little like that when I met Gary Oldman. I idolised him for years.” He paused to wince. “We were working on a film together, and when we were first introduced my hands got all sweaty and I stammered through half my sentences. He probably thought there was something wrong with me.”
I chuckled. “Man, I’m glad I’m not the only one. Nice name drop, by the way.”
Damon’s cheeks reddened the tiniest bit. “I didn’t mean to.”
I smiled warmly as I stirred some chili sauce into the meat. “I’m pulling your leg, but speaking of idols, you could find yourself in the running to becoming one of mine. Where on earth did you get those pipes? Your singing is just incredible.”
A new expression took shape on his face, one that made my belly flutter. It was intense. His eyes met mine and held them. “Thanks,” he murmured.
“You’re welcome,” I replied, and a strange ticklish sensation whispered across my chest.
A few moments of quiet fell as I served up the food. Damon ate quietly, like a well-behaved St. Bernard chowing down in the corner. I found myself studying him. The man was such a contradiction, with the rugged looks of a heartthrob and the personality of a hermit just coming out of hibernation. I could tell that quietness was natural to him. It made me wonder how he ever got into acting, though they did say that to act was a shy man’s revenge on the world.
“What?” said Damon, drawing me from my thoughts as I realized I was staring – quite like he’d been staring at me in the cab earlier.
I scooped some rice up onto my fork and gave him a small smile. “I was just thinking how you’re the most unlikely person to be an actor, particularly a stage actor. Have you ever done a play before?”
Damon frowned as he glanced down at his plate. “No, this will be my first.”
“Are you frightened?”
Now he looked back up. “Terrified.”
There was something about his candour and his unveiled expression that had me reaching across the table to squeeze his hand again. “Would having a friend make it easier?”
He seemed surprised by my question. “You’d like to be my friend?”
“Well, I’ll admit I’m not offering for entirely selfless reasons. I’m still broken-hearted over Blake. I could use a friend, too.”
He squeezed my hand back, his gaze intent on mine. I smiled at him, and he seemed fascinated by the expression. His attention moved over my features, from my eyelashes to the tip of my nose and then finally to my lips. Slowly, his mouth started to curve, and I suddenly realised he was smiling back at me. It was startling because it was so unexpected, the expression transforming his face into something powerfully beautiful. It practically knocked the air from my lungs.
“Friends, then,” he said finally, and I tried to steady my rapidly beating heart.
Four.
*Damon*
Stop staring at her. She’ll think you’re a creep.
Farrah, one of the women from the costume department, was measuring me up for a suit, while various cast members hurried around us. I would have found it more stressful if I wasn’t so focused on Rose. She sat on the floor in one corner of the dance studio, earphones in, eyes downcast, an iPod in one hand and a sandwich in the other.
A couple of days had passed since we shared dinner at her flat, and I noticed this was her routine every lunch time. I hadn’t yet summoned the courage to approach her. Our only real contact was to say hello when we passed each other by. Nothing really.
Yesterday she gave me a secret little smile when our eyes met across the studio. I didn’t know how to take it, so I just turned away. It was fucking awful. The disappointed look on her face afterwards almost killed me.
Why was it so hard to just smile at people? I’d managed it when we shared dinner in her flat, but maybe that was a fluke. Sometimes I felt like I was made from stone, solid and unmoving, only ever free when I delved into a role and became someone else.
Still, the way I trusted Rose was unforeseen. I didn’t easily let people in, but there’d been something in her eyes, something guileless that made me feel like I could give her a glimpse of the man behind the mask.
“For someone so wonderfully tall, you slouch way too much,” said Farrah. Work was starting on designing costumes for the show, so