FIVE || Movies Aren't Complete Without Popcorn

Tonight's the night.

Maxine texted me the details, and we're meeting at six. When I glance at the clock, it's a quarter to five. Good. I smooth down my hair, looking in the mirror. I'm wearing a white tennis skirt with pink lining, and a long-sleeved sweater crop-top, paired with matching white flats that have pink ribbons.

"Aww, sweetie!" Aunt Xena peeks in through the doorway, "you look great." I blush, still looking in the mirror, admiring the way my eyeliner makes my eyes look super green. "I'll give you a ride. Come on." I start to protest but she waves it away. "It's alright. I need to go to the pharmacy anyway."

We drive along the road, Aunt Xena drumming her fingers against the steering wheel as I hum a song from Avenue Q. "So, who's this girl, eh?" I choke on nothing and she laughs. "Awh, come on. I bet it's that girl you brought home the other day, right?"

After I'm done sputtering, I admit, "yeah. Maxine." My face is still red and I rub my skin to get it to cool down, except now it's getting even hotter.

Aunt Xena whistles. "Aww, my niece's first date." She reaches across and strangles me in a one-armed hug, my arms flailing around. "I'm so glad I'm here for this, sweetie. I'm so proud. You're really growing up, huh?"

"Enough with the water works, auntie." I really am grateful that she's here, though. And it does feel like I'm actually growing up. This is it. "I love you."

"Love you too, kiddo."

I walk into the theatre, looking around. Maxine's leaning against the wall, and she looks up and sees me. "Angie." She greets. "Wait, no. It doesn't fit you." She ruffles my hair, and I pout at her. "The quest for the perfect nickname continues!"

"You've been searching for a nickname for me?" That's sweet. I blush as she nods; the fact that Maxine thinks about me. It's nice.

"Yuh-huh. Angel is a mouthful. Too fancy. What does Eden call you?" She asks. And wow, she remembers Eden is my best friend. She keeps these facts in her mind, like she remembers me, thinks about me and bothers to care. I mean, I'm not totally deprived of that. Aunt Xena cares. Eden cares. But it's different with her, because Maxine always looks like she doesn't.

The corner of my mouth quirks up. "He calls me Angel. Sometimes Ange." Even Ange is a rare occurrence. He only ever calls me that when I'm angry, or he's angry. At one point it was also my spy name during that weird eighth grade spy phase, but that's over now.

Maxine ponders on this subject before shaking it away. She digs in her pocket and produces two small slips of yellow paper, with a big 2 on both of them, a smaller text saying: CAPTAIN MARVEL.

I haven't heard of that movie in months. How did she - "they still sell tickets for those?" I exhale and release a breath I didn't even realise I was holding. "O-M-G. Wow. I'll get to see Brie Larson's beautiful face again on big screen. How did you -?" My voice stops there.

"It's a popular movie, Ange." God. The way she says 'Ange'. Like it's two separate words. Ay-nj. "Nah, not Ange. We'd better keep searching. Anyway, yeah. It's popular. Blew up the box offices, didn't you know?" I nod. I do know. "You want popcorn? I wasn't sure if you wanted -"

"Of course I want popcorn!" People turn their heads to look at us, but can you blame me? How does this girl not know that popcorn is essential to the movie experience? "Popcorn is... wow. It's a part of the... the happening, Maxine! It brings the life to the adventure! How do you not know this?" She shrugs. "Wow. A shrug. You really aren't worth falling in love with."

This is a lie, of course. I feel breathless and giddy and excited. Just from talking to her, and being here with her. On a date. I'm on a date with Maxine Grifes.

Yahootie!

We buy popcorn, a big bucket, a mix of salty and sweet, all buttered. Buttered popcorn - now that's where it's at. It's the shit. Like, I don't want to be rude to people who don't like buttered popcorn, but I'm not eating popcorn unless it's buttered. The stale, dry texture just puts me off. I have to have that sweet, buttery deliciousness to perfect the taste.

Maxine laughs when I rant about this. She says I'm cute. Which makes me flutter with delight. No one else ever calls me cute. But she does.

I really hope this turns out well. I don't know what I'd do if it didn't. We settle into our seats, which are pretty good. High up, Row C, corner seats. I remember mentioning to her once that I liked corner seats. She remembers. She cares. About me. My head is in the clouds right now.

The movie is full of explosions and talking and humour and honestly, it's just as awesome as the first time, although that may be because Maxine's here. She makes funny comments and laughs at the right parts and it makes me giggle too, every single time, and it's awesome. My head rests on her shoulder and I feel safe. And lovely. It gives me the sensation that I can be anything.

Once the movie's over, people begin to file out while some stay, waiting for the end credit scene. While we wait for it, Maxine rolls her eyes at me, but a small smile appears on her face.. Even though I think it's only eight or nine or somewhere in between, everything is hazy and sweet.

"I didn't know you could read," I whisper, everything blurry, when she tells me she read the comics.

"Rude." Maxine snorts, and I giggle. Her arm is slung over my shoulder now, fingers tracing patterns on my shoulder. "Shut up, nerd. The only thing I've been doing for the past few weeks is read."

"Aww, you love it," I tease, even though the word love gets stuck in my throat for a good few seconds. Even speaking the word makes me blush a trillion times over, but I don't have to worry about this anymore. Maxine sighs and nods, a smirk tracing itself on her face, in agreement.

