Right Place, Wrong Time

13. Call on Courage

"Remind me again why I'm here?" Brian said.

"Because I got nervous!" Joey replied, pacing a little.

They were in the lobby of the movie theatre, waiting for Lauren to arrive. The smell of the popcorn they'd already bought popcorn filled Joey's nostrils as he watched the doors. There were people in line to buy tickets and snacks, others waiting around for friends, but no sign of her yet. It was still five minutes before their arranged meeting time, but he didn't want to miss her.

"Dude, you need to relax."

He ground his teeth in frustration. Brian shouldn't be there. He could have kicked himself. The girl of his dreams asks to hang out with him and the first thing out of his mouth is a lie about Brian. It wasn't like they hadn't hung out by themselves before. But now that she and Darren were broken up, his mind went into panic at the thought of going out alone with her, so he'd had to beg Brian to come with him to back up his idiotic lie.

"I can still leave," Brian offered.

"No!" Joey cried.

Brian smirked, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "I get it, you need a wingman."

"No. But I already told her I was coming with you."

"So just tell her I couldn't make it."

"Then she'll think it was a set up!" Brian was proving less and less helpful and Joey wished he could send him away, but he really didn't want Lauren to think he had tricked her into this.

"So? She was the one that asked you out."

Joey sighed. He had a point, but it didn't make any difference. He still couldn't figure Lauren out and, until he did, he needed to be careful or else he'd mess up and lose her friendship.

"She's here," he said, his heart kicking into high gear.

A tiny blonde head had appeared through the doors. She stood on tiptoes to wave to him, then made her way over.

"Hi," she said, slightly breathlessly, and hugged him. She hugged Brian too, apparently not wanting to leave him out.

"You alright?" Joey asked her.

"Yeah. Are we ready?"

"I need to go to the bathroom real quick. Hold this for me?" he asked Lauren, holding out his popcorn.

"Sure, but don't expect there to be any left when you get back."

They all laughed, and Joey hurried off, not wanting to keep them waiting too long. When he walked back out, he saw Lauren and Brian standing close together as they talked, she smiling up at him. He knew better than to be jealous, but when Brian winked at him he wondered if he should have been nervous about leaving them on their own for a different reason.

"Shall we go in then?" Joey said quickly as he rejoined them. "I've got your ticket here, Lo."

He handed it to her. When she glanced down at it, she did a double take, her mouth falling open a little.

"I should have asked what movie you were seeing," she said, in a voice so quiet Joey wasn't sure if he was hearing it so much as reading her lips.

His heart dropped. "You don't like horror movies."

"Hate them," she said, offering him a self-deprecating smile, but he could see genuine fear in her eyes. He shared a look with Brian.

"We can see a different movie," he told her. "We can ask them to change the tickets-"

"No, it's okay," she said firmly. "It'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked. The last thing he wanted was to torture her for 2 hours.