The Greatest Showman

 Chapter 8 - Suspicion of stalking

Renly approached table 14 with a smile on his face, his familiar words came out reflexively, "Good evening ......", but then he saw Tom and Steven in front of him - the same faces he had met at the theater just three hours before. This is a coincidence that is too unexpected, making Renly's words slightly pause, smiling with a trace of curiosity and elusive, filled with question marks coming out, but the words were still customary finished, "May I ask what I can do to help you?"

Steven looked down and flipped through the menu, Tom was laughingly saying, "The food here is not the most famous, didn't Woody make that clear when he recommended it?" The intimate and casual attitude did not show any sign that the two had a heated argument during the auditions earlier.

Hearing the waiter's greeting voice, Tom looked up and opened his mouth, but the words that were about to come out stopped at the edge of his mouth, apparently, he also did not anticipate such an unexpected encounter. For a moment, Tom did not know what to say, and his smile went up considerably before the words were spoken.

"A cream truffle pasta ...... and then ......" Steven did not notice Tom's momentary pause, looking up from the menu, he began to order, and then he also saw Renly in front of his eyes, the words were stopped, and the post-ordering words disappeared, "Why are you here?" Steven reflexively questioned, and his face sank, his eyebrows tangled together, "You must know that your behavior like this has no benefit to your audition, not to mention that stalking is never an encouraged behavior."

Stalking?

Steven has a significant position in the industry, and has naturally been part of numerous huge occasions, being followed by fans was not unusual, and it is common for auditioning actors to do everything to get the role, so he did not panic, but threw the menu heavily on the table, and shouted loudly in rebuke.

Renly smiled instead of being angry and put the menu in his hand back in the paunch he was holding, "Mr. Spielberg, I think you misunderstood, this is where I work. If you have any dissatisfaction with my service, please complain to my immediate superior." The tone of his voice was not condescending but brought out a hint of mockery, especially since both sides were standing on one side and sitting on the other, and the situation of being on top of the other brought out the best of Renly's height advantage.

Looking at Steven's gradually stiffening facial expression, Renly pointed in the direction of the bar behind him and said politely, "Do you need me to notify the manager?"

"Pfft." Tom did not give Steven any face, directly burst out laughing, breaking that brief stalemate, and then patted Steven's shoulder hard, except it was not clear whether the action was to comfort or tease, "No, no." Tom waved his hand towards Renly, denying his proposal, "We just wanted to find a place to eat dinner, Woody Allen recommended this bar, he said every night there are different styles of performance?"

Steven, who was sitting next to him, had a somewhat difficult expression. The first reaction when he saw Renly just now, he naturally thought of the audition this afternoon - that triggered a dispute between him and Tom, and he didn't think that he had made a mistake. This is awkward.

Instead of paying sustained attention to Steven, Renly turned his head to Tom and skillfully made his introduction, "Tonight is the folk show, with Jason Mraz performing a thirty-minute show, plus a local indie folk singer from the Harlem area will provide the opening warm-up set. The show still has ......" Renly looked back at the clock on stage, "Twenty-five minutes to begin."

"Wow, that sounds good." Tom simply ignored Steven and exclaimed to himself, "So, what do you recommend for dinner? I know there's always a myriad of great food to be found in the bars and restaurants of Greenwich Village, but for us out-of-towners, we are clueless."

Tom's witty humor seems to keep squeezing Steven all the time, and Renly's eyes can even see Steven's pot-like face, glaring hard at Tom, but Tom doesn't pay any attention to it, which is really quite comical.

"It depends on your preferences." Renly pretended not to see anything and continued, "If you want to concentrate on the show, I'd recommend something easy, like our chef Jack's Submarine Sandwich, which is the best in all of New York, with some French fries and a Munich stout, and the evening will be great."

Renly's brisk and lively introduction brought a satisfied smile to Tom's face, though Steven remained stiff-faced as he sat next to him, "But if you don't mind watching the show while you dine, then the creamy truffle pasta is a good choice, and I heard at work today that our reservation of French black truffles arrived in the morning." Steven looked up, and then saw Renly's polite and gentle smile, and it was clear that the words were addressed to him.

This caused Steven some embarrassment. He was an industry bigwig, but he had been so petty and calculating that he was no better than even a budding new actor.

