“Hey!” I exclaim as I reach him. “It’s you!”
“Hi!” he says brightly, looking just as pleased to see me. That warm feeling twirls in my stomach again. Where does a person learn to smile like that? On anybody else, it would look goofy, but he’s pulling it off.
He adjusts his black cap, the Cineplex’s logo—CINEXPERIENCE—stamped across it and on the rest of his uniform.
“Are you okay? You just disappeared after the accident, and you weren’t at the hospital. I was…looking for you.”
His eyes twinkle a little bit when I say that. And they’re gray, the closest to silver a human’s eyes are allowed to be. I didn’t notice that two nights ago. “You were?”
My face gets warm, ears hot.
“Well, kind of. I mean,Iwasn’t. The nurse…my…”Shut up, Addie.I need a diversion. “So you work here?”
He looks down at his blackCINEXPERIENCET-shirt, then back up at me. “How awkward would it be if I didn’t and I was wearing this?”
I laugh. “Well, it seems like a fun place to work. Cheap Movie Mondays excluded,” I say just as—as if on cue—someone’s shoulder rams into mine, pushing me forward.
“Shit, sorry!” the person says. I turn around and see that the voice belongs to an Indian guy with short black hair and dark rectangular glasses. He is carrying about five bags of popcorn, three supersized drinks, and a bag of cotton candy. No wonder he didn’t see where he was going.
“That’s okay,” I say, about to turn away when the boy’s expression suddenly changes. His eyes widen in something like surprise or recognition or confusion.
“Hey…there,” he says. He’s looking at me now in a way that can only be described as gaping, and it’s making me uncomfortable. I want to go back to talking to Bus Boy, who is also witnessing this.
“Am I in your way?” I ask at last, because I can’t think of why else he’d still be standing here. That seems to shake him out of his stupor.
“No, um, you’re fine,” the boy says, readjusting his grip on the bags of popcorn in his arms. Another second’s hesitation. “Well, bye,” he says, and takes a step backward.
“Dude, we’re going in without you!” a male voice calls from somewhere across the lobby, presumably to him, and then breaks into a fit of snickers.
The Indian boy rolls his eyes, sighs, and finally turns around to head back to his friends. There are so many people clustered throughout the lobby that I lose him before I see which group he joins.
I turn back to Bus Boy, who is looking at me with an amused expression.
“Sorry, that was weird,” I say to Bus Boy as a woman wearing the same blackCINEXPERIENCEshirt he is reaches across him on the counter for a pile of napkins. She glances up at me. “What’d you say?” she asks, giving me a look that is both puzzled and impatient.
“Um, nothing,” I say, waiting for her to realize that I was not talking to her.
She pauses a second, then narrows her eyes at me and goes back to work. Is she annoyed at me for distracting Bus Boy from his work?
“Maybe I should let you—” I start to say, but before I can finish speaking, someone is grabbing my arm and yanking me across the lobby.
“Katy! Why are youyankingme?”
“And why areyouspacing out in some corner of the lobby when you were supposed to be getting us tickets? Look how much longer the line is now!” We stop at the end of a line on the opposite side of the lobby from where I just saw Bus Boy. “I know you haven’t been sleeping well and are possibly concussed and yada yada yada, but I swear it’s like you’re having a Psychological Episode.”
“I found him!” I say, completely ignoring her previous statements. “Bus Boy! I just saw him.”
Katy finally releases her iron grip on my jacket sleeve. “You saw himhere? Why would he be here? Did you talk to him?”
I nod, unable to stop the grin from spreading across my face. “Not for long, but yeah.”
“So what’s his name? Did you get his number?”
“I was getting to it whensomeonedragged me away,” I say.
“I didn’t even see him,” Katy says, a frown creasing her face. “Where is he?”
I look back across the lobby, but there are too many people in the way. “He’s all the way on the other side.”
