Page 3 of Hot Set

“Oh, yeah?” I asked.

Why was Brandon even talking to me? With his looks, he could probably get any woman he wanted. Why waste time talking to some guy?

“Definitely,” Brandon replied. “I was going into biomedical sciences originally.”

“Oh.”

“From there, I did nude modeling for a bit,” Brandon said, adding a salacious wink. “Then, I traveled a bit. I like going to new places and trying to find myself. You know.”

“Where all have you been?” I asked.

“Everywhere,” Brandon replied. “You name it, I’ve probably been there. Tokyo, Reykjavik, London, Dubai…I’ve visited six of the seven continents. A lot of major cities, but I’ve spent some time in some smaller ones, too.”

Definitelya man with money.

“And now, I’m making a movie!” Brandon declared. “It’s likeThe Blair Witch Projectbut with more gore! And zombies! The perfect b-movie.”

I perked up the mention of a movie. I’d minored in theatrical make-up and had worked on several university productions.

“That sounds nice,” I said.

“I think so,” Brandon replied, leaning against the bar beside me. “So, what were your plans?”

I sighed. “Iwasgoing to join the FBI’s art forgery team.”

“Oh?”

I shrugged. “They haven’t called me back, and working at Target wasn’t cutting it. So now, I’m here.”

“You sound upset about it,” Brandon observed. “Bluehaven isn’t so bad. It’s beginning to grow on me.”

“I guess,” I replied, “But there’s still…there’s something disheartening when all your plans fall apart. And now, I’m here and failing at my plan of being more outgoing.”

“You’re talking tome, aren’t you?” Brandon replied. “Doesn’t talking to new people prove that you’re outgoing?”

“You approached me, though,” I said, “And my whole goal here was to get with a pretty girl.”

“Oh. How would you feel about a pretty boy instead?” Brandon joked.

I laughed and ran a finger around the rim of my glass. “Cute,” I replied.

I took a sip of my cider. Then, it hit me.

“You weren’t joking,” I said. “Oh.”

“And I’ll take your surprise as a ‘no’,” Brandon replied, with a laugh. “No worries, Alex.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were being serious. I’ve never had a guy interested in me before.”

“No?” Brandon asked. “Clearly, the men you’ve met are lacking in taste.”

I shook my head. “I’m sure that’s not it.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Brandon replied. “You know—one of the defining moments in my life was during my undergrad. I had to write a book review for this assignment, and I told my professor that I didn’t understand. Then she said,well, maybe it wasn’t you. Maybe the author explained it poorly. I think that’s a fairly good way to look at all things. Don’t default all the doubt and blame on yourself.”

“Interesting,” I said. “You must really be confident to follow such a philosophy.”

Brandon grinned. “I won’t deny it,” he said.

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