Page 44 of Just One Chance
“Whoa,” she said, ducking out of the way. “You okay?”
“Sorry,” David said. “So sorry. I just um, sorry. Do you want butter on your popcorn?”
She eyed him, clearly confused by his behavior, but it’s not like he could explain. “No butter,” she said. “I’d rather not have the extra calories. And a diet soda.”
David made a mental note of her preferences, trying not to make yet another comparison to Avery. Avery liked butter on her popcorn. So much that she’d listed buttered popcorn as one of her favorite foods in a text thread they’d shared one night, back before he’d made things awkward.
Fresh oysters. Watermelon. Navel oranges. Buttered Popcorn. Hushpuppies. And donuts from The Donut Shop over on King Street.
His nearly photographic memory had been an asset in medical school, and always helped when it was time to analyze lab results or recall patient symptoms. When it came to Avery, it just made him see her everywhere. In everything. Reminders of her constantly pinging the places in his brain where he stored everything Avery.
A quick glance behind him showed that Tucker and Jessica were still a few people back in line. He suddenly wished it was Avery he was seeing a movie with. Then all he’d have to do was point Tucker out and she’d know everything she needed to know.
Except, maybe he still could point Tucker out. He’d just have to get Avery to the theater.
John nudged him from behind. “Hey. David. You’re up.”
David looked around, finally noticing that the concession line had moved forward without him. He closed the distance between him and the counter and ordered Haley’s popcorn and diet soda. He was too preoccupied to think about eating himself.
“Seriously?” Haley said. “I’m not going to sit beside you and eat popcorn while you have nothing.”
David had never been so irritated by another human being. Which was grossly unfair. It wasn’t Haley’s fault, though he did find her strict adherence to her calorie count more annoying than attractive.
He looked at the kid behind the concession stand. “Add another popcorn,withbutter, and a Cherry Coke to that, please.”
Haley smiled. Probably happy that David was not just eating but eating more calories than she was.
Seconds after their butts hit the seats in the theater, David jumped back up, claiming he wanted to go to the bathroom before the movie started. He made it back into the lobby just as Tucker and Jessica were finishing up at the concession stand. Now all he needed to do was figure out which theater they were going to be in, ask an employee how long their movie would last, calculate the time they’d most likely be leaving the theater, and then somehow convince Avery to cometothe theater at the same time.
David tried not to dwell on how ridiculous the entire plot sounded. Or on the lie he’d have to tell Avery in order to get her to the theater. But the opportunity was too good. She’d learn about Tucker and Jessica, and if he played it right, Tucker wouldn’t even know that David was at the theater which meant Tucker would have no reason to follow through with his career-related threats.
Of course, that meant Avery would have tonotmention that the only reason she came to the theater was to meet David. Or maybe pick up David? He hadn’t quite decided what his lie was going to be. But that was a risk he was going to have to take. The first step to having a chance with Avery was getting Tucker out of the picture.
As Tucker and Jessica approached the long hallway that led back to the theaters, David ducked into the alcove right outside the women’s restroom door. A woman coming out of the bathroom shot him a look, and he grimaced. “Sorry. Just waiting for my friend.” It was a pitiful explanation. Who waited for a friend six inches from the actual bathroom door?
“Creep,” the woman muttered under her breath.
David winced at the insult but didn’t have time to dwell on it. He turned his back as Tucker and Jessica walked past, then darted out behind them, hoping against hope that they didn’t turn around. They went into the theater two doors down from his own to see a slasher movie he was almost positive Jessica would not have picked to see on her own. Once they were inside the theater, he backtracked to the lobby, asking the first employee he saw what time the slasher movie started and ended, then compared those times to the ending time of his own movie. There was about a twenty-minute difference—Tucker’s movie ending first—which meant David had to figure out a way to get Avery to walk into the theater at the same time Tucker’s movie was letting out. And she had to do it without seeing David, or at least withoutTuckerseeing David.
David pressed his forehead into his hand. There were too many variables. Too many things that could go wrong.
“David?”
David looked up to see Lucy approaching him.
“What are you doing out here? The previews are almost over.”
“I, um, I got distracted.”
Lucy looked around. “By what?”
David looked over his shoulder before answering. He felt cagey and uncomfortable, like he was already seconds away from getting caught even though he technically hadn’t done anything worth catching. “Tucker and Jessica are here,” he whispered to Lucy.
Lucy furrowed her brow. “What? Where?”
“In the next theater.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Whatever you’re thinking, David, stop. Don’t do it.”
