The Movie

The Movie

Michele turned on the TV when he went to the bathroom.

When Mike came back into the living room, he thought: "Is this why we came back to my condo...to watch a movie on TV? He realized this was an odd thought for him; he was always polite, to a fault.

But he was pretty sure Michele wanted him to make a move, even though this was only their second date. She'd told him some cool secrets on their way to dinner, earlier that night. He had other clues.  They had really hit it off on their first date. They talked non-stop for hours and laughed a lot, and he enjoyed every minute. He was pretty sure Michele did too. And they talked a lot on the phone during the week between their dates. 

"Yea, its ok", Mike thought, “She's just killing time and she doesn’t want to be the one to make the first move.”

So there he was, a middle-aged guy, divorced after 30 years of marriage. He had hardly dated before he got married and had been faithful to his wife. His lack of experience was debilitating.  Mike thought, "What do I do now?"

Mike sat next to her in the couch and said: "Yea, I saw this movie", hoping Michele would turn it off, but she said, "I’ve seen it too, a bunch of times, it’s really funny."   Now, he was really discouraged, and he thought, "Shit, maybe I've totally mis-read the situation." They continued to watch the movie, commenting on the funny scenes.  Finally, it ended. “Ok”, he thinks, "Now’s the time."

He touched her hair. "Your hair is beautiful, it's red, right? He wasn't really sure because her hair sometimes looked more blonde than red. “Thanks, yea, I guess it’s ambiguously red." Michele said coyly.

Mike’s mind began to drift.  Michele’s hair was not really like his ex-wife's hair, which was also red, but which veered toward the copper end of the color spectrum. But now he was thinking, "God, even though her hair is a different shade of red, everybody will think I'm trying to replace my ex-wife!"

Remembering to keep the conversation going, Mike nervously said, “I like your freckles too!” Michele laughed and said, “I didn’t think they were that noticeable.”

By the time she responded, another movie started. "Noooo", he thought, "I can't let this happen."

As Michele continued to watch the screen, Mike put his arm around her, having to awkwardly squeeze between her head and the back of the couch. She turned her head toward him.  He leaned toward her and they kissed for a long time...there was no hesitation. The movie was forgotten.

I wrote this post for the current Trifecta Writing Challenge.

Comments are welcome.