“Yes,” he replied, leaning back into his seat and lounging one arm against the back of it, appearing much at ease. “You were on the news after all – don’t know if you saw it?”
Granted he hated that the part of the reason it was so big was because of Jack’s appearance, praises had been sung on the short report about his lovely artwork. He tried to not stare directly at Jack in case in made him nervous and only glanced at him here and there, directing his attention to art work on the wall.
“N-not really,” he said. “I had an exhibition a few months ago, but after that I was out of the city for a long time. I only r-really returned last month, and I’ve spent most of my time since then catching up on things with my friends.” He gave a more genuine smile. “It’s good to be back, though.”
He glanced over at the bar, hoping their drinks would arrive soon. “W-what about you? How long have you been in Metro City?” Jack was embarrassed to admit that he hadn’t heard of Juniper, but then, he didn’t watch many movies.
A waiter walked to their table to deliver their drinks, Juniper’s looking quite plain while Jack’s looked quite fancy that even the seasoned actor had to admit it had presentation. Picking up his scotch as the ice clinked against the glass, he took a light sip of it, his lips pulling back as the liquor burned down his throat.
“Only a few weeks really,” he answered as he eyes wandered around at the other patrons in case any of them wanted to approach them. “Was too busy shooting to explore until recently. I’ll say though that this is the first time I’ve made some connections in a city and wished to stay.”
He chuckled lightly and sipped his drink again. He never drank too much because he didn’t want to get drunk but he was with a rather shy, new friend and figured one night buzzed wouldn’t be so bad if the man loosened up.
Jack took a few sips of his own drink, then set it down again. The cool, sweet burn of the lime and rum was nice, but he knew he didn’t have much tolerance for alcohol, and it wouldn’t make a good impression for him to get drunk in front of the sophisticated actor.
“Heh, I can understand that.” Now that he was a bit more relaxed, his stutter had faded. “I only moved here myself last November, from Anderson’s Field.” He gave a weak little chuckle. “Just a simple country boy, on his own in the city for the first time. Fortunately it’s turned out very well."
Jack Maple 
