Her hitch in the sentence did not escape Seth, whose internal alarm system went off shrilly. Seth knew that there were tabloid articles out there that made him look worse for wear, and while some of them are complete, and utter rubbish, some were almost true. The details in every single one of them were either skewed or at least greatly exaggerated, but if one was to look under the all the confusing layers, they would realize that there was something terribly wrong with the actor.
He forced himself to remain composed, but found it hard. It did not matter so much what strangers thought of him, but Daphne's opinion had always weighed down.
Giving her his best smile, and hoped that she can't see the cracks all over the place, Seth said, "Oh, a couple of new projects, here and there. But mainly I'm on a hiatus, just getting my bearings before continuing on." It was not a total lie, he had some small-scaled projects going on, some directing projects as well as a couple of roles lined up. And he was on a (semi) hiatus, although it was not his choice to go on it.
Seth took a sip of his drink, it was pretty weak and he barely felt its effects. What he longed for were the bottles of hard liquor in his private stash, and the fine grounded powder that made him feel like he was walking on air. Gently, Seth let her fingers slip through his as they neared the table and he pulled out a chair for her before taking his own. The champagne in his hand began to feel heavy.