Page 18 of Quiet
“I said, line!”
He kept trying to bring himself out of it, but every time he managed to focus on the teacher, he flashed to Briar’s large hands stroking along his sides, or the way the man had looked at Isa while he’d been kneeling in front of him.
Isa touched his cheek.
“Isa, where did you go, man? Where is it? Looks nice, can we come too?”
He knew Briar was just being Briar. Navigating a world parallel to Isa’s but not the same. The expression on his face didn’t mean what it looked like. Isa knew that. During both intensive modeling sessions, it had become clear to Isa that Briar was doing the extreme focus thing about his art that Bea had explained.
Isa was part of an art project. Nothing more.
Fingers snapped in his face and Isa jerked back, startled.
“Are you okay? From your expressions, it looked like you were having quite a rollercoaster ride in there,” Ryan asked, a look of concern wrinkling his brow.
“No, I’m fine.” Isa assured him, holding out his script to show he was paying attention.
“That’s complete shit.” Will announced as he breezed onto the stage. “One, you’re holding the script upside down. And two, your face is red as a tomato. Spill, sweetheart. What’s going on to make you leave our poor Benedick twisting in the wind like that?” He gestured to the scene in front of them. Sara was shooting the nastiest look at Isa.
“Huh?” What was he supposed to be doing right now? He’d shown up on set and vaguely remembered someone shoving a script into his hands.
“You’re the prompter today, Isa. Get with the program!” Sara shouted.
“Crap!” Isa flipped through the script, but for the life of him couldn’t remember what line they were on. Or what scene. “What page are we on?”
Sara came over. The irritation on her face slipped away and was replaced with concern. “What’s wrong, Isa? This isn’t like you.”
Isa didn’t even know where to begin. Especially since there was so much he was going to have to leave out. If his friends even got a whiff of him having an interest in someone, Isa’s life would be over. He’d never have a moment’s peace again.
“Oh, I think I can guess. It was the modeling session, wasn’t it?” Will said with a knowing smile.
Was he being that obvious?
“How did you know?” Isa began to slowly strangle the life out of the script in his hands.
“Are you kidding? Our precious baby boy? Prancing around naked in front of strangers? Of course, we’d know you were uncomfortable.” Will patted him on the head.
“Hey!” Isa pulled away in annoyance. He and Will were the same age. Just because Isa had come from a sheltered background didn’t make him a baby.
“Hold on.” Ryan butted in. “Did you actually have to model nude?”
“Um . . .” Isa avoided his friend’s eyes.
“Christ, Isa. You mean you were actually naked?”
“Not totally,” Isa said reluctantly, his cheeks flaming. “I had on my underwear.”
“What the fuck, man? I thought everyone was just joking.” Ryan put a hand on Isa’s shoulder. “Don’t go there alone next time.”
“Why not?”
“Why not? He doesn’t even know . . . Aside from your complete obliviousness? Just look at you, shorty!” Ryan passed a hand over Isa’s head emphasizing their height difference. “Not to mention how adorable you are. Your face tells everyone who can see it just how sweet and innocent you are. They might take advantage of you.”
Isa fought through the burn in his cheeks to say, “They were really respectful, Ryan. Not everyone is awful.”
“And not everyone is good, either,” Will said. There was an uncharacteristic glint of steel in his eyes that spoke of darkness and loss.
“Tell me next time you’re going. If I can’t come, I’ll send someone,” Ryan said firmly.
