Dick hopped off the train glancing down at his phone and checking the group chats. Despite it being a Saturday, it had been entirely silent on the chat front aside from some dumb memes getting shared between Gav and Lisa. It was surprising and just when he wanted a distraction.
Letting out his breath he put his phone back in his pockets. There weren’t many people out on this early, it was a little bit before noon this Saturday. It was coldish but not terribly bad. Jamming his hands into his jacket he glanced up at the gray sky and smiled. At least that wasn’t too bad up there.
Meandering down the street and avoiding people as he walked he moved quickly. More so because that was his pace and not because he was in a hurry. Besides he knew she wouldn’t get too mad at him for being late. It took him a few minutes and a longer wait at the cross walk before finally getting to the movie theater. She was standing inside her eyes scanning the crowds but in the opposite direction of him. Her hands were deep in her pockets and he stopped for a second just to look at her. She was calm, not tense. She wasn’t seriously on the job.
When he got closer Samantha looked right at him and smiled, giving a small wave. “Hey,” she said and he smiled back. “Took you long enough.”
“How early did you get here?”
She shrugged. “Maybe half an hour. I think.”
“You think huh?”
She made a face and ignored him. “Let’s get inside. Movie starts soon.”
They walked inside, Samantha leading the way but when they got to the automated kiosk she pointed to it and looked at him. “You did buy them, right?”
Scoffing Dick navigated the kiosk slowly, getting lost a few times and could feel Samantha’s eyes on his back. It took him a few minutes longer than he liked but he did figure it out. Printing off their flimsy receipt tickets he handed one to her and scratched the back of his head.
“I did it didn’t I?”
She raised her eyebrow but smile eventually taking it. “Yeah you did. Snacks?”
“Normally I would. Definitely. But right now, I think I just want to sit down for the movie.”
She frowned looking at him taking his hand. “Don’t worry Samantha. I’m okay.”
She made a face but didn’t say anything else to that effect. Dick sighed looking away and but gave her hand a squeeze. “Okay. I’m not okay. But I’m not as bad as when we went home last week.”
“No offense but it’s not hard to improve after that,” she commented.
He laughed. “Yeah true. Have you heard from Betty at all?”
She gave a slow shake of the head. “She made it to headquarters a few days. No news about punishments for the rogues. She didn’t mention your brother and he didn’t come up during any of the talking. Apparently, the rogue warriors haven’t mentioned him either. So knock on wood and it stays that way.”
Dick visibly relaxed and she gave his hand another squeeze. “That’s for the best. Sorry I’m still on edge kinda. It’s just that. All this happened and I can really only talk to you and Lily. Gav and Lisa are worried about me and I can’t tell them what’s up. Its hard to tell them why I’m actually this way and not talking too much. But we can’t tell them about the wraiths or geist or any of that stuff. And it’s just getting to me. Keenen’s picked up on it too but he’s giving me my space so there’s that. But I haven’t heard from my brother and I know he’s probably okay but is he getting hunted by the other wraiths? Or is eating and going after humans or just.”
He didn’t realize that he’d been ranting and when he finally turned to look at her she had this look on her face. One that was one part sympathetic and one part amused. He didn’t know how to react to it and just shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I know. It’s part of the job and all that.”
“I wasn’t going to say that you know.”
“Then what were you going to say?” he asked puffing out his cheeks.
“Just that you’ve been handling it well. Better than I probably would have.”
“Well thanks. I guess. Being honest, I’m not doing great here.”
“I know. I won’t say it gets better but I can say I’ll be here.”
That made him smile and he ducked his head motioning toward the ticket master. She nodded walking beside him this time around. They showed their tickets to the older man at the stand.
He tore the bottoms off the tickets then look at the pair of them and chuckled. “You two make a good couple. Enjoy the movie.”
Both of them went red and glanced at each other then, averted their eyes toward the ground hiding their smiles. Walking down the long hallway their theater was toward the back. Not a lot of noise was coming from within it. When they finally entered it was decently full of people, and they found spots toward the front.
Stepping past a few people they sat together in the middle and stared up at the screen as a few ads played before the movie even started. Dick watched one of them but glanced at Samantha, her arms on the arm rest. Taking a deep breath, he reached out and covered her hand slightly with his own. She glanced toward him surprised and he looked away avoiding her eye contact.
Smiling she chuckled and turned her hand, lacing their fingers together and squeezing his hand. He let out a breath of relief and smiled but she laughed shaking her head. “Really the guy who can handle wraiths of various shapes and sizes can’t even hold my hand?”
“Listen it’s not that easy okay?”
“Oh really? Tell me more Dick. Am I scarier than a wraith?” she turned and look at him keeping a hold on his hand.
“Oh yeah. Like ten time scarier. I’d rather face like a hundred wraiths than you on a bad day capitan”
She chuckled. “Good answer.”
Settling into her seat satisfied she chuckled and Dick, let out a breath of relief. Leaning into his chair he looked at her and she was still wearing the same smile. He grinned not taking his eyes off her before. Just feeling her hand in his own made his smile take up his entire face.
There was a commotion of noise behind them and he raised his eyebrow. Glancing over his shoulder he stared at a group of three other kids sitting a few rows away. They were talking hushed but quickly jumped aside and hid their faces behind a drink, popcorn and candy respectively.
Dick narrowed his eyes slightly and realized exactly what he was seeing. Letting out an exaggerated sigh he glanced back at Samantha. “What? Know them?” she asked.
“Sadly, we do. That’s Gav, Lisa and Lily.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wish.”
“They’re spying on us?”
“They wanted to see if we were actually on the date.”
Leaning his head back he stared at the ceiling and let out a deep breath. Samantha laughed covering her mouth as she looked at him. Reaching over she tapped his cheek lightly and turned him to face her. “Hey. Need me to kiss you again and snap you out of it?” He relaxed and smiled back at her, letting his shoulders fall down. “We like them but ignore them. This is our date remember?”
“Yeah,” he agreed with a chuckle. “Sounds like a good plan.”
She sat up and leaned over to him, giving him a soft kiss on the lips. It would have lingered longer but both of them heard the mild applause behind them. Settling back into her seat, Dick rested his hand on hers again and gave it another squeeze. Just in time for the movie to start up. The theater darkened and the credits began and despite the laughing behind them they settled in for a good time.
The Harlequin Library 