Page 14 of Christmas at the Movies

‘Oh, honey.’ Mum gave the lady a hug. ‘It will get easier – I promise. I wish I could grab a coffee with you, but I’ve got to decorate the cinema or the Plumdale Beautification Society will tell me off.’

‘I’ll do it!’ Holly seized the opportunity to be on her own with Aaron. ‘I’ll decorate.’

‘Are you sure?’ her mother asked suspiciously.

‘Absolutely.’ Holly smiled, hoping that her eyes were conveying innocence. ‘I’m sorry I was such a brat earlier.’ She waved her hands, shooing her mum and Iris away. ‘Go hang out with your friend.’

‘Oh, OK…’ said her mum. ‘Thanks.’

As Mum and her friend went over to the café area, Holly smoothed down her top, her hands trembling with anticipation. Don’t mess this up, she told herself.

Holly went into the office and coughed nervously.

‘Hey,’ said Aaron, who was wrestling with the artificial Christmas tree. ‘Can you grab the other end?’

She helped Aaron carry the tree out of the office and, working in silence, they set it up in its stand.

Say something, Holly told herself.

‘So, um, have you put up a Christmas tree at home yet?’

‘Not yet,’ said Aaron. ‘Sometimes we don’t even bother. We usually go to Jamaica to visit my granny over Christmas.’

Holly nearly said ‘I know’ but remembered she only knew that from her online stalking. ‘That’s cool – I wouldn’t mind Christmas on the beach.’ Actually, though, she loved Christmas in the Cotswolds. Every shop in the village was beautifully decorated and all the houses twinkled with fairy lights.

‘This year, we’re staying home because I’ve got to work on my uni applications and study for my A levels.’

Uni applications sounded so grown-up. No wonder Aaron barely paid her any attention – she hadn’t even done her GCSEs yet, and he was getting ready to go to university.

‘What do you want to study?’ she asked.

‘Film Studies,’ replied Aaron. ‘I want to direct movies one day.’

‘Cool,’ said Holly. ‘I want to be an actor. Maybe you can cast me in something – ha ha ha.’ She laughed nervously.

Gah! Why am I acting like such a massive dork?

‘Yeah, maybe,’ said Aaron, adjusting some of the branches.

Once the tree was up, they went back into the office to fetch the boxes of decorations. There were star-shaped fairy lights and a collection of film-themed baubles – from boxes of popcorn to a shiny gold Oscar.

‘Why is this stuff in here?’ asked Aaron, holding up a reel of old 35mm film.

‘Oh, we always use it as garland.’

‘Cool,’ said Aaron, starting to unspool the film.

Working together, they wound the film garland and fairy lights around the tree. Holly tried not to blush every time Aaron’s fingers brushed against hers. Every cell in her body was acutely aware of how close they were.

‘It must have been so cool growing up with your own movie cinema,’ said Aaron. His T-shirt rode up as he reached up high to hang a gold star on top of the tree, and Holly caught sight of a sliver of his smooth, toned stomach. She gulped and then realised he was waiting for a response.

‘Um, yeah, I guess …’ It wasn’t so cool when your mum and dad could never come to parents’ evening together become one of them needed to be here. Or when they had to work all weekend, because that was the cinema’s busiest time.

‘You could go see any movie you wanted,’ Aaron commented.

‘Not any movie.’ Holly corrected him. ‘I sneaked my friends into a screening of It back in Year Five. Mum found us and I got in biiiiig trouble.’

‘Probably for the best.’ Aaron chuckled. ‘That movie is terrifying.’

‘Nothing is scarier than my mum when she’s angry.’

‘I’m actually doing my final project on horror movies,’ said Aaron, hanging up an ornament shaped like a clapperboard. ‘I’m focusing on contemporary directors like Jordan Peele.’

Holly made a mental note to watch every movie Jordan Peele had ever made before the next shift they had together so she could casually drop references to them into conversation.

When all the decorations were up, Aaron plugged in the lead. The fairy lights made the metallic baubles twinkle.

Before she could help herself, Holly sang the first line of ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’.

She cringed inwardly, but Aaron smiled at her – showing off his perfect white teeth. Her aunt Meg would approve.

‘Go us,’ said Aaron, giving her a high five.

Us! Holly practically swooned.

There wasn’t much time to admire their handiwork – or Aaron’s smile – because customers began arriving with their children for the film.

Holly sold tickets, while Aaron served popcorn and sweets.

Kids chased each other around the lobby, shrieking with excitement.

Her mum had been right – the rainy weather boosted ticket sales, with parents looking for a way to entertain their kids indoors.

