Chapter 10
TEN
PERRY
For our second date, Rex asked if he could pick me up. He wouldn’t tell me what we were doing, only that having two cars would make it difficult and when he pulled into the drive-in theater outside of town, it became very clear why.
“I’ve never been to one of these before.” I looked around as Rex slowly wound through the rows looking for a place to park. The screen was high enough that every vehicle would be able to see it from whatever spot they chose. I’d only ever seen drive-in theaters in old movies, never in person.
“I don’t think a lot of people have. This one is new. Like, it was here years ago and it shut down, but then old things became new and cool again and they revived it last summer. I’ve been meaning to come and check it out, but I never seem to make the time.”
Rex pulled into a space and killed the engine. “We have time to hit up the concession stand and get snacks.”
He smiled broadly like an excited kid, and it was impossible not to return his expression.
I got out of the car and walked with him to the concession.
The line was long and filled with mostly middle-aged people and older, but a few groups of teens had made the trip to the edge of town.
The line moved fairly quickly and soon we returned to his car with a couple of drinks, a bucket of popcorn, and a jumbo bag of Reese’s Pieces.
Once we were in the car, Rex turned the key to auxiliary and fiddled with the radio to set it to the station that the theater broadcast on.
He shifted in his seat and met my gaze. “Do you trust me?”
“Uh… what?”
“Do. You. Trust. Me.” He said each word slowly and carefully, his gaze never wavering from mine.
“Yeah, of course.” And I found it to be true.
I did trust Rex. It probably had a lot to do with how the way he treated me hadn’t changed since I’d had a scene with someone the other day.
Rex had been aware of it; he’d even asked if it had gone okay.
And then he hadn’t gotten all weird about it.
He didn’t shut me out or give me the cold shoulder, or get intrusive and ask a bunch of questions about who put what where.
Rex’s smile widened, his eyes sparkled, and then he upended the bag of Reese’s Pieces into the bucket of popcorn.
I gasped. “Heathen.”
“It’s good, I promise.” Rex gave the bucket a shake and then held it out to me. “Go on. Give it a try.”
I indulged his whim and took a handful of popcorn, making sure to get some of the candy. They weren’t melted, but they were warm and kind of gooey and the sweet paired nicely with the salty popcorn.
“I don’t regret trusting you,” I told him, reaching for another handful. “What movie are we going to see?”
Rex laughed. “Weren’t you paying attention when we pulled in? There was a big sign.”
“I was staring at the even bigger screen. I never even knew this was here.”
“They do get some new releases here, but mostly they play older things. I think it plays into the whole vintage experience kind of thing.”
“How old are we talking? Black and white? Silent movies?”
“Disaster flicks from the late ‘90s are on the menu this month. Volcano. Dante’s Peak. Armageddon.”
“Those were all before my time.”
“Well, you’re in for a treat because tonight is a double feature. Prepare to suspend your disbelief. Forget everything you know about lava and volcanoes because these movies also forgot.”
“Who needs accuracy when you have entertainment, right?” I said as the sound in the car suddenly swelled to life.
Rex fiddled with the volume and told me that I could adjust my seat for maximum comfort. I followed his lead and reclined the seat a little.
Dante’s Peak was up first, and I had to admit that I couldn’t fault the mayor for her mad crush on Harry Dalton. If Pierce Brosnan rocked up into my town all hot and confident and shit, I’d have jumped his bones too.
“I’m pretty sure you can’t drive on lava,” I whispered to Rex as Pierce Brosnan navigated a truck over a moving lava flow, even managing to rescue the dog from where it had been stranded. It wasn’t all that realistic, but at least the dog didn’t die.
“I’m pretty sure Hollywood cared about what’s entertaining more than they cared about what was accurate.”
I reached for another handful of popcorn. “I’m definitely entertained.”
The truck on the lava wasn’t the only time I had to tell my brain to shut up and let me enjoy the film, but by the end of the movie, I didn’t care about all the things they’d gotten wrong. I’d been thoroughly entertained.
“How did I never know about this movie?” I asked Rex as the end credits rolled.
“The late ‘90s were rife with disaster movies. It was a beautiful combination of the advancement of special effects and the willingness to completely ignore logic and science for the sake of entertainment.”
“It sounds like a magical time.”
Rex furrowed his brow. “How old are you? I can’t believe I never thought to ask.”
“Twenty-nine and a half. You?”
“I just turned forty.”
I let out a low whistle. “That explains why you like the old movies.”
He tossed a piece of popcorn at me. “The 90s were a magical decade.”
“I was there too.”
“Barely.”
“Am I too young for you, Rex?” Discomfort squiggled through me.
He shrugged. “Ten years ago, yes. Now… not so much. Your brain is fully developed, and you’re well past your teen years. You’ve lived enough years as an adult so it doesn’t feel like we’re all that far apart.”
