8. Danny #2
By the time I made it back, Jessica and Sebastian acted as if they were the oldest of friends, talking over each other and laughing.
I slid their drinks next to them and took a seat across the table watching them chatter with each other.
It took a moment before Jessica even registered that I got her a drink.
She looked down in surprise and then gave me her best crooked grin. “How did you know my order?”
“You were drinking it at Kao’s last night,” I reminded her, and her smile got a bit wider.
“Ohhhh. She’s that kind of lady friend,” Sebastian said, raising his eyebrows. “An amazing improvement from Kismet Sizzle.”
I shook my head as Jessica doubled over with laughter. I would never shake that tabloid story. Sebastian never passed up a chance to needle me about her.
“No comment,” I replied, giving him a tired smile.
“Hmm. My boy, you are in need of something stronger than water with a side of fizz,” he said tapping my glass. He turned back to Jessica. “Now, my dear, let’s get back to you. Someone told me you are a fan of The Scotsman, a movie panned by all critics and despised by the general populace.”
“It’s my all-time favorite,” Jessica admitted, beaming.
“You are my type of people,” Sebastian said with a warm smile. “A woman with elevated taste and class.”
“Stop,” Jessica said, blushing beet red.
“Never,” Sebastian retorted. “Well, since you are an avid fan, I must tell you of the time I had to save Adrian Lambert from a bordello in Costa Rica right before the filming of the infamous peacock scene.”
Sebastian regaled us with tale after tale of stories from The Scotsman and several other productions he had been a part of. Jessica sat across from him with rapt attention. Seeing these old stories through Jessica’s eyes and her reactions made them new and fun again.
After a while, I couldn’t pull my eyes away from Jessica.
Her smile. The way she laughed without abandon, even snorting upon occasion.
The way her mouth formed a thin line when she was impatient and wanted to ask a question.
How when she talked passionately about a subject, her arms and whole upper body became animated.
“Daniel! Stop talking! You’re monopolizing all the silence!”
I pulled myself out of my thoughts and realized that Sebastian was poking my arm. Jessica giggled at me for zoning out.
“I know all these stories, Sebastian. You need to get some new ones if you want to keep my attention.” I did a little stretch to help clear my head.
“Or maybe you should stop drooling over your lady friend,” Sebastian shot back while Jessica and I both fidgeted and avoided eye contact. Before I could protest, he had already turned back to Jessica. “Where was I?”
“The Cossack,” she said, still blushing.
“Yes! Rudolph Klondike! Delightful man, but a terrible actor. He started his career as a wrestler out of Idaho known as ‘The Railsplitter,’ and his Russian accent was atrocious. All his dialogue had to be dubbed. Total sweetheart, though. In the scene where he and I dueled, he forgot the blocking and smacked me in the head with the sword. I flew across the room and—”
He slapped his hand on the table for effect.
“—I blacked out. When I woke up in the hospital, I found that mountain of a man, weeping at the foot of my bed, while a gorgeous nurse tended to my wounds.”
I knew what was coming next, having heard the story dozens of times. Somehow I was still drawn in by Sebastian’s story telling. His eyes lit up, and his smile widened. “And that, my dear Jessica, is how I met my wife of thirty years.”
Jessica had been laugh-snorting through the story until the very end when her expression changed into that of a wide-eyed romantic. “Ohhhh. That’s adorable.”
“The movie may have bombed, but I loved every second. It was the experience of a lifetime and gave me the love of my life,” Sebastian declared. He placed his hand on Jessica’s arm. “Now tell me my dear, you must have some questions for me. All fans do.”
A sly grin grew on her face. “Do you have any good stories about Daniel?”
I choked on my drink. “Don’t even think of it,” I warned Sebastian.
“Oh, Daniel is the consummate professional–never a line dropped, or a mark missed,” Sebastian began.
With those words I knew my most embarrassing moments were about to be revealed. I sighed and rubbed my forehead, trying to hide my face. “Here we go.”
“However, there was the time he did a spit take in the middle of my monologue while we were both on stage,” he said, scratching his chin as if trying to recall the moment.
I rolled my eyes at him. “You mean the night you switched out the pitcher of water for vodka,” I reminded him, which sent Jessica into a fit of giggles.
“Well, a real actor would have pretended it was water,” Sebastian retorted. “But that’s the only story I have of him.”
Jessica didn’t believe him for a second. “Oh, really?” she asked, hanging on his every word.
