24th December 1995 #2
When the house lights came on, the girl remained seated. James stood and sloooowly gathered up his coat, hoping she would do the same. And then he heard … more sniffling.
Surely she wasn’t still crying over the film? He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should check if she was OK.
It’s none of your business, James, he told himself. If she was upset, she probably didn’t want to be bothered.
He started to walk out, then his conscience pricked at him.
He could hear his mother’s voice in his head, reminding him that Christmas could be a hard time for many people.
Before James’s family had eaten their festive meal, his mum had always served Christmas dinner at St Joseph’s church hall to those who didn’t have anywhere else to go.
James hated the thought that his mum might be looking down from heaven and see him ignoring someone in need.
Go and check on her, he could hear her urging.
He turned around and walked down the aisle to where the girl was sitting. Her head was bowed, long brown hair spilling forwards.
‘Hey, are you OK?’ he asked, crouching down.
Startled, she looked up and self-consciously wiped her eyes with her sleeve. ‘Oh, hi,’ she said, sounding embarrassed. ‘I didn’t know anyone else was still in here. I’m just feeling a bit sorry for myself.’
‘Why’s that?’ asked James.
‘It’s Christmas Eve and I’m on my own at the movies.’ She gave a humourless laugh. ‘I don’t even have a fake boyfriend in a coma to hang out with.’
‘I’m happy to volunteer,’ offered James, hoping to coax a smile out of her. ‘That film was so saccharine, I’m at risk of slipping into a diabetic coma.’
The girl’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘You didn’t like it?’
‘I mean …’ James hesitated, not sure whether to temper his review to avoid offending her. ‘The plot was a bit far-fetched. The whole thing was based on a misunderstanding that could have been cleared up in about two seconds.’
‘You’re missing the point,’ the girl retorted passionately. ‘Of course it was predictable. Romantic comedies are supposed to be predictable! You know from the start that they’re going to fall in love at the end.’
‘I guess,’ said James. He didn’t like romcoms for exactly that reason. They were predictable.
‘There was such a spark between Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman. It reminded me of old screwball comedies – you know, like His Girl Friday or Bringing Up Baby. Watching them, you just knew it was love at first sight.’ Her brown eyes flashed as she spoke, her tears apparently forgotten.
She spoke so quickly, she could have been in an old screwball comedy herself.
Did anyone really fall in love at first sight outside of the movies? wondered James.
‘You two need to leave,’ said Erica from the ticket booth, entering the auditorium. She was holding a broom and a dustpan.
‘Sorry!’ The girl stood and picked up her parka. ‘We’ll get out of your way.’
‘Here, let me,’ said James, helping the girl put her coat on. As she flipped her hair over the collar, he inhaled that Christmassy smell again.
‘So you’re at Imperial?’ she asked as they walked down the aisle together.
‘Third year,’ replied James. ‘How did you know?’
She pointed to his chest. James looked down and saw that he was wearing his college scarf.
Duh.
‘I’m in my first year at UCL. Sarah,’ she said, offering her hand. Her nails had chipped purple vanish on them.
‘James,’ he said, shaking it and not wanting to let it go.
They stood in the foyer for a moment, putting on their gloves and hats.
Sarah dropped one of her gloves on the ground. James stooped to pick it up and when he handed it to her, there was zap of static electricity as their hands touched again.
‘Guess we’ve got a spark too,’ she said, laughing.
‘Actually, that’s just electrons colliding.’
You idiot! Why couldn’t he flirt like a normal person. He’d spent way too much time with only other engineering nerds for company.
‘I’ll take your word for it,’ said Sarah, smiling as she put on her gloves. ‘I’m not a scientist, I’m reading English.’
James pointed to a poster for Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility hanging outside of the cinema. ‘I bet you’ve seen that then.’
‘I loved it so much I saw it twice.’ Sarah beamed. ‘Have you seen his Eat Drink Man Woman?’
James was impressed. This girl clearly knew a lot about cinema. ‘Yeah, it’s great – I’m not surprised it won an Oscar.’
‘All that delicious food …’ said Sarah. James watched, transfixed, as she pulled a lip balm out of her coat pocket and applied some to her lips. They were full, but slightly chapped. ‘I feel hungry right now just thinking about it.’
God, he felt hungry too. He wondered how her lips would taste.
‘Want some?’ Sarah said, mistaking his reason for staring and offering him the tube of lip balm.
James shook his head and felt himself starting to blush again, the curse of his pale, Celtic complexion.
He glanced down the street. The Prince Charles was right on the edge of Chinatown, where restaurants would be open late.
Would it be weird to suggest going for a bite to eat?
They had only just met, but sharing a movie together on Christmas Eve, in a nearly empty cinema, had felt oddly intimate.
He wasn’t sure he could tear himself away from her, even if he wanted to.
‘Do you fancy getting some noodles?’ he said.
He was rewarded with a dazzling smile. ‘That sounds amazing. I can’t face going back to halls. I’m just about the only person sticking around over the holidays.’
‘Great,’ remarked James, unable to stop a huge grin spreading across his face.
Be cool, James, he told himself. This girl was way out of his league. It wasn’t a proper date. She just didn’t want to be alone on Christmas Eve.
James took her to a nearby restaurant called Wong Kei, popular with students.
The food was famously cheap and the waiters were notoriously rude.
The only nod towards the festive season was some tired tinsel decorations hanging from the ceiling.
James and Sarah climbed the stairs and took a table by the window, looking out onto the red lanterns of Wardour Street that swayed in the wind.
‘What do you want to eat?’ barked a waiter, looking fed up despite the fact that the restaurant was practically empty.
They ordered and then smiled at each other awkwardly across the table. Sarah slipped her chopsticks out of their wrapper and folded the paper into a concertina.
