‘You’re the moron who walks herself out of danger!’ She clapped her hands in celebration. ‘That’s a good one, actually. You’re slippery.’
I moved my gaze over her shoulder. A woman with plum-coloured hair was hovering across the foyer. It was cut short, styled into a severe bob with the heaviest bangs I’d ever seen. My recent love affair with America’s Next Top Model had attuned me to hairstyles, and as far as dramatic cuts went, this one was hard to miss. It covered her eyebrows and hung low over theatrical eye make-up.
Millie noticed my distraction. ‘Cute boy?’ She followed my gaze. ‘You’re being woefully obvious.’
‘See the girl with the purple hair?’
Millie turned her whole body around. ‘Who? Lego-head over there?’
I pinched her. ‘Stop being so obvious. I swear she’s watching us.’
‘She probably can’t even see us through her fringe.’
‘I’m serious. There’s something up with her.’
Millie rolled her eyes. ‘Soph, come on. We’ve been over this a hundred times. Nobody is out to get you. You’re safe.’
We edged closer to the till. ‘Just hear me out,’ I said, still keeping an eye on the purple-haired girl. She was pacing now, looping around the theatre in a circle. If she was trying to play it cool, she was failing; I was on to her. ‘She was in the parking lot the same time we were. She was staring at us so hard I thought she was going to hit on you. Then she was standing behind us the whole time we were getting our tickets, and now she’s lingering here but she hasn’t bought one thing.’
Millie was gaping at me. ‘Soph, has it really gotten this bad …’
‘I know what you’re going to tell me. You’re going to tell me it’s a movie theatre and there’s loads of people here and that’s the whole point and I’m being paranoid …’
She nodded along with me.
‘But Mil, the more I think about it, I’m pretty sure she was driving a black Mercedes in the parking lot. That’s the same type of car that’s been driving by my house!’
Millie opened her mouth like she was going to say something. She stopped, closed it, and swallowed. She sighed. ‘OK, well, what do you want to do about this? Do you want me to go over there and talk to her? Would that make you feel better?’
I thumbed the closed blade in my pocket. ‘Just watch her. Let’s see what she does.’
‘OK,’ she resolved, looking around. ‘I don’t even know where she’s gone.’
‘She’s by the windows over there. Don’t look now. She’s doing something on her phone.’
‘Right, well, just forget about it for now. I bet she’s just waiting for a date, or an adequate hairdresser.’
The couple in front of us moved off. We took our place at the counter. Millie ordered our food and we made our way to the screen, carrying obnoxiously large buckets of popcorn.
I waited for Purple Hair to follow us in, but she didn’t. I kept my other hand in my pocket, clenched around the closed switchblade. Calmness trickled over me. Deep down I knew I was just being paranoid, but outings like this would help it ease over time. I just had to push myself. After a while my heart rate settled to a steady pace. I popped a handful of popcorn into my mouth and revelled in the taste of butter on my tongue. The lights dimmed and the screen flickered to life.
Afterwards, we used the restroom because the movie had, against all odds, managed to emotionally obliterate Millie.
‘You don’t have to look so smug about it,’ she told my reflection, as she scrubbed the mascara tracks from her face.
‘You wept,’ I said, triumph stretching the smile on my face. ‘You wept like a baby.’
‘Oh, excuse me for caring about the love story. You didn’t tell me she was going to have to murder him in the end.’ She sniffed. ‘I mean, she dismantled him.’
‘Yeah, well, sometimes robots go bad. Besides, I thought you said you couldn’t connect with non-human love stories anyway, so why are you getting all weepy about it?’
‘You didn’t tell me he’d be a hot robot! I was picturing the gold guy from Star Wars.’
I laughed and the feeling was an airy tickle in my chest – something I hadn’t felt in a while. I wasn’t thinking about the switchblade or the warehouse or the paranoia. I was thinking about my best friend and how funny she was without even meaning it, and I might have kept laughing if we hadn’t run into the purple-haired girl the second we left the bathroom.
She was hovering in the foyer, like she had never left. Suspicion surged inside me – uncomfortable and suffocating. My throat went tight. She was standing by the windows, slumped casually against the wall, her phone in her hands, but her gaze was roving.
‘I see her,’ said Millie, under her breath. ‘So before you start freaking out, don’t. Her movie’s clearly just finished, and we’re going to the car anyway, so just ignore it.’