Page 54 of Bad Reputation

Frankly, prior to this conversation, Cole had been rooting for rain. He was having such a good time working with Tasha and Maggie and Ryan that he didn’t want it to end. Besides, they were only halfway throughWaverley’s shoot, and already the commitments for afterward were starting to pile up. There was something appealing about staying in this moment for as long as possible.

He didn’t want to think about how much of that had to do with a certain intimacy coordinator.

“If we can’t schedule it then, you’ll get stuck with some Terry Richardson knockoff who’ll go for fake wood paneling and washed-out polyester or who’ll want you to jump in a pool in a suit.”

That was annoyingly true. The two main looks for guy-fashion editorials were low-budget ’70s porn and wet dress clothes. He’d much rather have Cloobeck.

“Why aren’t you happy?” Drew asked. “I thought you’d be psyched.”

What Drew was really saying wasWhy aren’t you fawning all over me to thank me for all my effort?Cole usually never missed a chance to fluff Drew’s ego.

In all the years they’d worked together, Cole and Drew had argued a few times. Drew thought Cole was sometimes too nice, which he’d blamed on overcompensating for when Cole had messed up as a kid. He also thought Cole sometimes went for the lower-profile project for the wrong reasons—such as liking a director.Whatever your instinct is, run in the other direction,he’d teased Cole.

Except it hadn’t felt like teasing.

For so long, Cole had needed Drew, and he hadn’t wanted to risk losing him. If this worked, ifWaverleyhit, the gravity might shift.

Maybe it already was.

Not wanting to be ungrateful, Cole told him, “I know you’ve worked hard to get this for me. TheGQcover? That’s huge. It’s what we’ve wanted for so long.”

“But?” Drew was no dummy. He’d picked up on Cole’s mood.

“I feel ... I feel more myself than I have in forever.” Because this wasn’t actually about Drew or whether Cole was appreciative enough for him. It was about Cole.

It was odd to find yourself while pretending to be someone else, but that was the job. In this part, on this shoot, Cole felt like he was becoming the person he wanted to be. It was the way Zoya and Maggie were treating him. The way the younger actors on set looked to him for guidance and advice. Everything aboutWaverleyhad combined to make him feel like a grown-up, not like a frat boy.

“That’s probably why the work is good,” Drew said pragmatically. “But I still need you back here right after you wrap.”

Cole felt an argument rising in him, but he smothered it. They were way too far into this thing for Cole to start having second thoughts.

Acting demanded everything from you. You didn’t get to have days off. You didn’t get to linger in Scotland, hiking after the TV show was done. You were into the next project, into the promo, into whatever it took to get the next job. If you were lucky, it was an endless treadmill. The only other option was irrelevance.

He had to keep toeing Drew’s line. He owed him this.

Which was why Cole didn’t even sigh when he said “Will do.”

“Also, Vincent Minna’s little protégé, Malik Dennis, is doing a space movie next year, and Vincent got you a reading.”

Hmm, that was odd. Tasha had always been far more Vincent’s pet than Cole had been, for all that Cole had appeared in several Silverlight projects. Oh well, it was a good opportunity.

“I’ll get that on the books for the day after the cover shoot,” Drew said. “They’re moving on this, but they’re eager to meet you.”

Everyone wanted an IP movie franchise. Cole had auditioned for a hundred of them, but no one had considered him seriously for one before. His part inWaverleywas going to change everything.

Cole and Drew had already agreed that his next project should be a movie—he didn’t want to get stuck on television—and it needed to be either awards bait or something very splashy and big budget.

Or Drew had made the case for that, loudly and repeatedly, until Cole had finally relented.

“Send me the sides as soon as you get them.”

“Will do.”

“And look, I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’ll be back in California as soon as we’re done. I know how hard you’ve worked.”

“How hard we’vebothworked.”

And that was the truth. If Cole wasn’t changing people’s perception of him, then Drew’s efforts would go nowhere. They’d both made a bet when they’d gone into business together. It was time for it to pay off.

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