Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 39

KATE 

"It's almost six," Axel said, removing his hand from mine to start his car.

I nodded. "Yeah, it is."

Axel's car started and he reversed out of the deserted parking lot and took my hand in his again once we'd gotten back onto the road.

I typed in my username in the search bar and found a playlist that I knew he would like. I pressed play on my favorite song by Julia Michaels and began singing along.

Axel glanced at me before removing his hand from mine to turn up the volume on the radio, taking my hand again.

"I like this song, what's it called?" He asked.

"Jump," I replied, "But it gets better. Wait till the rap comes on."

Axel smiled and squeezed my hand.

After replaying the song about three times, we pulled into the parking lot of the movie theater. Axel cut the engine and took his phone off my lap and his fingers brushed against my bare thigh, making me jump.

"Oh, shit, sorry," Axel apologized, seeming embarrassed.

I sent him a shy smile in response before hopping out of his car, closing the door loudly behind me. He soon followed behind me carrying two sweatshirts in his arms.

"They always turn up the air-conditioning really high in here," Axel explained when I gave him a confused look.

He opened the door for me and we walked inside together. I immediately noticed that he was right about the air-conditioning, so I accepted his sweatshirt gratefully and smiled to myself when I noticed that it still smelled like him: a mix of cologne and mint.

We strolled up to the large screen displaying all of the movies that were playing and we decided on watching the movie that I'd wanted to see.

Axel told the girl behind the desk what movie we wished to see and she sighed like she'd heard that request a million times before. She handed us two tickets while Axel took out his wallet and handed her a twenty. She went to give him the change but he shook his head. "We're also getting some popcorn," he stated, turning to me.

"Do you like yours buttered or not?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "No, thank you."

Axel smiled and told the girl to get us a large popcorn that wasn't buttered and two bottled waters.

The girl returned with our popcorn and waters and Axel thanked her before handing me my water and the popcorn. He took out his phone and walked up to a tall man and asked him to take a picture of us. The man complied and Axel wrapped his arms around me into a hug and I smiled brightly at the gesture as the man snapped the picture, handing Axel his phone back.

We headed over to a tall girl with curly dark hair and Axel handed her the tickets. "Down the hall to your left," she announced and we began walking.

Axel tossed our tickets into the trash and offered to help me carry the popcorn.

"It's okay, I got it," I stated, popping a kernel of popcorn into my mouth.

Axel opened the door to a dark room and followed after me, putting his hand on my lower back for support since it's so dark. We chose two seats in the far back and began talking since there was hardly anybody in the theater.

Axel took a sip of his water and put it into the cup holder beside him before I took out my phone, sending a text to my dad that I was at the theater. Once I'd hit send, I opened the camera app and said, "First date selfie?"

I struck my famous selfie pose while he just smiled. After I took the picture, I looked at it, smiling a little to myself.

This was the first date that I'd ever been on and I knew for a fact it would most likely be the best one I would ever have.