“Looks like we’re the only ones with taste,” he said, flashing me a grin that didn’t hide a nervous look in his eyes. Did he think I was going to push him away, tell him that seeing a movie together was too obvious?
“Looks like it,” I replied, grinning over at Keaton. “Tell us how much you regret the choice when we meet at the food court.”
Keaton laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he teased, then turned to the group on his side. “Right – let’s go find our seats!”
I looked back at Brody, at how he nervously hovered beside me.
It wasn’t seeing a movie together that would give the game away. It was the way he looked at me. I jerked my head towards the hall that led to our screen, waited until we were around the corner and out of sight, and then let him catch up to me.
“Don’t look at me like that in front of the others,” I murmured to him.
“What?” he asked.
By the wideness of his eyes, I could see he didn’t even know he’d been doing it. I sighed. “You’re making it obvious,” I said. “Just relax.” He looked so lost and anxious that I couldn’t help myself; I reached out my hand and hooked his little finger with mine as we walked side by side, a gesture so small that anyone who saw it might wonder whether they really had or not. There was no one around, anyway. Still, I pulled away before we reached the doors of the screen, ignoring the tingling along the side of my finger where we had touched.
It was dark inside, a contrast that left me needing a couple of minutes to adjust. I glanced around; there were no attendants in sight. This being a little indie theater that only showed indie, arthouse, and foreign movies, I had no doubt that they were understaffed. There were a few people already in their seats, but the place was empty as a whole.
“We’re at the back, right?” Brody asked, looking at his ticket. I glanced down at mine. I hadn’t even noticed where the vendor had put us, but he was right.
The back row.
I was going to be sitting in the back row of a dark theater, alone with Brody.
I coughed and quickly brushed a hand across the front of my jeans to adjust myself, gesturing rapidly with my popcorn so he wouldn’t notice. “Go on, then, if you know where we’re going.”
Brody led the way across the row of seats to our assigned numbers, and I had to concentrate hard on not spilling anything or stumbling over any hidden hazards on the floor of the dark room. By the time we sat down, I’d almost stopped thinking about how close we were going to be.
Until we did sit, and my elbow immediately collided with Brody’s as we were putting our drinks into the holders.
“You got popcorn?” he asked, in what had to be a blatant attempt to fish for a conversation topic that would stop this being awkward.
“Mm,” I nodded. “What did you get?”
“Nachos,” he said, raising the plastic pot a little higher so I could see in the dim light. “You want some?”
“I don’t want to ruin my appetite and leave some popcorn behind,” I said. Really, I just didn’t want to take anything from him. There was something about owing him that I desperately wanted to avoid.
“We could share,” Brody suggested. “Half of each.”
I hesitated. There was considerably more popcorn, but I’d seen the prices – we’d paid roughly the same. It wasn’t like one of us would owe each other more. But wasn’t it somehow more intimate…?
On the other hand, I couldn’t think of a reason not to.
“Sure,” I said casually, trying to make my voice match up with the image I wanted to project and not how tight my chest suddenly felt. “We should start with the nachos before the cheese goes cold.”
“I don’t know if it can legally be called cheese,” Brody joked. He settled the nachos onto the chair arm between us, where we could both easily reach it, and I balanced my popcorn on the seat beside me for later. There was a flare of light on the screen and static, before it burst into life, showing an ad for an upcoming local film festival. At least there was enough light to see the nachos, now. Brody gestured for me to go first and I helped myself, crunching into the nacho and enjoying the hot, liquid cheese on top of it.
Hot, liquid… just like…
No, I wasn’t going to let myself think it.
“Looks like it’s starting,” Brody murmured, so close to my ear I almost jumped. I swallowed the cheese down quickly before I could choke on it.
I hadn’t thought this through at all.
There was no way I was ready to be this close to Brody, to feel his physical warmth against my side, in the dark, alone, for two hours.
The lights dimmed further for a moment before the screen flared back to life, first with just a small production company logo in the center. I settled back into my seat and tried to concentrate. At least this was familiar ground. I’d studied film, deeply, and while I wasn’t as good as Keaton I was still part of the industry. Writing scripts was my passion, even if I hadn’t actually managed to sell one yet.
