Page 13 of Street of Dreams
It took exactly three days before Mac ran into Jake again. As he waited on line at the concession stand, he heard the King brothers enter the movie theater. Skylar immediately looked at Mac to gage his reaction, but he was playing it cool. “Do you want to share nachos?” he asked, while he pretended to study the menu on the wall above the counter.
“Nachos?” Skylar raised her brows. “Really? You’re thinking about nachos?”
He was trying so hard to hide his smile and not to turn his head, so he just kept reading the menu over and over as the voices of Jake and his brothers grew closer. And louder. But Mac never stopped focusing on the menu. He stepped up to the counter, ready to place his order, when Jake bulldozed his way to the front of the line.
“I’ll take a giant Kit Kat and a pack of Twizzlers,” Jake told the girl behind the counter.
Startled, Mac turned to look at Jake, but Jake was ignoring him.
“Give me one of those big tubs of popcorn too. Extra butter. And three large cokes.” Jake, who still hadn’t acknowledged that Mac was standing right next to him, turned sideways, in the opposite direction, leaned against the glass case and crossed one ankle over the other. “You guys want anything else?” he asked his brothers.
“Pretzel bites,” Henry said.
“Get the kid some pretzel bites,” Jake called to the cashier. “What about you, Danny? Want anything?”
“Junior Mints.”
The cashier added them to the pile on the counter and started punching the keypad on the register. “That’ll be $46.00.”
Jake pulled a huge roll of bills from his pocket, still ignoring Mac, and flipped through a stack of twenties while the twins scooped up the snacks and two of the drinks. He paused, then stuffed the money back into his pocket. He jutted his thumb toward Mac without taking his eyes off the cashier. “He’s paying.” Then he picked up his soda and walked away.
Stunned, Mac stared at Jake’s back as he headed for the theater. When Jake got about ten feet away, he slowly turned around and finally looked at Mac with a cocky grin on his face. He brought the straw to his lips, took a sip of soda, turned back around, and kept walking.
It felt as if a string of electricity hit Mac in the chest the moment they made eye contact. He felt his blood pressure rise and his pulse quicken. It suddenly got hot, and he felt beads of sweat on his forehead. That overconfident grin that Jake always wore was such a complete turn on.
Mac watched the silhouette of Jake’s black leather jacket and jeans as he walked through the lobby. Jake moved with purpose. Never slowing his stride, people moved out of his way. He had a slight bounce in his step, an ease to his demeanor, that made people stop and stare.
“I’ll call the manager,” the cashier said, with a distraught sigh.
“No.” Mac reluctantly pulled his gaze from Jake to address the girl behind the counter. “I’ll take care of it.” He handed her his debit card. “Add a medium tub of popcorn and two sodas to the order. And nachos.”
The girl raised her brows at him. “That’s real nice of you. Ya sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sure.”
“What a bunch of assholes,” someone behind Mac commented about the King brothers.
It irked Mac. Sure, Jake was obnoxious and overbearing most of the time, but no one had the right to judge. No one knew the struggles that Jake faced or what it was like to live behind a façade and pretend to be someone else. Mac didn’t know the person at Jake’s core, but he saw enough to know that Jake was only playing a part, like an actor in a movie.
Mac collected his debit card, and the snacks, and found the theater.
“I think he’s following you,” Skylar said, when they settled in their seats.
“I think he’s been following me for a long time,” Mac replied. “It’s funny that neither of us noticed that before, right?”
Skylar thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “I guess we’re just used to seeing the same faces all the time.”
The movie started and everyone quieted, except for voices coming from several rows behind Mac and Skylar.
“You got to be kidding. Twelve movies in this place, and they’re in the same theater as us?” Skylar slammed her soda into the cupholder. “I’m sorry, but he’s the most annoying fucking person in the world. And his brothers are worse than he is.”
After a few moments, Jake and his brothers stopped talking over the sound system and Mac settled back to watch the movie. He couldn’t shake the knowledge that Jake was seated a few rows behind him, though, and he couldn’t concentrate on the movie. He wanted to turn around and look for Jake, but the theater was too dark, and he didn’t want to be conspicuous. “I’m gonna use the bathroom and get another soda. Want anything?” he asked Skylar.
“No. I’m good.”
He really didn’t need to use the can and still had three-quarters of his drink left. He only wanted to make eye contact with Jake again, but he could barely see anything except the rope lighting on the floor that led to the lobby. Once outside the theater, the bright lights blinded him. He shielded his eyes with his hand and made his way to the restroom.
As he faced the urinal and the ceramic tile on the wall, the door to the men’s room flew open with a bang. There was only one other person in the restroom, washing his hands at the sink, who also jumped at the loud entrance.
