Page 63 of The Home Game

“I suppose not,” Antoni said. “But the difference isn’t that extreme.”

“Yeah, fair.” Matty rolled the beer bottle between his palms. “Maybe it’s like a job plus a little bit of acting.”

“Like a persona?”

“Um.” Matty tried to remember if he actually knew what that word meant. He kinda wished he’d paid more attention in school growing up. Then again, wasn’t like they’d really encouraged him once he showed he was good at sports.

Antoni seemed so smart though and Matty was kinda envious.

“Or a role?” Antoni offered.

“Yeah,” Matty said gratefully. “It’s kind of a role. Not exactly a character. I mean, I really do get pissed off when people go after Dustin or Colton or Dom or whatever but when we’re off the ice, I’ll have a beer with the guy who gave me a black eye. No hard feelings, you know?”

“I get that, I guess,” Antoni said. “Not so different from acting really then.”

“Probably.” Matty had tried acting in a car commercial once and been really, really bad. No one had ever asked him to do it again.

“I mean … think about straight actors who do scenes like this.” Antoni nodded at the screen to where Preston Graves was kissing his co-star. “I dunno who the other guy is, but even if he’s straight, he probably feels something in the moment, even if he’s not gonna act on it outside of the scene. Though probably having tons of cameras makes everything less sexy.”

“Probably,” Matty agreed. “But I guess we never know who is really straight or gay or bi or whatever anyway. That guy could be totally into it for a lot of reasons.”

“True,” Antoni agreed. “I do know it was a big deal when Preston Graves came out.”

“I remember that,” Matty said. “There was a big scandal, right?”

“Yeah, he got caught doing kinky stuff in real life.”

“Ugh,” Matty made a face. “I hate the gossip crap.”

“Yeah, must be weird,” Antoni agreed. “I know Preston and his husband did some interviews talking about how the scandal got them back together. So maybe it wasn’t all bad. They are really cute together, even if his husband is super shy.”

“Yeah?” Matty glanced over. “I don’t think I know what the husband looks like.”

“You’ve never seen pics of them together?”

Matty shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Or if I did, I didn’t pay a lot of attention.”

“Oh, so they’re …” Antoni patted his pocket. “Crap, I left my phone upstairs.”

Matty pulled his out, unlocked it, and handed it over. “Use mine.”

“Cool, thanks.” Antoni typed something in and held the phone out. “There. Preston Graves and Blake Aldrich.”

Matty studied the screen. “Oh, huh. You look a little like him.”

“Who? Blake Aldrich?” Antoni’s forehead wrinkled.

“No, Preston. I didn’t really think about it before but you know, the dark hair and the jaw and stuff, maybe.” They kinda had similar lips too.

“Mmm.” Antoni didn’t look convinced. “If you say so. I don’t think I look anything like a Hollywood actor. You kinda look like Blake Aldrich though.”

“You think so?” Matty squinted at the picture. “I guess we have a similar build.”

“Yeah, he’s ho—uh, pretty strong-looking.”

Matty had been thinking more like thick around the middle but he’d take the compliment.

“I’m kinda surprised a Hollywood star like Preston went for a regular guy like Blake Aldrich,” Matty admitted. “He’s an artist or something, right?”

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