The presentation started and soon, from inside the auditorium, came the sound of ‘Surface Pressure.’ Holly hummed along to the song as she wiped down the counter.

‘I, um, saw you in the school play last year,’ said Aaron. ‘I’m not surprised you want to act professionally. You’re definitely good enough.’

Holly looked at him in surprise, flattered that he’d recognised her. She’d played Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, her hair teased into a beehive. ‘Thanks,’ she said.

Suddenly, Holly became aware of a commotion. A dad holding a crying toddler came out of the auditorium.

‘There isn’t any sound,’ he told them angrily.

Uh-oh.

Holly hurried into the auditorium. The picture was still running but no sound was coming out of the speakers. She ran upstairs to the projection booth and found her father desperately pressing buttons on the sound system.

‘What’s going on?’ Holly asked him.

‘One of the amps has broken,’ Dad said, pulling out a cable. ‘I’m going to rewire another amp to the speaker.’

‘Well, how long is that going to take?’ said Holly. Peering down at the auditorium from the projection booth, she could see that children had left their seats and were running amok in the aisles, flinging popcorn around. Some of their parents were standing up and putting their coats on.

‘Go back down and apologise,’ said Dad. ‘Let the customers know I’m trying to sort it out and we’ll give everyone a refund – and complimentary popcorn the next time they come.’

Holly hurried back down to the auditorium.

She stood at the front and clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.

‘Hi, everyone. Unfortunately, we’re having some slight technical difficulties and we’re trying to get it resolved as soon as possible.

We’re sorry about this and everyone will be getting a full refund. ’

‘Boo!’ shouted a boy, throwing a piece of popcorn at her. The other kids in the audience laughed.

This was bad. Very bad. Holly needed to do something to distract them – and fast.

She glanced up at the screen behind her. ‘How about we sing some of the songs from Encanto together – I’m sure you all know the words.’

She began to sing. For a few lines, she was singing solo, but, soon, all the kids in the audience were joining in with a rousing rendition of ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno.’ To Holly’s huge relief, just as they reached the final chorus, the sound kicked back in.

‘Yay!’ The children cheered.

Phew, thought Holly.

As Holly hurried out of the auditorium, Aaron was standing at the back. He held the door open for her.

‘Nice save,’ he murmured.

Oh, God, thought Holly. Aaron probably thought she was a weirdo for knowing all the lyrics to some kids’ movie. ‘It’s not like, my favourite movie or anything,’ she babbled. ‘It’s just that I had to do something and I knew some of the songs—’

‘It was cool – very, very cool.’ His brown eyes held hers and Holly felt like he was seeing her – really seeing her – for the very first time.

10th October 2004

‘Happy Birthday!’ Sarah whispered, kissing James’s strong, freckled shoulder.

It was peeling slightly, from getting sunburnt on a beach in Thailand.

They’d been travelling around Asia for the past three weeks.

After roughing it at backpackers’ hostels, living on noodles and banana fritters, they’d decided to splash out for the last stop on their trip – Hong Kong.

They were spending James’s thirtieth birthday in the iconic Peninsula Hotel, overlooking Hong Kong harbour.

James rolled over to face her and smiled sleepily. ‘Good morning, beautiful.’

‘How does it feel to be old?’ she teased him. Her own thirtieth birthday was still two years off, though she’d found her first grey hair a few months ago in the work bathroom and freaked out.

‘My mum went completely grey by the time she was thirty-five,’ Pari had told her. ‘Of course, having me as her kid was probably a contributing factor.’

Sarah stroked the side of her husband’s face, his cheek rough with morning stubble. There were the beginnings of crinkles around his eyes when he smiled, but Sarah thought he was even more handsome now.

‘Oh, there’s plenty of life in the old dog yet,’ James said, hooking his leg over her thigh to pull her close.

Afterwards, they ordered breakfast to the room and lounged in bed in their towelling robes, eating croissants and a plate of exotic fruit.

‘So, how is your birthday going so far?’ Sarah asked him.

‘Five stars,’ James said, popping a piece of pineapple in his mouth.

‘I could get used to this,’ sighed Sarah, sipping her cup of tea. She had never stayed anywhere so luxurious before.

James’s phone beeped and he checked the message.

‘Everything OK?’ Sarah asked. She hoped it wasn’t his work.

Even though they were on holiday, James had taken several calls from his office.

Ever since the company had floated on the stock market, he’d been busier than ever.

The software company was under a lot of pressure to continue to innovate and deliver strong returns to their new shareholders.

‘It’s just Dad, wishing me a happy birthday.’

‘So what do you want to do with the rest of the day?’ Sarah asked, pouring him another cup of tea.