“Except for his final performance of Guys and Dolls when he fell in the orchestra pit.”
Jessica almost fell out of her chair laughing. “He did not!”
“Right at the climax of ‘Luck be a Lady Tonight.’”
“In my defense, they rearranged the entire stage the night before,” I protested, my face burning.
“They didn’t move the orchestra pit, Daniel,” Sebastian deadpanned, sending Jessica into another round of laughter. She gasped, trying to catch her breath.
“Are you done?” I asked her, not hiding my own amusement.
She stood up, breathless, and smiled at me. “Excuse me, I need a moment,” she said, delicately excusing herself from the table.
As soon as she walked away, Sebastian seized my arm with an iron grip. “Have you told her?”
“Told her what?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“That you love her, of course,” Sebastian scolded me.
My mouth dropped open in shock.
He patted me on my cheek and pushed my mouth closed with his index finger. “Stop gaping, dear boy, you look like a flounder.”
I got flustered and leaned toward him. “Sebastian, I’ve known her for two days.”
“I knew Trudy for a week before I proposed to her,” Sebastian reminded me. “And even after thirty years, I feel like I missed valuable time with her.”
“It’s too soon, Sebastian. And there are complications.”
“Well, you should do something other than sit there, acting like a puppy dog without a bone,” Sebastian scolded. “This woman is wonderful, Daniel, and not just because she adores me.”
Before I could respond, Jessica reappeared at the table. “I have returned after hyperventilating in the bathroom,” she announced. “A nurse found me there and thought I was having a panic attack. This is what I get from meeting you, Sebastian. Please tell me you have more stories about Daniel?”
“A plethora of them, but alas, I am due back at the convention,” Sebastian said, standing up and taking both of Jessica’s hands into his. “Jessica, it was truly a pleasure to meet you.”
“It was a pleasure to meet you as well.” Jessica leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Oh! You harlot! I am a married man!” Sebastian teased, planting a small kiss on her cheek before glancing over his shoulder at me. “Daniel? You have the bill as always?”
“Of course I do,” I said as I stood up to hug him.
“Tell her, you idiot,” he whispered in my ear before pulling away, all smiles. “Goodbye my friends!” he shouted as he headed to the door. “And may the patron saint of Genesius bestow his blessings on all of you!”
Jess fell into another state of giggles. “Wow,” she said, almost speechless.
“He always knows how to make a grand exit.” I chuckled as I signaled for the bill. “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready for some oxygen,” she said with a heavy breath. “Does he always stick you with the bill?”
“Always,” I said. “At least he acknowledges it now. It used to be he would give me the Irish goodbye. Whenever we’re in the same city, I make it a point to have dinner with him at least once.”
“I can see why.” Jessica leaned on the table. “I never realized how much fun he would be.”
“Oh, he does that for the people he likes. He pulled all the stops out for you. It was still Sebastian, just a little extra for someone he thinks is special.” I signed the credit card slip. “Would you like me to walk you back to the convention?”
She hesitated, absently playing with one of the rings on her hand. “Would it be so bad if we stayed here for a little while?”
Part of me ached to say ‘yes.’ The wall between us last night had begun to crumble for me.
But I forced myself to remember that she was just thrilled about meeting Sebastian.
It didn’t have anything to do with me. “Unfortunately, I have a lot of homework to do before tomorrow night,” I reminded her.
“Plus, my niece will murder me if I don’t finish the next book. ”
She bit her lip and nodded wistfully. “I guess we’ll have to see each other tomorrow night then.”
We walked out of the restaurant together.
The sun on my skin warmed me, and the buzzed feeling when I was around Jessica returned.
At one point, she put her arm around mine, and my heart raced.
As we grew closer to the hotel, we began to see more and more convention attendees in cosplay, taking pictures and interacting with each other.
As we passed by them, I briefly wondered if any of them had ended up with someone as wonderful as the girl on my arm.
“Thank you,” she said, her tone quiet and warm. “Meeting Sebastian was amazing.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, feeling pleased with myself.
She pulled me to a stop, forcing me to turn toward her. “No. Seriously. Thank you.”
She leaned in, and her lips brushed against my cheek.
Our eyes met for a brief moment, and I wanted nothing more than to blurt out something ridiculous and kiss her on the lips.
Instead, I smiled and offered her my arm again to walk back to the convention.
As we walked, her fingers intertwined with mine, and we held each other's hands in a firm grip.