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I like her enough, but I don’t know her all that well. I just know that half the time I eat dinner in one of Napa’s fancier restaurants, I run into her. Not in the movie theater, however. I’m surprised to see her here in the afternoon, but her focus immediately jumps to Colin, and I watch her give him the once-over. Slowly. She looks back at me. Her eyebrows bounce in approval and she smiles.
“How’s it going, Mallory?”
“So good. I can’t believe you’re here. I’ve been meaning to call you.”
“Taking a break. Doesn’t happen too often.” Colin mumbles something about how it should happen more often, and Mallory’s eyes return to him. I need to introduce him, or it will be rude.
“Mallory, this is Colin.”
Her eyes brighten with recognition. “Oh, of course. I know who you are. I thought you looked familiar, but totally, you’re Colin Hathaway.” She looks at me with a sneaky smile.
He nods and stands, extending his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Oh please, don’t stand. But since you’re up, do you mind if I get a selfie? This is just too fun.” She has her phone out and is backing her way in front of Colin and me without waiting for an answer. I start to protest, but she’s already clicked several photos.
“Anyway…” I figure Mallory will take that universal cue and hurry along, but she takes a step closer to us as soon as Colin sits back down, so now she’s basically standing in front of our seats. I debate banging my knees into her to dislodge her, but I’m not convinced it’ll work. So she persists.
“How do you two know each other? Are you two dating? Are you buying a place in Napa?” Everything comes out in adelighted squeal. So many questions, and I don’t have answers for any of them.
“We’re just seeing a movie. Colin went to college with my brother,” I say, regretting giving her any information at all.
“Ohhhh. So you go way back. Friends.” She looks back and forth between us as though that’s the only possible reason he’d be here with me.
A few heads turn at her enthusiasm. And her volume, which I don’t think she knows how to mute.
Fortunately, the movie theater gods smile on me, and the lights begin to dim. “Time for the movie. Nice seeing you.” I make a move to look past her as though the movie has already begun playing on the screen.
Mallory takes the hint and scurries off to her seat a few rows away, waving and making me promise to get lunch with her soon.
I turn to Colin apologetically. “I really thought no one would be here during the day.”
He shrugs. “No worries. You don’t come here during the day, normally. How could you know?” The dim light from the movie screen paints his face with a pretty glow
Colin fits our glasses into the cupholders at the end of each armrest and holds up the two kinds of candy.
“Are you the type who mixes candy into the popcorn?” he asks, opening the yellow cardboard box of peanut M&Ms and offering a handful to me.
“Is there another type of person?” I pop two of the candies into my mouth and bite down hard. “Mmm, I forgot how much I like these.”
“Right?” He tosses a couple into his mouth and pours the remainder of the box into the giant trough of popcorn. Then he holds up the Junior Mints box. “These too?”
“Please.”
I skim a few handfuls of popcorn off the top to make room to mix the candy, and it’s not pretty—me shoving popcorn into my mouth indelicately and shaking the tub to mix in the candy. Several more handfuls bounce out and land on my lap, the floor, and Colin’s shoes.
I do a semi-decent job of kicking the popcorn on the floor under the seat in front of me and picking up some of the kernels from my lap while Colin busies himself pouring us wine. I’m hoping he didn’t see the cascade of popped kernels fly everywhere when I tried once more to shake the mixture together.
He doesn’t seem bothered by my lack of grace. Turning toward me, Colin hands me a full glass of wine, holding it up for a toast. “To a perfect day. Thank you for showing me around.”
He’s leaning close, much closer to me than he’s been all day. I tell myself it’s because we’re confined in the intimate theater space. People around us are chatting loudly, so he has to lean close in order to be heard.
I force myself to breathe normally even though his proximity is making it hard. I think about adding my own toast to his, something lame about neighbors, but thank goodness I just limit it to “cheers.”
Sanity prevails. For once.
We clink plastic glasses and each take a sip. I use the moment to try to calm my nerves. If I’m going to sit this close to him for two hours, I need to steady my breathing, or I’ll sound like a steam train huffing along beside him.
I expect Colin to lean back into his seat and get comfortable. That will allow me to surreptitiously fan the heat from my face and dab what I’m certain is sweat on my temple. Instead, he surprises me by reaching a gentle hand toward my shoulder, where he plucks a stray kernel of popcorn off my shirt.
