Strange Attraction (editing/rewriting)

III

"Should we catch a movie?" I turn to look at Finn as the words leave his mouth. "It's only..." he takes a minute to pull out his phone and check the time, "8:12." I accept his offer and we flag down a car.

"Where to?"

"CVS and then to the nearest theatre," and with that short answer, we're off.

"I thought we were just going to the theatre." I turn to look at Finn who is looking out the window nonchalantly.

"We are, I just want to get some snacks first."

"You know there are snacks at the place right?"

"Expensive snacks." I laugh at the remark and we sit in silence as the car gets closer to the store. The two of us hop out of the car and grab whatever candy looks good before paying and getting back in the cab to drive to our next destination. We stuff as much as we can into our clothes and whatever would fit into my envelope purse.

Overdressed for an idle theatre, we get a few peculiar gazes in our direction to which we just shrug off. Not many good movies are playing, so we settle on a new 3 hour movie that looks horrible.

During the ads, we recline our chairs and eat most of the candy.

"I'll go get some popcorn." Finn declares as the ads announce that the movie will begin.

"Ok." The movie starts as soon as Finn heads towards the door. Given that there are only about 15 other people in the theatre, there's minimal chatter as the movie starts. As the screen lights up, I notice that Finn and I are the only ones in the very back row.

Finn comes back about five minutes later with two large sodas and a large bag of popcorn. Hesitant to take the drink he hands me, I ask "can we switch? No offense, but you know, never take a drink from a stranger."

"Oh, no, I understand." He hands me the other drink and sits down as we pour the remaining candy into the bin of popcorn and eat it as the movie continues.

"But shes a bitch." The quiet theatre comes to life as everyone laughs at the comment made in the movie. I look over to Finn who is grabbing his chest as he lets out a hearty cackle.

Immersed in the film, we barely talk to one another until it ends.

"Wow," Finn says after the movie ends.

We leave with everyone else talking about the movie and what was funny or what was serious. As I became aware that I barely drank anything, I consumed most of my soda before we left the theatre.

The date is coming to an end as Finn and I catch a ride to my apartment late at night. I can feel myself becoming tired during the car ride and before I know it, I'm falling asleep as we pull up in front of my apartment building.

Finn helps me out of the car and jogs up to my building door and opens it. "We're here," he notices that I'm nearly asleep when we reach the door to my apartment. "Let's get you to bed," Finn carries me the rest of the way as I'm in and out and sets me on the bed before I'm out for good.

I woke up the next day feeling refreshed. As I rose from my bed, I spotted a man sitting in the armchair sleeping with his head propped up on his knuckles then I realized it's Finn. I look down to see that I'm still dressed in yesterday's clothes.

"Hey!" I yell.

Finn immediately wakes up and realizes how this must look so he quickly explains himself. "Oh, you were in and out of it as I brought you home so I just stayed to make sure you were okay which it seems like you are so I'm gonna go." Finn grabs his jacket from off the other side of the chair and heads for my bedroom door.

"Wait," Finn stops in his tracks, "thanks."

He nods "till next time," and proceeds to leave.

I get out of bed as soon as I hear the door shut. Given that it's a weekend, I decided to run some errands. I get dressed in a simple pair of grey sweats and a thick plaid shirt with some slippers and head out the door to the grocery store.

Living in the city made it easier to walk places so I decided to walk to the grocery store and listen to secession studios.

At the store, I grabbed some fruits, bread, eggs, flour, cheese, you know the works. At self-checkout, I spotted my ex-sister-in-law, Alicia, who always seemed to always make it a point how better off she was without my brother. Before I could quickly pay for my things, she started to strut over with a tall dark man glued to her side. I will say he seemed way out of her league given her terrible personality among other things like her red hair that was always frizzy, thin eyebrows, and very bright red lipstick compared to his mocha skin, eyes, and hair. He was lean and seemed very well put together given his well-ironed pleated slacks and vintage Nike sweater.

"Olivia!" She hugged me for what seemed like forever before finally letting go. "It's been so long. This is my husband Curtis, Curtis this is Olivia, the one I told you about." Curtis held out a hand for me to shake and didn't say a word. "Have you found a fiancé yet? I met Curtis here not long after your brother. He is just a gift from God." Without indulging in her rant, I went on to pay for my things.

Cutting Alicia off from her rant, I said, "It was nice seeing you." I turned to lock eyes with her husband, "Curtis." He nodded as a reply and I walked off.

It was still early so I dropped my bags off at home and went to run more errands.

While I was in the line at the bank I got a text.

"Date 2?" It was from Finn

I thought about it for a minute and I did enjoy our last one so I replied with "sure, when are you available?"

"Anytime, you?"

I switched out of the messaging app and went to the calendar app to check when I was available. "2 weeks from now."

"Great! See ya then."

I looked up to see there was a large gap between me and the bank teller to which I quickly filled.

I made it home fairly late and decided to just whip up some cup noodles and call it a night.

The next day was quite uneventful because I stayed in and spent most of my time in my office catching up on some work. I didn't realize how late it was until I looked up from a spreadsheet on my computer screen to the window which displayed the dark night sky that was lit by the numerous street lights and building lights. I took out my headphones and set them down on the desk while I could still hear the muffled music playing from them as I stood up to stretch and listen to the muted sound of the people on the street.

I swung the door of my office open and stepped out into the hallway to be engulfed by the darkness. I searched for a light switch in the darkness, which it shortly found, and made my way to the kitchen to find something to eat. Being too lazy to cook a meal, I grabbed the same meal from last night and sat on the couch to find a show to watch.