“Uh-huh. Well, I really did want to see that new spy movie instead. We could wait a half hour . . .” He started to take the ticket back but I hugged it to my chest.
“No way. It’s bought and paid for. A done deal.”
“Well, I guess I’ll have to suffer through you drooling over another man.” He mock-sighed.
“Might work to your advantage.” I walked over to the concession counter and ordered drinks and popcorn.
“In that case, I won’t complain.” He reached over and took the drinks so I could carry the popcorn.
“Smart man.” I winked at him.
“I have my moments.”
The theater was dark by the time we went inside and we had to duck as we searched for seats so as to not block the view of the other moviegoers.
“Excuse me,” I whispered as we slipped past a couple sitting in the last row. The woman did a double take when she looked up at me, but didn’t say anything, just shifted her legs so we could get through.
We had perfect seats, right in the middle with no one blocking our view. It was shaping up to be a great night. Why hadn’t I gone on a regular date before? All of my other dates had been to formal occasions, or occasionally to the party of an important family or business. Never to anything normal like the movies.
David set his drink down in the arm farthest away from me, before handing me my drink. We missed the previews, but had made it just in time for the start of the movie. At some point during the laughing and the sweet parts, David’s arm had wrapped itself around my shoulders. As the end of the movie neared, happy tears slid down my cheeks and I tried to hide them. I loved happy endings. Life so often dealt us ugly blows that I wanted books and movies that left me feeling happy.
“You okay?” David ducked his head down to whisper in my ear. With his free hand he wiped away a tear from my cheek.
I nodded my head and sniffled. “Just happy.”
His arm tightened around me and I savored the feeling of being held. I might be a virgin, but I was beginning to realize it wasn’t just sex that was lacking in my life. Most forms of intimacy were foreign to me. Especially the kind where you could really relax and just enjoy that sense of comfort without worrying what the other person wanted.
I snuggled closer into his side, enjoying the smell of his cologne and the warmth that seeped through his clothes. Almost as if without thought, he turned his head just enough to kiss my temple, and my heart melted. It was something I had seen Alex do to Sam a million times; it was something you did when you cared about how someone felt or what they were thinking.
As the credits rolled, we stayed in our seats, not wanting to get caught in the crowd. So far no one had stopped me, or bothered us, and I was hopeful that would last for the rest of the night.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I frowned. I sat up and pulled it out in case there was some change with Selene. The text message was from Chadwick, and it wasn’t good.
“Everything okay?” David took his arm back and picked up our trash. “Is Selene worse?”
“It’s not Selene.” I turned the phone so he could see the screen. “We’ve been found.”
“What should we do?” David watched my face carefully.
“Well, that’s up to you.” I took a deep breath.
“What do you mean?”
“It depends on what you want people to think. We could try to sneak out the back, but it’s likely to be crawling with photographers.” I chewed on my bottom lip for a moment, worried about what he would say. “Or we could leave through the front, let them photograph us together.”
“Okay.” I could see his mind working through the potential scenarios. “Being photographed together isn’t a lifelong commitment.”
“No.” I chuckled. “But it will always be floating around in the world. It could come up at some point in the future.”
“So?” He shook his head with a smile. “Anything could come up from the past.” He grabbed my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles. “Let’s go.”
“You’re sure?” So many of my acquaintances hid their relationships from the public; secret rendezvous and hasty phone calls were all they had. Walking out hand-in-hand with David after only three dates would seem like a big deal to the media. “They’re going to assume that we’ve been dating for a long time if we do this.”
“Well, you know what they say about assuming.” He pulled me to my feet. “It makes an ass out of them.”
“I thought the saying went: It makes an ass out of you and me.” I let him pull me along with him. There were still a few people in the theater, but none of them paid us any attention.