TAKE THE DIVE

PROLOGUE

Walking into the cinema I feel empty. Couples and groups of friends surround me. Laughter, chatter and the smell of fresh popcorn almost makes my stomach almost turn. My friends made me come all this way for them all to randomly be unable to make it...this has never happened, so why now? - I was on my last bus when I got that message, it was pointless wasting all this time to not seeing a movie. I will just try to overcome that idiotic view that doing things alone is sad. Honestly, I do enjoy doing things alone but I was also looking forward to spending time with my friends. Being an adult can feel very lonely sometimes, there are just too many accounts of schedules never matching. Always missing opportunities because work takes over our lives. I sigh out loud and catch a few people turning their heads towards me. I needed to snap out of this chilling sadness...

I scan to see what movie is playing soon. I feel like just taking a chance with a movie today. Taking whatever is given to me, that kind of mentality fits the mood of today. "Take The Dive'' was the next movie playing...how fitting I think to myself. After finding the screen for the movie I settled into the back of the room, finding a seat in the darkness since the movie was about to start. Thinking I had sat next to no one I began to relax. The comfort of the chair made my weary shoulders sink into its plush velvet. It's always nice not having to sit next to a stranger during a movie - it's nice when the cinema is empty. What even is this movie about, diving? Sharks?...is it a knock off of that shark movie called..my thoughts are interrupted when a person sits next to me. Now I notice that there had been a coat and bag on the seat next to me the entire time. Well Then. I probably seem extremely weird right now, who sits next to some random strangers stuff when the cinema is e m p t y? The movie begins and as I was about to sneakily remove myself from this situation and move to another seat -

"want some?" a whisper appears in the silence.

I look over and this stranger is offering me popcorn. TAKE THE DIVE appears on the screen. I dive my hand into the container and take some. The movie begins with two lovers saying goodbye to each other. The classic running after your lover's mode of transport ensues. A lovely classical romantic comedy transports me into a world that seems so strange to me now. My heart inhales and exhales the concept of their romance. My eyes dance as I follow the characters' movements between each other's lives. A joyous ache fills my body. Forgetting the world around me, I let go. Tears stream down my face at the embrace of the lovers returning, falling into each other's arms. THE CREDITS snap me back into reality. The reality is that a complete stranger is handing me a tissue. I had not seen the stranger's face and tried to hide a sneaky blush rushing to invite the world into knowing my feelings. Handsome. Stranger. Is. Handing. Me. A. Tissue. I feel like such a fool but all I can do is laugh.

"These movies always make me cry." I say, "Thank you." I take the tissue.

They smile. TIME AND SPACE seem to stop.

"The movie reminds you of someone? You are crying because it reminds you of a lost lover, right?" The handsome stranger asks.

Wiping my eyes. "No, not at all. I just find these movies moving. The idea of a true romance, you know?" I say, but in reality, I just haven't found someone who I truly can connect with. Every lover seems to bring upon hurt. Love should never wound people so deeply. Sometimes these movies make me cry because that love presented upon that screen seems so out of reach.

"I feel that way too." his voice broke me out of my thoughts.

I turn to them and smile. Walking out of the cinema - Together. Not saying a word, we naturally drift into two different directions. I turn to look back at them - I meet their eyes directly, their almond eyes seem to place me within a trance - we exchange smiles. My heart flutters. I hope to see them again. It feels strange to hope that. A stranger hadn't made such an impact on me in such a long time. But still, this even feels different...thinking back to how their smile seemed to have stopped time and space for a moment. I sigh, and sit at the bus stop and wait. Maybe I am just feeling this way because that movie moved me so much. My heart can easily be swayed by such romantic things. The heart can lie sometimes. The bus arrives, it is time to head home...to head back into reality. My heart tugs at my emotional strings, the bus is going in the same direction as that stranger was walking in. I find myself trying to find them...why am I trying to find someone I only just met? I can really be a hopeless romantic sometimes but is there anything wrong with that? The bus stops, my eyes glimpse upon someone who resembles that stranger. I knock on the window, and they turn to look at me. It is them. Something makes me get off the bus, the spur of the moment perhaps.

"What are you doing?" they ask with a twinkle in their eyes.

"I am not entirely sure," I remark back.

We smile at each other.