Author: Max Hudson
Category: LGBT
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She was shaking her head when she walked out of the office. He knew that she didn’t always believe his feelings, but she would follow what he said.
Killian picked up his cup of coffee and walked out into the main part of the office. Erika sat in her side office and looked over at him as she was helping with some paperwork on the new hire.
He saw the young man. The resume had stated that his name was Jared Smith, and he was an excellent example of young manliness. There was potential there in the aspiring actor, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, what he saw in this man.
He asked himself a question as to whether or not he was biased by the natural good looks of the man who had come into the wrong playhouse looking for an interview. He really didn’t know if that was the truth or if he was just attracted to this man.
He shook his head. It wouldn’t do any good to worry about that, he had made the decision and it was getting done. Maybe he was taking a chance and discovering someone that had been previously undiscovered. Maybe this was all about his libido. He had been alone for a long time, and while he had grown comfortable there, he couldn’t help but wonder if it was worth the self-imposed solitude.
He remembered the man that had broken his heart. The one that had turned him so bitter and afraid of trusting again. A man that had left him alone. Looking at a handsome man wasn’t so bad, and maybe it was the first step into something new. Maybe it would lead to something that he couldn’t imagine. Everything in his being was screaming that he was not going to regret making this decision, even if he couldn’t put his finger on the reason that he was doing this. It was all so crazy, not something that he had ever been known to do before this. It was something that a man who did not carry the same self-control that he had, would do.
He sighed. Maybe Erika was right. Maybe he was letting himself lose control.
He shook his head. It wouldn’t do any good to start thinking like that.
He walked out of the playhouse. It was an older building. It had taken him ages to get it back up to where it needed to be. As he walked, he ran his fingers through his jet-black hair. And he thought about Charlie. Charlie, the man who had broken his heart, left him for someone more famous when he had retired from the spotlight to pursue a dream that he loved. It wasn’t like Killian was out of money, he was comfortable and would be comfortable for the rest of his life provided he didn’t squander every dime that he had made.
Across from the playhouse was a small diner that he had gone to many times in the past. They knew his name there, and he appreciated the extra service. He walked across to sit down for a fresh cup of coffee.
The waitress grinned at him. “How’s it going, Mr. Templeton?”
“Just fine.” He forced a smile on his face. It was one of those days and he didn’t think that anyone was going to want to listen to what was troubling him.
She gave him a look and grabbed a menu from near the door. She had already started walking by the time she spoke. “Usual seat?”
“Sure, sounds great.”
“Coffee?”
“Yeah.” He nodded along with what she was saying. She had served him many times before and he knew that she already had his order memorized. He ordered the same thing every time he came here.
She walked back over with the cup a few moments later, sliding it across the table in his direction. “There you go.”
“Thanks.” He caught it easily.
But she wasn’t done yet. She looked at him carefully before showing that she had seen the fear and worry on his face. “It looks like something’s on your mind.”
“How do you know if you’ve got a bias.”
She frowned. “It’s been a while since I’ve really thought about ethics much, but I’m sure it’s doing a lot of thinking about the situation and trying to make it a lot better. “
“I thought that waitresses were all philosophers, able to discuss all of this stuff?”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t say that.”
“Damn, I guess I need to go pay one.”
“You could try a bartender. They’re pretty good at helping people with problems. Or even actually go and see some kind of therapist.”
Killian grinned widely. She was making him feel a lot better.
“What’s the problem?”
He shook his head, muttering softly under his breath as he was forced to actually speak the words. Anyone else would probably know better than he did at that moment. “A guy.”
Her eyebrow raised. She was looking him up and down carefully to try to determine what exactly he was going to do. He knew that she was probably wondering what was okay to say to him if she wanted to keep her job and get a good tip. That was the hard part of giving life advice to someone who expected good customer service. “Really?”
“Is that a surprise?”
“As long as you’ve been coming here, you’ve been single. It’s kind of a surprise.”
“You think I don’t date?”
“I’ve never seen or even heard of you with anyone else in your life. It’s just kind of strange, I guess.” She shrugged. “Sorry, if I offended.”
He waved it off. “You didn’t offend me. It’s fine. I guess I’ve just been pretty stuck in being single.”
Happy that she wasn’t going to be in trouble she felt comfortable to ask the pressing questions. “Tell me about this guy?”
“I don’t know much about him.”
“Oh, I love a good mystery.”
The door of the place opened and a man walked into the building. Killian may have only seen him in passing, but he could recognize him immediately. It was Jared, the man that had just applied at the playhouse and that he had given a job to.
Jared had never met the owner of the playhouse, but Killian still found himself sinking down into his seat, trying to stay out of sight.
The waitress looked between them and raised both of her eyebrows. She turned to Killian and smirked. “Want me to seat him near you?”
