Me: It's raining and I'm super bored. Anyone want to see a movie?

Brayden: Yeah! I'm down.

Opal: Ugh. I'd love to but I'm babysitting until tonight.

Me: That's okay! Do you guys want to go later?

Brayden: I wish. But my dad's got me waiting tables tonight. Waitress called out.

Opal: Honestly imma be dead after watching him. I'll probably sleep.

Me: Aww. Okay girly. Good luck.

Opal: Thanks.

Me: DJ, you there?

DJ: Yeah. Just woke up.

Brayden: Dude it's noon.

DJ: My vibes are off today.

Me: Well go find them and meet us at Stark's in an hour.

Brayden: Are we doing Star Wars or The Shivering?

Me: Def Star Wars. I can't do horror movies with my weak stomach.

Brayden: Cool. See you guys then.

I put my phone down, grabbed some leggings and a sweatshirt, then put on my shorter wig. After that, I went down the hall to my dad's office. It was quiet, so he wasn't on a conference call, but I knocked anyway.

"Come in!"

I opened the door. "Hey. I'm going to see a movie with my friends. I just need an umbrella."

"Top shelf of the hall closet. Do you wanna borrow my rain boots, too?"

"Nah. I think I'll be okay in my sneakers. Plus I think they'll be way too big for me."

"Okay. Have fun. Will you be back for dinner?"

"Probably."

"Alright. See you later."

"Cool. Bye."

"Bye, love."

I closed the door, rummaged through the closet to find the umbrella, and started my walk down to the historic theater. I'd been excited to go there for a while. For some reason, we'd never gone there as kids. When it rained, we were always home watching cartoons or playing board games, very, very quietly while my dad slept off his hangover down the hall.

Once I got to the bottom of the hill, I crossed the street, took a left at the church, and made my way into the lobby of Stark's Theater. The lobby was freezing with the air conditioning on, so good thing I brought a sweatshirt.

The inside of the theater smelled, well, like a movie theater: carpet and popcorn. I looked up at the showtimes. There were only three screens in this place, and none of them were in hd or 3d. I was used to the mega-theaters we had in the malls back home with ten-plus screens, 3d, Imax, and all that other stuff.

I took a seat on a bench right as Brayden walked through the door. He had on a bright blue raincoat that he hung up on a nearby coat rack before he came over and sat down next to me.

"Gorgeous weather we're having, huh?" he said.

"Yeah. I don't think DJ will be taking his skateboard in this," I said, chuckling.

"What do you mean? He's not coming."

"Huh?"

"Uh...you should take a look at his text."

I whipped out my phone and opened up the group chat.

DJ: Hey cool cats. I checked my temp and I've got a fever. I think I might have the 'rona.

Opal: Wow. Hang in there dude.

Brayden: I'm sorry, bro. Hope you feel better soon.

DJ: Thx. My parents are picking me up a test kit. If I do have it and you guys get it I'm sorry. You can just blame the aliens.

Brayden: It's okay bro. You didn't know.

"Oh man. I hope he doesn't have COVID. Then we all got exposed." I protectively held my baby bump. "I really, really hope not."

"We were outside all day. I'm sure it'll be fine," Brayden said.

His smile brought me a small sense of comfort in my fog of worry. Like most, I'd been sick with COVID before. I couldn't imagine what getting it again could do to my precious little ones. They'd probably get jostled around from all the coughing.

"What kind of snacks do you want?" Brayden asked.

"Probably just a popcorn and soda. Actually, maybe a lemonade. The babies aren't big fans of the bubbles," I said, giggling. "You ready?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

We went up to the counter and ordered our snacks. I couldn't believe how cheap everything was. Even our tickets were only half the price of what they'd be back home. When I took my debit card out to pay for everything, Brayden stopped me.

"Bray, seriously? It's like almost fifteen bucks," I said.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "You have a lot to save up for."

"You're too sweet. Thanks."

"Any time."

I blushed as the cashier handed me my bucket of popcorn. I didn't want to believe Brayden was flirting with me or that this was kind of like a date. Maybe he was just a sweetheart? Besides, it was an accident that it was only the two of us.

We took our seats in theater number one with a few others. The seats weren't crazy comfortable. They didn't have the soft cushions, rock, or recline like the ones in our mega theaters back home. I guess the cheap tickets kind of made up for it. The historic theater really was cute and charming in a way.

We started the movie and I was just eating my popcorn. I wasn't the biggest Star Wars fan, but my sisters dragged me to see the prequel to this particular movie, which was the second in this new trilogy they were working on.

Halfway through the movie, I tried to suppress my laughter. The flutters were happening right near my belly button. It was a lot more than usual. Brayden turned his head towards me and raised an eyebrow.

"They're moving around a lot," I whispered in between giggles. "Here, let me show you." I took his hand and put it right where all the little flutters were coming from. "Don't you feel that?"

"No...I don't feel anything," he said.

"In a few weeks, you probably will be able to."

He smiled and whispered, "You're such a good mom already."

I blushed again, realizing that his hand was still on my baby bump. I placed my hand on top of his. My whole body suddenly felt warm as we made eye contact. He slowly took his hand away and placed his arm around me. I froze.

"This is okay, right?" he asked.

I nodded. "Uh-huh. Thanks for asking."

"Of course," he said.

An action-packed scene started to play on the screen, but I felt like I couldn't pay attention to it. What was happening in real life was a lot more exciting. He likes me back. He likes me back!