A young guy in a purple-striped shirt came in with a tray of sodas, glasses of ice, and little nibbly things on several plates. “They’re tapas,” he explained. “This one’s calamari, and this one’s -”
“Thanks a million, Jeff.” Steve cut in with a smile. Jeff straightened and left, closing the door quietly behind him. Then, as we fell on the food like hyenas, Steve turned to us again, looking so dang enthusiastic that I wondered how much coffee he’d had this morning. “So! You kids want to be big stars, eh?”
“God, no!” I said, almost spewing crumbs. “No way!”
Oddly, this seemed to throw a petite wrench into the convo.
4
SHARON AND STEVE and the other two agents went silent, looking at us in surprise.
Steve recovered quickly. “Models?” he suggested, his eyes noting that we were all tall and skinny for our age.
I almost snorted Sprite through my nose. “Yeah. ‘Wings are being worn wide this year,’ ” I pretended to quote. “ ‘With the primary feathers tinted fun shades of pink and green for a party look.’ I don’t think so.” I tried not to notice Nudge’s momentary disappointment.
“Actors?” Sharon said.
Total perked up, chewing busily on calamari, which, if you’re interested, is Italian for rubber bands.
“Nope.” I could see this interview was going south, so I started inhaling food while I could.
“Max, I mean – Max,” Steve said, with no idea what else to call me. “You’re selling yourself short. You guys could do anything, be anything. You want your own movie? You want flock action figures? You want to be on T-shirts? You name it, kid – I can make it happen.”
“I want to be an action figure!” Gazzy said, wolfing down some mini-enchilada thingies.
“Oh, yeah!” Iggy said, holding up his hand for a high five. The Gasman slapped it.
Steve smiled and seemed to relax. “Hey, I didn’t catch everyone’s names. You, sweetheart,” he said to Angel. “What’s your name?”