Page 37 of Off Script

“Not likely. What about you? Any romantic dreams for your future?” Tristan diverted the conversation.

“Not unless I can also find Thor in here somewhere.” Sam sighed wistfully as he dug through the magazines.

Sam’s previous home environment didn’t leave a lot of room to share feelings or the thought that he might be gay. But after cleaning up his record and working through some things, Sam had started opening up more, relationship-wise. He could finally bring up his movie star crushes with minimal blushing.

“Mmmm, you’ll find your real-life Thor someday,” Tristan said decisively.

As they descended into reflective silence, Tristan wavered between several options for his board. One, he could go the Sam route and also rep some Black Panther or, two, pick a picture of a yacht, because why not? But as he thought back to his talk with the board members and his vows to change, he stopped himself. Spotting a peace sign on a picture of a girl doing yoga, Tristan cut it out and glued it smack-dab in the center of his board.

“Bam!Growth,” Tristan muttered to himself. Although deep down he knew it would never be that easy.

After laying out his psyche on paper, Tristan met up with Doug at another local café for a quick damage control update. While the previous incident had gone viral with tons of hits, this new gossip that Tristan and Jada were a couple was trending much faster. Doug gave him a recap on how all across social media, there were comments on whether the two werereallydating, and yes, they looked cute together. Some people mentioned Tristan’s previous comments on Jada’s social media as proof something had been going on prior to all this. However, Tammy and Tegan fromSip That Teahad bypassed tweeting or writing a simple article in favor of posting a vlog, one Doug insisted he check out.

Watching their video on his phone, Tristan took in how the twins remained fiercely dedicated to their brand. They had the overly polished makeup typical of social media influencers mixed with flashy designer clothes. Shining in a sparkly blazer and revealing leather pants, Tegan sat next to his sister, Tammy. Tammy had brought the neon eyeshadow and purple lipstick out in full force. And yet, somehow all the pizzazz worked for them.

“Okay, Tea Lovers!” Tegan started off. “Here is the latest on the Tristan Maxwell–Jada Berklee fiasco. After our superb snooping skills, we were thefirstto release the news about their on-set catfight.”

“While we pride ourselves on our sources, a press release is now floating around saying the incident was no biggie, just a film thang. And apparently that these two are hot for each other offscreen,” Tammy said as she raised a skeptical brow.

“Now, we could go into is this true or not true—and we certainly will. But let’s go back to the timeline.” As Tegan spoke, snapshots of the previous night flashed on-screen.

“Shortly after this announcement, Tristan and Jada were spotted at the super-romantic and delicious spot La Rosa Dorada. While they were out on the town—either keeping up appearances or pronouncing their love to the masses—Angela Collins, the lead in their film, had some scathing things to say.”

They pulled up Angela’s latest social media posts and Tammy read them off, relishing in the actress’s commentary.

“‘Clout chasers will do anything for attention. Can’t wait until the truth comes out on the backstabbers in my life. Already writing my tell-all memoir.’”

Having seen enough, Tristan cut off the video. He didn’t need to keep up with Angela’s remarks as he would get an earful once they were face to face again. Aside from her and people like the Tea Twins speculating on its validity, there were plenty of other people who were accepting their explanation. A twinge of guilt washed over him at seeing his fans actually excited about him dating someone. Usually, his devout followers cracked meme-filled jokes about his dating exploits. But Doug had been right about Jada. She had a definite sweetheart vibe among her own fan base and it was—surprisingly—trickling over into his. He should have been relieved their plan was working, but the idea that strangers who adored him were rooting for their scam felt icky. He chased the bitter feeling away with a sip of his much stronger latte.

“This is damage control at its best, Doug,” Tristan admitted to the agent. “You know we still have one more problem, though, don’t you?”

“Don’t worry. While Ren is in talks with Mr. Collins about the production’s fate, I reminded him that Angela’s contract stipulates point blank she isn’t allowed to spread bad press that could affect the movie. Her dad might care about her hurt feelings, but he cares about money more.”

“Shit, I had almost forgotten about Ren dealing with him. Does he—”

“Ren knows about the plan. I talked to him before we sent out the press release. Thanks for asking so late in the game.”

Tristan blushed at the dig, although it was well deserved. With everything that had been going on, Tristan hadn’t even bothered to check in with Ren. Yes, he was nervous about the director still being angry at him, but he should have reached out. He’d only met Angela’s dad a few times, but his heady mixture of ego and greed made him a force to be reckoned with. Mr. Collins vs. Ren was like David and Goliath. The only thing that soothed Tristan was knowing how that particular story ended.

He pushed on, asking, “Okay, so what happens next? With the movie. Did he say anything?”

“They’re placating Angela with a few mental health days while they enhance safety protocols on set, yadda, yadda. I’m sure they’ll notify you soon about when you can get back to work.”

Tristan breathed a sigh of relief. Things were working out far better than he deserved. Hopefully, it would be the same for Jada if she got this role in Logan Wentworth’s movie.

“Well, enough about that. Tell me.” At Tristan’s obliviousness, Doug’s typical pushy impatience reared its ugly head. “How did it go, stupid?”

“Oh, the date? It was . . . interesting.”

“Interesting. That’s the best you can do?” Doug squinted at him in annoyance.

“Fine. Dinner was rough. The club was better, and we made progress with your producer friend, Logan. She was happy about that, so I guess the plan is working.”

“And?”

“What else do you want from me?” Tristan asked.

No matter how much Doug pestered, there wasn’t very much Tristan was prepared to reveal about last night, Jada’s seemingly weird history with Daniel being one of those things. The almost kiss between them was another secret he planned to keep.

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