Page 75 of Role Model

He wondered how to get one of those little blue checks. Harris would know. He could text him and ask. Or walk down to his room and see if he—

No. Troy could figure this out.

He was several minutes into a tutorial video on getting verified when there was a knock at his door.

He opened it, hoping it was anyone but Harris, but also really wanting it to be Harris.

It was Harris.

“Hi. Am I interrupting anything?”

“Nope.” Troy, against his better judgment, let Harris into his hotel room.

When the door was closed, Troy leaned back against it. “What’s up?”

“I think we should talk, maybe.”

Troy wasn’t enough of an ass to ask about what? so he just nodded. “Okay.” He tried to keep his expression blank, not exposing the way his heart was racing, or the way he really wanted to pull Harris into his arms.

“So, about last night,” Harris said with a nervous smile. “Was that your first time? With a man, I mean?”

Even though Troy had already kissed Harris, gotten off with him, and held him in his arms all night, he still had to force the admission out. “No.”

Harris’s eyes widened. “Wow. Okay. So, um...”

Troy crossed the room and sat on the bed. “I’m gay.” He let that hang there a moment. Harris didn’t say anything, just stood in front of him, waiting patiently. “I had a boyfriend. We were together, secretly, for almost two years.”

“Oh. Jesus, that sounds hard.”

“It was, I guess. But neither of us wanted to come out, so it worked. I thought it did anyway. But then he dumped me and now he’s...” Troy sighed. “I guess I can just tell you. It was Adrian Dela Cruz.”

Harris’s mouth dropped open. “Wait. What?”

“Yeah.”

“The actor?”

“Yeah.”

“But when were you dating? Because I thought he said in his Instagram post that he’d been with Justin Green for months. They’re engaged!”

“He dumped me in November. So, yeah. You can do the math.”

Harris sat beside him and placed a hand on his arm. “Aw, Troy. I’m sorry.”

Troy swallowed thickly. He had never talked about Adrian to anyone before. “It sucked, seeing that post. I was in love with him, I thought. I mean, I still think I was.”

Harris took his hand, rubbing his thumb over Troy’s knuckles. “Damn. I was so excited when I saw that post. So happy for him. I had no idea he was a total scumbag.”

Troy huffed. “He found someone better. I don’t know why I was surprised.”

Harris looked at him sternly. “Don’t say that.”

His thumb was still brushing over Troy’s knuckles, steady and soothing. “I was thinking about coming out for him, if he wanted,” Troy said quietly. It was something he hadn’t ever admitted to himself, really, let alone said out loud. He’d only considered it when he’d been in Adrian’s arms, behind the safety of a locked door, but in those rare, perfect moments, Troy had felt brave.

“Do you have people you can talk to about him?” Harris asked quietly.

“No. I’ve never told anyone about him.”

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