Killian shook his head. “No thanks.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, pretty sure.”
She smiled at him. “I’m sure it’s all going to turn out just fine.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t finish the sarcastic answer on the tip of his tongue. It wouldn’t do a damn bit of good anyway. “I guess so.”
“Just give it a shot. You really should. Not right now, but don’t let the chance just walk away from you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He knew that he was deflecting, and from the look on her face she knew that he was deflecting too. He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, do something.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“I’m working as a waitress in a greasy spoon diner. Nothing is easy for me to say.” She gave him a pointed look.
“Hey, I like to think that I tip pretty well.”
“And I appreciate that.” She smirked at him, letting him know that it was all a joke.
He laughed lightly, but his eyes wandered over to Jared. The man was beautiful. It was like something about him had screamed its way into Killian’s soul and he wasn’t letting go.
It wasn’t like the retired actor didn’t know that he was being a fool over this guy that he didn’t even know. He knew it. He damn well knew that he was being an idiot. And a part of him, deep down in the middle of his gut responded to every attempt at reason. It made him stop doing the right thing and do the wrong thing, all in the name of a singular chance to get to know this man better.
The horror of it was that as Jared’s boss he couldn’t just go up and talk to the other man. He couldn’t go and ask him out. He had to try to get to know him and then see where it might go from there. Which meant time out of his office and near his staff.
That had always been what he had Erika for.
Chapter Three
He was staring out the window of the subway, not that there was very much to see excep
t when they stopped at one of the stations. Then there were all kinds of neat people standing around and enjoying themselves. Or not enjoying themselves. Most of the people just looked completely worn down by life. Jared wondered if that was what happened to people in the city if they struggled to do anything because they were just crammed in too tightly to be able to do much.
It was the way of cities, the kind of place that people just lost hope and gained it back with impossible quickness. He hadn’t ever lived in a place that was this small and this expansive all at once. No matter where he turned, he seemed to find yet another person vying for the same space that he was taking up.
But it wasn’t doing any good to ponder on the intricacies of the human condition and the state of modern cities. He had a job to do. Two days in the city and he was already heading to work with enough pay to at least cover the rent at the apartment. It would help their saved money stretch a little longer and give Harry a chance to find himself something considering he was waiting on a call back for the interview that the man had already gone on.
“I can do this,” he muttered to himself, but no one looked at him strangely. In fact, no one looked at him at all. It was like talking to yourself on the subway was something they saw every single day. He had thought that those rumors were exaggerated, but it looked like they weren’t. Everyone was odd here and odd things had become the new normal.
He made up his mind to try to do some sightseeing when he had a chance. He hadn’t had much of a chance because he picked up the job that quickly. He was grateful for that, but he also knew that Harry was going out and actually doing all the things that he was missing. But he had a job, and one at a good playhouse too. He was going to be making sets that would be seen by the rich and famous.
Jared could feel his heart pounding in his chest. It was beyond exciting to be in that situation. In this city, and no matter how unseen he felt he could still feel the rush of the new city, the excitement of the situation that he was in. It was all so new and exciting.
It almost felt like a natural high, the kind one would get from having had sex or gotten exercise. A little scary, a lot of new things and plenty to experience every single day. And he planned to see everything that he could.
He was so distracted by his thoughts he almost missed the stop he was supposed to get off at.
He rushed from the train and up onto the street to walk a few more blocks to the playhouse. It wasn’t very far. He could make it in a matter of minutes.
It was a good day; he had managed to make it in half an hour early. That gave him time to stop at the diner across the street and get himself a cup of coffee for his first morning on the job.
He walked in looking fresh and ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
The woman who had interviewed him was there and waiting for him. “You’re early. That’s good.”
“Ready and waiting to get started.”
She smiled. That was a good sign. The woman seemed to hate him when they first met. He couldn’t figure out why she had hired him but assumed that he must have had something to offer in order to get past the impromptu interview. “Good, you’re going to need all of that.”
“You sure?”
“Positive. We’re a professional place and we expect all our people to be at the top of their game. You’ll be working in the shop with the team there. They’ve been working together for years, so you’ll have to do some work to catch up to where they are.”
“I’m sure I can get going quickly.” He nodded. “Where do I need to go?”
“They’re already working. I’ll introduce you to the main set designer, he’s going to be your main boss. He’ll get you set up to train and figure out where he wants you.” She was flipping through some paperwork as she talked, not really paying a whole lot of attention to what he was doing, but that was fine. He was too excited to really notice.
He stopped himself from bouncing on his heels, but he really wanted to. “Yeah, that all sounds great.”
“Good. I’ll go get you introduced.”
“Sounds great.” He repeated the words, ignoring how lame they sounded.
