“The lights are on!” Diana stood in the lobby of the Crossroads Theater, and gazed up at rows of lights that lined the ceiling. “But none of us turned them on. How did that happen?”
Hal laughed at her shocked expression. “Relax, Diana. They’re probably on a timer. A lot of businesses do that.”
“Come on. Let’s go sit down in theater four.” Paul gestured for them to follow him. “That’s where Show-Off is supposed to run.”
Cindy looked puzzled as they all trooped into theater four. But the minute she sat down, she turned to Diana with a grin. “I get it. Paul’s doing another bumper card to show how isolated we are out here. He’s going to tape us sitting in the Crossroads Theater, waiting for a movie that’s not going to start.”
“Not quite.” Paul glanced at his watch again. “It’s nine forty-four, and something should happen, right about . . . now!”
Cindy gasped as the lights began to dim. Then she turned to Paul in surprise. “How did you know that was going to happen?”
“Hal figured it out earlier. Everything’s on a timer. Now watch and see what else is going to happen.”
“Oh, my God!” Cindy almost jumped out of her seat as the curtain rolled back, and the music began to play. She gasped again as the screen came alive with a commercial for popcorn, and she turned to Paul with alarm. “Someone’s here, running the projector!”
“Relax, Cindy. Nobody else is here.” Paul sat down next to her and leaned back in his seat. “Most multi-plex theaters are run by computer. And the projectionist set everything up before we got snowbound. The movies’ll run, right on schedule, until someone comes out here to reprogram the computer.”
“So we can watch movies all night!” Jay started grinning. “Let’s hear it for Paul!”
Everyone clapped, and Larry shouted out, over the applause. “Nice going, Paul!”
“Hey.” Paul looked slightly embarrassed. “I didn’t do anything except tell you to come here. But I do have one favor to ask . . .”
“Anything.” Cindy nodded eagerly. “What is it, Paul?”
Paul gestured toward the screen where a giant bowl of popcorn was revolving slowly, glistening with butter. “It’s this popcorn commercial. It looks so good, I can almost taste it. Do you think you guys can figure out how to run the popcorn machine?”
They all watched Show-Off together, and when it was over, everyone trooped to the lobby to see if they could figure out how to run the popcorn machine. Cindy took one look at it, and started to grin. “It looks almost the same as the one we had in high school. And I used to make popcorn for the basketball games. Do you want me to try to make it work?”
“Sure. I’ll help.” Diana hurried behind the counter and began searching for the popcorn. Luckily, it came in pre-measured bags and the machine had instructions printed on the side. In no time at all, they had buttered popcorn.
“But we need something to drink.” Heather found a stack of cups next to the soft drink machine, and put one under the spout. She pressed a button, and gave a little squeal as her cup filled up with orange drink and ice.
“Candy, anyone?” Hal dangled a ring of keys he’d found in a drawer in the manager’s office. “One of these ought to unlock the snack case. We’d better write up a tab, though. We don’t want to cheat the theater.”
“I’ll do it.” Larry picked up a notebook and pen, and started to write down their names. “Who wants what?”
There was a flurry of activity as Hal unlocked the case and they all chose snacks for the next movie. Jay grinned as he grabbed a bag of gummy bears.
“You actually like those?” Diana looked shocked.
“They’re my favorites, especially the red ones. What do you want?”
“Anything with chocolate. I’m a chocoholic. I love chocolate-covered caramels more than anything else in the world!”
“More than kisses?”
Jay was grinning at her, and Diana felt a blush rise to her face. “Uh . . . well . . .”
“Never mind.” Jay reached inside the snack case again. “You can have both. That way you don’t have to choose. Which do you want first?”
“I . . . I don’t know.” Diana glanced around. Thank goodness no one was eavesdropping on their conversation!
“I’ll start you out with the caramels, and I’ll give you the kisses in the middle of the movie . . . okay?”
“I . . . uh . . .” Diana was so embarrassed, she didn’t know what to say. She glanced down at the candy Jay was holding in his hand, and then she blushed even more. He had a roll of chocolate covered caramels. And a big box of Hershey’s Kisses.
“Oh. Hershey’s Kisses!” Diana spoke without thinking. “I thought you were talking about . . . uh . . .”
Jay looked puzzled for a moment, but then he caught on and he started to laugh. Larry and Dave turned to look at them, and Diana wanted to sink right through the floor.
“Jay! Please stop!” Diana knew she looked just as desperate as she felt. “If you keep on, they’re going to ask you why you’re laughing!”
Jay chuckled as he led Diana into the theater. They took seats in the sixth row of the center section, and Diana sighed as she stared at the darkened screen. She was horribly embarrassed, but she had to know.
“Jay?” Diana looked up at him.
“Yes, Diana?”
