Hero hero....

Netflix and chill

"Don't scream..." his face is super close to mine, just like the rest of his body. My heart beats at a normal pace, and he notices it by the slow breaths against his hand.
He lets go his hand from my mouth, almost embarrassed. Or not. I don't know him.
"What the fuck? Is your purpose to kill me?" I whisper.
We stand in a empty alley, where garbage bins lay and drunk guys piss during the night for sure.
"I thought I'd give you visit." He let's go of my waist.
"I can see that but how did you find me?"
" you told me where you went to school. I presume that nothing has change on the timetable of the classes on the pass four years and students still have classes until 3pm."
"Nice investigation. I should really be more concerned about the type of information that I share with strangers."
"I'm not a stranger."
Thousands of pictures and links of him spread on my browse fly across my head.
"You are to me."
"Ouch. Seen the movie?" He asks.
"No"
"Searched the book?" Not the book. You? Yes.
"Didn't have time. Are you really going to have those sunglasses on?"
"It's the middle of the day. I might be sensitive to the sunlight and want to hide my identity."
"Are you?"
"Sensitive to light? No."
He looks around, searching for any sign of human movement. I wait for him to take the sunglasses and he puts his hoodie on top of his head, above the hat. I can see his eyes now, that unique shade between green and grey.
"So why did you came here? Don't you have something big to attend? Some friends to talk with?"
"I thought that our conversation was short yesterday. We could go somewhere."
"How? Aren't you going to be recognized? You don't actually believe that the hoodie, hat and sunglasses are going to cover it don't you?"
"I have my secret spots."
"Should I be worried?" I ask.
"About?"
" I don't know, kidnapping me to LA and doing a cheap porn video?" I joke.
He lets a big laughter escape from his mouth and then quickly covers it.
"No. No need to be worried. It's not that far from here. Any hours to be at home?"
"As late as possible."
"Ok. Follow me. Quick but not quick enough to be suspicious."
"Got ya."

