Page 82 of The Second Chance Cinema
Sam must have had the best view of it all: Melinda leaving him out there alone on the street—and then, the beginning—Drake’s eyes moving back toward the bar to look at Ellie, and really taking her in this time without distraction. Her face was set right above the window logo he loved, one hand holding her chin and the other jotting something inside a notebook. She was effervescent. Each of her features was a magnet drawing him closer. He’d lied to Melinda, or maybe he hadn’t looked hard enough earlier.
The girl at the bar was mesmerizing.
Drake opened the door and moved back through the space with new purpose, settled onto the stool next to Ellie, and said he was sorry to interrupt. Then, everything played out how they both remembered, but this time they saw details they’d missed.
Sam’s face was overtaken by the sting of rejection when Ellie and Drake left together.
Ellie called Sam about an hour after Drake dropped her offto apologize. Did he want to come over that night—no strings attached—and just have fun? Sam showed up at her door with the smell of lemon zest on his hands and spirits on his clothes. Almost immediately, those clothes came off.
Drake called Melinda on the cold walk home and told her he was sorry he wasn’t clear about his intentions for the night. He stopped and waited for the streetlight to fully change and admitted it was true that he still loved her. He was pretty sure he was always going to love her. But he was going to try—to do his very best—to start something new. He promised her that. Someday, maybe, they could hang out as friends. “And hey, thanks for pointing out that girl, by the way,” he said.
Then, the movie cut.
Ellie and Drake stayed in the audience for a moment. Both were expectingThe End, but it never came. The lights went up. Wordlessly, they waited for the other person to move.
Ellie was the first to stand, and Drake followed behind her. They walked through the lobby under thousands of crystals on the great chandelier and passed the ticket boy forever preparing popcorn. Natalie waved goodbye from behind the snack counter, like she was on a parade float.
In silence, they descended the alley. Each step felt heavy. When they tried to talk, the words went missing. Drake turned to Ellie in front of Mae’s Famous Scoops and held her in place by the shoulders.
“Stay here a second,” he said, racing back to the top of the alley alone and leaving her to wonder what he was doing.
Drake wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to enter the lobby without a ticket. Luckily, the doors swung right open, but the ticket boy was there to stop him when he stepped inside. “You can’t go in the auditorium,” he said. “You don’t have any tickets left.”
“I know.” Drake nodded. “I’m not here to watch a movie.”He rested his weight on his knees, out of breath. He’d been running more than usual lately. “I’m looking for the lost and found.”
“You lost something?” Natalie asked. She’d surfaced in the middle of the lobby, as if from thin air.
“Uh, yeah.” Drake turned to face her, a little disoriented. “I mean, no.”
“So, you do or don’t need the lost and found?”
“I do need it. Uh-huh.”
As soon as he asked for it, the glass counter appeared again at the front of the lobby. Natalie guided him over to it. The previously blank wall now held posters for movies that weren’t memories. The two of them had been replaced by sequels to popular hits. Drake had been so preoccupied withtheirmovies that he’d never asked about one of Natalie’s quirks he’d noticed. “What’s with you and sequels, anyway?” he asked. “Grease 2?Jaws 2?Miss Congeniality, Armed and Fabulous?”
Natalie flashed a smile meant to signal he finally asked the right question. She leaned over the glass display counter that showcased their lost items—from the green plastic dinosaur key chain to the blindfold from his proposal on the bottom shelf. On their previous stops to the lost and found, Drake had done everything in his power to keep Ellie from reading the plaque onDrake’s Failed Proposal. “Let me tell you something,” she said in a hushed voice. “I’m a sucker for sequels.”
“Why?”
“Because, Drake,” Natalie confided, “I love second chances.” Drake nodded. He wasn’t sure if she was being flip or trying to impart words of wisdom. But Drake didn’t have time to parse her meaning; he’d come for the preserved red rose on the top shelf: a relic fromDrake’s Valentine’s Day Fiasco.
“I’ll take the rose,” Drake said, tapping against the glass. “The rose, please.”
Natalie ducked down and emerged with the ancient red flower. “Nice choice.” She set it on the glass counter between them.
“Thanks,” he told her, resting it in the palm of his hand.
“I hope you liked the movies,” she said, locking the case with a small silver key. “Whether you did or you didn’t, don’t come back.”
Drake nodded. “I won’t need to.” As his spare hand moved to open the cinema’s doors, he paused. “By the way,” he said, addressing both Natalie and the ticket boy, “the popcorn here is terrible.” The ticket boy poured butter sauce on his newest batch. “No offense, man.”
Natalie winked, and then Drake slipped out the door.
Running downhill was easier. The sound of his footsteps on the alley’s cobblestones made Ellie look his way. He remembered the first time she’d turned to him in the bar. It was like all the parts of his life had been moving and changing shape, and that exact moment had somehow snapped them into place. Once Drake reached her again, he steadied himself and tried to channel confidence. “Turns out, my mom was right,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Ellie asked.
Drake put both hands on her shoulders, still holding the rose in the right one. “A long time ago, she told me I was going to find that person who wanted to be my Valentine—and when I did, not to let her go. But look, I think I took the not-letting-go part too far.” He paused to gather his thoughts. “I tried to hide everything about myself that you might not like because I was afraid of losing you. But now, you’ve seen all my baggage. You know I’m not perfect. I hope you still love me, knowing everything. Because despite buying a lot of these roses, you are the only valentine I want.”
