Gabe gritted his teeth. ‘I hate it when she calls me Geekle.’
‘She calls me Ele-nerd,’ Elena said. ‘And Short Stuff. Wednesday Addams. Virgin Daiquiri. Ukelena . . . Ukelele. Lele. My Little Pony. Thumbelina. Rumpelstiltskin . . .’
Gabe laughed a little. ‘Why do you let her call you all that?’
‘I don’t even hear it any more,’ Elena said. ‘Plus it’s different. I’m her friend . . . I can have her stop calling you names, if you want?’
‘It doesn’t even matter,’ Gabe said.
They were quiet for a minute. Elena was trying to figure out whether she was mad. She wasn’t.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ she asked. ‘That we already knew each other.’
‘I didn’t want you to call me Geekle,’ Gabe said. ‘I didn’t want it to catch on.’
Elena nodded.
‘We should sleep,’ he said. ‘This is our last night.’
‘Yeah,’ Elena said.
He pulled up his legs and folded his arms. How did he sleep like that?
Elena curled up as much as she could. She kept trying to get comfortable. It was so bright under the lights.
‘Gabe?’ she said after ten minutes or so.
‘Yeah?’
‘Are you asleep?’
‘Sort of.’
‘Are you still mad?’
Gabe sighed. ’In a larger sense, yes. At you, in this moment, no.’
‘OK. Good.’
Elena hunkered down again. She watched the cars driving by. She would be really, really glad to be home tomorrow night. After the movie. The movie . . .
‘Gabe?’ she said.
‘What?’
‘I can’t sleep.’
‘Why not?’
‘Star Wars!’
Thursday 17 December 2015
Something strange happened at 6 a.m.
Darth Vader got in line.
It was one of Troy’s friends. He kicked Troy’s feet off the cooler and shouted, ‘The Force awakens!’
‘Yeah, we’ve heard that one,’ Gabe grumbled, sitting up.
Elena was watching everything from a gap between her hat and her sleeping bag.
‘I haven’t slept in a week,’ Gabe said. ‘I think you can die of that. I think I’m dead.’
Troy woke up and welcomed his friend, who eventually got in line behind Gabe.
Elena and Gabe walked together to Starbucks. She gave him some of her baby wipes; they were both in dire need of a shower. Gabe looked like he was growing a beard. It was coming in redder than his hair. Elena painted new Yodas on her cheeks. ‘You into Star Wars?’ the barista asked.
‘Nope,’ Gabe said.
‘Yes,’ Elena said.
‘I’m going to see it tonight,’ the barista said. ‘Midnight showing.’
‘Cool,’ Elena said.
‘There are already people in line over there,’ he said. ‘Have you seen them? Just three miserable dorks sitting on the sidewalk.’
Elena smiled brightly. ‘That’s us!’
‘What?’
‘We’re the three dorks—well, two of the three.’
The barista was mortified; he gave them their coffee for free. ‘May the Force be with you!’ Elena said.
When they got back, there were three new people in line.
By noon, there were twenty, at least half of them in costume.
By three, there were speakers on the sidewalk, and someone kept playing the victory parade music from The Phantom Menace over and over again. (It was only a minute and a half long.) Elena consented to a ninety-second dance with Troy. Gabe turned him down.
Fifty people showed up by dinner time, and some of them brought pizza. Elena went up and down the line, posing for photos and posting them to Instagram. (Her hashtags were inspired.) Troy, who’d changed into his pilot costume, was a little wary of all the newcomers—’Jar-Jar-come-latelies.’
‘We have to keep our guard up,’ he said. ‘These people aren’t part of the line covenant. They might try to surge at the end.’
‘We still have our tickets,’ Gabe said.
‘I will be the first person to walk into that theater,’ Troy said. ‘You will be second. And Elena will be third. We are the line. These are just day guests.’
‘So are we sitting together?’ Elena asked.
‘Oh,’ Troy said. ‘Well, we can sit near each other. I’ve actually got a bunch of friends coming . . .’
‘We can sit together,’ Gabe said, looking at Elena, but somehow not looking at Elena. ‘If you want.’
‘Sure,’ she said. ‘Let’s see this through.’
The newspaper photographer came back. The line wrapped around the block. Mark came out with a loudspeaker to give everybody directions.
‘We’ve got two hours,’ Gabe said to Elena. ‘I think we’ve only got time for a tattoo or a nickname. Your pick.’
‘Let’s not talk about nicknames,’ she said.
They’d packed up their stuff and Mark said they could leave it in his office during the movie. ‘Thank you for not being drunk or disorderly,’ he said. ‘And for not littering. I hope you camp outside a different theater next time—I’d be happy to make a few recommendations.’
‘No chance,’ Troy said. ‘This is home.’
Elena bounced up and down, pointing from side to side.
‘What’s that?’ Gabe asked.
‘It’s my Star Wars dance,’ she said, bouncing and pointing.
After a few seconds, he joined her. Then Troy’s friends picked it up. The dance traveled down the line. From the street, they must have looked like the Peanuts characters dancing.
There was a surge at the end—Troy was right! The line turned into a mob when Mark opened the doors. But Mark shouted at everyone and made sure the three original line members got in first. Gabe and Elena grabbed seats in the very middle of the theater.
‘Oh my God,’ Elena said. ‘This is the most comfortable chair I’ve ever sat in. I feel like a princess.’
‘You look like a ruffian,’ Gabe said, but his eyes were closed. ‘It’s so warm,’ he said. ‘I love inside.’
‘Inside is the best,’ Elena said. ‘Let’s never go outside again.’
The theater filled up, and everyone was loud and excited. Elena got a large popcorn and a small pop, and she went to the bathroom twice in the hour before the show started. ‘If I have to pee during the movie, I’m using this cup.’
‘It’s what you do best,’ Gabe said.
‘I can’t believe I made it!’ she said. ‘I can’t believe we’re here. I can’t believe there’s a new Star Wars movie.’
‘I can’t believe how much I want a shower,’ Gabe said.
Elena started doing her Star Wars dance again. It worked just as well in a chair.
When the lights went down, she squealed.
She’d made it. She’d camped out. And she hadn’t given up. And now it was here. Now it was starting.
The opening crawl began. Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
Elena felt all the stress and tension—all the adrenalin—of the last four days drain out of her body. She felt like she was sinking deep, deep into the warm, plush chair.
She’d made it. She was here. It was happening.
Friday 18 December 2015
Elena woke up with her head on Gabe’s shoulder. In a puddle of spit. Someone was trying to climb over her. ‘Excuse me,’ the person said. Why would anyone be leaving during the opening credits?
The opening credits. There were no opening credits.