“What’s playing tonight?” I ask.
He shrugs a shoulder. “Beats me. I figured it’d be fun since we’re getting ready to hit the road.”
I sigh as the two of us get out to prepare the bed of the truck. Declan tosses pillows and blankets from the back seat and I spread them out before us.
“Do road trips get easier?” I ask, hopping down so the two of us can go grab some snacks.
“For who? Me or you?”
“Me.”
The Black Diamonds were lucky to have a stretch of home games to start the season, but now they’ll be on the road for two weeks.
Declan smiles at me as we wait in the concession line. “Does that mean you’re going to miss me?”
“I mean, kind of.”
It’s weird. I never missed Declan before now. But living with him these last few months, I’ve gotten so used to always having him around.
Even with long practice days and the preseason, he was gone while I was at work. We’d come home and talk about our days and have dinner together. We settled into a nice rhythm.
Not having him around is going to be a change.
“It’s like you like me,” he gloats.
“Yeah, yeah.” I try to shove him away as we reach the counter, but he doesn’t let me go.
“We’ll take the nachos, pretzels, sour straws, and two waters.” Declan looks down at me. “Anything else?”
“Is that all for you?” I ask.
“For both of us,” he says.
“Add in popcorn and we’re good.”
Declan hands over cash, then drops a twenty in the tip jar as a box of food is pushed our way. He takes it and I grab the water bottles as we weave our way through the cars back to the truck.
Extending a hand, Declan helps me up.
Cars fill in the space around us as we dig in to all the snacks. As the sky turns to an inky velvet, the lights turn off and the movie starts.
The first of the double feature? An animated movie for kids that has the adults laughing almost immediately.
“I wish I had known you in high school,” Declan says.
I tear off the end of a straw. “Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
“Maybe we would’ve started dating then and I could have taken you here on dates. Pretended to be really cool and try and kiss you.”
“Would I have gotten your letterman jacket?”
“No one else I would have given it to.”
He smacks a noisy kiss on my cheek.
“You know I was not cool in high school. Probably not very cool in college either.”
“Well, I know one thing about you.” Declan laughs.
