“‘Our source informed us that Mateo told Abby she was a terrible actress and only got the role because she was trans.’”

“What…?” Archer’s brain raced to make sense of what was happening.

“‘And,’” Dominik read on, “‘to this day, he blames all of his horrifying behavior on the death of his parents. Way to avoid taking any responsibility at all, Mateo! No wonder you got fired. Who would want to work with you?’”

“Stop.” Mateo’s command was flat and low. But his face … the look of utter devastation—it was a knife to Archer’s gut. Every eye in the room was on Mateo now. He stood and took a slow step away from the couch, then another, like he wasn’t sure his legs were going to continue holding him up.

Archer stood too, his stomach trying to claw its way up his throat. “It wasn’t me! I didn’t talk to them!”

Mateo continued his measured walk to the back stairs.

“Mateo, please! I would never—” Archer followed, desperate to make Mateo understand. “I didn’t tell anyone, I—” It hit him. He did, though. He did tell someone.

He swept his gaze over to Caleb. Caleb met it head-on, defiant.

“You? Caleb … how could you?” Archer’s stomach heaved like it was considering unloading its contents.

Caleb’s face was stone.

Archer turned and chased Mateo to the bottom of the stairs. “I’m so sorry, Mateo. I didn’t mean to, I was—”

Mateo paused halfway up. He turned around. Their eyes met again, and the hurt Archer saw in them broke his heart. “Stop, Archer. Please … stop.” Then he turned back, and was gone, swallowed by the darkness above.

Tears flooded Archer’s eyes. His brain pinwheeled in a hundred directions while his stomach twisted into a thousand knots. A tear spilled down his cheek, then he spun and bolted out the back door, letting his feet take him wherever they wanted to go.

19 Caught

Archer’s feet wanted to climb, up and away, far from the lights, from the people, from The Broadway Broad. They climbed until he found himself at the grassy clearing high above the lake, short of breath and staring at the rock he and Mateo had rested on after blocking out their pas de deux.

“Fuck. Fuck fuck FUCK,” he spat. How could he have messed up so badly? Mateo had trusted him, confided in him. And now … Archer shuddered to think.

He slumped onto the rock and sat there long enough that he started to shiver as his sweat cooled, but he still had no desire to move. He wished he had never come to Shady Queens. That he had never even come to Manhattan, chasing his stupid dream. If he hadn’t signed a contract for the summer, he would have packed his bag and gone back to Ohio at that moment.

He sat there longer still until his phone buzzed.