promo pic time.”

  “Ah. I see.” That was pretty standard. “What do you need from me? Head shots? I have work in an hour, but I can stop by the office tomorrow and see the photographer.”

  “Actually, that’s part two. Since you and Darko play so well off each other, we want to do a joint photo shoot.”

  His relief morphed into shoulder-hunching tension. “Joint as in me and Kyle? Together? At the same time?”

  “That is what the word ‘joint’ generally means, yes. Problem?”

  “No,” he blurted out. “No problem. It’s just, I’ve never modeled with a partner before.”

  “Then it’ll be good experience. And since I promised there wouldn’t be any nudity, you can even use these shots in your mainstream portfolio. Assuming, of course, that the agencies you’re looking at don’t mind some homoerotic subtext. From my understanding of the fashion industry, they don’t.”

  He laughed, despite the airplane-sized butterflies zooming around in his stomach. “I do need to update my portfolio.”

  “Perfect. Oh, and FYI, the photo shoot is going to be beach themed. We’ll provide wardrobe, so you don’t need to bring anything special. Just be ready to make love to the camera this Friday, eight in the morning, at the office. After the show you and Darko gave last time, I’m looking forward to a truly sizzling performance.”

  Gulp. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Got any questions for me before I let you go?”

  He hesitated, words rolling around on his tongue. If he were smart, he’d leave it alone, but nothing he’d done lately could be categorized as smart. “Not about the photo shoot, no.”

  “Something else on your mind?”

  If Kyle were upset, he might have confided in Colette. She’d give it to Pete straight if he’d done something wrong, and then he could make sure he never did it again. Pete couldn’t pass up an opportunity to hear the truth. “I was just wondering . . . did Kyle say anything to you after we filmed the teaser? About me?”

  There was a pregnant pause. “You mean about your performance, or what?”

  “I don’t know. Anything.” He winced. He had the vocal equivalent of a bad poker face.

  “He had to leave right after we wrapped, so I didn’t get to talk to him then. But when I called him earlier to tell him we were doing a photo shoot, he sounded excited.”

  Pete exhaled slowly. Joyce must have been mistaken, which meant Pete had bee
n tormenting himself for no reason. He was too relieved to mind. Just to be sure, he asked, “He didn’t seem freaked out or anything?”

  “Why would he be freaked out?”

  “No reason, I guess. He just ran off so quickly after filming ended . . . I wanted to make sure everything was okay, and it sounds like it is. Forget I said anything.”

  Colette was silent for a long moment. “You know, this isn’t the first time you’ve asked me about Darko. You don’t normally mention your costars to me. Why the sudden interest?”

  “I’m not interested,” Pete lied. “I was just looking for feedback.”

  Colette paused yet again, and cold sweat sprang up on Pete’s brow.

  “Look, Jaden, I’m going to be frank with you—”

  Uh-oh. Now he’d done it.

  “—I think you’re losing sight of why you’re here. We’re making a movie, and as much as I want you and Darko to get along, this is a job, not high school. There’s no place for all this he-said-she-said bullshit on my set. Things need to be kept professional at all times. Understood?”

  Pete had to take a deep breath before his throat loosened enough for him to say, “Yes.”

  “Are you sure? Darko said you were the right choice for this, and I thought you were as well, but the way you’ve been acting lately doesn’t instill faith in me. I need to know that you’re committed to Heat Wave before we proceed. If you don’t think you can handle a project of this magnitude, there’s still ample time to replace you.”

  Pete’s veins filled with ice. “I’m fully committed, I swear. I want this role. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it work.”

  “Will you? You’ve always been quiet, and more than a little insecure, but those are internal problems. I’ve never seen you let someone else throw you off your game. If you can promise me right now you’ll get it together, I’ll believe you.”

  Pete swallowed thickly. To his surprise, his answer came out smooth and even. “I’ll get it together, Colette. I swear. It won’t happen again.”