Page 77 of Stay for Me
Brenna looks like she’s ready to kill her friend. “I’m not even ready!”
“Jacob, can you wait a few minutes?”
This was not at all what I showed up here for, but there’s a part of me that’s sort of glad this is how it’s ending up. This morning, when I was at the creek, I waited for her. I kept thinking that maybe she’d show and we could spend a little more time together.
Which then led to me spending all day coming up with some fucking reason to see her and talk about what happened.
Brenna turns to me. “I’m so sorry. You don’t have to do any of this.”
“What if I want to?”
Her head jerks back. “You want to take me to a movie? Tonight?”
I think about the talk I had with Sebastian and how he thought it would be good if I asked his mother out. “Yes. I’d like that. It wasn’t exactly what either of us expected, but if you want to see the movie, I’d like to take you.”
She gives her best friend a dirty look, and then her eyes turn back to me. “You’re sure? God, I feel like you just got bullied into going out with me.”
I want to feel her skin beneath my fingers, kiss her lips to show her that I’m very sure, and soak up every possible minute I have with her. Our time is limited, and I don’t want to waste any of it.
“I’m sure, Brenna. Go get ready, I’ll wait.”
She releases a deep sigh and then smiles. “All right.”
I wink. “Go, we don’t want to be late. The previews are the best part.”
* * *
The drive-in is about an hour away, and the ride is quiet, but it isn’t uncomfortably so. We listen to the radio, talk a little about the weather, and that’s it.
When we get there, the sun is just fully setting and we have probably another ten minutes before the movie starts. I give the tickets to the attendant, who thankfully doesn’t recognize me with my hoodie up. Once we’re in, I find a spot way in the back where we have total seclusion.
“Do you have binoculars in the glovebox?” Brenna asks, looking around.
“What? Of course not.”
“We’re going to need them to see the movie from back here.”
I smile, but it isn’t the relaxed one I normally wear. “We’re not close to Sugarloaf. If I’m spotted . . .”
“Right.”
“As soon as the movie starts, we can pull up closer.”
I can feel the disappointment rolling off her. There’s another option. I reach behind the seat and grab Sean’s baseball hat and my sunglasses. I pull my hood up over the hat and slip the glasses on.
Brenna bursts out laughing. “You think that’s less conspicuous?”
“We can move up now.”
“And have every person here wondering what idiot is wearing sunglasses when there is no sun?”
“I’m trying here.”
She shakes her head. “It’s fine, Jacob. We can stay back here or you could put the top up so we won’t be seen easily at all.”
Yeah, that was probably a better option. “But a drive-in movie is always better in a convertible.”
Brenna turns her head while resting it on the back of the seat. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”
