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“Well, it means a lot to me that you trust my work so much. I’m not afraid of fame—I’m afraid of failure," Kyle admits. "More than anything, I want this show to succeed. And I really hope you’re right, I know what this project means to you and I feel exactly the same. So, I have to be honest and tell you that I’m not sure if starting something with you at this point is the smartest idea. I mean, we don’t know what’s gonna happen with this show, and besides—”
“I understand what you’re saying,” Levi interrupts him, “and I know that yeah, this is your first important role and you’ve not been in this situation before, I get that, but to me, work is work and my private life is private, and I’ve learned to keep them separate and whatever happens with this show…” Levi snorts, “believe me, that’s not gonna affect my opinion of you. Because I believe in this show but you’re right that things happen—I mean, I’ve been there a few times… and different factors could change the outcome but for now my focus is on making it as good as it can be.”
“You… I mean…” Key hesitates.
“What?” Levi raises his eyebrows expectantly.
“You don’t mind if people say something?” Kyle licks his lips, unsure about how stupid that question might have been.
“Well,” Levi smiles, “at this early stage of whatever this is… I wasn’t planning on giving people around us anything to talk about it. I was just hoping that if you also liked me, we could actually date… like normal, real dates… so if you’re worried about gossip and that sort of stuff, I don’t think you should consider that a factor not to date me.”
“So, this is not a real date,” Kyle smiles.
“Umm, I guess this is a test date. This is a date where you might or might not admit that you like me. If you do, then I’ll take you on a real date.”
“Wouldn’t it be weird now if I said I don’t like you?” Kyle shakes his head in disbelief.
“Well, not really. It would be disappointing but I like working with you—Not dating me would never change that.”
Kyle had already figured that out. It’s pretty obvious that Levi was not sure about the response he was going to get from him which just makes the whole thing kind of surreal even if Levi might not see it.
“As I said, it’s not like I don’t wanna date you but I think... No, I know, I need to think about it. But yeah, I will say that you’re kind of unpredictable—I like that.”
“Not what people usually say about me,” because his agent makes sure his life doesn’t have much room for surprises, “but I’ll take it,” Levi nods before taking a sip of his coke.
“Not sure if I should ask you something,” Kyle says, biting his lip.
“Why not?” Levi frowns.
“Because I’m not sure if it’s personal or just stupid,” Kyle smiles.
“I’ll tell you if it’s personal… but I’ll probably answer it anyway. Otherwise, how are you supposed to get to know me?”
“Okay, it’s just… since the first day I met you, I’ve only seen you drink water, coke, a cup of coffee, a latte… but never, you know…” Kyle waves his arms, “never any alcohol.”
“You’re very observant,” Levi points out.
“Yeah, that’s… that’s actually true… but that has to do with my… my upbringing I guess, before I was adopted, which is a long story for the day you feel like listening to something sad and miserable, actually… not today, that's for sure,” Kyle says, shaking his head.
“Okay, I’ll remember that,” Levi nods, he’s certainly curious. “But about what you said before, which is true… maybe the answer is gonna seem stupid, not sure I should really tell you. But I’m not an alcoholic in case that thought ever crossed your mind… it’s far more boring than that.”
“Just tell me,” Kyle waves his arms, “I’ll decide that.”
“Fine,” Levi shrugs, “whatever… so, when I was eighteen I made a bet with a friend 'cause we were childish and that’s something we did quite often… Anyway, he said that he could give up smoking much longer than I could give up alcohol, and the thing is that we were both gonna start shooting different movies at the time… so yeah, we said, we’d both do it starting the first day of shooting, and let’s see what happens—Long story short, I won the bet, of course,” Kyle smiles…” and that movie was the first one I made to reach a million globally.”
“Really?” Levi raises his eyebrows.
“Yeah, god knows it’s not my best work but I owe a lot to that film. I was in the spotlight after that and that’s when my career really took off… so, yeah, call me superstitious if you want but since then… like, I only drink alcohol when I’m done with whatever project I’m working on.” Levi snorts. “I told you it was boring.”
“No, I don’t think it’s boring. We all have our little… superstitious side… somewhere. And after all, it’s also healthier, right?”
“It is healthier and helps with my daily training,” Levi nods. “Can I ask… you mean you also have some superstition?”
(To be continued)