Page 24 of Scrap Metal & Love Reforged

“I’m such a good actor that people don’t believe it’s me,” I replied.

Brandon downed the rest of his coffee. It was almost as if I could hear his taste buds crying in pain.

My phone beeped again.

“Maybe I should back up, though. I met this guy who I kind of like. At first, I thought he was an asshole, but I’m starting to change my opinion. We went to this thing together, and he was really nice. I mean, he was excited about everything, too. It was infectious.”

Hm. Good for Old Blue. His romantic pursuits seemed to be going much better than mine. Aside from a short fling with Celeste from Brandon's film, I’d been single for months. Maybe it was weird, but I wanted someone in my life—someone to be involved with.

And with a rush of embarrassment, I realized that Troy would’ve been great, but I really needed to rein in my enthusiasm. He wasn’t interested. Or if he was, he didn’t want to pursue a relationship, and I didn’t want him to think I was pushing too hard or in a direction he didn’t like.

“I’m glad,”I answered. “It’s good that you’re getting out and having fun.”

“But hopefully,” Brandon continued, “We’ll be able to work out some problems on the second film. At least, I’ll have some idea how it’s all supposed to work by then.”

I nodded. Admittedly, Brandon’s first film experience had been a disaster, chaotic. And while disorganization never bothered me, I’d seen the problems it could cause with a film production.

“Maybe your lead actress won’t drop out this time,” I said.

Brandon groaned and ran his hand through his hair. The poor man looked as though he was remembering some terrible nightmare, and really, he might be. “That was rough,” he muttered.

I leaned back in my chair, toying with my phone between my fingers. “We stayed up all night trying to fix the script around that,” I said, “And it was a huge mess with all of us working on it. Nothing made sense or fitted together.”

“But the end result,” Brandon said, “was quite good.”

His eyes shone with pride, and I nodded, unable to muster a snide remark. Brandon was proud of his movie, and rightly so.

“I’m glad you found your niche,” I said honestly, “And even if it meant having to cut ties with your parents, I still think you made the right choice doing that.”

“Thanks. I do, too.” Brandon sighed, his lips twitching into a soft, fond smile. “And of course, it helps that Alex is so supportive. He knowssomuch more stuff than me, too. It’sreally quite incredible. Even though we’re the same age, I feel like he has his life much more together than I do.”

“Alex has a level head,” I said. “You’ve always been a bit…emotional. That’s not quite what I mean, though. Romantic, maybe.”

“That’s probably fair,” Brandon said. “I feel like Alex does a lot to bring me down to earth.”

Beep.

“So, when are the two of you going to get married?” I asked.

“I went to this movie premiere with a guy.”

I stared at my screen for a few seconds, as if waiting for the words to change. Itcouldn’tbe. No way this was Troy. Ithadto be a coincidence. After all, going to movies was a pretty common date option.

“We haven’t talked about getting married,” Brandon replied. “Alex wants to take things slow and to get to a place where we can make ends meet without having to worry about money and such.”

WasthisTroy? When I thought about it, the two of themdidhave quite a bit in common. Both of them were really into cars, and both of them professed to be awkward around other people. Andnow,they’d both gone to movie premieres on the same night.

But Old Blue had a hard time getting close to people because of his brother’s death or something like that. I wasn’t entirely clear on which or how the two related, but they clearly did in some way. If this was Troy, he’d be horrifiedIknew about his brother—and that wasn’t what he wanted.

“Seth?” Brandon asked. “You aren’t looking up engagement rings, are you?”

“No,” I replied slowly. “Actually, I was just looking at something a friend of mine said online. I think one of…I think this might be Troy.”

“You think?”

“I have this friend onDiscord, who I follow and talk with sometimes. And I think he might actually be Troy.”

Beep!