Waterline

Movie Night

It was almost eight o'clock, Penelope and Mae were setting up the snacks. Mae was making the popcorn. "Every other Saturday we have a movie night with our group of friends, it alternates to who gets to pick the movie," Penelope says as she fills a bowl with chips.
"Who usually comes over?" Mae asked.
"It's me, Pj, Ashley, Conor, Toby, Allen, Libby, Darrel, and Nelson. But today Nelson is no longer here, Libby is at the mainland visiting her grandma, and we also have a new member" Penelope elbowed Mae, hinting to what she was referring to.
"This sounds like a fun tradition," Mae said.
"It is" Penelope smiled as she took the bowls to the table. There was a soft knock on the door and two people walked in. Allen and Ashley walked in the room both taking their shoes off by the door. "Ashley, I thought you were riding with Pj and the group?" Penelope questioned.
"The car is pretty much full and I don't want to be stuck with Toby and Darrel, also Allen had no one to drive" Ashley explained.
"Wise choice" Penelope said, she placed the bowls on the table.
"Truthfully, I've been looking forward to this all week. With Nelson gone and Libby visiting her grandma's. The only thing that I've been doing was work and surfing." Allen said, taking a seat on the sand colored couch.
"That's sad" Penelope teased. Allen got flushed before turning away. "Stop that!" He whined. Penelope just laughed at him, Ashley also gave a small chuckle.

Pj gave a small knock before walking into the house. "Guess what movie we are watching!" He said holding up a DVD case with a creepy clown on it. The rest of the group piled in all looked excited except for one. "I love that movie, it gave me bad paranoia for a week but it doesn't matter," Penelope said. "But what about the showings at the beach, they are showing my favorite movies," Conor said.
"Conor, brother, we had this discussion in the car. Plus, this is the only way to get you to watch scary movies." Pj said, he pulled out the 'brother' card knowing well that he treats Conor like a brother.
"And we can't let you go alone, knowing well with what would happen" Penelope added.
"What if someone goes with me?" Conor asked them.
"We still can't-"
"Deal, bring someone and you can go" Penelope cut Pj off. Conor smiled and looked at the group of people, hoping one of them would offer to go. To his disappointment, no one said anything. Conor tried desperately to ask the others to go but they only wanted to watch the scary movie. But then Conor saw Mae, she was in the kitchen making lemonade.

"Mae, can you go with me to the beach showing?" Conor practically begged. Mae looked up, she did what she wanted to do.
"C'mon Mae, don't you want to watch a freaky movie with everyone," Pj said holding up the DVD case and shook it around.
"I'm not too fond of horror movies so anything else would be great" Mae turned to Conor and nod. Conor smiled before saying, "thank you so much!" He looked grateful to have someone agree to go with him. Mae put the pitcher down and let Ashley keep making the lemonade.
Pj sighed, "Do you want me to drive you to the boardwalk?"
"No, it's just half a mile" Conor smiled. He then turned to Mae with the same smile. "Let's go now, I want to see some of the previews," he said. Mae nod and both of them walked out the door. "Don't stay out too late!" Penelope called out to them.
"Do you think it's safe to have both of them go out late?" Pj asked once they left.
"Who's that?" Darrel asked.
"That's Mae, remember the mystery girl I told you about," Pj explained.
"Oh, cool! She seems so nice and calm" Darrel commented.
"Also, that reminds me. Is the parlor still hiring?" Penelope asked.

"Thanks again for going with me," Conor said, both were walking side by side. The street lights were on and the roads are technically empty. The chatting from the boardwalk was faint, making the sound of the ocean more clear. "It's not a problem, but I wanna know: what are previews?" Mae asked she was looking at the ground kicking pebbles.
"You forgot? It's just mini shows before the movie" Conor explained.
"So what movies are we watching?" Mae asked out of curiosity.
"First is Karate Kid and the next one is Breakfast Club, which is my all-time favorite" Conor commented. Mae just nods in response.