His pursed lips finally broke into a smile, "yes, of course! I'd love to!"
"Perfect, then can we talk outside for a bit?" I said, looking around, "it's not quite the place for a discussion like this."
"Sure, let's go," he said, getting off the cocktail chair and walking towards the entrance. I followed him.
We both walked outside the bar, into the leisure corridor with ample amounts of lights that helped us see each other better. He led me to a lounge with leather sofas and a coffee table each. One entire wall was made of glass panels, peeking into the mountain view. He gestured me to take a seat.
I sat down and he did the same.
"You're Alex, right?" He said, crossing over his legs and donning a professional stance.
"Yes! You know me?"
"Who doesn't know you? I'll be surprised if anyone didn't. Your plays are nationally famous."
Some of my play moments did go viral on social media. It was mostly the most intense parts, and since I was tagged in those posts, I assume those drove my fame in some way. Whatever it was, the feeling was warm in some way, a good way, making me feel lightheaded.
'Don't forget what you are here for.'
"Thanks for the compliments," I said, stirring the conversation back, "now, are you open for an audition in a few days?"
"Yes, I'm free this week on Friday up till Monday next week."
While I was taking the conversation further, I saw Ben from the corner of my eyes. He was running in the corridor, checking around each place, rushing around like a madman. Ultimately, he stopped near the entrance of the lounge.
'Has he lost his mind?'
He walked inside, panting as a result of the activity he was still doing. Reaching our table, he stood upright and put his hands on his hips. He was gasping hard. I looked at him, saw the man staring at me, and looked away, stealing my glances. I turned my face straight outside the window.
But then, I turned towards the actor, realising I forgot something important.
"Sorry for asking this now, may I know your name?"
"Matt," he responded, followed by a heavy bass laugh, one of the rich kinds.
Ben looked a little furious, with anger on the tip of his nose, he shut his eyes tight, pointing at me.
With staggering steps, he came and sat next to me, proceeding to wrap his hands around my shoulder. He then said, staring square in Matt's eyes, "He's mine."
Huh? What? What does this even mean?
Words wanted to escape my mouth but they just couldn't. I had gone blank for a second.
I quickly reacted by pushing him away with my palms, but the punk was so resilient.
"NO!" I exclaimed at Matt, who just looked amused. "He's just my colleague."
"Find yourself someone else to play with!" Ben exclaimed, almost climbing over me.
What is he even spouting at this point?
"I mean I wasn't interested in the first place." Matt replied with a smile.
"Then you just wanted to use and dispose him for some time?" He said, tightening his grip on me.
I was glaring at both of them, oscillating like a pendulum. Gradually, I regained my thoughts to speak up. But before that,
Smack!
I landed a slap at the back of Ben's head, and pushed him away from me. He fell to the other corner, flinching and muted in actions.
"Look Matt, this is a misunderstanding, he's just a side actor, I don't know what he's thinking."
"It's okay," he said, laughing his expensive laugh, "it was quite entertaining for me."
"And Ben, you better drill this in your head, he's not preying on me, he's just an actor interested in our troop."
Matt nodded.
Ben didn't say a word, he was shrivelled up in a corner.
"Okay, next week let's meet for the audition," Matt said as he got up from his chair, "it's already time for sunrise, I have a meeting this morning," he said, glancing at his watch.
"Sure, great meeting you, see you next week!" I said, reaching out my hand for another handshake. He accepted it.
It was just us left in the lounge now, with embarrassment bouncing off every corner and hitting us in our heads.
Ben straightened himself and sat back up, "I leave you for a minute and you start planning your passive incomes?"
"What do you even mean by PASSIVE!" I screamed at him, with my ears fuming. I tilted my head sideways, and took a deep sigh. "Look, I'm in no mood to deal with this, I'm going back to my room."
I stood up, resigning from our conversation and saw a notification pop on his phone, laying on the ground. Don't know if I was seeing things but I definitely saw the words 'mission' , 'failed', and 'failure.' I shot a glance at him, but he was softly stealing glances.
Since I was not sure, I didn't really ask much, and walked away from him.
I retreated back to my room and slumped right onto the bed. The fresh sun rays were filtering through the curtains and filling the room with soft light, hurting my half-shut eyes. I rolled the blanket over my face. My eyes had become heavy. Super heavy.
I shut my eyes to close the day or dare I say, the morning.
Tringgg!
The alarm clock rang. I was supposed to be up by 7 for the snowboarding activity to supervise the adult babies.
"Ah Goddamit!" I screamed, holding my head, "why now?"
But since I was a working adult, there was no time to throw tantrums or even express myself. So, without further Ado, I got up and headed straight for a shower.
...
I walked to the snowboarding camp, which was the part overviewing the glass dome back at the Midnight Bar.
They provided us suits to wear, paired with special heavy snowboots and glasses. There was an open cart rail that was carrying people upwards to the peak. The air was chilly, freezing my nose but there was distinct fresh scent to it. My glasses had become foggy due to the mist around, but the sun hit my eyes sharp, probably due to the white snow.
Before I could even soak it in, chaos had already begun. Lights team was behind Sounds team, throwing massive snowballs at each other, almost hurling the other person off their foot. Nothing about it was safe or friendly in any way.
If that wasn't enough, Ben had also come to join them, cheering for the Lights team for some reason.
I hit my palm to my forehead, "as always, the mix is perfect, I guess..."