Lukas Gage on 'You', Don Julio and Dating Chris Appleton: 'Never Thought I Would Have that Happen'

Before meeting Chris Appleton, actor Lukas Gage never thought he would find the "perfect person" for him.

The You star opened up to PEOPLE about his life before dating the celebrity hairstylist at the Tequila Don Julio Rosado launch Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Friday, celebrating the company's new Reposado tequila.

"You're going to find the perfect person when you're least expecting it because I was very single for a long time and never thought I would have that happen and it does. It's going to happen," Gage, 27, said.

Gage teamed up with Tequila Don Julio to support its PTO ("Party Time Off!") campaign for its new Reposado tequila, which is aged in Ruby Port wine casks to impart a light pink hue. "I think that particularly this partnership is so fun. It's so lively. The people behind it are cool collaborators and artists from different backgrounds," says the actor. "It's a perfect daytime drink. It's real light, refreshing. It's everything anyone ever could want in a tequila."

Last month, Appleton confirmed he was dating The White Lotus actor during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. A week later, Gage gushed about his new beau on the Today show: "I feel very happy, very lucky and very much in love." Before confirming their relationship, the couple made their red carpet debut amid romance rumors at Vanity Fair and TikTok's pre-Oscar young Hollywood event on March 8.

"I'll trust anything that guy has to say about hair and beauty, and he's got such a good eye and so talented at what he does," Gage said of Appleton, 39, a celebrity hairstylist and entrepreneur whose clients include Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian.

But while he and his partner are both in the industry, the Euphoria star admits that it's not any easier, telling PEOPLE, "I'm very passionate, and I'm very serious about my work. And I want to always grow as an artist and stretch."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

As for his latest role as manipulative and entitled social climber Adam Pratt in season 4 of You. Gage is not surprised when people are a bit scared of him in real life due to the character.

"I think that you have to remind people that it's acting. You have to remind people that you're playing a character," Gage said. "If I got a bad reaction from people or like a scared reaction, I think that I'm maybe doing my job right."

He continued, "The character is not meant to be an enjoyable, relatable guy. He's very selfish. He's very greedy. And I think it sheds a light on the human condition or the psyche or whatever part of yourself that you, maybe, we all have a selfish part of ourselves that some people have it more turned on than the others."

However, the actor knows that "there's so much more to life than just work. I want to have fun and travel and see the world and make experiences and use those experiences to help inform me and my characters that I play and the work that I do. You got to have a fulfilled life if you want to be a fulfilled artist."