He had been coming in for a while now; everyone knew his face if not his name. At least two days a week, almost like clockwork. Though most people preferred to watch movies from their couch, in the comfort of their own home, the dark anonymity yet common purpose of other movie-goers touched something in him from much younger years.
Most of the workers recognized him, but a movie theater is like a revolving door of employees; most don't stay very long. For her, there was just something ...
unique
... about him. Maybe it was the salt and pepper hair, maybe it was the striking blue eyes, maybe it was his quiet and polite voice when he ordered his usual, never-varying concession order. She didn't think he was
that
much older than her, but he still had a weight of personality about him.
She definitely felt something the first time she had a chance to chat with him more than the usual "Would you like to add candy to your order?" that her boss made her say to each and every person. The day had been a little boring, and it was the dead time between show-times where all she really had to do was stand there in case the odd customer walked in.
She saw him walk in, smiled and started putting together his concession order even before he reached the counter.
When she turned around with his order, moving to fill his drink cup, she stopped because of the look on his face. His attitude had changed ever so slightly, half-smiling but with an appraising look in his eyes that she
really
liked.
"Am I that predictable? You didn't even ask me what I wanted."
She smiled back and stuck the drink cup under the nozzle, filling it with soda. "Pretty much," she quipped. "Besides, I know what you want."
His response made her stop in her tracks. "J.J., you have no idea what I want."
And there it was ... the sarcasm-laced double entendre that she found so damn attractive and sexy in a man. And he said it with the perfect amount of straight-faced delivery that left just a little niggle of doubt as to whether he had actually meant that second meaning.
When she looked at him again, she was secretly pleased to see in his eyes that he definitely knew every way she could have taken that comment.
She shot back with her own little dig. "I think I have a pretty good idea. And how you'd know my name was J.J.?"
He nodded his head at her. "That's what it says on your name tag?"
She laughed softly, liking him even more for his easy confidence. "Fair enough."
She handed over his drink and food and when he handed her his money, he touched her fingers for a little longer than he really had to. She didn't mind.
Giving him his change, she couldn't help but throw out one last comment. "Be sure and let me know before you leave if that movie's any good."
"Be happy to ... nice chatting with you." He smiled in that quirky way she was beginning to like and walked off.
And that's how it started ...
She just had a
look
about her ... an interesting mix of guileless innocence and a secret knowledge that he might discover if he just asked the right question. After that first ice-breaking conversation, he looked at her differently. She had piqued his interest and pretty soon, he was making it a point to stop and chat with her if she wasn't busy, especially after the movie he had seen finished. He never pushed it, though, which added to the many things she now liked about him. She could tell he understood that this was her workplace and respected that she couldn't just drop everything for him.
However, he found himself now imagining her sometimes as a
spinner
... someone petite enough to spin around easily from sexual position to position. That realization, along with the mental images it conjured, made their verbal sparring even more risqué, but neither of them minded a bit.
On her end, she started making it a point to be the one who took his order or refilled his drink; she liked talking with him when she could, especially since the double-entendres hadn't stopped. If anything, they had happened more and more; it was almost a competition who could get the best line. Sometimes he won, sometimes she did, but they both respected the other's wit and banter. And she thought that he felt the tension between them too, like an invisible high-voltage wire humming with sexuality.
He definitely felt that hum ... he may not have been able to admit it to her on any random day when there were other movie-goers around, but he liked to think that she had a special smile just for him. A certain gleam in her eyes that meant she was just a little happier to see him than some other person walking into the theater ...
Yet another weekday, yet some more dead time between the trickle or flood of customers depending on what movie had just started showing. Her boss had asked her to make the regular checks of the exit doors in all twelve theaters, so at least she was moving around.
As she walked the hallway in front of theaters 5 through 8, she saw him coming out of the men's room. He was adjusting his crotch slightly, checking to make sure his fly was zipped ... he hadn't seen her yet, and she felt a little thrill thrum through her as she imagined what might be behind that zipper.
Damn, woman, get a hold of yourself.
But she couldn't help saying something to him.
"What ya doing, Jack?"
He looked up and smiled at her, making that thrum in her deepen and drop somewhere just a little below her stomach. He looked back at the men's room door and smiled a little bigger.
"Just making sure everything came out all right ... is that O.K. with you?"
