Belief in Miracles (completed)

Chapter 9: Summer

9

Summer

Despite Sebastian's protests, I bought the popcorn, since the addition of my niece to the group added another fifteen bucks in snacks. Especially when she insisted that she hated popcorn, and instead wanted nachos and Milk Duds that came out to exactly fourteen dollars and sixty cents on their own. Theater concession was a business in orchestrated robbery.

Sebastian carried our shared medium popcorn, extra butter, which he continually stole bites from as we made our way down the long hall toward our assigned cinema. In both my hands were our drinks, making my fingers numb as the ice jiggled inside to sound like radio static amongst the surrounding voices. The theater was already mostly full by the time we entered, and we stood for a moment at the bottom of the stairs while Sebastian doubled checked our seat numbers on the tickets.

"D-seven, eight, and nine." He said, and allowed Chelsea to take the lead up to the designated row.

I watched her claim our seats, then went ahead of Sebastian, stood outside the row to wait for him. With one hand on the popcorn, he wrapped the other around the railing and used it to hoist himself up, his prosthetic leg gimping as he pressed up on it. He was breathing heavily by the time he reached me, a goofy grin on his face. Though worried for him, I smiled, and we excused ourselves past the legs of those already sitting to join Chels. She had taken the far-right seat, toward the middle, allowing Sebastian and I to sit together at her left. Already, her eyes were fixed on the theater ads, fingers prodding through her box of Milk Duds, ignoring us completely.

"You alright?" I whispered to Sebastian once we were seated.

He had taken his phone from his pocket, and was putting it on vibrate as he nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Sure?" He shoved the phone back in his pocket and offered me an arched brow, to which I sighed. "Positive, right?" I asked, and he grinned at me.

"Positive."

Rolling my eyes at him, I handed him his drink, which he set in the cupholder on his left, leaving the armrest between us open for optimal popcorn bucket support. Neither of us said anything as we watched the ads, our fingers picking through popcorn that was way under salted.

"This taste bland to you?" Sebastian whispered suddenly, and I looked to see him gesture at the popcorn.

Turning my nose up, I nodded. "I wasn't gonna say anything."

"Me either, but it's getting to taste like butter-flavored packing peanuts."

Laughing quietly, I took the bucket and stood. "I'll get salt."

"No, I can go."

"I'm already up. Be right back."

Excusing myself out of the aisle again, I jogged down the stairs and out of the theater, back toward the concession. The lines hadn't diminished in the slightest. Rather, they looked longer than when we'd first arrived, so I was happy to bypass them and head straight for the condiment stand. Setting the bucket on the counter, I used the available salt shaker to dust the popcorn, then grabbed a handful of napkins.

"Summer?" A voice came from my right, and my heart leaped into my throat as I slowly turned.

Standing at six feet tall, blond hair buzzed short, was the last person I'd ever thought... ever hoped to see, and I couldn't hide my discomfort as I took a step away.

"Louis..."

"Hey, wow, never thought I'd see you here. How you been?"

"What... what are you doing here?"