“Eve, are you ready?” Mum calls from the hallway as I’m pulling my hair into a ponytail. It’s my usual hairstyle, and it’s going to be hot today, so I want to keep the back of my neck from sweating.
“Yep,” I call back. “I’ll be in the car soon.”
I told Mum I was going to the cinemas with both Ruby and Oliver, and she didn’t bat an eye. Instead, Mum was more interested in whether the movie would be any good. Like me, she loves period movies — throughout my childhood, we watched adaptions of Brontë novels, regency romances, mysteries featuring Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes and war films.
I grab my purse and head towards the car where Mum is waiting, ignoring the twinge of guilt in my stomach. Lying about this is the first lie I’ve told my mum in ages. We’re super close since we’ve only had each other for the past thirteen years, and so I rarely lie. Besides, my life is so boring that I didn’t have any need to. Except for now.
“Hey,” Oliver calls from the front of the cinema. Through the glass doors, there’s a long line of people waiting to buy tickets and food, but Oliver already has two drinks and an enormous box of popcorn.
“Hi,” I say, walking up to him.
His eyes linger on my clothing, but he says nothing. Aren’t you meant to compliment your date’s appearance, if it is a date? I suppose this isn’t a date then.
“I thought we could share,” he says, holding up the popcorn box.
“Sounds good!” Scratch what I said before — thisisa date.
“And I got you a drink as well. They had a great combo deal.”
Never mind, this isn’t a date. “Oh?” I ask, taking the large paper cup from him.
“Yeah, there’s a Valentine’s day couple combo.”
Valentine’s Day was last Sunday, so this isn’t that kind of date. But we are sharing a couple combo. I don’t know what to think. I should stop analysing everything.
“Thank you,” I say, smiling at him. We walk inside and follow the crowd up the stairs to Cinema 3. I forget about the tickets until Oliver flashes two at the usher.
So he paid both for the food and the tickets. Is this a date? Or is this not a date and I should offer to pay for my half right now? Or is this a date, but I should nonetheless offer to pay? Is it tacky to bring up money?
“Thanks for getting the food and tickets,” I decide to say as make our way to our seats. “There was a long line, and I didn’t want to miss the trailers. I can pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Oliver says as we sink into plush red seats.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, really.” He shoots me a grin, teeth white against the dimness.
“Well. Thank you.”
“You like the trailers?”
I nod. “They’re almost the best part. Sometimes better, depending on the movie.”
“This night would be a failure if you thought the trailers were the most interesting part of the night.”
“Don’t worry, the movie will be good,” I say. “I was reading the reviews and — are you eating the popcorn?”
Oliver’s handful of popcorn pauses halfway to his mouth. “What?”
“The trailers haven’t started yet! Besides, it’s a rule that you can’t eat until the movie begins.”
His leg knocks mine. “You’re a control freak, you know that Eve?”
My body freezes, because he touched me, and because —
“I am not a control freak,” I say. “Of course, you can eat the popcorn. It’s yours.”
“It’sours,” he corrects, placing it between our seats. “Did you say you read the reviews for the movie?”