“All right. Just this way.” She turned to walk toward the back of the playhouse, leading the way past the few offices that were there.
“Excuse me.”
Jared noticed the man who was speaking. Classically handsome, this guy was the kind of man that dreams were made of. He recognized the man immediately. “Uh, hello?”
“I was wondering if I could borrow the new guy for a second.” Killian addressed the secretary.
“Sure.” She shrugged, but she really didn’t look very happy about it.
He wondered what the problem could be. “What’s up? Something wrong?” That was Killian Templeton, an actor who would have made it much bigger if he hadn’t quit the business of acting to buy himself a small playhouse. That’s when it struck Jared. This was that playhouse. He was in Killian’s playhouse. And that felt so impossible to accept in just about every single way. “Uh…” He paused, not really knowing what to say anymore.
“Hi, I was just hoping to talk to you, since you’re new here. Maybe get to know you a little better.”
“Uh, sure.” Jared was taken aback.
Erika, the secretary, rolled her eyes. “Do you want me to wait for you to get done?”
“No, I’ll take him to the back myself; it’s not a problem.”
“You sure?”
“Mhm.” Killian nodded. “Sure am.”
Jared looked between the pair. He felt like there was something going on there that he just wasn’t aware of, but it was his first day and it wasn’t a good time to ask those questions. “Sure. I can do that.”
Killian nodded. “Thanks for putting up with me. Promise it won’t take long and then you can get to work.”
Jared nodded and followed the man into an office. He had been expecting something fancier. Everything in the room was nice, but it was more in line with being functional than expensive. High quality but lacking the pretentiousness he had been expecting from a star like Killian Templeton. He was pleasantly surprised after all of that. “What did you need?”
“We don’t hire often. Most of the people tend to stay around for years, so I wanted to get to know you.”
“That just means this is a really good place to work then.” Jared nodded.
“I like to think so, but it’s hard work.”
“I’m fine with hard work, sir. You don’t have to worry about that.” The carpenter’s son suddenly felt like he was a kid again, trying to impress the boss, his new foreman, with his manners. “I don’t mind putting in the time and the energy.”
“That’s good because at any given time we have between three and five sets to work on that are in various stages of completion.”
“That’s quite a lot.”
“Have you ever had to work on anything like that?”
“Not really, no. Just one at a time for the community theatre back home, really.”
“We’re starting you a little early; we’ve still got to wait on your full background check.”
“That’s why you wanted to talk to me?”
“Part of it. I wanted to get a feel for you.”
Jared couldn’t help but feel that there was another meaning behind those words. And the intense eyes of Killian didn’t make him feel any less like he was being flirted with. He nodded. “Sure. What would you like to know?”
“What got you interested in theatre?”
“Well, I always kind of wanted to be an actor. So, we saved up money to get here, volunteered to do anything we could at the theatres in the area and just worked hard to make it happen.”
“Then why are you in set design?”
“That would be because I worked at my Dad’s shop for years.” He nodded. “I’m pretty used to hard work. I’ve been building things, and I took those skills and used them in the theatre. I may have to learn the techniques that your team uses, but I know that
I can. I’m good with my hands. I believe in measuring twice to cut once.” He nodded.
“I’m sure that you do.”
“I know that you’re taking a chance on a guy who doesn’t know much about doing this professionally, but I promise that I won’t let you down.”
“You’re an aspiring actor, right?” Killian changed the subject.
“I won’t let that interfere with my work; you don’t have to worry about that.”
“I’m not worried about it. I was just curious as to how you’re going to juggle both your responsibilities and going for auditions.”
Jared frowned. “I don’t know, but I’ve got to work it around my schedule if I expect to have things like food to eat and sleeping inside.” His frown broke into a smile. “You know, the nice things to have. There are casting calls in the evening or on my days off, I’m sure.”
“What if you get hired for one of these jobs?”
Jared shrugged. “I’ll figure out how to juggle it all.”
“I’ve found that aspiring actors tend to drop jobs like this as soon as they get a single chance. Am I going to have that problem with you?”
Jared had to stop and think about that. He hadn’t really considered anything like that before. Something about it was inviting, to just quit the job the first chance he got to be on stage or screen, but he knew that wouldn’t be a great place to start at a new job. “I hadn’t really thought about that if I’m honest.” He admitted the truth. The worst that could happen was that he would have to get a new job because he was fired.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out. I was an aspiring actor once, myself.”
Jared nodded. “What happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m sorry if this is rude, but you had a great career ahead of you and you just kind of faded away. I was just wondering what happened with that.”
Killian sighed. “I just got tired of it. The fame is exhausting, I guess.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it’s actually rather common for people to fade away in search of some privacy because if you make it big, you don’t have any sort of privacy.”
Jared bit his lip and nodded along with the story.