"In addition to that, today's chef's recommendation is the braised baby lamb chops marinated in red wine. Jack tells me he's feeling really good today." Renly's brisk introduction makes one chuckle while simultaneously tantalizing their fingers.

Tom laughed lightly, "Steven, what do you think?"

Steven also gradually returned to normal behavior, after all, he is sufficiently mature, "Please give me a cream truffle pasta." The words were more than a little polite and respectful, which was also considered an indirect apology to Renly.

"Then I'll have the braised lamb chops marinated in red wine." Tom then made his decision, handing the menu on the table to Renly, "And pick a bottle of matching red wine, please." Seeing Renly pause slightly for a moment, Tom added an explanation, "We trust your choice, after all, your introduction just now has decided our dinner menu."

Renly politely, slightly bowed, "I will go through the professionals' reference book." This sentence of humor made Tom laugh out loud, even Steven's mouth corner also can not help but slightly relax.

In a short time, Renly brought the red wine to the table, he first passed the bottle of red wine to Steven.

Steven looked carefully at the label of the red wine, the tail of his eyebrows gently raised, surprisingly, Renly's selection allows people to brighten up - Barolo, which is a red wine from Italy, known by many as Italy's greatest red wine, due to a strong tannin, Barolo needs to be paired with equal portions of food, recommended to drink with heavy meats and pasta, and the alcohol and food will reflect each other, a match made in heaven.

Generally speaking, in a fine restaurant, choosing red wine would be the biggest test of one's quality and connotation, the more upscale it is, the more important it is, different occasions, different cuisines, different objects, different atmospheres, and the choice would be different. The bottle of red wine chosen by Renly is moderately priced, appropriate for the role, impeccable.

This really made Steven impressed with Renly.

Tom came over and carefully examined it, his eyes also showed a glint of appreciation, and looked up at Renly, "Excellent choice."

Renly, however, felt nothing, in this life, from childhood to the elite education of the aristocracy, wine was just the most basic of a session. Selecting red wine was not a difficult task for him. However, Renly still accepted the praise, smiling and closed his jaw, "I hope you like it."

Afterwards, Renly took the red wine again, opened the cork at the spot, waited for Steven to taste it, nodded to make sure, and after he filled the red wine for the two guests he turned around and left.

Watching the back of Renly's departure, Steven was thoughtful. Because the role of Eugene, he himself comes from the middle class, and can even be said to be the elite class, this grace in the bones is a very important part of the role, in contrast, Joseph lacked this temperament.

Turning his head, Steven saw Tom's smug smile, " Now what? What do you think now?" The meaning of the words: how about the role of Eugene played by Renly?

Steven rolled his eyes, "I still stick to my original opinion. Who knows if the bottle of red wine was picked for him by the bartender." Tom is aware that Steven's words are a strong argument, not only because of the wine, but also because of the professionalism and composure shown by Renly throughout the process, that temperament is irreplaceable, but Tom wisely did not continue to press on, shrugging his shoulders and let it pass.

Lifting the glass of red wine in his hand, Steven couldn't help but take another sip, and must admit that a little alcohol does make people relax a lot after a busy day at work.

As the night wore on, the Pioneer Village's seating capacity had reached 90%, which is a rare thing for a Thursday night.

The bar's famous live performances really live up to its name, the stage performance was not just any bar resident singers, and also real music lovers gather here, the performance of the professionals is better even when compared to those tens of thousands of people in concert, even the warm-up performance triggered a roar of approval, no wonder even such famous singers as Jason are willing to come here to perform.

The atmosphere of the bar was getting hotter and hotter, and the audience was absorbed in the performance, and with the advancement of time, people were getting more and more excited about Jason's appearance, as the night gradually became more beautiful with the passage of time.

But at this time, the bar backstage was a mess, Renly just put down the beer mug into the cleaning sink, and an urgent cry came to his ears, "Help ......" turning his head he saw Neil's sweaty and anxious face, "Renly, help, where did you go, we were looking for you in all corners of the bar." But without waiting for Renly to answer, Neil directly dragged him out of the door and continued to shout alarmingly, "Please help, we need you! I mean, right now!"

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Translator Question of the day - Do you think Tom and Steven's relationship shown in this novel is similar to the real life?