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Tess’s hand shook slightly as she placed it around a glass of white wine. She told her hand to cut the shit and keep steady. It did (sort of) and she lifted it to her lips.

Across from her, Zara, wearing a gorgeous red top that showed just enough cleavage to keep Tess guessing, was biting her bottom lip, looking at the menu.

Tess shifted in her chair, feeling her palms dampen.

‘You look nice,’ Zara said, glancing over the top of her menu.

‘Thanks,’ Tess mumbled, looking down at what was really just another version of her normal black t-shirt, if in better condition and made of cashmere. ‘You too.’

So, the conversation was halting, as if they were still strangers. They had spent so much time talking about work, the cinema, and logistics that Tess didn’t know how to talk to Zara outside of that context. But this was different—tonight, they weren’t just two people trying to keep The Eclipse running. They were supposed to be something else.

Zara sensed it, too. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, smiling crookedly. ‘I’m finding it difficult to switch gears.’

Tess let out a laugh, relieved that Zara felt it, too. ‘Same.’

Zara leaned forward slightly. ‘Maybe we don’t have to worry so much about what we’re supposed to do. If it’s weird, let’s just let it be weird.’

Tess nodded slowly. ‘I can do weird,’ she said with a slow smile.

The tension between them shifted, subtle at first but unmistakable. Tess was about to say something—she wasn’t sure what—when her phone buzzed on the table, shattering the moment.

‘Go ahead,’ Zara said forgivingly.

Tess smiled. ‘Thanks, I’ll only be a sec.’ But her face dropped as she read the message. ‘Oh no.’

Zara straightened, instantly alert. ‘What’s wrong?’

Tess touched the back of her neck anxiously. ‘There’s an emergency at The Eclipse. Power outage. The system’s down, and the evening show is sold out. Fi says it’s chaos.’

Zara’s expression shifted, sharp and focused. ‘We should go.’

Tess hesitated, feeling the weight of the ruined evening sink in. ‘I’m sorry. This is the worst timing—’

Zara cut her off with a determined look. ‘It’s not far. We can be there in five minutes.’

Tess paused. ‘You’re coming with me?’

‘Yes, of course,’ Zara said. ‘I know it’s your baby, but I care about it too.’

Tess felt relief. The Eclipse had ruined many dates in her life. But Zara wasn’t prepared to let it spoil this one.

Tess had never felt so accepted and understood.

***

The cinema was dark and loud. Dylan, Jerry, and Simon rushed around with torches, trying to manage the crowd of confused and frustrated customers. Tess’s stomach tightened at the sight, as though some minor PTSD from the big leak day had been triggered.

But then Tess glanced at Zara. Her calm presence made it feel less awful.

‘I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but we’re working on the problem,’ Tess told the crowd. ‘Anyone who can’t stay will get a full refund, and we’ll offer complimentary tickets for a future show. We appreciate your patience.’

She could feel the tension in the air ease slightly as people nodded and murmured among themselves.

‘How is this even possible?’ Tess muttered as they pushed through the crowd. ‘We just had the entire place rewired last month!’

Zara gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s something minor. Just an outage.’

‘It better be,’ Tess grumbled. ‘Or I’m suing that bloody electrician.’

They went downstairs to find Fi in the bar. She was standing with her hands on her hips, frowning at a circuit panel positioned low on the wall behind the bar. ‘This is ridiculous,’ Fi said. ‘We just had the whole system replaced. This shouldn’t happen.’

Tess glanced at Zara. ‘Got any experience with top-of-the-line rewired cinemas?’

Zara smiled. ‘Not as such, but let’s take a look at it.’

The three of them crowded in behind the bar. The new circuit board gleamed, all sleek switches and pristine wiring. But it was giving a serious “Fur coat and no knickers”

vibe just at this moment.

Zara crouched in front of the breaker panel, inspecting it, while Tess and Fi hovered behind her.

‘So, we just flip the breakers?’ Fi asked.

Tess looked at it. ‘They’re not tripped.’

‘Well, flip ‘em up and down anyway,’ Fi said.

Tess bent down. ‘You mind?’ She asked Zara. Zara shook her head and made room.

Tess flipped every single breaker up and back down. Nothing happened.

‘Now what?’ Tess asked, turning around. Zara was on her phone off to the side.

‘This is not time for Wordle,’ Tess told her.

Zara raised an eyebrow. ‘I was googling the problem.’ She pulled open the panel cover and started poking around. ‘According to a Reddit thread, this isn’t just an outage—it’s in lockdown mode.’

‘Lockdown mode?’ Fi repeated, eyes wide. ‘We’re not running a prison!’

Tess ignored Fi’s panic, deciding to let Zara take the lead. ‘OK, what does that mean? And how do we fix it?’

‘Hold on,’ Zara said, reading from her phone. ‘OK, it probably tripped into a safety mode for no good reason. Too sensitive. Happens with these newer systems, according to this person. Something triggered it—could be a power surge, a spike in usage—and it shut everything down to “protect” itself.’

Tess groaned. ‘So, it’s throwing a tantrum?’

Zara nodded. ‘Exactly. The cinema’s having a hissy fit.’

‘Great,’ Tess muttered.

‘This guy has one thing we could try,’ Zara said.

Tess nodded eagerly. ‘Then let’s try it.’

‘There’s a default admin password. If they changed it, this won’t work,’ Zara warned, and then punched in the keys to a readout on the board.

With a low hum, the entire breaker panel blinked back to life. The lights in the cinema flickered on, the soft whir of machinery coming to life again.

Tess let out a disbelieving laugh. ‘That worked?’

Zara stood back, looking quite pleased with herself. ‘I guess it did.’

Fi stared at the now fully functioning circuit board. ‘Wait—did you just… hack a cinema’s state-of-the-art power system with a default password?’

Zara shrugged. ‘Yeah, you may want to change that.’

Tess sighed. ‘I will. But let’s get the bums in seats for now.’

As they walked back out to the lobby, Tess glanced at Zara, still amazed by the whole thing. ‘I can’t believe you figured that out.’

Zara flashed her a grin. ‘Technically, StinkyFingers345 figured it out.’

‘Take the credit. You stayed calm in a crisis and thought logically,’ Tess said.

Zara chuckled. ‘Well, you’d be surprised how often people forget the basics.’

Fi caught up with them, still shaking her head in disbelief. ‘I’m not even mad. I’m just… impressed. Remind me to get your number for future disasters.’

‘I got lucky,’ Zara replied. ‘Please don’t call me if anything else breaks. Let me retire on a high from my brief career as an electrician.’

Tess bit back a laugh. ‘Once again, you saved the day,’ she marvelled, looking at Zara with ever more admiration.

Fi rolled her eyes. ‘OK, please go back to your date. No one needs to see the googly eyes.’

Tess shot a look at her sister.

Fi flinched. ‘OK, please go back to the googly eyes.’

***

By the time the crowd was back in their seats, and the crisis had been averted, Tess felt the buzz of relief mixed with something else—a quiet excitement at how Zara had taken control of the situation.

She was so damn capable. Tess was starting to find it a real turn-on.

As the last customer disappeared into the screen, Tess turned to Zara, her smile softening. ‘You saved the day.’

Zara looked at her for a moment, her eyes lingering. ‘We saved the day,’ she corrected.

‘That’s a kind way to look at it,’ Tess said. ‘I mainly just panicked.’

Zara smiled at her, and Tess’s legs felt a bit wobbly. ‘So… You want the evening to continue?’ she asked tentatively.

‘Of course. Let’s see if we can get our table back,’ Zara said, grabbing Tess by the hand and leading her out of the cinema. Tess let herself be led happily.