Page 10 of Play Room Actor

Dominic was frozen, and his beautiful smile was quickly fading. I just grinned and shook his hand as if we’d never met before.

“Hi! Nice to meet you,” I said. “Congratulations on the role.”

“Hello,” he replied, clearly caught off guard as he shook both my and Sebastian’s hands.

“Do you two know each other?” Theo asked, glancing back and forth between us.

“Not really,” Dominic answered, clearing his throat as though it embarrassed him to have laughed earlier.

Theo glanced at his watch. “All right, we’re about to start the build rehearsal. You’re welcome to stick around if you want.” He turned to me. “Kil? Seb? You ready?”

“I was just heading to the control room,” I said, winking at Dominic before leaving the stage.

“My team’s ready,” I heard Sebastian call out. “Shall we start with the first act?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

As I stepped out of the auditorium and walked through the hallway lined with red carpets toward the stairs, I heard a voice behind me say, “A lighting designer, huh?”

I recognized the slightly rough voice immediately and turned to Dominic, who approached me hesitantly. Like an animal, cautious and lurking.

“Lighting designer,” I replied, spreading my arms. “Cool, huh?”

Dominic suppressed a laugh, keeping his lips tight as he shook his head in disbelief. He had stopped about ten feet away from me, brushing his unruly hair back.

My eyes wandered over his upper body. He was a few inches taller than me—probably around 6’1”. His build was exactly my type—slim, almost wiry, but toned enough that his biceps made his black shirt fit perfectly in all the right places.

“You played well,” I said, taking a few steps closer. “But as much effort as you put in last Friday, looks like you’ll have to put up with me a little longer, Dominic Pereira. Or should I call you Mick Jagger?”

By now, I was close enough that only a few inches separated us. I gazed into the most beautiful ink-blue eyes I’d ever seen, utterly enthralled by the azure specks in his iris.

“Why did you shave off your beard?” I asked.

“None of your business,” he replied flatly. “And why do you always ask so many questions?”

“I can’t help it. They just slip out.” I tilted my head to the side. “Why do you work at the strip club if you’re an actor?”

“That’s my business. And why do you work here?”

“Because they can’t do without me.”

At that moment, a crackle rumbled from my belt, and Theo’s voice came through. “Kil, where are you? Are you ready?”

“See?” I raised my eyebrows and unhooked the walkie-talkie from my belt, pressing the button to reply. “I’ll be ready in a minute. Just a sec.” Then I turned back to Dominic. “I knew you liked me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have followed me here.”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re actually the pain in the ass from last Friday,” he said, shrugging.

“You can join me in the control room if you want,” I offered as he started to turn away from me.

“Sure.” With a light-hearted roll of his eyes, he sauntered back into the auditorium.

“Kil! We're ready,” Sebastian exclaimed.

“I’m coming!”

I climbed the stairs to the top floor, disappeared into the control room, and powered up the computer. As I set up and put on my headset, I glanced down at the stage, where Dominic had joined Vanja and the other actor, who was probably playing Horatio.

“Can you hear me?” I asked through the headset, and Sebastian gave me a thumbs-up. Theo confirmed through the walkie-talkie.