First Date

Entry 4

Wednesday July 23rd, 1986

I saw him today. Actually, I kind of ran right into him. I was cleaning theatres as usual and rounded the corner quick and face planted right into him... like, we both collapsed to the floor. Yea, real smooth move, I know. I was so embarrassed, but he didn't seem to be bothered. I apologized majorly as I pulled myself off his chest, but he just kind of grinned at me. Fuck, that grin makes my heart speed up.

  "You are perfectly fine. I was actually just looking for you. Not exactly how I planned to find you, but this works too I guess." He remained laid out on the floor only propped up by his elbows while I sat in front of him still on the floor. He continued to grin at me, never breaking eye contact.

  "You were looking for me?" I felt so flustered. I wasn't even sure if actual words came out of my mouth, but he responded.

  "Yea, I wanted to ask if I could cash in on that free movie. I was going to come this past weekend, but I figured it would be hella crowded."

"Oh, um, yea, sure. What did you want to see?"

"Well, what do you want to see?" I paused, and just stared at him expressionless. "I mean, I know you see movies here all the time, but was there anything you haven't seen yet that you would maybe like to see still, with me?" He paused and looked away for a moment. "I mean, I can't just use you for a ticket and not bring you with. That'd be rude."

We both laughed. "Yea I guess you're right." I thought for a moment. "Well, I still haven't seen the new Aliens. Everyone is saying it's better than the first one. But we don't have to if- "

"It's a date." We stared at each other for a moment before finally standing back up. "You free after work tonight?"

"Um yea, I get off at five."

"Great, I'll uh, be around. Meet you out front at five then."

"Yea, okay!" I waved as he headed out to the front lobby and out of sight. 'Was this actually a date?' I thought to myself. 'Or was it just a figure of speech?' 'Was he really just being nice or does he really want to go with me?'

Work drug on the next couple hours. My manager could tell I was restless, so he had me clean up the projection booth which did help kill some time. But then it was five, and as I punched out, I saw him walking into the lobby. I could feel my stupid grin forming as he walked towards me, but I couldn't turn it off. "Hey." I barely muttered loud enough to hear.

"You ready?" He looked me up and down and suddenly I realized I can't see a movie with my crush while still in uniform.

"Uh, wait. I think I have a shirt in my car. I'll be right back." I rushed to my car as fast as I could.  I opened the trunk and grabbed my bag that I keep in case of emergencies and pulled out a spare button up and jeans, a bottle of Drakkar Noir and a comb. I changed and showered myself in my cologne including my hair before combing it all back. I rushed back inside where Henry was still waiting.

"I like the hair." He pointed out.

"Thanks." I smirked back at him. "Did you want to get any popcorn or coke?"

"I'm not much of a snacker really."

"You sure? I can get it for free."

He laughed and looked down towards the floor. As he looked back up and brushed his hair back, making eye contact with me. We both smiled. "I think I'll be okay. Besides, I'm sure you are tired of the concessions by now."

"Kind of, actually." He wasn't wrong. I snack on that popcorn through every shift. We headed into the theatre and were surprised to see it completely empty. Only then did we realize we still had another twenty minutes before it started. So, we grabbed a couple middle seats second from the top row and just talked as people slowly began to trickle in. We talked about the high schools we went to and what our favorite subjects were. I was surprised to find out he did a lot of theatre, which explains his love for movies, which we spent the most time discussing. We talked about our favorite horror movies, mine being A Nightmare on Elm Street and his being The House on Haunted Hill. We also talked about clothes and cologne after he told me he liked the smell of mine. As we began talking about music the lights began to dim. My heart was in my throat. I was both nervous about the movie and about sitting next to him.