Page 6 of Best Supporting Actor
Mason slid into a chair. He sighed. “Yeah, black Americano.”
“Mind if I have a cappuccino?”
“Why would I mind?” Mason looked surprised.
Tag grabbed two cups and grinned at him. “I’ve seen the way you eye my milk foam and chocolate sprinkles. You’re practically green sometimes.”
Mason laughed, his cheeks pinkening adorably. He really was very cute. Not Tag’s type, not really, but yeah, objectively, he was gorgeous.
“Okay, you’ve got me there,” Mason admitted. “I love a cappuccino, but I can’t afford the empty calories.” He eyed his perfectly flat stomach glumly.
“I hear you,” Tag said sympathetically. Like Mason, Tag viewed his body as a professional tool that needed to be taken care of. He went to the gym, ran, and did yoga to keep himself strong, fast, and flexible, and he ate pretty healthily. Even so, he knew he enjoyed quite a bit more dietary leeway than Mason did as a model. Which—thankfully—meant he could easily afford the breakfast panini he was planning on eating later. He’d wait till Mason was gone, though. No point torturing the poor guy with the smell of hot bacon.
The cappuccino, however, was non-negotiable.
While the espressos trickled out into the cups, Tag steamed the milk.
“You’re looking very sexy this morning,” he said, sending Mason a suggestive grin. “Have you done something different with your hair?”
Mason rolled his eyes. “Flirting at this time of the morning? Really?”
Tag chuckled. “There’s never a bad time to flirt. Besides, youarelooking sexy this morning. Not that you everdon’tlook sexy.” He batted his lashes theatrically, and Mason gave a helpless sort of laugh.
“You really are incorrigible,” he said, shaking his head, but he was smiling.
“It’s a gift,” Tag said lightly, sprinkling his cappuccino with chocolate, then carrying the cups over to the table and sliding into the seat opposite Mason, pushing the Americano towards him. “So, is there a reason you decided to pop by this morning?”
“Not really,” Mason said, sipping his coffee. Then he shrugged. “I suppose I wanted to see a friendly face before this shoot. Roger, the photographer, can be a real dick.”
Tag made a sympathetic face. “Yeah? What’s he like?”
Mason launched into an anecdote about his last shoot with Roger Mather. He’d kept calling MasonJason, spent the whole day in a furious tantrum, and at one point had yelled at him to“move his fat ass”out of the way of one of the other models. Tag was suitably horrified. He immediately googled the guy and soon had Mason giggling over a series of unfortunate pap photos.
“Okay,” he said at last, setting his phone down. “Enough of that loser. Let’s think about something you can look forward to after the shoot. Have you got any fun stuff planned this week?”
Mason thought. Then he quirked a smile. “Well, I do have my next fake date with Jay later this week.”
Tag frowned. “Wait, isn’t it my turn next? Weren’t you just at that perfume launch party with him the other night? I saw you got papped together—and your ’gram selfies were on point as usual.” Mason and Jay had looked gorgeous together, their smiles so bright and genuine that Tag had sourly wondered if the fake dating might be turning into something real.
Mason looked a bit taken aback for some reason. “Oh, um…” he said awkwardly. “I didn’t think that counted. Since it was, you know, an industry event.”
An unwelcome wave of resentment washed over Tag. He tried to push the feeling aside. It was stupid to mind that Mason had taken Jay instead of him. Mason was free to go wherever he wanted, with whoever he wanted, and of course he’d choose someone famous for an event like that—someone who would attract the paps and get him all the press attention he needed to keep his Instagram audience growing. He’d hardly get that with Tag, an unknown actor with only one TV commercial and a few drama school productions to his name.
But even knowing he was being stupid, Tag couldn’t help but feel resentful and a bit defeated. As much as he liked Mason as a friend, the main reason he was doing the fake dating stuff was to get his face out there and known. To try to create the same sort of buzz around himself that Mason had built so successfully around his own profile. The thing thatreallyannoyed him, though, was that, while Tag would have loved to do that launch event, it probably meant nothing to Jay Warren. Jay had only elbowed in on the fake dating thing in the first place to piss Tag off. To put Tag in his place.
Well, Jay Warren could go and fuck himself.
Shoving his resentment down, Tag pasted a smile on his face. “So,” he said cheerfully. “Where’s Jay taking you on your next date?”
Mason had been eyeing him uncertainly, but now his smile returned. “Oh, I’m not actually sure. He said to wrap up warm, though, and that it’s something festive.”
“Hmm, I wonder what that could be?” Tag said, tapping his chin. “Christmas market maybe? Mulled wine under the stars?”
Mason grinned. “Well, it’s a daytime date, so definitely no stars.”
“Mysterious,” Tag said, then yelped when he glanced at the clock on the wall. “Shit. I need to open up. Do you want another coffee? We can chat while I work.”
“No, thanks,” Mason said, getting to his feet. “I should get moving too. Don’t want to rile up Roger unnecessarily.”