Page 18 of Hold Me
“Fine.” He shrugs. “As usual.”
“Did you do anything fun?” I give him a quick look.
“Not really. What about you?”
“I’ve been mostly busy with school, and now that it’s the weekend and I’m free, my friends apparently don’t have time for me. But luckily, I’ve got you.” I flash him a smile. “I want to do something fun.”
“And what is your idea of fun?” Curiosity is written all over his face.
“I want to see a movie;” I say, and nod toward the movie theater that is right across the street. “What do you think? Bad idea or good idea?”
“Depends on the movie.”
“True.” I tug at his arm. “Come on. Let’s see if we can find something interesting to watch.”
“Found anything you might like?” he asks as I’m scanning through the schedule.
I can feel his eyes on me. “I don’t know. Any suggestions?” I actually want him to pick a movie because I don’t want him to spend a couple of hours watching something he hates, but when I look up at him, I see he’s paying more attention to people around us than the movies, and he’s rocking on his feet.
“Caleb?” I ask when he doesn’t say anything.
His head whips toward me. “Whatever you want. I don’t really...”
“No, I want you to choose. Something you’d like.”
“And what if I pick something you don’t like?” He eyes me carefully.
“Doesn’t matter. It can still be fun.” I shrug. “Come on. Pick something.”
“Okay.” His eyes go from the list to me, as if he’s trying to read my mind and choose something he can be sure I’d like. “This one.” He finally points at one of the posters, and I sigh in relief.
“Thank God you didn’t pick a romantic comedy.” I laugh.
His shoulders slump in relief, and he seems a bit too relieved actually, so I wonder if I’ve just put him through a stressful situation.
“Oh, do you like popcorn? Because I do. Let’s get some.” I’m more nervous than a little kid, and I can’t even tell why. It isn’t as if this were my first date ever, and yet it feels like it. I so badly want Caleb to have fun with me that I’m probably going to ruin it. As I dash to get the popcorn, I can see the corners of his lips turn upward. Maybe not everything is lost just yet.
“Did you see that? She brought down like five guys. I wish I could do that,” I say as we emerge from the movie theater. After watching a fast action movie, I can still feel the adrenaline surging through me and my shoulders are no longer tense.
“Have you ever tried? Maybe you can and you don’t even know it.” He teases.
I give him an incredulous look. “What? No! I can barely do a light training routine, let alone take on an armed guy. I’d be dead in like... one nanosecond. What was your favorite part?”
He looks thoughtful for a moment, then grins. “The moment you threw a popcorn at me.”
“Whoa.” I raise my hands up. “That wasn’t... That wasn’t part of the movie.”
“No?” He stops, amusement glinting in his eyes. “I thought it was. I’m sure you could take down a bunch of bad guys with just one popcorn.”
I burst out laughing. “Okay, I shouldn’t have thrown that popcorn at you. I’m sorry, but you said the main couple wouldn’t make it to the end. What was that about?”
“I thought you didn’t like romance. The tragic ending seemed more likely.” His lip twitches a little, and a shadow passes through his eyes.
“No, I said I don’t like romantic comedies, not that I don’t like romance. That’s like a whole different thing. I can’t imagine a movie without a happy ending. That would be so...” I frown, “...depressing.”
He averts his gaze.
“Hey, don’t tell me you believe that love can’t defeat anything?”