“Yeah, we’ll see.” There was a brief silence before he continued. “What time are you all supposed to be getting together at your house Saturday?”
My heart sank because I knew where this was headed. What should I say? One thing is for sure, the truth was out. But then again, if I lie and he finds out from Terrance that Leslie was supposed to come over my house at 3:00, I’d be caught.
“Uh…..I don’t remember what time we settled on exactly. I’ll have to call Les to find out.”
“Well let me know when you do find out,” he replied.
“Sure.” Crap!
*****
As we stood in the long line to buy our tickets I couldn’t help but to think about how I was going to get myself out of this one. There was absolutely no way I could have them both at my house at the same time. That would be a disaster for sure. I couldn’t lie to Antonio; he’d find out the truth from Terrance. Canceling seemed like the most likely choice, but Antonio may become suspicious about what my motives were. There didn’t seem to be a plausible solution. While wrestling with my dilemma, I could feel my phone vibrating in my purse. I didn’t want Antonio to see me checking it, so I made up a lie to get me away from him for a moment.
“I’ll be right back. I think I left something in your truck.” I turned to walk away.
“Don’t you need the key?” Antonio asked flatly.
“Oh, yeah that would be helpful. Thanks,” I replied, mildly embarrassed by my oversight.
I grabbed the keys from his hand and headed back out the theatre entrance. Once I was sure he couldn’t see me, I hid behind a van and pulled my phone out. It was a text message from AJ.
“What r u doing?”
What should I tell him? The truth I guess. After all, he was the one that I didn’t have to lie to.
“At the movies,” I replied.
“With him?” He asked.
“Yeah.”
I waited another minute for him to respond and decided that I was pushing my luck. Antonio would become suspicious if I waited any longer, so I walked back inside. He had almost made it to the front of the line. “Did you find what you were looking for?” He asked.
“Yeah, I thought I lost my lip gloss but it was under the seat.” I smiled at him trying to make my story as believable as possible.
We were next in line. Antonio pulled the money from his pocket and stepped forward when the couple in front of us walked away from the counter. When he had our tickets in hand, I decided to create a small diversion to give myself a chance to check my phone again for another message from AJ. He hadn’t responded that I knew of, but I wanted to be sure. “Why don’t I get the drinks and everything while you go get us a good seat?” I offered.
“Alright,” he replied and then put a twenty dollar bill in my hand along with my ticket before he walked away. I watched until he was out of sight and then grabbed my cell phone out of my purse. Nothing. I sighed and waited in line. After I paid for our snacks I made my way to the theater and found Antonio seated in the very last row in the far corner. He met me at the end of the row to take the drinks from my hand. Even when he wasn’t in the best of moods he was still a complete gentleman.
The lights dimmed and the previews started. I was surprised when Antonio reached for my hand. He’d been a little distant since this afternoon, so it was a relief that he still wanted to be close to me. I glanced over at him and found that he was already looking in my direction. He smiled at me a short sweet smile and then turned back to the screen.
About halfway through the movie, my phone started to go off again. I jumped a little, but lucky for me, there was a scary scene at that precise moment so Antonio didn’t notice. I turned to the side and acted as if I was searching for something in my purse again.
AJ had sent me another text. “Come outside. Use the side entrance.”
Is he insane? I settled back into my seat and pretended to watch the movie while I debated whether or not to comply. About five minutes later I decided go for it.
“I’ll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom.”