By 6:00 pm I was dressed and on my way out the door. As planned, I drove to the theatre alone to meet the others. Generally, my curfew isn’t as strict if my parents think I’m with a friend….a female friend, so I lied and said that I’d be at Deanna’s again. I found myself watching behind me for Leila’s car. Every time a set of headlights seemed to travel a little too closely I sped up and moved out of the way. I had no idea that Leila had a history of actually stalking AJ. This put a whole new spin on things.
I pulled into the parking lot of the theater a little faster than I should have, suddenly overtaken by paranoia. A.J, Karl and Deanna were already waiting, standing beside his Jag. There was an empty space beside him that I claimed and then took a deep breath to ward off the nervousness that I felt before stepping out.
My eyes locked with AJ’s and it was like everything around us disappeared. I was seeing him differently than before. While there was definitely a powerful attraction between us before, it was now even harder to contain myself around him. Visions of him from the night before almost made me run to get to him faster. My addiction was confirmed. When I reached him, I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed like it was the last time I’d ever see him. AJ buried his face in my neck as he hypnotized me once again. The softness of his skin, his scent, the feel of his body pressed to mine all working together to tear down my willpower. When he pulled away from me I instinctively grabbed for his arms to pull him back to me, but I caught myself and refrained.
Inside the theatre, there was a long line of people waiting to buy tickets. It was strange being here with AJ because the last time, we had to sneak to be with one another. This time, I held his hand with confidence. There were a few people who gave us strange looks, but whoever didn’t like it would just have to learn to deal with it. We were together whether everyone accepted that or not. I grabbed on to his arm with both hands and clutched it to my chest as we waited there. My eyes wandered over to the next line and my heart sank. Apparently Leslie, Terrence, Kyla and Brian had the same idea we did. There they stood beside us and Terrence’s gaze could’ve burned a whole through me, his anger nearly matched Antonio’s.
AJ must have felt my grip tighten. He turned to look at me and then followed my gaze to the group beside us. They all stared a while longer before turning to talk quietly…. about me I’m sure. All of them except for Leslie; she looked more hurt than anything. She eventually turned and stared straight ahead and I did the same. AJ leaned down and kissed me softly on my forehead, understanding that this transition was difficult for me and never pressed me to talk about it.
It felt like it took forever to reach the ticket booth. AJ paid and then we followed Karl and Deanna to the theater. We made it just before the lights dimmed. The movie, a love story that Deanna insisted on, was about a guy and a girl who started out as best friends that eventually realized they were meant to be together. They were both involved with other people when they realized that they were in love. In the end, they decided not to ruin their friendship by getting involved romantically, but they both spent the rest of their lives wondering what might have been. By the time it was over Deanna and I were both in tears.
Karl looked over at us and rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. Are you two freakin’ kidding me?” He asked. Deanna sighed at his insensitivity and walked out in a huff a few feet ahead of him. Of course he followed closely behind her trying to apologize. AJ was laughing at their episode as we walked slowly out toward the lobby. I continued to wipe the tears away from my eyes with little success. He reached for my hand and interlocked his fingers with mine, his eyes focused on the ground. It seemed like he was thinking about something, so I decided to ask.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he replied and flashed a smile.
“Then what’s on your mind?”I asked.
“I keep thinking about last night. Actually that’s all I’ve been able to think about.” His smile widened as he continued to look down.