Page 28 of Chaos Theory

TWENTY-SIX

MAEVE

Shane hands me a box of popcorn at the door to the gift shop.

‘Wow! You’d hardly recognise this place,’ I say.

‘Thanks,’ he replies. ‘We did okay. Concept was mine; Sandra did the execution. Well, most of it.’

He gestures to the half-darkened room: rows of chairs laden with soft cushions and blankets, a digital projector propped on a small table, a white screen hiding the cash register. Movie posters obscure many of Trish’s watery masterpieces. I recognise some of the posters from Shane’s bedroom wall.

‘Sandra wanted to do it in the Shannon Suite, but I thought here would be a more fun location,’ he says.

I smirk at him, raise one eyebrow. ‘Do it, eh?’ I can’t help myself.

He punches my arm lightly. ‘Movie night! We argued over the best place to hold it – me and Sandra. Too much natural light in the Shannon Suite. I had to show her – you can achieve near total darkness in here once the lights are off.’

I picture it. Shane and Sandra here, alone in the dark, Shane talking passionately about movies. It doesn’t bother me. Why would it bother me? I shake the image from my mind.

‘It sounds like the Social Committee might be suiting you after all.’ My voice comes out weird. I barrel on. ‘It looks great. What movie are we watching?’

‘A surprise, but a classic. It’s gonna start in ten minutes. I need to have a word with Sandra first. Save me a seat, will ye? I’ve to hand out the rest of the popcorn as well.’

‘Sure. I’ll just get Kobi settled first.’

Shane goes to the top of the room, where Sandra is standing by the projector, beaming at him like a movie star on the red carpet.

She’s wearing a white sequined floor-length dress with a black fur shrug.

I’m pretty sure there was no official dress code for this event.

Everyone else is casual, as usual. Although, now that I see him at a distance, is Shane wearing new Nikes?

They’re box-fresh, almost glow-in-the-dark white.

The rest of the staff are filtering in behind me, entrances punctuated by ooh s and aah s.

My eyes hunt for Kobi in the gloom. Ah, there he is.

Kobi and Julia appear to be sitting together at the end of a row.

Well, Julia is sitting. Kobi has retracted himself into short mode and positioned himself next to her, in the space between the end of the aisle and the wall.

I make my way towards them. ‘Hey, Kobi. You wanna watch the movie together?’

‘Actually,’ says Julia, ‘Me and Kobi – and Dave – are sitting together. We kind of planned it earlier. You don’t mind, do you, Maeve?’

A surprising development. Kobi did report that he’d been helpful in the customer relations department today and yesterday, and there were no complaints from Dave and Julia either. ‘Um, no, I don’t mind at all. Kobi, are you happy here?’

‘Yes, thank you, Maeve,’ he says.

I pause to see if Julia – or Kobi – might invite me to join them, but this seems to be the end of the conversation. Julia takes out her phone, taps away at the screen .

‘Well, enjoy the movie then,’ I say slowly. ‘Kobi, I’ll be just a few rows back if you need me.’

I move away, choose a seat near the back of the room, put my popcorn on the chair beside mine to save it for Shane. Dave arrives and makes his way to Julia, smiling. Until he notices Kobi beside her. He rolls his eyes, mutters, ‘Ah for feck’s sake,’ and sits down heavily.

Shane appears at the end of my row to say, ‘I just have to press play and then I’ll be back.’ He reaches the projector and fiddles with its many shiny buttons.

Sandra clears her throat and addresses the audience. ‘Welcome to this special event organised by the Social Committee. We hope you enjoy our first Movie Night. And if you do, we might make it a regular thing, isn’t that right, Shane?’ Did she just wink at Shane?

‘I’m sure you’re all wondering what the movie is,’ she continues, ‘and I know some of you are wondering why I’m all dressed up like this. Well, it’s just our little hint that the film we’re about to watch is a classic. And it’s in black and white.’

A groan goes up from the mid-section. Probably Dave.

‘Shane, do you want to say anything?’ asks Sandra.

Shane stops messing with the projector. ‘Nah – this movie needs no introduction. Now usually when people say that, they go on to do a big long introduction. But I’m just going to press play and turn off the lights, and you’re going to sit there and watch it, and love it. See you on the other side!’

And with that dramatic flourish, the opening credits roll and the room goes dark. The title card appears on-screen: Casablanca.

‘What’s up with you?’ Shane asks as the music swells and we watch the closing credits.

‘Nothing. Why do you think there’s something up with me?’ But I can hear an off-note in my voice – irritation maybe?

‘You’ve hardly touched your popcorn,’ he says with a smile, reaching into the box on my lap to scoop, elevate and pour salty treats into his mouth.

For some reason I think of the JCB digger I saw on the street outside the office this morning, moving a pile of loose pebbles from one location to another.

I nod in the direction of the unlikely trio a few rows up. Julia is orchestrating a selfie with Dave and Kobi. Dave is trying to do rabbit ears behind Kobi’s head without him noticing. ‘Kobi was invited to join the Dave and Julia gang.’

‘And that’s bad because…?’

‘It’s not bad.’ I surrender the box of popcorn entirely to Shane’s custody.

‘So it’s good?’

‘Yes, it’s good. Technically, it’s good.’ This is what I wanted, after all – Kobi being accepted by his co-workers.

‘And un-technically?’

‘I don’t know.’ There’s just something about it. I’m finding it hard to pin down. I sift through my thoughts. ‘You’ll laugh at this. I think it’s just that…Dave and Julia have never asked me to join them.’

Shane does laugh. He rolls his eyes. He stops eating my popcorn and throws a piece at me.

‘What?’ I say.

He doesn’t reply right away. He peers into the popcorn box, then says quietly, ‘Well, if you throw a party and don’t invite anyone, don’t complain when no one turns up.’

I feel my face flush. I’m glad the room is still dark. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Nothing.’ A pause. ‘Well, actually, I think you know what it means.’

I snatch the cardboard box from him. ‘Wow. Nice.’ I don’t really know what he means though.

‘Look, I have to go and help Sandra tidy up.’

‘Of course you do. Far be it from me to keep you from Sandra.’ Where did that come from?

‘I’m not sure what that means, but okay.’

‘Fine. ’

‘Fine.’

He makes his way to the end of the row, then turns around and says, ‘And by the way, I asked you.’

Technically, you invited yourself , I almost say, but he’s already walking away from me. I watch him accept high fives and backslaps as he walks up the central aisle towards Sandra, like it’s his damned wedding day or something.