Just Friends

Chapter 5

Colm parked in the furthest parking space from the Cinema he could find. He told Maria he didn't want anybody parking beside him and banging up his car with their doors so he always went for the most undesirable spot in the car park. They walked to the cinema in silence and stood in the queue to get their tickets. 

"Hey Maria" 

Maria spun around to see Keith standing behind her with a girl that looked a bit older. 

"Oh Hi, what are you going to see?" 

"After talking to you today about the movie I decided I really wanted to see it too." 

Maria laughed 

"Oh ok, well enjoy" 

She turned back around to face the front of the queue and heard the girl that was accompanying Keith trying to stifle a laugh. 

She turned to Colm

"Do you want popcorn or anything else?" 

He was looking at her funny then his expression went blank. 

"Eh yeah I think so, lets see what will I have" 

He looked up at the menu board as the queue moved. 

"Next please"

They walked to the girl standing behind the till. She was tall, her beautiful red hair was tied up in a bun but going by the size of the bun she had a lot of beautiful long red hair. Her green eyes sparkled as she looked at Colm. 

"How can I help you?" 

Colm smiled and ordered the tickets, he turned to Maria

"Do you want to go halves on a large popcorn and a large nacho tray?" 

"Oh yes please, I can never decide which one I want." 

He turned back to the girl on the till and ordered. The girl informed them they could get drinks with their food as a meal deal and it would only cost an extra euro on each meal. They decided they'd take that deal. Maria tried to pay for her ticket and her half of the meal but Colm insisted it was his treat. He said it was to make up for all of the food and drinks he stole from her secret stash in the cupboard. 

"I knew you had been taking stuff from there. I was convinced I was going crazy for a while when stuff started disappearing." 

He laughed as he gathered the drinks and popcorn. Maria took the nachos with cheese and jalapeños. As they walked away Maria heard the girl with Keith giggling again and calling her a loser. Colm heard it too because he looked back over his shoulder at them before looking down at Maria. She just pretended she didn't hear anything and kept walking. 

Inside the cinema they choose their seats. Before Colm sat down he asked if Maria wanted him to sit one or two seats away. She laughed

"No chance, you're just saying that so you can eat all of the food to yourself." 

Laughing and he opened his mouth wide in a shocked expression

"Would I do that?" 

She rolled her eyes at him

"Yes, yes you would. Now sit down and stop drawing attention to us. I don't want more people to see us together. The shame" 

He put his hand over his heart and pouted 

"Why do you hurt me like this?" 

Maria laughed at his fake pouty expression then grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him down into the seat beside her. 

They sat in silence for the next 2 hours watching the movie. When it was done they stood up and walked out, Maria looked up and saw Keith standing at the door waiting. The girl from outside wasn't with him. 

As she got closer he smiled at her. 

"Hey, what did you think of the movie?" 

Maria looked around to see if the girl he was with was behind her, there was nobody there.  He was talking to her.

"Oh, umm yeah it was ok. I preferred the first one though. What did you think?" 

He walked beside Maria forcing Colm to take a step back. They chatted for a couple of moments until they got to the lobby then Maria said goodbye and walked to Colm who was standing at the door. 

Outside Colm pulled his jacket around him. It was a lot cooler out now than when they went in.

"I thought you said you didn't have any friends to go see this movie with?" 

Maria looked at him like he had two heads

"I don't" 

"Eh it looked like you knew that guy..what's his name? Keith?" 

Maria scoffed 

"Yeah, I know him from school. He's not a friend though." 

Colm didn't say anything until they got to the car. He opened the door for Maria and she got in. He went around to the driver side and got in. He turned to Maria before starting the car. 

"You sure he's not a friend? He seemed fairly friendly in there." 

Maria rolled her eyes. 

"I was his partner for a Maths quiz last week and we walked home together earlier today. He asked about my plans for the weekend so I mentioned the cinema." 

"Woah woah wait a minute...so you tell this guy that you're going to the cinema and then he turns up with a date?"

She rolled her eyes again

"Oh give over. It's not a crime to go see a scary movie at the same time as someone you know from school"

Colm laughed and started the engine. 

"Yeah ok....I think someone has a crush on you and you just don't want to admit it" 

"No way, he's the most popular boy in school. There's no way he likes me like that. He's just a nice guy, he's friendly." 

Colm glanced at her as he was waiting to pull out of the parking space.

"Why wouldn't he like you like that? You're...."

He stopped speaking and pulled into a gap of the line of cars. Maria wasn't sure what he was going to say so she stayed silent for a few moments to see if he would finish his sentence. He didn't. He stopped at the red traffic light.

"Thanks for bringing me tonight, so what did you think of it?"

He glanced across at her and smiled 

"No problem Brat, yeah I thought it was good but like you said to your friend I preferred the first one. This one didn't really have the element of surprise like that one did." 

"Exactly! It was predictable.....I still liked it though" 

The light turned green and Colm pulled off.

"Yeah, me too."