Page 19 of Airhead

Hell yes he did. The less he saw of Mike Myers ever again, the better. But that would also mean no Katie. For Katie, he could take a masked-up psycho and the bloody gore that was going to have him pulling double shifts for the foreseeable.

Worth it.

“I’ll stick with you,” he said, meaning it.

Katie smiled, the light from the movie flickering off her face, catching her high cheekbones and the stubborn glint in her eyes. God, if he hadn’t been half in the bag for her already, the look on her face would have done it. The woman didn’t back down from anything.

“Okay, let’s do this.” Shoulders set, she turned fully, so his arm was only draped across her shoulders, and watched as Mike Myers banged on the door separating him from Dr. Loomis and Laurie.

She did end up peeking through her fingers while Mike made mincemeat of the door, but Frank couldn’t blame her. By that point, they’d both sunk low in their seats and her hand on his knee squeezed tight when Mike burst out of the room (well as close to a burst as he could manage while being a slow walker who was totally engulfed in fire).

Frank was so scared his balls were practically sucked up into his stomach, and also the happiest man in the entire world, at the same time. If he had his way, this moment would drag on (sorta like ol’ Mikey right about now) but before he was ready, the credits were rolling and people were leaving.

Katie let out a shaky sigh and shivered before standing up. “I hope they don’t make a third one.”

“If they do I’ll come with you.” And be scared shitless the entire time, but it would be worth it.

She looked up at him, her eyes round with awe. “You weren’t frightened at all?”

“Scared out of my mind.” He stood and held out a hand to her as she giggled. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Just in case Mike Myers appears in the parking lot?” she asked with a lifted brow.

He dipped his head down, not because he still needed to whisper, but because he just couldn’t stop himself from wanting to be as close to her as possible. “If that happens, I’m pretty sure I can run faster than you.”

That earned him a full belly laugh, and they walked, hand-in-hand, down the aisle, past the trashcan where he tossed the remains of their popcorn, and out into the crisp Waterbury night that suddenly felt full of possibilities.

Chapter Nine

The mall parking lot was mostly dark, and nearly empty, by the time they walked out of the entrance by the food court. That wasn’t a surprise, considering most of the stores inside had pulled their metal gates closed a half hour ago. The only foot traffic was from the movie crowd, and most of them had parked by the theater entrance on the opposite side of the mall.

Normally, Katie would have her keys threaded between her fingers as she walked, with purpose, to her car parked (stupidly) away from the lights but with Frank she didn’t. Even after the scary movie, with him she felt safe.

Way to go, Madigan.

Come on, it wasn’t like I’d planned on going to see Halloween with Frank. It was just supposed to be Orange Julius.

As she and Frank crossed the lot to her Pinto, the wind whipped around them, blowing the orange and yellow leaves across the pavement and carrying with it the noise of cars crossing the nearby Harbor Bridge. Katie tucked her hands deeper in the pockets of her coat. Her keys were still in the purse slung over her shoulder.

She smiled at Frank as he continued to match her stride, even though he had nearly a foot on her. “Thank you for coming to the movie, even though you hated every minute of it.”

“Not every minute,” he said, giving her the grin. “I mean, even Mike Myers can’t be a stone cold killing machine every minute.”

She shouldn’t laugh. It would only encourage him, and he did not need any encouragement to flirt. The man really couldn’t help himself. It didn’t mean anything.

Despite knowing that, she was starting to like it—so she laughed.

And the world didn’t end.

And she wasn’t struck by lightning.

And her panties didn’t poof into nothing.

God, she was a total dweeb who really needed to get laid.

“So what kind of movies do you like?” she asked, keeping close to him even though they had practically the entire parking lot to themselves.

“Why?” He leaned in closer. “Are you asking me on a date?”