Haunted

Two

"Yeah, I'm coming down right now," I said, stepping outside my apartment and locking my door.

"By the way, Liz called me. She wants to join us, if that's okay with you."

"Liz called you? Why didn't she call me?" I said, slightly miffed. Liz was mostly my friend, not his. I've known Liz since college. We were pretty good friends but she was a pharmaceutical sales rep and traveled a lot. My most recent interactions with her were either through Facebook or Skype. Still, she never mentioned that she was even returning to town.

"Something about her running over her minutes for the month and how you're not on Verizon but I am."

"Oh. Did she say when she come back from...where was it? Cincinnati?"

"She said she just got back yesterday. Asked if we had any plans for tonight and I told her we were going to see Cemetery. She asked if she could come along, too. She wanted to see you."

"What'd you say?"

"I said sure, we wouldn't mind. You don't mind, do you?"

I smiled to myself. No, I didn't mind. I loved Liz and it had been ages. The evening just got a little better. Happy, I ended the call when I saw him and gestured to my car.

"Hey," said Neal, putting down his phone and leaning over to give me a light kiss on the cheek. I smiled at him as I started the engine and pulled my car onto Elmer Street.

"So you don't mind, right?"

"No, not at all," I replied.

"Good," he said, flashing me a smile, his soft brown eyes twinkling, "it'll be fun. She says she's bringing someone along."

"What?" I asked, startled at this new turn of events.

"Yeah, some guy she met at Starbucks yesterday. Apparently, they'd talked about the movie and he was really interested in going."

I bit my lip. What was originally supposed to be a casual night out at the movies with my boyfriend has now turned into one of those awkward double dates. Still, it could be worse. Oh yes, a lot worse, my inner voice said nastily, you could spend the night in your bedroom with crazy, rapist psycho vampire. I shoved the thought away. No, I wasn't going to think about him.

"That's fine, right?" Neal asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice. I don't normally mind when our plans change to include some close friends but he knew I didn't like it when strangers were added to the mix last minute.

"Yeah, fine," I answered a little reluctantly. But I couldn't hold some of the resentment and disappointment in. "Why'd she say she wanted to hang out with me if all she wanted was a place to take this guy?"

Neal chuckled.

"It's Liz, it's what she does."

Thanks Neal. You're such a comfort.

"Come on, it'll be fun. It's a movie. It's not like you'll have to force conversation on him. And if he's really that bad, I promise to make some lame excuse about skipping out on dessert."

Brilliant. An escape plan.

"Alright, I'm sold," I said, laughing. Neal reached over and squeezed my hand. I smiled as I turned to the window, relishing the feeling of his warm skin against mine and watching the cityscape pass me by. Neal was right. This will be fun. How could it not be, with someone like Neal to see me through?

... ... ... ... ...

"So where did she say she was going to be?" I asked, looking for Liz's characteristically long, red hair in the crowd. The movies were packed tonight, more than I had seen it in a long time. I somewhat expected this. A new movie, Days of a Red Spring, was being released at midnight and undoubtedly, many people thought they would catch another, more Halloween-appropriate movie while waiting. I sighed. I hated crowds, especially when I had to find someone.