Page 29 of Starring Role

Coop seemed to like the touch, leaning into it tentatively. "I don't know. I really don't want to deal with this now, on top of everything else. I thought I could trust him, but now he's been getting weird about this. Did I miss the signs that he was that kindof agent before? Or am I overreacting to something that's completely normal?"

"I don't think so." Jimmy bit back the words he wanted to add, that it had betternotbe normal—that stuff like that could never be normal. Instead, he settled for, "Even if it was normal, if you didn't want to do it, he should respect that." He dug a little deeper with his thumb, working on a particularly tightmuscle. Coop made a sound in his throat; Jimmy eased up. "Sorry."

"No, don't stop." Coop groaned a little as Jimmy worked his muscles. "That feels good. Thanks."

"Good. Tell me if it doesn't, and I'll stop." Jimmy worked in silence for a bit.

After a moment of silent massaging, Coop said tentatively, "He was going to quit because I was being stubborn about it. Is it weird that I almostwish he had? That phone call was actually an apology—at least partly. He still wanted to change my mind." He sighed. "I can't fire him if he's actually going to stick with it and drop the subject, right? Maybe it's disloyal of me to even think of that. After all, he's been my agent since before I got my big break. He got me the audition for Seth." He sounded once again like he was tryingto convince himself.

"Maybe, butyougot the role," Jimmy reminded him. "It sounds like it's a complicated situation. But, bottom line, it's a work relationship, right? He works for you? If he can't treat you with respect, that's a problem." He'd never met this agent, but he was pretty sure already that he didn't like him.And again, that's not my place.Not now.Not yet.

"Yeah," Coopsaid, still sounding uncertain. "I think I'll—I'll wait and see how I feel about it after a few days, and if things settle back to normal. Really, I don't want to have a legal hassle getting out of the contract, or the trouble of looking for a new agent right now, while I'm barely keeping up with the shooting schedule."

"But you'll keep your eyes open?" prompted Jimmy.

"I'll keep my eyes open."Coop leaned back into Jimmy's hands and sighed. "That feel so good. I wish—"

"I know." Jimmy leaned forward impulsively and kissed him on the neck. "And I'm sorry. But think how much we'll look forward to it after the weekend."

Coop groaned and turned around, putting his arms around Jimmy gingerly and leaning against his chest. Jimmy returned the embrace easily, smiling at how much heenjoyed holding this man.

"I guess," Coop said, muffled against his shirt. "If you're still into me by then."

"I'm pretty sure I will be." Jimmy tightened his grasp a little without meaning to. "Pretty danged sure."

#

The next few days passedin a flurry. Despite their not getting to sleep together, Jimmy's warmth towards Cooper did not flag. He was clear, open, and relaxed withhis affection—a balm to a man who'd learned to be a bit neurotic about relationships.

The shooting schedule eased enough for Cooper to survive it, but it was still pretty hectic and busy.

The weekend arrived, both dreaded and looked forward to, and he tried not to be nervous when they finally headed over to meet the family. It wasn't serious, Coop tried to tell himself; it was just meetingsome fans of the show, and the family of his friend. As much as he might want to jump straight into being boyfriends, they might just be friends with benefits—and that was okay, he told himself. Hopefully, it would be okay. They were so easy together, even when Coop was a bunch of insecurity and nerves. How could they not be friends? It was only the rest of it that was up for debate. Orrather, that time would tell about.

He'd fixed his hair well and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt under a jeans jacket, hoping he'd look relaxed and down to earth. He felt far from relaxed; his gaze in the mirror as he checked his appearance for the final time felt reproachful, as if he wanted to warn himself not to get his hopes up or expect too much from this.

Sometimes, Coop felt like a fragmentedbunch of people in one body, and sometimes in the mirror he felt like he saw one of them looking back at him that he wasn't expecting: a character he'd played, or the child he'd been in the past, or the wary teen, or someone completely different, a stranger he hadn't met yet. This wasn't something he told anyone about. It sounded weird enough to him; to anyone else, it would probably makehim sound like a big bag of crazy.

If he was going to be a guest, he really didn't want to show up empty-handed. It was all well and good to be invited, but he'd still be a guest, and he really should bring something. That brought up a whole new thing to debate over.

When Jimmy arrived to take him over, Coop said, "Can we stop somewhere to get some flowers or something, a hostess presentfor your mom? I don't know, is wine better? Whatever you think."

Jimmy held up his hands. "It's not a dinner party. You don't have to bring anything." He was still running his gaze over Cooper in a fascinated sort of way that made Coop want to ask if he was wearing the wrong clothes, or take them off completely so they could do something else entirely.

"Well, I'd like to, anyway, if itwon't be too weird. I don't think I should show up empty-handed to meet your family."

"Yeah, that's fine. We can buy something on the way. Mom like chocolates, so that would be better. Dude." He reached out and lightly chucked Coop's chin, but the way his eyes were lit, it wasn't a bro move at all. "You need to chill out. It's going to be fine. You look really nice, by the way."

"DoI? Good."

"Oh, and be cool if people ask for your autograph, okay? They really liked you on the show, and everybody enjoyed episode two, too."

"Oh. Thanks. That's great." Autographs? Well, damn. Maybe this would go well after all, if that was how they were feeling. It still felt like a sort of 'meet the parents' scrutiny ahead of him, but perhaps he could pretend it was just meetingsome fans of the show. "They're going to know I'm nervous, aren't they?"

"I don't think anyone would miss that. But, honestly, it'll be fine. If it's too much, we'll just leave early. Okay? Just catch my eye, and I'll figure it out and make an excuse. Maybe I could text you, and you can say you're needed somewhere else."

"Okay." Coop was relieved by the generous offer. Would Jimmy reallybe able to read at a glance if he wanted to escape? Probably. "Thanks." He laid his hand on Jimmy's arm as they left the hotel together, and then let it linger a bit because, damn, Jimmy had fine arms.

After a quick stop at the local grocery store for a large but non-gaudy box of chocolates (nothing bright red in a heart shape; it wasn't Valentine's Day), he then hopped back into Jimmy's carand was treated with another of those hungry up-and-down looks.