We exit the alley looking to both sides. And I let the bus leave without me in it.
We walk near each other but not near like we are actually walking together. Just two random people going on the same directions for different purposes.
We arrive at a front door of a establishment called "Morning Shift Coffee shop" which is a small shop with great outdoors with lots of round tables and sofas. Hero knocks on the glass to a guy and when he catches his attention, points to the sky. The guy behind the cashier disappears to some inside door.
"Let's go."
Hero grabs my hand and drags me to some stairs, on another alley. We go up some stairs and arrive to the rooftop of the coffee shop. The wind is strong upstairs and my arms begin to shiver.
"I know I know." He says. " It's freezing cold. Let my friend open the door and you'll warm up."
We wait, in front of a small door upstairs, I presume people use that door to come up here, not to go down. I feel Hero shivering too next to me, his mouth covered by is jacket collar and his nose red.
The door suddenly opens, the guy from the cashier smiles on the other side, looking warm and just wearing a t shirt with his name on it.
Sam Stewart. I cringe at the name.
"Fuck finally dude. It's freezing cold here."
"Great to see you Hero."
The two guys share a quick hug and a handshake.
I let myself in and the feeling is better than drinking hot tea with a drop of milk on a cold morning while your throat annoys you.
The warmth hugs my cheeks, and my cold feet and my belly.
" hi, I'm Sam. Nice to meet you." Sam says.
"Yeah I know" I smile, pointing to his name written clearly on his shirt "I'm Ema."
"Oh how stupid I am. , I'm going back to work."
I look around trying to figure out where I am exactly. It looks like a fancy attic, or more like small well organized apartment.  We close the door and the cold breeze disappears completely.
There is a big bed and a small couch on the opposite corners, a blanket it's spread along the sofa while a coffee mug stands on the arm of the couch. A small table with four chairs and a kitchenette with the basic equipment are cleaned and tidy. A door that I assume it's for the bathroom and a big wardrobe with a mirror on it that reaches the ceiling. On the corner, there are some tiny chairs that go down to the coffee shop, that it's two floors down
Hero touches my shoulder and points up.
On the ceiling, above the bed is a window, pure glass with some curtains that could cover it, the big sky floats above the bed. I imagine what should feel like falling asleep with the starts above your head, or hearing - almost feeling - the pouring rain outside.
"Wow...you leave here?"
The house is extremely cozy, like a refuse spot, not the type of home that you expect a famous actor to live in, but a place that I would move in without thinking twice.
"It's my escape house. When I need to keep my feet on the ground, when I need to get away basically."
"You don't have the keys..." I remember Sam opening the door for us.
"I left them in Atlanta when we shoot the movie. I brought them by mistake and should have left them on the studios. I'll have to make myself another ones"
"So you just live here sometimes?" I walk around the secret home.
"Yes. When I shoot the movies or travel in tourné, we usually stay in hotels. I have the house of my parents, where I stay when we want to have some time together, but when I want to be my own parent and stay by myself like the independent man that has his own money, like I am, I came here."
"Sounds like a mature thing to do. It's lovely. Do you always clim from the roof?"
"Yes, its safer."
"Do you have free coffee at least?" I say, trying to make a joke.
"Yes Ema. The shop is mine. I bought the building."
"Oh shoot."
Now it makes more sense.
"I'll bring something for us to eat. Coffee or tea? Flavor of cake?" He says while he walks towards the little stairs.
"Tea. Black please. And...if you had a red velvet would be nice."
"I'll see what I can get. I'll be right back"
You really can hear yourself think in this type of situations when the silence is louder than any sound.
My thoughts ask me what am I doing here but my responsible ego says that I'm just fine and what awaits me at home is a toxic environment. I look at the clock, it's not even 5pm. My mother is not even home yet, and when she arrives, she'll presume that I'm on my room or studying with some school friends. My father should be drowning and watching football ( american one) and baseball. He says soccer is for "fucking pussys who are scared to break a nose".
I run my books through the shelves and I think he has no books. The shelves have nothing at all. They are empty.
"The awards are on my parent's" Hero says, arriving with two cups and a huge red velvet cupcake.
"What? For what?"
"Best Drama Movie...Best Actor..."
"Bruh yes you right. I swear that I still forget that you famous. By the way, I don't want to strip you down or anything but do you mind taking those things off? Aren't you safe here either?"
"You're right. It's just the habit." He places the food on the table and takes off the hat, the sunglasses and switches the hoodie for another.
His hair is light brown, not very long and it's fluffier on top.
"I wasn't looking for the awards. I was feeling strange because you don't have many books. A house without books will never be a home."
"Yeah, I have to put something on the shelves. I'm just to lazy for it. And like I said, I don't read."
I pick the tea from the table, it's strong and very hot, just how I enjoy drinking it.
"Sit." He says. Pointing to the sofa and handing me the blanket. I accept the offer and sit. A unfamilar smell enters my nostrils. It's fresh, manly, a mixture of mint and and fresh cut lemon. I'm pretty sure it's him.
I cross my legs and bite the little cake. "It's delicious. This is so close to my Highschool and I never been here."
"Yes the clients we usually attract more are you know...adults or professionals that come here to work in peace. They bring their laptop, a paper and a pen, order something and stay in for hours. That's why we made it so big. It has 2 floors and the outdoors."
"Are you calling me a child?"
"No. If you consider yourself a professional or an adult you are most welcome."
"I'll think about it."
He sips on his mug and bites and takes a piece of my cake.
"So, tell me about you. Where you from. What are going to do after school ends...your ultimate goal in life. Your wildest dreams?"
"Is that the kind of questions people ask you on interviews?"
"Some of them. A lot of them ask about how to play chemistry in a movie and if it's weird, always trying to figure out if me and my co star date. They ask about things I like to do."
"Are you?"
"What?"
"Dating your co star?"
"No. She is lovely but we look at each other just as friends and co workers."
"I see. People think otherwise."
I sits closer to me.
"Did you google me? You didn't knew that last night for sure. About what our fans think."
I'm as honest as I can. I always struggled with lies. Never liked them, don't tolerate them at all, make me sick. On the other that kind off sucks because I'm not able to lie either. The truth always come out first before I can even think about a lie.
"Did I have another choice? Curiosity screamed louder."
He smiles.
"That's interesting. What did you find?" His hand supports his head and the elbow rests on the couch.
"Don't you know what people find when they google your name? Never google yourself?" I ask, messing with him.
"I try to avoid doing such thing. It's weird"
"I feel it. I wouldn't do it if it was me. But if you really want to know, it appears some pictures of events and parties. A quite interesting wikipedia page, the parts you have played, interviews and lots, lots of theories about your relationship with Joey"
"Jo. Of Josephine"
"Sounds exactly the same to me."
"Well I'm glad there are no rumors like I'm dead, pregnant or that there is a leaked sex tape of me."
"That would be unfortunate. Can we see your movie?"
"What?" He chokes on the coffee, cleaning the liquid that escape from his nose on the process. "You serious? Don't you rather do it when you are by yourself at home?"
" I don't watch movies by myself. I get bored."
"Now THAT'S unfortunate."
"Go on. Play the thing. I heard that it's on Netflix now. Where is your tv?"
"You are really going to force me watching my own movie?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Give me a moment...where is the remote..."
He finds the remote under a pillow, clicks the red button and a tv screen appears behind a wall.
"Nice move."
He searches the movie on Netflix and the cover of the movie takes the screen. A picture of Hero and Joey - I mean Jo - super close to each other, the lips almost touching.
"Tattos? Are they real?"
"No. I don't have any. I had to go earlier to the set to have them done."
"Sounds like a tone of work for some shitty birds and a cage."
He burst into laughter.
The movie begins.
"Don't fall asleep." He says.
"Shut up, let me see the master piece."
"I'll need a blanket for this. Share it."
He gets near me and shares the hot blanket between both of us.