Wait, before you read this, have you read ‘The Middle Man‘?
The music swelled as it made its way to the crescendo as the credit scrolled across the screen. Applause rang out throughout the audience and Myles felt his chest swell up.
He liked to tell himself that it didn’t matter what anyone else thought, but that was a lie. If no one liked the movie, then Port Prince didn’t make money and more movies wouldn’t be made.
Hearing the whistles and the hoots and hollers of the crowd made Myles smile. He didn’t even need to turn around to look at their faces; he knew The House of David was a hit.
The whole movie, the crowd was oohing and screaming in all the right spots, and for Myles it felt like shooting a nothing but net free throw. Swoosh.
“What a fucking film, am I right?!” Yelled Harry, a good friend of Myles and Donte, as he stepped out onto the stage.
The moviegoers erupted into hoots and hollers, Maria and her girl friends being the loudest.
Myles looked over at his wife and shook his head; Maria Grace was a fan.
Truthfully the husband and wife loved to fangirl over each other. They never lied, or played anything up to make the other feel better, but when either of them did a good job, or a killer one in this case, the other just had to let it be known.
Myles shook his head at how silly his wife was and as he leaned over to kiss her, Harry called him up.
“Aw Myles, Maria, you two make me sick!” Harry joked as Myles rose up from his seat.
The crowd laughed and Myles joined Harry on stage.
“Mr. Grace! What a fucking film!” Harry said the moment Myles sat down.
The crowd erupted again, and Myles was in awe. A film class from NYU had collectively skipped class just so they could be there; Myles felt honored.
“Thank you man, I try, I try. Couldn’t have done it without Donte and the rest of the team. Give it up for Donte and The Squad.” Myles said.
The theater walls shook as the students hooted and pumped their fists.
In the middle of the crowd, Donte and The Squad, an improv group Myles and Donte went to college with, waved and stood to give a little bow.
“Damn, fucking love those guys!” Myles said, looking over at Harry.
Donte and the for other men took their seats, and the Q and A began.
The audience consisted mainly of other up and coming actors and filmmakers, so Myles spent most of his time answering questions about how the film was made; location scouting, writing, editing, and so on and so forth.
By the end, Myles felt like he’d just taught a master class in filmmaking.
Myles allotted some time for photos and meeting supporters. Taking a few minutes here and there, Myles listened to stories about how he influenced people to change their majors, how he got people back into film making, and how much his movies helped and healed people.
All in all, the love made Myles want to cry; and knowing him, later on, in the safety of Maria’s arms and their bed, he probably would cry.
Sometime, during the Q and A, Myles began walking around and having random chats with students, and that’s when it became a free-for-all. Bodies worked their way around the theater, and people formed little huddles as they talked about what they did and didn’t like about the movie.
Myles bounced around the circles, and as he did so, it dawned on him, he really missed college.
Classes and professors had never been Myles’s thing, but community and collaboration were two things Myles lived for; and in college, both were at the students’ fingertips.
As Myles talked with the students, he made sure to point that out whenever he could.
At the end of the night, as the movie premiere/mixer ended, Myles couldn’t help but smile as he watched the students exchange numbers.
“The next generation!” Harry said, pointing to the group of 20 something year olds.
Myles nodded as Donte came up and wrapped his arms around him.
“You ever miss it?” Donte asked, looking at his friend.
Myles thought about it for a moment. He got into his dream school, met his best friends, flunked out, and then went on to build a production company; what could be better than that.
Myles looked at his best friend.
“I just listen to about a hundred kids tell me they wanna grow up to be me. Hell no, I’m literally livin’ the dream.” Myles said with a laugh.
Donte couldn’t help but laugh as well.
A moment later, more teens came over, and Donte and Myles took pictures and spoke with them before it was time to leave.
“I’m hungry.” Maria said as she leaned into Myles’s side.
Donte, Myles, Maria, and a couple people from the film had all just left the theater and were currently walking around campus.
It was a little after ten, and for Myles, it felt like the old days when he, Donte, and Maria would walk home drunk after parties.
“Waffle House?” Donte asked grinning.
That was their thing, the trio would spend all night out and then in the wee hours of the next morning, they’d get breakfast.
Myles and Maria nodded, and Vinny, one of the actors, went to grab his van. The gang all piled in and after Myles slid the door shut, they were off.
What do you think of Maria’s little trick to get Myles back to reality? I hope you’ve enjoyed this installment of The City Series, I know this was a little short, but this one was a bit of a quickie, no pun intended. If you like this installment, leave a comment and tell me your favorite part. Don’t forget to hit that star, and also follow the site! You can support the site by buying a cup of coffee! A single cup is 4$ and does a lot to help out. If you can’t, don’t worry, liking and sharing this, or any other story on the site helps out as well. Thank you so much-C.
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