‘So … why are you spending Christmas in halls?’ James asked her.
‘Well, I was supposed to spend it with my boyfriend’s family …’ said Sarah.
James forced himself to hold back a sigh. She had a boyfriend. Of course she did.
‘But then I found out he was cheating on me with someone in his hall.’ With a wry smile, she snapped her wooden chopsticks apart.
‘Oh, no,’ said James, inwardly rejoicing. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘Don’t be,’ replied Sarah with a shrug. ‘We’d been together since sixth form. He’s studying in Leeds, and the whole long-distance thing wasn’t really working. Anyway, it was too late to make other plans. My parents are on sabbatical in the US – they’re professors.’
The waiter brought their beers, plonking them unceremoniously on the table.
‘To new … friends,’ said James, raising his bottle.
Sarah blushed, clinked her bottle against his and took a sip.
‘So, um, what do your parents teach?’ James asked, trying to distract himself from her long, elegant neck as she swallowed her drink.
‘They’re both anthropologists. Mum’s a cultural anthropologist and Dad’s a linguistic anthropologist. But I won’t bore you with the difference.’
‘You could never bore me,’ said James truthfully.
Sarah met his gaze, the gold in her eyes seeming to sparkle, and everything else – the noise from the kitchen, the click of chopsticks, the low murmur of the other diners – faded away. It was as if they were the only two people in the restaurant. James felt like she could see right into his soul.
‘Your food,’ said the waiter, breaking the spell and piling an array of dishes onto the white tablecloth.
Famished, they feasted on crispy spring rolls, deliciously greasy chicken chow mein and fried rice flecked with lurid green peas and bright pink pork.
‘What about you?’ Sarah asked him, dipping a spring roll in chilli sauce. ‘Why didn’t you go home for Christmas?’
‘London is home,’ he explained, taking a sip of his beer. ‘I grew up in Ealing.’
He’d stayed in London for uni because Imperial’s engineering department was one of the best in the world. And because he didn’t want to be too far from his dad. It had been just the two of them ever since his mum had passed away when he was fifteen.
Sarah’s face brightened with recognition. ‘I’ve never been there, but I love all the old Ealing comedies. The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers, Passport to Pimlico …’
James and Sarah traded film recommendations – classic and contemporary – and quoted favourite lines until not even a grain of rice remained. Apart from his dad, he’d never met anyone else quite as obsessed with cinema.
‘I’m impressed,’ said James. ‘You know a lot about movies.’
‘I want to make them one day,’ confided Sarah.
‘You’re an actor?’ he asked. That wasn’t surprising – she certainly had the looks for it.
Sarah shook her head. ‘No, I’m a writer – or at least trying to be. I’m working on a screenplay.’ She raised an eyebrow teasingly. ‘You won’t like it – it’s a romantic comedy.’
‘Oh, I don’t know. I might be warming up to romcoms.’ James was starting to think he’d been too quick to write off a whole genre.
They both reached for the last spring roll, their fingers touching.
‘You have it,’ said James gallantly.
‘No, that’s OK,’ she said.
Neither of them pulled their hand away. As they looked in each other’s eyes, James moved his index finger ever so slightly, stroking hers. Sarah curled her finger around his in response, so they were linked.
‘So, James,’ said Sarah, her voice low. ‘What do you want?’
You.
But he knew she was asking what he wanted to do after graduation.
It was a question he asked himself nearly every day.
With only two more terms left, he was on track to get a first. He’d always been good at maths and science.
Words, on the other hand, were tricky for him.
He was dyslexic, and it was hard for him to keep the words from jumping about on the page.
That was one of the reasons he loved cinema so much – it was a way to enjoy stories told in pictures.
‘I’m applying for master’s degrees. But can I tell you a secret?’
Sarah nodded and leant forward in anticipation. Her face was so close, James longed to close the gap with a kiss. Instead, he confided something he’d never told anyone else before – not even Kim. But he instinctively knew that Sarah would understand.
‘I want to own my own cinema.’ It didn’t sound like a very lofty ambition. Everyone knew that videos were killing off cinemas. But they were his happy place and James couldn’t think of anything he wanted more.
Except, maybe, the girl sitting across the table from him.
Sarah let out a dreamy sigh. ‘That sounds heavenly. Just imagine being able to watch movies all day long …’
James had imagined it. He even knew what he would call his cinema – the Picture Palace.
‘Shit!’ Pulling her hand away, Sarah jumped to her feet. ‘What time is it?’
James checked his watch. ‘Nearly midnight.’
Sarah started putting on her coat. ‘I should be getting back to Camden before the Tube stops running.’
Dismayed, James put notes on the table to settle the bill. He didn’t want the night to end. He couldn’t risk this beautiful, passionate, intelligent girl disappearing from his life, Cinderella-style, at the stroke of midnight. Maybe love at first sight wasn’t just something in the movies.
‘Do you fancy seeing another movie?’ he asked her, trying not to sound desperate. ‘There’s a midnight showing of Babette’s Feast at the Prince Charles. I can walk you back to your halls afterwards.’
It would mean a long night-bus home for him. It didn’t matter – after just one night in her company, he already knew he’d walk to the ends of the earth for this girl.
Sarah hesitated, toying with the purple strand of her hair.
‘It’s not a romcom,’ James babbled. ‘But it is heart-warming. And Christmassy, well, sort of. And there’s a rum baba in it that’s guaranteed to make you want dessert.’
Please say yes … please say yes …
Sarah zipped up her parka. ‘We’d better get going, then, if we need to buy cinema sweets.’ She grinned and held out her hand for him to take. ‘I really hate missing the trailers.’