Read Online Just You by Rebecca Phillips - Free Book Online Page B

were rolling on screen as the four of
us found seats near the back. Robin pushed into the aisle first,
and I ended up with her on my left and Michael on my right. So
either way I was blocked from making a run for it. I scanned my
surroundings, but failed to spot any faces I recognized from the
Redwood Hills parties. It hit me then that this was a double date
and not a group thing at all. Dating in a group seemed a lot more
casual, but a double date was a bona fide date . My anxiety
shot straight through the roof.
    Robin jostled my elbow. “Try my Coke,” she
whispered.
    I took a sip from her straw and almost spit
it back out. It tasted like oven cleaner. “Is that diet?” She
laughed and told me it was coconut rum. “I didn’t know they sold that at the concession stand,” I said.
    Michael nudged my other arm. “I didn’t see
you around last weekend,” he said.
    “I was at home. I’m not at my dad’s every
weekend.”
    “Oh, right. I think you told me that.” He
turned toward the blank screen in front of us, showing me his
striking profile for a moment before facing me again. “But if you
wanted to visit your dad every weekend, would you be able to do
that?”
    “Oh, um…” I crossed my legs, and then
uncrossed them. The floor felt sticky under my feet. “It’s
possible, I guess. I can see him anytime I want.”
    He smiled at me in that cute, unpretentious
way he had. “Good.”
    I scrambled for some sort of reply, but was
saved by the next movie starting. The plot of this movie completely
escapes me because not a second of it soaked into my brain. For the
entire two hours, I struggled to make sense out of Michael’s
question while stealing sips of Robin’s spiked Coke. By the time
the movie ended, I felt both buzzed and confused as hell.
    “That was gory,” Michael said as we all
exited the theater for a twenty minute intermission.
    “Totally,” I said, even though I didn’t
remember any blood. Just a lot of screaming. Or maybe that was only
in my head.
    Robin and Devon went outside for a smoke
while Michael and I hung back in the lobby, standing next to a huge
cardboard cutout advertising the newest Pixar movie. He tried to
make conversation but I wasn’t exactly responsive. I felt
uncomfortable and jumpy, despite the rum. Warm too, but I held on
to my jacket as if it were a coat of armor protecting me from an
attack of flying arrows.
    When it came time for the next (and last)
movie, Devon and Robin reappeared in the lobby, red-cheeked and
laughing and smelling of smoke. Devon headed for the concession
stand again while Robin walked with Michael and me back to the
theater.
    “Devon had to go get a bucket of popcorn and
some Twizzlers,” she told us. “He’s still high from earlier
tonight.”
    That explained the bloodshot eyes and sleepy
expression. Robin didn’t look too sober herself, but I guess I
didn’t either. That rum was strong . I stole a furtive glance
at Michael’s eyes, checking to see if they were like Devon’s, but
they seemed clear to me. Then I got sort of lost in gazing at him
for a minute, and he caught me in the act.
    “I don’t even like taking Tylenol,” he
said.
    “Neither does Taylor,” Robin told him,
bumping me with her hip. “She’s seen too many After-School
Specials.”
    “I hear Tylenol is one hell of a drug to
quit,” I said. Robin and I started giggling uncontrollably while
Michael looked on with an amused expression.
    “Come to the washroom with me,” Robin said
suddenly, and then dragged me toward the nearest john before I even
had a chance to tell Michael I’d be right back. We each went inside
a stall. “So how’s it going?” she asked through the metal
partition.
    “I don’t know.” I flushed the toilet. “It’s
hard to talk at the movies.”
    We emerged from our stalls at the same time.
“You seem kind of uptight,” Robin said as we washed our hands.
“Even after drinking half my Coke.”
    “Yeah, because this is insane. You