“Where are we headed?”
“Don’t worry. Just ride.”
I pulledthe passenger door open. She got inside. I rushed around to the driver’s side and joined her. I passed her the flowers from my seat.
“Ahhhh. They’re so pretty.”
“So are you.”
Her cheeks flushed red, forcing me to smile. Hyphen healed something that had broken inside of my inner child. I wasn’t sure what it was, but my heart knew.
Maybe it wasn’t broken. Maybe it was missing. Maybe it was a void. And, it’s finally filled.
With the top back, I pulled out into the street. We left Dooley behind to get onto the expressway. To preserve the beauty of her hair as best I could, I drove only fifty-five miles per hour. We exited after a few minutes. Our destination wasn’t too far away.
I turned into the drive-in theater, slowly lifting the top of the whip. The gravel sang underneath my tires. I rolled the window down as we neared the booth.
“Seriously?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“It’s been forever since I’ve come to the drive-in.”
“What can I do for you today, Sir?”
“Let me get two tickets forThe Dawnand unlimited concessions.”
“Sure thing. Will that be cash or card?”
“Cash.”
“That’ll be sixty-two dollars.”
I dug into my pocket and retrieved the sixty-two dollars.
“You’ll be at screen twelve. Follow the arrows and you’ll be fine. Use the speaker next to your parking spot or the station the speaker is labeled with to hear the film. Any questions?”
“Nah.”
Once we were cleared and tickets were in my hand, I pulled through and followed the arrows as instructed. Minutes later, we settled in a spot to the far right of the screen. Instead of keeping the car running, I shut off the engine and grabbed the speaker. I reached in the backseat and grabbed the personal fans that plugged into the lighter slot. I placed them both on the dash, one pointing toward Hyphen and the other pointed toward the backseat.
“You want to go get concessions now or later?”
“Later,” she responded, sliding out of her sandals and getting comfortable.
I lifted the arm rest and removed the half ounce of weed and backwoods. Squirt had a new strand he was trying to get off, but before I spent my dimes I wanted to make sure it was smoking good. Otherwise, I’d had to kick his ass for selling me garbage. It was pretty and it was loud, but those didn’t always factor into its potency.
“You good, Trouble?” I asked, wanting to be sure she was comfortable.
“Yes.”
The windows were down. The fans were going. The movie was starting.
“If you get hot, let me know. I’ll crank up.”
“I’m fine. The sun is down. It’s warm, but not unbearable.”
“As long as you’re good.”
