‘Anda full refundandfree fizzy drinks,’ Lorelai added.
‘What d’ya say? We’d be fools not to stay and take full advantage, right?’ Aden put his arm around his brother’s shoulders.
‘Right,’ Grayson said. ‘OK, let’s get our fill and find our seats. The marathon hasn’t even started yet, and I already feel knackered!’
‘Aden,’ Joanie called. ‘Which drink do you want?’
Aden wandered over towards Joanie, leaving Lorelai and Grayson alone. Grayson reached out and tugged a strand of her wet hair.
‘You need fresh clothes,’ he said softly. ‘And probably a shower.’
‘Tell me about it,’ Lorelai said as lightly as she could manage.Breathe, Lorelai. Breathe.Before she knew what she was doing, she had placed her hand on Grayson’s arm. He looked down at it for a second, before placing his hand over hers, strong and heavy. His skin was warm, surrounding her hand, and it made her breath catch for a second before she said, ‘I’m really glad you’re staying.’
It took Lorelai a few years to figure out exactly what it was she was seeing when she kissed someone. Before that, endless questions would run through her mind. Was it an Ebenezer Scrooge inA Christmas Carolkind of deal? Was she being shown a version of the future that could be changed if these people did something differently or mended their ways? Or could she do something to prevent their deaths? At thirteen and eighteen she’d been too young to think seriously about ‘preventing their deaths’. It sounded crazy. She started to believe that maybe shewascrazy. Was it even the future she was seeing? Perhaps there was something wrong with her, mentally?
It was when she was at university that Lorelai got her answer. News of Thomas and Arthur’s deaths reached her. They had both tragically died within six months of each other: Arthur while drinkdriving and Thomas had been stabbed outside a club – exactly the ways in which Lorelai had seen them go years before. So she wasn’t crazy. Shehadseen their future deaths.
Now another question burned through her: was Lorelai simply a witness to their future deaths through her kiss, and did she have the power to intervene? Or had her kiss been the thing that sealed their fates, once and for all?
Eight
Event nights were often long and slow. Lorelai had changed into her spare set of work clothes and had done the best she could with her hair in the ladies’ toilets, but after the initial excitement of the evening, she didn’t have much to do when the movies were on. This marathon in particular was dragging on longer than usual, and in her heart she knew it was because Grayson was close by. So close, yet she wasn’t able to talk to him. She sat at the back of the screen for some of the first movie but spent the majority of it staring at the back of his head, desperately wishing for him to turn around and look at her. She thought he might come and find her between the movies but, frustratingly, Grayson and Aden were cornered by Wesley during every break, who continued to ply them with freebies.
Lorelai gripped the edge of the sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror of the staff toilet. The dim lighting made the dark circles under her eyes look even darker.
‘Come on, Lorelai’ – she pointed to her reflection – ‘you’re acting like a schoolgirl. Just stop it, OK? You’ve made your decision – love, romance, all of it is off the table. You’ve been doing it for this long, you can carry on doing it. Nothing has changed.’Yes, it has. Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut, and Grayson’s face appeared. His kind eyes. The way he looked at her. The curve of his smile. ‘Nothing has changed,’ she repeated. ‘Nothing’s changed. Nothing’s changed. Nothing makes Grayson any different.’That’s not true.‘Yes it is! He isn’t different. He can’t be. This is what I need to do. I can’t put myself through it again. Especially for someone who may not stick around. And he wouldn’t. Not if he knew…’ She took a deep, long, steady breath. This was working. ‘So that’s that. It’s a no and will always be a no.’ Lorelai stepped back from the sink and gave herself a final, firm nod. She felt better now. No more nonsense. She would focus on herself. Nothing was missing and she didn’t need anyone to complete her. Lorelaiwascomplete.
She strode back out to the foyer, head held high, confident she was making the right choice. And then she saw Grayson and her resolve weakened. He was leaning against the counter, looking out of the doors, watching Soho slowly begin to spring to life. Soho didn’t sleep for very long each night, but it was quite something to watch it go to sleep, only to awaken a few hours later.
‘Has it got to a boring bit?’ she asked, making him jump.
‘Aden fell asleep, and when he woke up he was furious I didn’t wake him up sooner and I got fed up with his sulking. Plus the last movie isloooong.’ He rubbed his bleary eyes.
‘At least you’re still up. That’s an improvement from last time, right?’
‘To be honest, I may have had a snooze during the second movie but only for about ten minutes before the girl behind me screamed at an orc. Flung her popcorn everywhere.’ Grayson shook his head for effect, but a little piece of popcorn did in fact fall to the ground.
‘Well, at least you don’t have to clean it up!’ Lorelai ducked underneath the counter for a dustpan and brush. She took a deep breath to steady herself, before standing up.If I’m fine by myself then why does being with him feel more exciting than being on my own?
‘True but I get my fair share of that where I work too.’
‘Which theatre was it again?’
‘The Palace. Just around the corner actually.’
‘One of the ones on Shaftesbury. Cool.’ Lorelai never really visited the theatre. It was only round the corner but when the tickets sometimes cost ten times more than the tickets at the cinema, she could hardly justify the price when she only just about made rent each month as it was.
‘Less popcorn but lots more plastic wine cups and empty sweet packets.’
‘Just as glamorous as here then. So that’s why you come here on a Saturday? It’s so close?’
‘Well, I have a few reasons for coming here.’ Grayson’s voice dropped to what she could only describe as a bedroom whisper and she promptly got to her feet, almost dropping what she’d collected in her dustpan.
‘The excellent events, obviously.’ She quick marched around to the other side of the counter where he couldn’t follow her but he leaned on his elbows and leaned in closer.
‘That’s one of the reasons but admittedly not the main reason. Don’t tell Wesley… Guess again.’
‘I’m out of ideas.’ She shrugged and tried to look anywhere but at him, but he was leaning in close and it was hard to avoid him. Her eyes fluttered to his lips. The thought of kissing them was almost too much to bear and just as she found herself leaningin with reckless abandon, the door behind them opened with a squeak. Lorelai jumped back as if she’d been electrocuted but Grayson stayed exactly where he was, smiling.
