Festival de Cannes (Final)

The movie went on for an hour and forty-ish minutes before ending. Throughout the movie the audience laughed at the dynamic between Rob's character Harry and my own. When the ending came and my character Gay Perry confronted Harmony's father for being a child molester. The old man was found laying in a hospital bed. In the scene my character called him out for what he was and backhanded him twice out of anger. The anger my character felt looked real to anyone watching. Harmony's father spoke at this time. "An old man that can't defend himself. Big tough guy!" 

My character paused and then looked back at him, my character almost on the verge tears just thinking about the abuse this man had put his daughters through. The old man had visited one of his daughters each night to the point that she ended up dead later in life through a series of chain reactions all starting from him laying his hands on her. The sick son of a b!tch didn't deserve sympathy. The tears on my characters face never really came, but you could tell his emotions were running wild as he replied. "Yeah that's right. Big tough guy."

After this, Rob's character Harry closed the scene the same way he had opened it, wrapping up the movie. When the movie finally ended, everyone in the audience rose up and applauded. In a regular theatre this would be odd to do and even in this type of event it wasn't all too common, but all of the cast and crew received the applause with big smiles on our faces. I had never had such a thing happen in my last life. It was a first for me so my happiness was 100% genuine and not an actors mask. 

Looking over at Rob, I could see tears starting to form. Helena also saw this and hugged him tight, his face buried in her abundant breast as she spoke to him. "Your first movie was really good, it's okay to cry happy tears, let it all out." Rob was having more happy tears pour out of him as she spoke due to his current situation.

Although I wasn't crying myself, I felt I could cry. The moment was emotional for me. Even if the movie didn't win any awards in the future, I felt fulfilled in my career which was new to me. I now have connections to a great director, I was friends with a future great actor, and my first movie was received warmly. Barbara looked over at me and spoke. "I liked the movie and I'm not just saying that because it's your movie. I'm usually not a fan of these types of films, but maybe because the comedy was added, it was enjoyable for me. I will buy it as soon as It's available."

I shook my head at her words. "No, i'll gift it to you as thanks for attending this with me."

Barbara looked a little sad hearing my words. "I came because I enjoy spending time with you, not because I was doing you a favor."

I looked down at her eyes in this moment and spoke. "This might seem forward, but would you like to grab a bite to eat after this and maybe spend some time with me later tonight?" I asked. It was unlike me. Maybe it was because of how happy I was about the audiences response to the film or maybe it was the way her dress hugged her in all the right places as she looked up to me as we talked, but looking at Barbara, I wanted nothing more than to spend my evening with her. 

Barbara wasn't like Supergirl and didn't ever wear her emotions on her face, but for the first time since I had met her, she seemed conflicted and it was apparent. I didn't want to press the matter and make her feel uncomfortable so I added to my words. "It's okay if we just have dinner as friends as well if that's what you want. I'm sorry if I pressured you at all."

Barbara threw her hands up in front of her in protest. "No, that's not it. I like you a lot and it's extremely tempting, but I would be lying if I said I didn't have someone else on my mind a lot lately as well and you are both great in different ways."

I nodded my head in understanding but now that I knew she was interested in me and so I decided I wanted to still monopolize her for the night. "Has that other guy ever asked you to spend the evening with him?" 

Barbara shook her head. "No, he has not."

Hearing her reply I also saw that people were now leaving the theater. Without much thought I put my arm around Barbara's waist and spoke softly to her as we began to exit ourselves. "Why don't we just start with a dinner as friends and see where that takes us tonight?"

Barbara giggled hearing my words. "My father was right about you."

"I never denied it" I replied. 

Looking back I saw Rob and his date having a similar vibe. We both made eye contact and without saying anything we both understood each other. Her father was very right about us. We were both dogs. Shane encouraged us to go ahead and enjoy France and all it offers for the night while he stayed behind to talk to other directors and also just in case the judges changed their minds on an award. It wasn't likely, but Shane knew he created a good movie. 

France in my old world was under a level 2 travel advisory due to it's high spike in crime and random terrorist attacks over the last couple of years, but in this world the most a typical tourist would have to deal with was the occasional con artist or thief. France in the early 2000's didn't have an overly serious crime problem, but no matter the time unless you knew where to go, it was boring. The typical places tourist went were the Eiffel tower and places like it. In my opinion a postcard picture of the Eiffel tower was enough for me. 

Barbara, Helena, Rob, and I all decided on Alsace and Lorraine to spend the rest of our time in. It still had a lot of tourism, but the beauty of the place was next level and there was a lot to do. We all went out to dinner as a double date and I made sure alcohol wasn't placed in front of any of us. It wasn't my place to spill Rob's business and so I just said that there was no need for alcohol to have a good time and conversation. It was a simple and effective excuse and thankfully everyone just went along with it. 

After dinner we all checked into Hôtel des Berges to rest after a long day. Rob and Helena had gotten a room next to ours and we all separated into two pairs for the night.