The end credit scene plays and I feel Maxine squeeze my shoulder. All the lights flicker on as Maxine stands up, extending her hand. When I reach for it, she yanks it back with speed that rivals light, resulting in me faceplanting directly into the chair in front of me. Maxine laughs until she's breathless while I grumble.

"What'd you do that for?" I groan, rubbing my nose, although nothing's hurt; the chairs are all plush and velvety for comfort. Maxine opens her mouth to answer, but what escapes instead is another round of breathless giggles as she extends her hand again.

Looking at it with a suspicious look, I reach for it again, and this time she doesn't take it away. Her hand wraps around mine. "See? I'm not that mean." She grins and I let her pull me up. Soon, we're walking out of the theatre, into the darkened streets. People are beginning to close down their shops, even though the theatre is still brightly lit and loud. "We have one more stop, though."

"What? Maxine! You know I -"

"Calm down, drama queen. It's pretty close by." She loops her arm through mine and leads me down an alley to a shop I've only seen once or twice, and never bought from.

There's a glowy light coming from the inside and the sign says Ellie's Sweets, Chocolates, and Desserts! with a cute drawing of a lollipop next to it. Behind the pink windows are a selection of yummy-looking desserts.

I raise my eyebrow. "A candy shop?" Maxine nods and smirks.

We enter the shop, bell tinkling as the door opens. My mouth drops open when I see the inside. The walls and shelves are painted pastel pink. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Two white, round tables with a pair of chairs each sit against the walls. There's a huge counter, with decadent-looking cakes and desserts behind the glass.

"Maxine?" A voice gasps. "I haven't seen you in years. Literally! Where have you been?" She looks to me. "Oh, hi! I'm Ellie. I own this shop." She spread her arms, gesturing to the lieu of delicious treats around her.

"How'd you come to opening this shop?" I ask, curious, while I examine a few red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing.

"I always knew college wasn't for me," Ellie replies, handing a small bag to a boy wearing a blue hoodie, "but I loved baking. Ever since I was a child. My dad was really angry at me for not having a more..." She rubs her chin. "Ambitious dream, I guess? And we weren't on speaking terms for a long time."

Although I pretend to be interested in the candy, this is too close to home right now. Ellie sighs and my heart aches.

"For a long time, I was a little lost. No money, no home. But with the help of my girlfriend, we opened this shop up -" she waves her hand around, "- and we've been living comfortably ever since! This thing is like my baby."

This strikes a note with me, like a pang in the chest, an off-tune but beautiful musical note. If she can do it, if she can make her mess of a life work and transform it into something as nice as this, then I can too. "That's really inspiring..." My voice is soft.

"I'd like to think so." She blushes cutely. "The fact that my story can motivate someone makes me happy, y'know? I guess something beautiful did come out of the bad. So, ready to buy anything yet?"

I get a handful of caramel candy, which she says she made herself, molded the caramel into the shape of a cat's face and covered it with sweet dough. Along with that, I also buy a slice of apple crumble. Maxine buys a fruit tart.

Ellie peppers us with facts about her shop, like how most of the ingredients she has are bought from her friend who works at a farm, and that thirty percent of her monthly profits are donated to charity.

She hands us our bags and we walk out of the store. Maxine scoots closer to me, her face masked by the darkness but still pretty and smiling. "What did you think?" She asks, squeezing my hand as she takes it again. It feels right. I don't know how to describe it. Maybe I'm in a John Green novel and I'm destined to get an illness and die.

Okay, never mind. Too depressing.

"It was great," I respond, leaning into her, "her story... was just... I don't know. I guess it struck a chord with me?" She nods, so slightly I can barely feel it. Her hair tickles my cheek. "I want to be like that someday, you know?"

"Even the girlfriend part?" She smirks against my hair, the top of my head, and I shiver. I don't respond, but she probably knows my answer. Yes.

We walk along the streets. I consider calling Aunt Xena, but I'm sure she's busy at the pharmacy or relaxing at home and I don't want to disturb her. Even though I don't want to disturb Maxine either, she insists that she doesn't want me to be roofied and walks me home, our hands intertwined. My shoes make tapping noises against the pavement. We're silent the whole way through.

When we reach the flat, Maxine asks if I've got my keys, and I hold them up for her to see. Her shoulder lifts up - as if she's considering something - and leans in. Is she going to kiss me? Of course she is. First dates always end with kisses. I lean in, too, almost by instinct, my heart pounding and head spinning.

Her eyes stare into mine, steady, the ice cold feeling surrounding it falling away for once, before flickering down to my mouth. "Oh," I laugh, so quiet I don't think she heard. My hands swing around before resting at my sides because my mind can't figure out what to do with them, too stuck on the girl in front of me.

Maxine places her hands on my waist and it's like everything is ready. There's only one thing left to do.

Her head tilts, just slightly, and I mimic her. And then we're kissing. Holy shit. I can't remember the in-between. It's all a blur. But I'll remember this, I know it.

Because we're here, and it's barely cold but my whole body is shivering, eyes shut, and we break apart. There's no smile on her face, but her eyes are scanning my face, and when I smile, she does too.

"Well," I say, and I'm strangely breathless. Like I'm drowning. If that's really what it feels like, drowning is nice. Hazy and floaty and nice, like everything will be okay, "I guess I better go..."

Maxine clears her throat. "Yeah." She kisses the top of my head, which sends flutters through me. My stomach should be on the gymnastics team for all the flipping it's doing. "Good night, Angel." She steps away, still indifferent and cool, but there's a warm glint in her eyes. "Angel," she repeats, like my name is a spell.

I stay out here until my hands are numb.

Everything is perfect.