Girl Crush

Chapter 2

 The foursome walked into the movie theater, the multi colored tiles and garish neon lights assaulting your senses the minute you walked inside. The smell of popcorn and plastic cheese caused Dani's stomach to rumble and Eddie laughed, slapping his hand into Steve's chest.

"Come on Harrington, let's get snacks while the girls get the tickets," he said. "Dani's stomach is about to launch a rocket." He began to walk away and then turned, pointing to her. "Twizzlers, big popcorn, and cherry coke?"

"Yeah," she nodded, surprised he'd even asked. The two of them had been to enough movies together for him to know exactly what she ordered every time.

The girls got in line behind a bunch of other teenagers. Lots of couples on dates, holding hands and unabashedly partaking in public displays of affection. A few families who were probably here to see The Black Cauldron. Dani spotted a group of cheerleaders she recognized from school who were just buying their tickets. Chrissy Cunningham, the least vile of the group, caught her eye and waved with a smile. Dani waved back.

They weren't what anyone would consider friends. She'd had a few classes with Chrissy over the years. While Dani was staunchly against cheerleaders as a rule, Chrissy was probably the exception. She had always been nice, kind of the anti-venomous bitch of the popular club. They had been thrown together last year on a partner project for History class. They'd had to put together an essay, presentation, and timeline of the Revolutionary War. Dani had been dreading it but Chrissy, it turned out, was not unbearable. Dare she say, she was even kind of fun.

They hadn't stayed friends but they said hi when they saw each other, exchanged pleasantries. One time when her boyfriend, Jason Carver, was being a giant douche, picking on two of Eddie's little lost boys, Mike and Dustin, Chrissy had told him to leave them alone. She didn't know why she was with such a jerk but whatever worked for her.

"So..." Robin began with a smile, "are we going to talk about why we're at a movie we never talked about seeing but are acting like we did? And why did I have to call and invite Steve and instruct him to pretend like this had been planned for weeks?"

"I don't know," Dani sighed, leaning from one foot to the other anxiously. She glanced over her shoulder at the guys grabbing snacks. Eddie was tossing popcorn up in the air and failing spectacularly at trying to catch it in his mouth. He grinned at Steve as a handful dropped to the floor and Steve just rolled his eyes and shook his head. Those two were learning to get along, but they could not be more different so it was a lot of trial and error.

Robin followed her eyes, smirking, "Really? You don't know because I think it's pretty obvious."

"Robin, you don't know what you're talking about."

She laughed loudly, throwing her head back, "You made up a movie date to avoid being alone with him, Dani! The guy you've been alone with countless times but suddenly get all hot and bothered being around? I don't know what I'm talking about? You are so delusional."

"Robin, shut up, please," Dani pleaded, her eyes darting over as Eddie and Steve approached. Eddie handed her a drink as big as her head, wrapping one arm around the giant bucket of popcorn he'd gotten for them to share. He reached into his pocket, pulling out her Twizzlers. She could see the top of his Skittles sticking out of his other pocket.

Robin walked up to the ticket counter, buying four tickets and they headed into the movie theater, choosing to sit in the middle. Eddie always declared that was the best spot to watch the movie from. He sat down next to her, immediately leaning back, his legs spread out in front of him and his arm coming around the back of her seat.

Dani lifted her drink and Eddie swooped in, taking the straw between his lips and sucking down four gulps of her Cherry Coke.

"Hey!" she scolded him, pressing her fingers into his forehead and pushing him away.