In the Interlude

Chapter 30 - Eyes Wide Shut

It was way past seven in the evening when Tom and Aïcha stepped out of one of the oldest movie theatres in Paris on Boulevard Poissonnière.

The cinema had been nearly empty, the Parisians probably preferring a stroll and a picnic in one of the many parks on this fine early June Sunday afternoon.

They had watched a remastered version of Sunset Boulevard, an old black and white movie from the fifties about a promising young screenwriter hired by an ageing silent-film star to rework her script only to find himself in a dangerous relationship. It was a great movie, one they both had watched separately in the past. But it was another experience to be watching it together, especially for Aïcha. Sitting with an actor watching other actors perform had her wondering aloud about his world.

A world wildly different from her own.

"I loved doing the Fitzgerald bit in Midnight in Paris, but Old Hollywood is my favourite era," Tom explained after Aïcha asked him about his period pieces. "I would love to do a movie set in the fifties, glamorous and celebratory and playful."

"I can picture you in that era. A little moustache, a double-breasted suit, a martini, wild soirées."

He grinned, stroking an imaginary moustache. "And all in black and white."

"Tom? I never asked you. Why this job, why acting?"

Tom pondered for a moment before answering Aïcha's question. "Acting for me is, it's a way of experiencing other people's lives and feelings, like walking in their shoes for a while, you know? People interest me, what makes them happy or sad, what makes them wake up in the morning, what makes them do what they do."

Tom looked around at the few people in the street. "I love it when I feel other people's experiences, when I get to see the truth through different eyes. And as an actor, I want to share this truth, their truth. It's real and true and human. And I feel lucky and privileged to get to do that every time."

"What about the insanity that comes with it? I saw that video of you in Comic-Con a few years ago, when you dressed up as Loki?"

"You saw that?"

"Who didn't'?"

Tom smiled at the memory. "That was bananas!"

"Yeah, bananas, mangos, all the fruit." Aïcha laughed. She couldn't admit it out loud, but her body tingled every time she watched the video. And she had watched it more than once.

"But seriously, what about the public scrutiny, the fans, the constant travelling?"

"You're right, all these things can take a toll on me. But the attention comes in waves. I feel I'm more visible when there is a project coming up, otherwise I kind of live my life. I can go to Waitrose and just buy milk and bread, and nobody cares. It's like these past days with you in Paris. No one had given us a second glance."

She nodded. Tom was extra careful whenever he was in public but it's true, they hadn't, luckily, been approached by any fan or paparazzi in the streets of Paris.

"What if you had to choose another job, what would that be?"

"Honestly, I'm very happy being an actor. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. And amidst all the crazy that could come with the job - the attention, the travelling and everything else - I have learned to cherish even more the moments where I can be myself, just Tom. The thirty-something-almost-forty Londoner, who loves Tennis, Italian food and Shakespeare."

Tom took off his shades, his bright and blue eyes locked with Aïcha's. "And this, these small moments we have shared together, those we are sharing right now, when we talk, hold hands, when I tease you and you blush a crimson red? These are the moments where I feel the most myself, and they are the best I had in a very long time." The words had been on Tom's mind for a while now, it felt good to finally say them aloud, to her.