Page 36 of Cozy Girl Fall
“Hey.”
She sucked in a sharp breath of surprise. “Ethan. Hey.”
“Are you busy right now?”
Bath and relaxing evening long forgotten, she shook her head. “No. Why?”
“Want to catch a movie?”
That was the last thing she’d been expecting him to say. “A movie?”
“Yeah, they’re like photographs but they move and tell a story.” There was a smile in his voice when she snorted. “Meet me in town?”
“Sure. Oh, and Ethan?”
“Yes?”
“Where did you get my number?”
“Tasha.”
Penny’s eyes pricked and she smiled. “OK. See you in a few.”
The only movie theater in town also doubled up as a bowling alley on its far side, with three screens for movies and a large confectionery counter dedicated to popcorn, candy, and slushies on the back wall as you walked in. She wasn’t sure she could remember the last time she’d been in there, but the smell of popcorn took her back to being sixteen and coming to watch the latestPirates of the Caribbeanmovie with Tasha and Ethan—though Tasha had moved seats half-way through because Penny and Ethan had spent most of their time occupied by their mouths rather than watching the screen.
She was the first to arrive and, after pacing anxiously by the popcorn counter, she decided to distract herself by scanning the posters in the lobby in the hopes of finding something good to watch. Their options were the new Reese Witherspoon movie—an all-women ensemble heist—a cheesy-looking horror flick about puppets, or a re-screening ofThe Notebookas part of a promotion they were running called “Old but Gold”.
Ethan wasn’t one for horror, and she couldn’t take crying in public toThe Notebook. But she’d wait for Ethan to arrive before grabbing tickets, in case he’d suddenly become a horror-buff in the time they’d been apart. Instead, she headed to the popcorn counter and ordered two large buckets with extra butter and two mixed-flavor slushies and then waited for the order while internally spiraling. After ten years, she was on a date with Ethan. That, in and of itself, was nerve-wracking enough. But now she was worrying that maybe he didn’t like popcorn and mixed slushies any more. Maybe he was a nachos or corn-dog guy. She had to admit to herself, she didn’t know much about Ethanthe man—after all, it had been ten years! Maybe this was a poor choice for their first actual date. It wasn’t like they could chat during the movie so she could get to re-know him. Or worse, what if he didn’t think thiswasa date? Maybe they were just two friends who kind of liked each other and had a lot of history, watching a movie. But movies were a common date, weren’t they? It had been so long since she’d been on one that Pennywasn’t sure if she was overthinking, underthinking, or, hell, even thinking at all. Her nose wrinkled and she was thrown out of her panic spiral by the food and drinks being placed on the counter.
“I grabbed us some tickets for the heist chick flick. Hope that’s OK?”
She jumped and glanced over her shoulder to find Ethan waiting. “Hey. Yeah, that’s great.”
“Figured you wouldn’t want anyone to see you ugly cry toThe Notebookin public,” he teased and she rolled her eyes, even though he was right. She blinked away the annoying prick of tears in her eyes as she realized that he really did remember the little things after all this time.
Rather than respond to his jibing, she presented his popcorn and slushie. “Here.”
He chuckled. “Didn’t feel like sharing like old times?”
Actually, she’d worried herself by how much she’d wanted to share with him like they’d used to do as kids. So she’d deliberately got them separate snacks, that way she could avoid the warm brush of his fingers against hers in the popcorn bucket and placing her mouth in the place his had been on the straw. There was only so much temptation any one person could take.
“Sorry if you’re not into popcorn any more. I can get you nachos instead, if you like? Or a corn dog?”
He gave her a sideways look as he led them away from the counter. “I like my popcorn and slushies the way I always have, sweetheart. You feeling OK?”
She nodded vigorously and this seemed to make things worse, his frown deepening. But he didn’t pry, letting her keep her anxieties to herself.
They wandered over to the roped-off entrance to the screens and Ethan presented their tickets to the attendant before ushering her ahead of him with a hot hand at the small of her back.
“Predictions?” she asked once they were seated, relieved when they settled near the back but not in the very back row that teens congregated in to make out. She would know. They’d once been those teens in the back row.
“Hmm, I think Reese Witherspoon is secretly the bad guy.”
Penny rolled her eyes. “Are you just trying to let me win?”
His laugh warmed his eyes and she had to look away before she drowned in their depths. “Go on then, show me how it’s done.”
She bit her lip. “I think one of them is going to seduce a guard of some kind to pull off the heist.”
