Chapter 4

Brandon poked his head out from under the covers and peered at the bedside clock. 1.34pm. It was way too early to get up. He groaned and retreated under the quilt again, not wanting to move for the rest of the day. Moving was way too overrated, anyway.

He had barely dozed off again when his cell phone started vibrating urgently on the dresser. Cursing under his breath, Brandon threw aside the covers and reached for his phone, reading the text message. It was Lonnie, asking him where the hell he was, and why he wasn't at the lunch. Crap. He had forgotten all about that.

After haphazardly brushing his teeth and running his fingers through his hair, he threw on his favorite leather jacket, stuffing his phone into his pocket. A quick glance at the hallway mirror made him grimace, but he had no time to slap some gel on his hair or find some decent jeans. If the paps wanted to snap a picture of him looking like he had just rolled out of bed, then fuck them. He seriously couldn't care less.

Thanks to decent traffic conditions downtown, he managed to make it to the restaurant in ten minutes without knocking anyone down. After parking his car in the lot, he jumped up the stairs, considerably more awake. The maitre'd was frowning, about to stop him from entering, probably because of his attire. But recognition dawned on his face when he realised who Brandon was, smiling instead. "Ah, Monsieur Beck, so glad to see you again."

"Yeah, thanks." Brandon really couldn't stand phonies. "I'm supposed to be joining Jake Klosterman for lunch-"

"Of course. They're waiting for you. Right this way." The maitre'd bowed, before leading Brandon to a private table at the back. Trying not to roll his eyes, Brandon followed him silently, spotting Jake and Lonnie already deep in conversation, and a tall, leggy brunette with them who was probably Lonnie's new assistant. All three of them smiled as he approached the table.

"Brand, my man!" Jake got up, bumping fists with Brandon. "Glad you could make it!"

"Yeah, it must be hard, waking up so early," Lonnie drawled, making the brunette next to him chuckle.

"Aw, cut him some slack, Lon." Jake sat down again. He handed one of the menus to Brandon. "We already ordered, we didn't know if you were gonna show."

"Course I would." Brandon grinned as he flipped open the menu. "Wouldn't miss a meeting with an old bastard like you, would I?"

"Please, please, enough with the flattery." Jake held up his hands in mock defence.

Brandon turned his attention to the brunette next to Lonnie. "Hi, I'm Brandon." He held out his hand.

"Sharon." She smiled, shaking it warmly.

"Marissa's replacement," Lonnie informed him. "Be careful with this one, Sharon. Can't count the number of times I've posted bail for him."

"Kiss my ass, Lon." Brandon grinned at his agent before a waiter appeared, ready with a notepad. "Hi, can I get the crab burger with a side of fries?"

The waiter nodded as he scribbled the order down. "Would you like some wine with that, sir?"

"Just a glass of the house red is fine." Brandon handed him the menu, nodding his thanks as the waiter left. He looked expectantly at Jake. "So what's this lunch about? I'm sure it's just not another of Lonnie's usual bitching sessions."

"Hardy har har." Lonnie's hand shot out to swat at his head, which he neatly ducked. "Jake says he's got a fine old script for you, boy. So you'd better listen up."

"One of the best scripts I've ever seen," Jake announced, which made Brandon perk up a little. "You know Reiko Tamako, right?"

"Course, who doesn't?" Brandon had seen all of her movies at least twice. "It's written by her?"

"Yup. It's a buddy picture. About firemen," Lonnie said.

"Well, no, not really." Jake was hesitant, and this made Brandon all the more intrigued. "Not exactly a buddy picture-"

"Then what? Don't tell me they're gay." Lonnie chuckled, leaning back in his seat as he winked at Brandon, who was grinning too.

However, Jake wasn't smiling. "What if they were?"

"Oh." Brandon exchanged a glance with Lonnie, who simply shrugged. It was his call now.

"Here, take a look at the script, then tell me what you think." Jake took out a copy from his LV messenger bag, handing it to Brandon. "We really, really want you to play Paul."

Skimming through a few random pages throughout the script, Brandon barely looked up, even when the waiters were starting to serve the food. In the end, he looked up at Jake, quiet and solemn. "Who are you guys getting to play the other lead?"

Now Jake really looked uncomfortable. "We're still in talks, but..."

"Aw, cut the bullshit, Jake." Brandon handed the script back to him, a little pissed. "You know me better than that. I don't have a problem with the gay thing. I just want to know who I'm going to be working with."

Jake cleared his throat. "Um, we're tossing a few names around. But it's most likely going to be Scott Packer."

Brandon's eyebrows jumped a mile. "The Basketball High guy? Are you serious?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing personal or anything, but the guy can't act his way out of a paper bag, man." Brandon looked to Lonnie for assistance, satisfied to see his agent nodding as well. "I mean, have you even seen the movies?"

Jake shrugged. "Yeah well, kinda. He's really not that bad. Just the wrong vehicle for him, y'know?"

Brandon leaned back in his chair. "God, that scene in the third movie where he was proposing to his girlfriend? Fuckin' awful! I thought I was gonna dig my own eyes out."

Now it was the other three who looked surprised. "You actually watched that movie?" Jake asked in disbelief.

"Um." Brandon could feel the sides of his face heating up in a telltale flush. "Well. It was when I was in New Zealand for that Celtic movie. There was nothing else on TV at 3 in the morning, seriously."

"Uh huh." Lonnie looked entirely unconvinced. "Suurreee there was."

"Jake." Brandon put on his best I-mean-business look. "Can you please get someone other than Packer? I'm dead serious about this."

Jake sighed. "At least consider it? Please?" He leaned forward in his seat. "We're just going to have him read for it. If he's not suitable, then we'll go with someone else. Maybe Shaw Goode."

Brandon was chewing anxiously on his thumbnail. "Well, if Shaw's in, then maybe…"

"Okay, good." Jake seemed relieved. "We'll have you come in and read for the part. Just a formality, of course. But you and Lonnie, let me know what you guys think, okay?"

"And you keep us updated on the Packer situation, my man," Lonnie pointed out to his old friend.

"Absolutely."