Safe || Scotty Sire

1

I was in the movie theater, which was odd for me, as I didn't mix well with large crowds of people, but I really, really wanted to see Endgame. It had been out for a few weeks, and I was going in the middle of the day, so it should be fine, right?

Simply considering that it wouldn't be fine made my stomach lurch, so I dropped my hand to my side and buried it in Rex's fur, drawing comfort from him. He looked up at me momentarily before training his eyes back in front of us, on the rowdy group of guys.

Everything that had been going fine suddenly wasn't when I heard a screech from across the lobby. I tried to keep my cool, but a large group of teen girls came to crowd around the guys in front of us. This directly resulted in them crowding me.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I really wanted to see this movie, I really did, or I would be out of here in a second. The girls continued to screech and close in on them, and one of them bumped me, then another, then another. I couldn't take it, as much as i had wanted to do this, i couldn't, not with whatever was going on around me.

My chest started to feel tight, and my eyes started to feel hot. I had to get out. I looked down at Rex, and said "Out," but it came out more of a choked whisper. He followed his instructions, nonetheless, and began leading me through the crowd, and towards the door of the theater.

Once we made it into the blazing LA sun, I sat on one of the outside benches, and dropped my head into my hands in an attempt to calm myself. Rex set his big head in my lap and stared at me with his dopey eyes as I took shaky breaths to calm myself.

It didn't take too long before I heard the door open and close again, and a male voice said, "Hey, you okay?"

I press my hands into my eyes one more time before looking up. "I'm okay. Just got a little overwhelmed."

"May I sit?" he questions, rocking back and forth awkwardly.

"Sure" I say, laughing slightly at his awkwardness.

"I'm Heath," he says, sitting down next to me. "I'm sorry you got caught up in all of that. It just kind of happens when we go out with David."

"It's fine, really." I assure him, trying to make it believable even though I was still reeling.

He gave me a questioning look, but let it go. "Well, Scotty went ahead and got you a ticket for Endgame, so you wouldn't have to get back in line."

"How did you-" I began, but I was cut off by Heath pointing out my Captain America shirt. "Oh," I said dumbly.

Suddenly, a dark haired girl stuck her head out the door, "Bubba," she asks, "She okay?"

"She's fine," he answered as the girl came out the door.

"I'm sorry about that. It takes a lot of getting used to." She says as she walks over to us, and plants herself right on Heath's lap. "I'm Mariah by the way."

"This is-" Heath begins, before realizing he never got my name.

"Ellie," I finish for him.

"Well, Ellie," Mariah says, standing up and offering her hand to pull Heath up, "Let's go watch a movie."

I stand, tapping my fingers on my leg to tell Rex that's where I want him, and follow the pair back into the theater. The crowd has dissipated, and everything seems to be back to normal. The two lead the way to one of the back theaters, and Heath hands the worker our tickets. He pulls them apart, and hands us back the stubs.

I check and see that I am to be sitting in the top of the theater, all the way on one side. That's a good thing. The bad thing, I will be sitting with all of the people that caused the earlier disturbance. Mariah seems to sense this in me.

"Don't worry, they shouldn't come in here." I nod to her, and take Rex up the stairs. I awkwardly shimmy past everyone sitting on that row, and get to my seat. Immediately, I sit with my legs pulled up to my chest, and put Rex in a down-stay, as tucked away as I can get an 100 pound dog.