Movie Girl

Chapter 1: My Domain

 “Hello, welcome to Cinemagic!” The big phony smile that was plastered on my face seemed be contagious, as the two guys standing before me returned the gesture. Though theirs seemed considerably more genuine. Probably because their sense of smell had not been completely ruined thanks to hours around the ever-pervasive scent of popcorn.  

“Can we get an extra large popcorn and two cokes?” The blonde asked. I typed his order in, never letting the grin slide from my face. 

“Is that all you’ll be having?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“That’ll be 10.32.” By the look the two teens gave me, I had a feeling they hadn’t anticipated for the price to be so stiff. On the one hand, I felt their pain. On the other, all tight-walleted teenagers should’ve known better than to not sneak food in. But since I had a bleeding heart, I took pity on the poor guys. “You know, I can give you a fifteen percent discount. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing, right?” The other teen smiled at my offer, elbowing his friend with excitement. 

“That’d be perfect! All we have is a ten, so…” I nodded as I took the bill and gave them the appropriate change. 

“You’re literally the best,” the blonde said, giving me another smile. The praise was much appreciated. Especially from two attractive guys… 

“Large popcorn!” Rus called out, and I took the warm bag from him and passed it to the waiting boys. Rus gave them a brief look as he handed off the treat, eyeing how they beamed up at me. “You gave ‘em a discount again, didn’t you?” Was it really that obvious?

“What? It’s better to get some money than none at all, right?” Rus smiled at that, which was kind of awesome because Rus was basically a male model, and receiving a smile from him was like being kissed on the eyelids by angels; you were never really the same afterwards. Something about his chiseled jaw and dimples had my knees buckling under me and—

“Two cokes?” Christian passed the drinks to the waiting guys. One look at them and he was laughing. “She gave you a discount, didn’t she?” Oh come on! 

“It’s almost Christmas!” I defended myself. “Besides, what’s the point of having the ability to curb prices a bit and not do it!?” Christian and Rus laughed at me while the two boys I helped out scuttled towards their flick (though not after praising me for my kindness again). 

“You’re too kind, Em,” Christian mused as he began to fix his dred-lock pony tail. “You really need to learn how to say no to people.” Rus nodded in agreement. Right, right. As if the two didn’t slide the pretty girls extra skittles whenever they batted their eyelashes.

When I pointed that out to them, both Christian and Rus shrugged it off as if I hadn’t made a valid point. But what could you expect from boys like them? Christian Hart and Lloyd “Rus” Russell were two of the most egocentric boys I’d ever known. With good reason. Rus was the star quarter back at his high school and was probably going to be drafted into the NFL as soon as he graduated college. Christian was one of the few attractive “nerds” out there. Like, I’m pretty sure he got a 2400 on his SAT. Couple his genius with his humor, and the guy was liked by all.

The two were best friends as far as I could tell. Whenever we had some down time, they would discuss big weekend plans like going to under 21 clubs and someone’s-parents-are-out-of-town parties. Christian and Rus were the epitome of popular. All it took was one smile from ‘em to convince me of their superior status.

Me?

Well…

I wasn’t the type of girl you’d expect to associate with them. In fact, if it hadn’t been for this movie theater job, I probably never would have met them. See, I’m not exactly who you’d call “popular”. Actually, I wasn’t popular. I wasn’t anything. At my school, people liked me. They spoke to me at times, even laughed at some of my one-liners.