<span style="color: #FF0000">Carlos gesticulated at the trees in the park, his back to the path where he knew strangers were staring at him, even though he couldn't see them.<br/><br/>"I'm fine, I'm trying to open this champagne, you see the twisty thing is broken but I'm gonna open this damn champagne-"<br/><br/>Carlos' flow was interrupted as his ringtone overpowered the music coming from his earbuds. He swiped right across the screen, a soft smile tugging at his lips as he read Cassandra's text message. He turned back around to face the people walking along the path, some of whom had still been staring intently at him. Carlos gave them a big smile and waved, which prompted a confused reaction from one group where some waved back, some gave a nervous smile, and others immediately looked away. Carlos rolled his eyes, the smile still on his lips. All it took was a donned hood and some verses of rap to intimidate people nowadays, apparently.<br/><br/>He plopped down on the bench and stretched his legs out in front of him as he typed a response on his phone.<br/><br/>'Sure thing, babe. Mint flavor, right? ;p<br/>Dinner sounds good though. Just let me perform a song for you before we leave, yeah? I think I'm finally getting it down but the show opens in two weeks and I'm getting just a liiiiiiittle stressed...'<br/><br/>He closed his phone and began to saunter his way to the store, earphones in and hands waving once more as he finished the song. It was his first time being in a musical, and although he was loving it so far, mastering songs for a performance was a lot of additional work he wasn't used to engaging with. He didn't mind the extra work, he just wished there were a few more rehearsals before the play opened.<br/><br/>He hardly noticed all the people staring at him anymore. Carlos liked to perform in the streets while he walked from place to place, and he stopped being ashamed about how awkward it could look at times. He knew half the people that saw him thought he was crazy and the other half probably kind of admired his happy-go-lucky attitude, and that was fine by him.<br/><br/>Carlos skipped a little on the sidewalk as the song's tempo sped up, tripping on a slightly raised crack in the process. He fell face forward onto the floor and just barely managed to get his hands in front of him. Doing a little pirouette on the ground to save face, he jumped back up as if it had all been a choreographed dance move and almost slammed into a girl walking in the opposite direction. Now he was a little embarrassed.<br/><br/>Carlos put a hand on the back of his head and smiled nervously.<br/><br/>"Sorry about that," he said, scrunching one side of his face up slightly.</span>