Kissing Is the Easy Part

Chapter 10 The movie and The Cape

Flora

I gave the girls an update over tea Sunday afternoon.

Sandra popped a strawberry into her mouth. We were having cakes and she ordered a fruit bowl, which was typical Sandra. "Dating exclusively? You agreed to that."

"Yes." I sighed, a dreamy one.

"You do understand that dating exclusively means you can't see Charles when he visits," Janet said.

"Charles who?" I flipped my hair for effect.

"Or ask the French exchange student out for a coffee, even though you've been flirting for half a term." Carmen took a dainty sip of her Darjeeling.

"And no random flings when your family go on vacation during Christmas break," Sandra said. "You're ready for all that?"

"All that, my friend, is behind me now. I'm happy to declare that I'm ready to go steady with Sean Foster."

"Lucky guy," said Carmen. "I've never seen the commitment phobe so dedicated before."

"Poor guy," Sandra corrected. "You're a handful, Flora. I don't know how Sean's going to deal with all your boy-craziness, this time directed only at him."

The tea took longer than expected, and I had to go back home and change from classy to sassy. Date night with boyfriend required a whole different ensemble, needless to say, and when me and my leather pencil skirt arrived half an hour late at the movie theater, Sean didn't seem especially pleased.

"Are you going to be late for every date?" was his first sentence. He was leaning against the wall, eyes dark and piercing.

"Possibly." I tried to laugh it off. He didn't smile.

"Flora, we agreed to meet at five forty. It's six twenty now. I almost thought you were going to stand me up."

"I'm sorry! But you know I'll never do that to you. You could have called."

"The thing is, I have. You were not answering."

"That's impossible." I fished out my phone and saw two missed calls and a message from The King. Oops. I had changed his display name because that was how he felt like to me, someone cool, smart, and slightly intimidating, who I was desperately trying to impress.

I was a little surprised at how stern he was, though. I wasn't used to guys being mad at me, but Sean radiated an air of icy annoyance even though his tone was neutral. I immediately knew he wasn't the kind of guy that would put up with anything and I had to try harder. I was, after all, the one who talked him into this relationship, and I should be on my best behavior until he started to reciprocate my feelings.

"Anyway, we missed the beginning of X-Men, so you might as well choose another," Sean said.

"I certainly will." I scanned the movies showing that night and my heart sank. There was nothing remotely interesting. "I don't want to watch any of those."

"Fine. Do you want to eat?"

"No! I had tea with the girls and I'm too full to eat anything. Plus I'm really in the mood to see a movie now. I want to hold hands in the dark!"

Sean smiled. Finally!

"Well if so you just have to choose one and live with it, and next time be punctual."

"I just want our date to be more spontaneous, you know? Not run by a tight schedule like in the military service," I complained. "We should be able to meet at a time we're both comfortable with, then choose a movie accordingly, instead of being driven crazy by the screening times." I pouted.