“You won’t tell, will you?”
Jay shook his head. “I promise I’ll never say a word. But I might stoop to blackmailing you.”
“Blackmailing me?” Diana looked worried. “Exactly what do you mean?”
“If I keep your secret, you have to give me a kiss.”
“It’s a deal.” Diana nodded quickly. She was so grateful that Jay had agreed not to tell, she was ready to give him anything he asked for. She reached down for the pile of candy on the seat and handed him the box of kisses. “Here. You can open it right now if you want to.”
Jay started to laugh again. Then he slipped his arm around Diana’s shoulders, and pulled her close. “That’s not what I had in mind, Di.”
“Oh!” Diana felt the heat rise to her face again. She felt terribly stupid for misunderstanding. “I . . . I . . .”
Jay held his finger to her lips, and Diana’s heart started to pound very fast. Then she sighed as Jay leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
At first it was just a light, friendly kiss, the kind her dates had given her at the door when they’d said good night. It felt wonderful, and Diana snuggled closer. Jay’s lips were soft, but they were also firm, a strange contradiction that she’d never noticed when anyone else had kissed her. She pressed her lips a little harder against his, and closed her eyes as a delightful shiver rippled through her body.
Diana gave way to her instincts. Without any conscious thought, she reached up to wrap her arms around Jay’s neck. He tightened his arms around her, and held her pressed close against him, so close she could feel his heart beat faster and faster as the kiss went on.
Now he was nibbling at her lips, little nips that made her gasp and open her lips slightly. Jay groaned, deep in his throat, and his kiss changed character. It was harder, and he took control of her mouth, probing with the tip of his tongue. It was warm and then hot, like a searing fire, and Diana felt a trembling sensation that started at her toes and rushed all the way up to the very top of her head.
It was impossible to think. Her mind was jumbled, her thoughts in a tangle. All she could do was feel as his fingers spread over her back, rubbing, caressing, making her skin tingle. And then her hands were moving, too, her fingers exploring the soft hair at the back of his neck.
Gradually, as if from a great distance, Diana heard a low noise. It swelled and grew, louder and louder, until she recognized what it was. Someone was clapping. No, it was more than one person. It sounded as if a whole rowdy crowd was applauding and cheering, whistling and stomping their feet.
Jay must have heard it, too, because he started to laugh. He gave her one last kiss, a light touch of his lips that promised much more at a later time, and then he let her go.
“Thank you.” Jay stood up and bowed. And then he pulled Diana to her feet.
“Oh, no!” Diana gasped as Jay turned her around. Cindy and Paul had taken seats behind them, and they were whistling and clapping.
“Encore, encore!” Cindy grinned at them. And then she pointed to Paul. “And just in case you want to relive these precious moments, we’ve got it all on tape.”
“You didn’t!” Diana gave Paul a horrified look.
“No.” Paul smiled at her. “Cindy wanted me to, but I told her it wasn’t fair to tape you when you thought you were alone.”
Diana sat back down. She was almost weak with relief. At least their kiss wouldn’t be on the tape.
“Where’s everyone else?” Jay sat down next to Diana, and put his arm around her shoulders.
“We all split up,” Cindy explained. “Larry went to see a Madonna movie, Hal decided he wanted to watch some sci-fi thing, and Dave’s watching a thriller. Heather said she was going to hole up in theater six and relive her childhood. They’re running Disney classics all night.”
“Are you staying here with us?” Diana turned to Cindy.
“No, but we’ll meet in the lobby right after the next movie is over. Paul wants to see Guts. That’s the new war flick with Mel Gibson. If you need us, we’ll be in theater three.”
As Cindy and Paul left, Diana tried not to laugh. Cindy hated war movies with a passion. She thought they justified senseless killing. She’d told Diana she’d rather die than go to a movie that glorified war. But she’d been all smiles as she’d left to see Guts with Paul.
Jay turned to Diana with a frown. “I don’t get it. Cindy hates war movies.”
“Right.”
“But she’s going to see a war movie with Paul?”
Diana grinned at him. “Right. With Paul.”
“I see.” Jay nodded slowly. “The movie doesn’t matter, but Paul does.”
Just then the giant bowl of popcorn disappeared, and the preview for the main feature came on, a western called Powder Horn.
“Oh, good! A western!” Jay looked delighted for a moment, but then he turned to Diana. “Wait a second. We got the wrong theater. You wanted to see My Time.”
Diana shrugged. “That’s all right. We can catch it later. Let’s watch this one.”
“Okay . . . if you’re sure. Do you like westerns?”
“Not really.”
“Then why don’t we go to . . .” Jay stopped, and began to grin. “The movie doesn’t matter, but I do?”
“You got it!” Diana grinned, and snuggled up very close as they began to watch the movie.