Page 25 of Play Room Actor

“You rocked the place!” Noé said, patting him on the shoulder.

I couldn’t keep my hands off him either. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder, pulling him toward me.

“Shit, you’re good,” I said, letting go before he had the chance to push me away.

Alex tucked his phone away and turned to Noé. “Maybe you can learn something from that.”

“For sure!” Noé responded with enthusiasm, turning back to Dominic. “Your stage presence is incredible. How do you do it?”

“Oh, come on!” Lucien called over the table. “Like you have no stage presence.”

Alex laughed, and Noé responded to Lucien's comment with some silly remark. I just sat there, observing Dominic, who was drinking his water and slowly coming back to reality.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, giving me a soft smile. “Everything’s good.”

We soon left the bistro around 10:30, and the staff seemed relieved they could finally close.

“We’re saying goodbye,” Alex said, buttoning his jacket. “It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah,” Noé confirmed, already exchanging a handshake with Lucien. “A very long day.”

“Where have you been, anyway?” I asked as I said goodbye to him.

“I just flew in from Stockholm today. On Monday, I’m meeting my band in London. It’s the last week of our tour.”

“Cool! Have fun!”

Lucien and Jonah also said their goodbyes, and I was left standing alone with Dominic. Before he could even think about saying goodbye, I grabbed him by the arm.

“Come with me,” I said, pulling him down a side street.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“I want to show you something.”

“All right, but will you let me go? I’m not going to run away.”

“Really?” I asked, stopping in my tracks.

“I promise.”

“Okay.” Reluctantly, I let go, which I didn’t like at all. But he kept his promise and followed me through narrow streets until we reached our destination.

It was a small alley, almost completely dark, if not for three blue lights set into the ground, casting a cool silver glow on the medieval façades.

“This is cool,” Dominic said. “I’ve never been here. Did you have something to do with this?”

“I wish.” I chuckled, walking alongside him. “No, they did it without me.”

Dominic paused in the middle of the alley and absorbed the atmosphere. I loved seeing how he was enchanted by his surroundings. When he noticed I was watching him, he smiled awkwardly but couldn’t tear his gaze away from me.

“You’re different from last Friday,” he said in a calm voice.

My heart skipped a beat. The fact that he had noticed made me panic for a moment. I tried to compose myself that Dominic was still standing in front of me. Willingly!

“You too. You’re not so grumpy anymore. Or is it because you shaved off your grumpy beard?”