Working With Love | Sebastian Stan

Real Life

We both settled at a secluded table in the back of the smokey Bellman Bar taking a moment to listen to the soft jazz playing through the large mounted speakers I grinned; nothing had changed. Sure there was new chairs, and the tables appeared to have been stained a couple of shades darker but the atmosphere was the same laid back non-assuming bar it had always been with the weathered old walls, huge ornate bar positioned in front of 3 long rows of various liquor, and the 1920's style decor.
"This place is awesome" Sebastian said looking around the small bar as I grinned drumming my fingers on the table top.
"During my year abroad it seemed like I was here every Friday night" I said feeling the ball of nostalgia in the pit of my stomach as Sebastian smiled.
"I'm glad you brought me" he said peering at me with a look I couldn't quite place. We took the short walk to the bar and ordered our drinks; a glass of sparkling white wine for me, and a beer for Sebastian before making our way back to our table and striking up conversation as we sipped on our drinks. Sebastian has been talking for over 10 minutes about how excited he was about the news that NASA was going to put a probe into Jupiter's orbit; I couldn't hold back my smile any longer as he took a gulp of his beer.
"Oh, wow sorry I'm a huge nerd if you can't tell" he said and even in the dark bar I could see his face flush.
"No it's cool, Project Juno right?" I asked causing his eyes to light up as he nodded enthusiastically.
"And I completely get the whole nerd thing, I took an astronomy class freshman year at NYU and it seriously changed my life. We took a class trip to Hawaii and visited the Keck observatory, it was incredible" his eyes comically widened at this statement looking like a kid in a candy shop as he leaned forward ever so slightly eyes alight in wonder; I watched as the tip of his soft pink tongue ran along his bottom lip catching at the upturned corner. He suddenly threw his head back with raucous laughter that drew a few eyes to our table as his face scrunched up in a smile and he clutched at his cotton covered pectoral muscle.
"What?" I asked unable to stop a dimpled smile from spreading as I watched his laughter shake his entire body.
"I've never met a girl like you before Aleksandra Andrić" he said finishing his beer as he waved to the bartender for another round of drinks.
"I'll take that as a compliment Mr. Stan" I said thanking the bartender as he dropped new drinks for us off.
"So you went to NYU?" He asked sweeping the bar with his eyes once more before settling them on me with a lazy smile.
"My mom never had the chance to go to university and always wished she did. So despite my acting she made sure I went, I took a year off for some movie roles and a little traveling then started at NYU the following fall for Comparative Literature and a minor in Fine Arts" I said as he gave an impressed smile wrapping his peach colored lips around the lip of his beer bottle and his Adam's apple bobbed with each gulp.
"How about you?" I asked barely able to bring my eyes away from his plush lips as I brought my stemmed glass to my own as he smirked and cocked an eyebrow; practically shouting at me that I was caught staring. Just not in so many words.
We sat in the back of the Bellman for another hour while we finished our drinks and just talked, he talked about moving from Romania to Austria then America as a kid, and his early days at Rutgers all the while managing to keep my full attention. When we both finished our second drinks we made our way back outside and stood on the curb waiting for a cab to come down the side street when suddenly I felt his large hand engulf my comically smaller one; I looked up with burning cheeks as he gave me a soft worried smile unsure to see how I would respond. I squeezed his warm hand and hooked my fingers through his as he gave me a grin hailing a cab as he chuckled looking incredibly pleased with himself as we got in the heated cab and he gave the cabbie the address of our next destination.