Skyler couldn’t believe he’dmade it this far.Him.A musical theater nerd from middle-of-nowhere, Ohio. He’d made it through multiple rounds of singing, and now he and all the remaining guys had been broken up into smaller groups to learn some choreography. He felt pretty confident he would do well with this part because of his background, but still. He should be in his third period English class right now, but instead he was in a legit studio in the middle of freaking Los Angeles. Insane.
Could you even imagine what would happen if he made it into the band? He’d already been accepted into NYU’s theater program. The plan was to finish his last semester of high school and then go off to college. But as much as he enjoyed acting, singing was all he’d ever really wanted to do. He wanted to stand on a stage, just him and a microphone, and perform for an arena full of people.
He was so lucky his parents had encouraged him to do this when his performing arts school showed everyone the audition announcement. They’d always supported him, but he’d worried they’d laugh this time. Like,Sure, we’ll fly you out to L.A. so you can audition along with ten thousand other boys for one of five spots in a boy band.But his dad had said, “Okay. If you seriously want to do this, we’ll find a way to get you there.”
Now he was sitting on an uncomfortable metal folding chair, in a room with twenty-four other guys, waiting for their dance instructor.
Glancing around, he slyly tried to size up his competition. Everyone somehow looked cooler than him, like they belonged here in L.A. But he knewhow well he could sing. And he could dance. (Or he could follow choreography, at least.) And he supposed his looks didn’t hurt him either.Coolmay not be something he’d ever be, but he was cute at least.
Speaking of cute…Holy shit.The blond surfer guy he noticed the other day was here! Skyler had been looking for him ever since they’d made that one second of sizzling eye contact.
Though truthfully, he could have imagined the sizzle. The guy probably wasn’t even gay. And even if he was, an athletic, muscular guy like that wouldn’t want Skyler’s scrawny ass.
He'd known he was gay since he was old enough to understand what that meant. But he’d only had one boyfriend, when he was fifteen, and it barely counted. They hadn’t done anything further than making out and some very light groping. And Jose had refused to even make their relationship social media official.
He wanted a boyfriend who would hold his hand both in public and in pictures.
Surfer guy was unlikely going to be it, but Skyler got out of his seat and made his way over to him anyway. If he could audition for record label executives, then he could talk to a hot guy.
He slid himself as gracefully as he could into the empty seat next to the guy, who was playing around on his phone and didn’t notice him at first. “Hey,” he said brightly.
The guy looked up at him. Something unreadable flickered in his eyes before he replied, “Hey.”
“I’m Skyler.”
The guy glanced down at Skyler’s offered hand suspiciously before taking it. “Trevor.”
Skyler didn’t want to let go after the handshake, but obviously he had to. “This whole thing is crazy, right?”
The guy—Trevor—shrugged. “I guess.”
“I’m from Ohio,” Skyler went on, “so I still kind of can’t believe I’m here. Where are you from?”
“L.A,” Trevor said. “Culver City, technically.”
“Oh wow, you grewup here?”
“Yup.”
Shit. If Trevor lived in L.A., then he was probably used to going to huge auditions like this. And Skyler, whose mom had come here with him, had made himself sound totally inexperienced.
In the silence that followed, he wondered if he should go back to his original seat and leave the guy alone. But while everything Trevor said to him sounded fairly disinterested, he didn’tlookdisinterested. In fact, his eyes kept wandering up to Skyler’s hair. To be fair, his hair was a bit out of control and usually something people noticed about him. But he was pretty sure the guy’s eyes had lingered for a moment on his neck too.
He followed Trevor’s gaze now, andoh. He was looking at Skyler’s hands. Well that was probably because he could never keep them still. Realizing he was twisting the loose material of his sweatpants between his fingers, he forced himself to stop.
“Do I look like a bum in these pants?” he asked. “They said to wear something comfortable for the dancing part, and I didn’t pack that many options.”
Trevor’s eyes shot up to his. A beat passed, then he said, “You look fine.”
He preened under the assessment like “fine” was a much higher praise than it actually was. “You look better though. I mean, your sweats fit you, uh… good.” He shook his head, face on fire now. “Sorry. I’m pretty nervous.”
Truthfully, he was less nervous about the audition than he was about talking to a guy he was this attracted to, but he’d let Trevor think he meant the former.
“It’s okay, I am too,” Trevor said. “I suck at dancing, if I’m being honest.”
“Oh!” Skyler winced. He didn’t mean to sound so excited about that. “I’ve had a lot of practice with choreography, so if you need help, like if you get lost following the guy, watch me, okay? I’ll make sure you’re getting it.”
Trevor gave him a curious look. “Oh. Yeah, okay, thanks.”
