Alex

My entire body was surging with excitement. As soon as I saw him up on stage my body lit up like Christmas and I couldn't keep my eyes off of him. The shock had set in at first and I couldn't quite believe my eyes that he was actually on the stage in front of me. Coming here on a whim had paid off almost instantaneously.

His voice was perfect. His performance was even better than when he was singing in the park. Being able to hear him give it his all was awe-inspiring and I was hooked. I could listen to him sing for hours and not get tired of his voice. Not to mention, he played the piano. That was impressive, too. I figure he's probably a music student.

From where I was watching in the wings of the stage, I had a full view of his face. He had closed his eyes once the spotlights hit him, and seemed to just be lost to the rhythm of the music. He was beautiful and I couldn't take my eyes away from him. He looked like he belonged on that stage.

When he was done, he visibly became jittery and it wasn't long before he snuck off of the stage and into the wings opposite from where I was stood. There a guy met him with a hug, but he didn't seem too happy about being hugged. A frown tugged at my lips and it registered within me that there was a chance he had a boyfriend already. Stupidly, I hadn't even considered that that could be a possibility.

Well, fuck.

That dampened my little burning flame, but I pushed it down. It was never good to jump to conclusions and I wasn't going to let a possibility put me off because there was a chance that they were just friends and I was just being irrational. Before I could see where the guy went, however, I was being ushered onto stage and being placed in front of a lectern with Jenny's notes placed in front of me.

"The talent at this school is breath taking." I began, "Thank you for such a warm reception and I'd like to begin by saying a quick thank you for having me here today."

As I organised my notes and began my speech, I pulled on my tie. I wasn't even sure if the people in the audience were here for the right reason, or not. Were they actually interested in a career in film or was it just the appeal of having a celebrity come to the university to talk? I was getting paid either way, so it didn't really matter, but it was at the back of my mind as people filmed me and took photos as I spoke.

Jenny had written a pretty comprehensive lecture and had left time at the end for any questions that the students had. The questions quickly diverged from professional questions about acting and the movie industry to some pretty personal questions about my general life. For example, 'are you seeing anyone right now' was asked, followed by a rumble of laughter throughout the auditorium and a collection of anticipating eyes.

"No."

What else was there to say? It wasn't exactly appropriate.

Thankfully, the allotted time was over before I knew it and I was leaving the stage as everyone clapped. Standing outside the exit door, however, were more hoards of students that had been waiting for me to leave. Random pieces of paper for me to sign, which were most likely torn out of a textbook or class notes, were being thrust in my face.

I declined, flashes going off in my face as people took photos and videos of me leaving. Fern was doing her usual blocking of people and pushing through the crowd, but they were being pretty persistent. As she finally pushed her way through, I got to the edge of the crowd and saw a familiar face sat on a bench next to his friend.

The guy, whatever his name was, had finally noticed me back.

They were both staring at the commotion, but the shock on his face proved to me that he had no clue who I was prior to right now. My heart pounded as our eyes briefly made contact before his shot down to the floor again, flitting to the crowds of people and to anywhere other than my own.

His friend seemed to be saying something to him and that freaked him out, because he started doing those hand twitches that I've noticed he did from time to time. I knew that now was my chance to go over there, but with every step closer my heart became louder and louder in my ears until it was practically deafening and I was just standing in front of him and his friend.

I was hoping he was just a friend, at least.

"We meet again, stranger."

He blinked up at me as I spoke, obviously trying to process what the hell was going on right now. It was probably a lot to take in. I mean, I'm not sure how I would react if he suddenly revealed himself to be a celebrity actor. It would be a pretty strange turn of events. Admittedly, I liked how cautious he was when he spoke; he always seemed to think things over before he said them and his words felt very calculated and intentional.

"Hi, my name is Kai." The guy he was sitting with offered me an outstretched hand.

I shook it to be polite, but I was still wary of this guy.

"My name is Alex Hill, nice to meet you." I nodded at the guy, Kai, my eyes still focused on the boy from the park.

"Oh, I know." Kai laughed, "I just watched your lecture. Interesting stuff."

"Thanks."

Silence settled in and my eyes shifted between the two guys. Maybe I had been a little rash in my attraction and this was an awful mistake. It was probably best to excuse myself from this situation and just go back to the car, rather than drag this painful experience out any longer.

"Kai, could you excuse us?" The guy finally spoke up, breaking the silence.

Kai looked between the both of rapidly, eyes wide, before jumping up and excusing himself. When he was out of sight, the guy turned to me but didn't look into my eyes, staring instead across the quad at the hoards of people who were now staring at us speak.

"Do you want to grab coffee? To get away from them." I offered, also not feeling comfortable with being watched.

He nodded and we began to walk together away from the hoards of people. Fern didn't look best happy with me and I frowned, trying to figure out what to do. No matter where we went right now, people would follow us and harass me. Especially if they saw me leaving with some student.

