I blushed. “I missed you too.”
And then he kissed me. It took me completely by surprise. Even though our parents were divorced, it still seemed wrong to kiss in public, like we still had to hide our relationship from the world. But if he didn’t care, then neither did I.
It was like the first time, like every time. It melted my defenses, made my knees weak. His mouth and touch and tongue simply felt right. I wrapped my arms around him and he pulled me tight against his chest.
He pulled away. “I’ve been wanting to do that for too long.”
“I can’t believe—”
“In front of everyone? Fuck them.”
I laughed. “Okay. Fuck them.”
We kissed again, long and deep. It felt right.
It felt like coming home.
As the lights in the theater came up, I felt completely stunned.
I looked at Lincoln. “What did you think?”
“Wasn’t what I expected,” he said.
“Yeah. Same.”
He looked at me and grinned. “People are going to eat that shit up.”
The room was full of murmurs as people stood and filtered out of the theater, chatting with their neighbors.
“They really are.” We laughed together.
Jules poked her head around Lincoln. “So, you two liked it?”
“I thought it was interesting,” I said.
“It was moving,” Jules replied, nodding.
“Didn’t expect ‘moving’ to describe my months of pain, but yeah, it was,” Lincoln said dryly.
“And I was barely in it!” I said, shaking my head.
He laughed. “For all that torture in those interviews, you got maybe two minutes.”
“I know. I’m almost upset about it.”
Jules laughed. “I got more time than you did, and I was barely around.”
I smiled at her. She hadn’t mentioned the kiss yet, though I was positive she knew. There was something in her look, knowing and playful, and for a second I thought she winked at me.
“Anyway, I’m heading out,” she said.
“Oh. We’ll come with you.”
“Actually,” Lincoln cut in. “We won’t. I’ll drive us back.”
We stood up and began walking back out of the theater, laughing about the film as we went. Lincoln said he remembered pretty much everything that happened opposite of how Jess portrayed it.
Instead of inspirational and heartbreaking work, he remembered annoying, tedious hours of torture. Instead of an enlightened journey of a man used to breaking the law in the name of his sport, he remembered a guy who couldn’t wait to jump off the biggest, most illegal tower possible for the fun of it.
I glanced around the room, wondering where she was. I figured she was probably too busy filming her latest to show up.
All in all, Jess came through. She made Lincoln’s struggle, from the time he jumped off the building, through the trial, and up until the moment we stopped filming, seem like a heroic journey. Lincoln said he could hardly believe anyone was buying into it, but according to the conversations we heard around us, people seemed genuinely moved. People kept coming up and shaking his hand and congratulating him.
“I’m amazed you could get any emotional response out of these people,” I said between admirers, elbowing his ribs.
“Yeah. Since most of them are so old they’re practically dead.”
I laughed. “You’re not exactly the most subtle person in the world.”
He stopped walking and grinned at me. I couldn’t believe he was moving around so freely, with only a slight limp. But he didn’t seem to need the cane at all, and that was an enormous improvement.
We stood out front of the theater underneath a large tree, out of the way of the crowd.
“So what are you doing all summer?” he asked.
“Not much. Probably just sitting around. Nothing special.” I gave him a playful smile. “How about you?”
He got close to me. “I have this girl. I haven’t been fucking her enough lately.”
“Oh yeah? I’m sure you’ll fix that.”
He reached around me and grabbed my ass. I giggled as he pressed me against him.
“Yeah. As soon as possible.”
We kissed for a second and then pulled away. “Are you trying to start something right here?” I asked.
He looked around. “Why? Are you into it?”
I laughed. “I think kissing in public is pretty much my limit.”
He gave me a sly smile. “We’ll see about that.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Are you sure it’s okay with Jules if I stay at your place over Christmas break?”
“Absolutely. She’d love to have you.”
“Now that she knows we’re a thing, think she minds?”