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Renee laughs, and that makes my heart feel a hell of a lot lighter. Her eyes crinkle and she covers her mouth, then drops her hand back to her lap.
“I am a popcorn person, actually,” she says. “What about you?”
“I feel like it should be illegal not to have popcorn at the drive-in.”
“With extra butter?” she asks.
“Always,” I say with more seriousness that forces her to laugh. That’s better. That sweet sound eases the tension.
“Let me grab the bag from the back.” I hustle to the trunk and immediately check the two bags of popcorn. It’s unreal that I should feel this much relief that one of the bags says “extra butter,” but then again being with this woman does something to me and she knows it.
In the other car windows I can see some people's faces in the light of their phones, and they're all busy, talking or texting and just passing the time until the movie starts.
As I close the trunk and get back in the driver seat, the screen lights up with directions for how to put the speakers on the car window.
“Come on!” Renee calls, waving her hand at me to hurry me up and reaching for the bags in my arms. “You're going to miss the previews.”
“Don't worry, I'm not missing the previews.” I hand over the bottles of water and drinks and the popcorn, then put the rest on the center console and slide into my seat. “See? They haven't even?—”
That's exactly when the previews start, and the volume on our speaker is turned up high.
“Woah!” Renee grabs for the speaker and finds the volume knob, turning it down quickly, then readjusting it back up. Her cheeks turn pink in the light from the movie, and she gives me a nervous smile. “Sorry about that. Maybe I'm not cut out for drive-in movies.”
“No harm done.” The preview on the screen is gory. “Can't say the same for this preview.”
Renee makes a face and looks down at the popcorn, opening the bag with extra butter. She picks out a few pieces and eats them. I've never seen someone eat popcorn in a sexy way, but Renee pulls it off. I could watch her eat popcorn all night. “This is really good popcorn.”
“I got these too.” I hand her the chocolates and she smiles so wide it reaches her eyes. “Those are the right ones, right?” I ask and she looks at me for a moment, really looking at me before nodding, saying “yeah,” and smiling like I just made her night.
We settle in with the blankets and pillows, leaning back as the previews play. I jump back at a cheap shock value moment, and she laughs.
“That’s embarrassing,” I tell her and laugh along with her. Time passes easily and I love how she’s more relaxed than she was on the drive. Whatever it is that she was thinking about doesn’t seem like it’s on her mind anymore.
She glances at me, then the screen again her expression flinching. “The one we're seeing isn't this bloody, is it?”
“I think it said it was more of a thriller but with horror elements,” I tell her. I looked up the movie before we came to make sure it wasn't one of those slasher ones. Didn't seem like good pretend-date material.
“Good.” Renee takes a second to hit the door locks.
“If it's really scary, I'll protect you. I'm not afraid to drive away with the speaker still attached in an emergency.” She laughs and playfully nudges me before going back to the chocolates and popcorn.
We get quiet and watch the rest of the previews, and I start to think this is going to be a date to brag about to Brody.
Then the movie starts and the screen goes dark at the very beginning. Renee's in shadow but she's still the most beautiful person I've ever seen. I try to look at her out of the corner of my eye, but I end up turning my head just to drink her in. She catches me looking when the scene on the screen turns to afternoon in somebody's front yard and grins at me.
“You going to stare at me the whole movie?” I whisper, like we're in a theater full of people instead of my car at the drive-in.
“You were the one staring,” she whispers back, and eats some more popcorn. “Are you scared of the movie already?”
“I'm not scared of anything,” I tell her, and look back at the screen. It's not true. I am scared of some things, like having this whole pretend-date thing go south or scare her off before she can be my fake date for Christmas. I'm scared that something's on her mind that's too big for one person to deal with, but she's not telling me because I'm her boss.
Clearing my throat, I settle into the seat and grab my drink.
I push all that to the back of my mind and try to concentrate on the movie. It's tough because Renee smells amazing. I've got the heat going in the car to keep us warm, so it's blowing the scent of her into my face every second.
Renee's totally into the movie, though, her eyes wide and her hand moving slowly through the popcorn. She likes the buttery pieces and eats them one at a time, savoring each one. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.
I wait until there's a montage on the screen to lean over, just like I would in a real theater.