"Do you mind if we drive to a different café? I don't want you to have to deal with all those people watching." I tried to explain it in a way that didn't make me look sleazy.

"That's fine." The guy nodded, following me quietly.

"Alex, what are you doing?" Jenny appeared at my side, keeping her voice to a whisper.

"My friend here and I would like to go get coffee." I sighed, "Can we go get coffee, or is that not okay?"

"I actually don't drink coffee." The guy spoke up, "It gives me heart palpitations."

That made a smile crack onto my face.

"I meant coffee in the casual sense of we're going to get a drink." I explained, "You don't have to drink coffee."

"Okay, good." He nodded, pleased.

"That's fine, Alex." Jenny frowned, "I'll have the driver pull up."

"You have a driver?" The guy glanced at me.

"Sometimes." I smiled sheepishly.

As the driver pulled up, we all piled in. Fern and the driver sat up front while the guy from the park, Jenny and I slid into the back. It was a tight squeeze, making it even more awkward than it already was. When I had daydreamed about seeing him today, I had thought I'd just casually whisk him away for coffee and the flirting would begin. However, me being me made that a little bit more difficult. So now we were stuck in the back of a car with my assistant, driver and bodyguard. It wasn't exactly ideal.

The journey was in relative silence and I was absolutely tearing myself up inside about how insufferably bad this was going, but thankfully it was a short drive. Climbing out of the car, I held the door open for the guy and flashed him an apologetic smile. Fern made a move to follow me but I mouthed for her to back down, wanting to be alone.

I didn't need anyone making this more awkward than it already was.

Jenny took my blazer jacket and tie from me as I shrugged it off, swapping it for a casual coat and a hat to throw anyone off. The last thing I wanted was for more people to recognise me while I'm trying to get to know the guy. Jenny beamed at me and sent me a thumbs up before she rolled up the window and drove off, leaving us alone, finally.

"I don't think I caught your name."

I was literally desperate to find out.

"Oh, sorry. It's Dylan. Dylan Matthews." His fingers were doing the twitchy thing and I wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab them, hold them.

His name suited him. It was cute, like him. I felt giddy that I finally knew his name, but I was trying to keep my cool. It was hard to stay composed when I hadn't felt this way in such a long time, however.

We ordered our respective drinks, Dylan ordering a vanilla milkshake, and I paid. If he was single, then I was counting it as our first date, so of course I paid. I don't think Dylan understood why I paid, however, as he seemed pretty confused by it.

"You didn't have to pay." Dylan was still frowning when we sat down with our drinks.

"I know, but I wanted to." I grinned, swirling my black coffee around the hot mug.

"Why?" Dylan scrunched up his nose in a really cute way.

"Because I like you." I deadpanned, my heart pounding.

He sucked in a little gasp of air at that, leaning back from the table and finally making eye contact with me. It was only brief, but his eyes were swirling with emotions. He stared at the table for about a minute, and it was clear that he was thinking, so I shifted back and let him think it over. It was clear that he was a person who liked to process things in his own time.

It made it worse for my nerves, but the last thing I wanted to do was rush him for a response.

"To clarify you mean romantically?" He finally responded, making me smile.

"Yes, romantically." I replied softly, "I've been thinking about you a lot since I last saw you."

"I have been, too." He admitted, still looking down at the table.

My heart sang at that revelation. He seemed timid to admit it, but I was so fucking happy. Mostly I was just glad that it wasn't one sided or unreciprocated because that meant that I had a chance with him. That excitement from earlier was back and I felt alive for the first time in years.

"Your performance earlier was amazing, by the way." I complimented him, "I've never heard anything like it; you're very talented."

Dylan smiled softly at that, sipping his milkshake and bopping his head. That seemed to take him out of his own thoughts and ease his discomfort a little.

"You heard it? I wasn't sure if you had because you were off stage. The music professor who helps out of society was actually the one who chose the song, but I really enjoyed performing it."

"Do you write your own music, too?" I asked, hoping to get to know him a little better.

"Oh, yeah." He fumbled through his backpack to produce his notebook, "I'm glad you returned it because all of my lyrics are in here."

Looking fondly at the notebook, I was sort of glad that the dickhead had stolen it. Perhaps glad was the wrong word, but I was grateful for the opportunity to speak to Dylan and it had led to this coffee date, so it ended up being a good thing.

He flipped it open and his eyes flitted across the pages. I thought that he might show it to me, but he closed it again and settled for rambling on about his music society, instead. It was nice to hear about and I could tell he was really passionate about it.

"Do you study music, then?" I asked.

Dylan's face fell at that and I could tell I had broached a sensitive topic.

"Unfortunately, no. My mum and dad wanted me to get a degree in something more practical, so I study law. They said that most people with a music degree don't actually become musicians, something like only twenty seven percent work in the field after their degree." His words were solemn.

"Couldn't you be an exception to the rule?" I frowned.

"I suppose I could, yeah," He smiled softly at me, "but my parents wouldn't want me to take that risk."