The Strangest is Yet to Come

03.

A week passes in a blur of work for both teens and it's not until the Monday that Samantha and Jonathan had any plans with one another - a trip to Starcourt to watch Day of the Dead; Will and the others had all been raving about it and she was eager to see it.

First of course, she had a shift and the arcade but that was fine, it was only till seven and the movie wasn't until 8:30 which meant there was plenty of time to get something to eat first.

So at seven, she clocks out and says a quick goodbye to Keith who's in the office before heading for the exit, giving Eddie Munson a wave as she passed by the game he's playing.

"Later, Wheeler."

Pushing the heavy doors open, she's hit with the hot evening air and she silently hopes that the movie theatre has air conditioning and looking around the parking lot, she doesn't see Jonathan's car.

She shrugs, sitting down against the wall as she pulls her copy of Frankenstein from her bag. He was probably running late and besides, she was out right on time.

She reads for a good while, occasionally looking up to see if he's arrived yet but when eight o'clock comes around, she comes to the conclusion that he's probably not coming.

So she gets up, shoving her book back into her bag before she's returning into the arcade.

"Keith?" she calls, pushing into the office, "Hey, Keith?"

"I thought you were going home?" he drones, not looking away from the comic he's reading.

She ignores him, "Has Jonathan called at all? Left a message?"

"Nope," he shakes his head, "Why would he have?"

"We're supposed to be going to the movies but he's not here. He's probably been stuck at the paper."

"Or he's forgotten about you," he snorts and Samantha's smile falters.

It wasn't as if it was a regular occurence but he had done it before.

Realising that Keith is still looking at her, she plasters the smile back on her face. "He's probably just stuck at the paper." she repeats.

"If you say so," he calls as the office door slams shut behind her.

She phones home, seeing if there was anyone home who could possibly come and pick her up but there's no answer. She then thinks about calling Nancy but decides against it; that's the last thing she'd be wanting to do.

So she decides to just walk, taking a hesitant look up at the greying sky and hoping that the rain holds off until she's at least at home.

"Hey,"

Eddie's stood by his van, in the process of unlocking it when he obviously noticed her and she gives him a nod, "Hey."

"Where are you going?"

"Home," she hears his approaching footsteps.

"I thought you had a date," he falls into step beside her, "Thought Jonathan was picking yo-hey, slow down!"

"He's been kept back at work," she says, coming to a stop, "So I'm just going to head home."

Thankfully, if he can tell that she's lying (or sees that she looks like she could start crying at any moment), he doesn't say anything; looking up when the first fat drops of water start falling from the sky, "Do you uh, you want a ride home?"

She's shaking her head before he's even finished his question, stepping around him to continue on her way, "No, it's alright."

"Hey," he jumps in front of her, bringing her to a halt once more, "The rain's only gonna get heavier. You can't walk home in that, Wheeler."