“That was a good answer,” I said approvingly. “Have you dated men younger than you before?”
“Here and there. Sometimes they don’t understand that my job might fuck with their plans or that I don’t want to have more than one drink with dinner. But the same can be said for men my age too. So I’m not sure if that's an age thing or if I just have shitty taste in men.”
“Maybe both?”
“Maybe.”
I wanted to tell him that it was obvious his taste in men had improved because his current boyfriend was a catch, but he wasn’t actually my boyfriend and I didn’t want to make fake boyfriend jokes out loud in case I got comfortable doing so and somehow slipped up at a bad time.
The next movie started and I sort of wished that Rex had one of those old-style pickup trucks with the single cab and the bench seat.
It would have been nice to curl up into his side and watch the movie with his arm around me.
I tried to rein in my wishful thinking and turned my attention to the movie.
Volcano was just as bad—from a scientific standpoint—as Dante’s Peak had been, but it was equally entertaining. I mean, lava does what it wants unless you’re Tommy Lee Jones, and then lava does what it’s told.
“Were movies always this entertaining?” I asked when Rex returned from throwing away our empty drink containers and popcorn bucket.
“Movies are still entertaining,” Rex said simply.
“I guess I don’t watch many. I did when I was a kid, but then suddenly I was a teenager and then adulthood came at me kind of fast. My parents split when I was a teen, and they didn’t know what to do with an angry teenager, so they chose to do nothing.”
“Some people are better suited to having pets than children, and some shouldn’t be given a pet rock to look after,” he stated, buckling his seat belt and turning the car on. Most of the traffic had left while we chatted, and Rex slid out of our space and slowly made his way toward the exit.
“Were your parents the pet rock kind?”
Rex laughed. “No, they were okay. Mom was thirty-five when I came along, and then when Nigel showed up a decade later, they were pretty distraught about it. Mom hadn’t even known she was pregnant until she gave birth.
She’d chalked her missed periods up to menopause and then suddenly she had an infant and a ten-year-old.
Dad was older than Mom by about fifteen years, so by the time Nigel was born, he was sixty.
” Rex paused. “Dad died when Nigel was still small, and Mom struggled with Nigel. Pregnancy was hard on her.”
“It sounds like adulthood came at you fast too.”
Rex nodded. “I stepped up and did what I could. Mom has since passed, and in some ways, Nigel was like the kid I never had. Right from day one, I did my best to look out for him.”
“That’s why it’s important for you to do this, isn’t it?”
Rex nodded. “I don’t want him to find out that his fiancé is my ex. It’s not important to me since there’s no love lost or anything. In order for there to be lingering feelings, feelings would have needed to exist in the first place.”
Despite the serious tone of the conversation, I stifled a laugh. Rex looked at me with curiosity. “It just reminded me about that movie He’s Just Not That Into You.”
“I’ve seen that one.”
“Me too. Blue made me watch it with him.”
“I love the ending when he goes to her door and he’s all you’re the exception.”
“Awww, Rex. You’re a softie, aren’t you?”
“I work with animals all day, and sometimes I can’t give them a happy ending. So yes, I like watching movies that end happily. I like movies where the dogs don’t die and the whales are freed.”
“I like that you like those things.”
Rex pulled up in front of my building and shut the engine off. “I need to get home and let my dog out, but I’d love to walk you to your door.”
“Okay,” I said, suddenly a little flustered.
My face heated and I just thanked my lucky stars that it was dark and he couldn’t tell how red-faced that made me.
Was it dumb to be swept off my feet by my fake boyfriend walking me to my door?
It was chivalrous as fuck and something I’d never had the pleasure of experiencing.
I got out of the car at the same time as Rex and he shot me a smile. “Next time, wait for me and I’ll get the door for you too.” He offered his arm to me and I looped my hand through the crook of his elbow. It was a bit old-fashioned, but it made me feel special.
I stopped just outside the security door to my building and turned to face him.
“Well, this is me,” I said, knowing that if he were really my boyfriend, he’d probably kiss me. We should kiss. It would be good practice for the wedding. But would we really have to kiss to prove that we were together? Would it even be called into question?
“I had fun,” Rex said, rocking on the balls of his feet. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and I couldn’t help but feel cheated that he didn’t use them to grab my face and pull me close to his. I shouldn’t be this disappointed that he didn’t kiss me.
“I did too. We should do this again sometime.”
He smiled at me. “It’s a date.” And then he turned away and set off for his car, taking my shot at a kiss with him.
Maybe next time, I told myself as I unlocked the door and stepped inside. I did my best to leave my disappointment on the doorstep, but it followed me upstairs and clung to my mood like Velcro.
Maybe next time.