Sunday Matinee

[Jame Qwilleran]

The Sunday Matinee.
The Stupid Sunday Matinee.
The Super Stupid Sunday Sans Sundaes Matinee.

Equation:
cheap movie + early + holy day = old people.

Some weeks it didn't even make sense. Granddads and ma-maws seeing Black Christmas - that was the week he decided that they just wanted a dark place to sleep. Although checking in on every movie at least twice was a part of his job, he never did on Sundays. Reason being, he did not want to confirm the idea he held - that instead of sleeping, the older folks were using the cover of darkness to get it on like some of the horny teenagers he'd had to break up. Jame didn't mind PDA's by older people, but he knew that when he was ninety and at the matinee with his old lady (ba dum bum), he would kick the ass of any whippersnapper who tried to interfere with their good time.

And so, Jame sat by his lonesome in the ticket booth, legs crossed under him while he played Sudoku - he always finished his tasks early and well, and mostly no one bothered him.

[raena]

Raena was well aware that the movie theatre was probably going to be packed with old people, like it was every time she went. But it seemed like Sundays were the only time she could go to see new movies any more, for a variety of reasons. One was that Sawyer was usually passed out on his floor until around 4 every Sunday. Another was that she was a poor college kid, and could only afford matinees any more. A third and final reason was that she guilted herself into studying for the vast majority of her time, except for Sundays, when she gave herself a break. And so it was under these particular circumstances that Raena Deveau approached the ticket booth that Sunday afternoon, right around the time when all of the good, god-fearing seniors were (god help them) driving home from church.

She smiled brightly at the boy behind the Plexiglas window, making a mental note that he was both adorable and around her age. Then she reminded herself that she was still with Sawyer, as she feared she would be forever since she could never seem to stand up for herself any more. Damn her and her caring, nurturing nature.

“Anything good in?” she asked the boy, quirking an eyebrow as she brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. Rae really didn’t have a particular movie she wanted to see, she just loved seeing movies in the theatre. And who better to know what the best thing to see was than the movie-theatre-guy?

[Jame Qwilleran]

"Waitress was good, but it's about a half... hour... in..." Jame replied without looking up. He had been saying those words all week, and they were only slightly hindered by his concentration - a seven! Yes, one line finished. Putting the pen in the book to hold his place, he looked up with a satisfied grin at the person who'd asked. It was a girl. A pretty girl. Man, he was a pretty-girl-meeting machine these days. There was only the slight snag that the pretty girls weren't interested in him. Oh well, he could look.

Jame pulled off his glasses - they were only for reading, after all - and placed them on the counter, before a thought crossed his mind. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he looked at her face, and then -

"Do you go to Pitt? You look familiar," he said. Of course, he could have seen her anywhere, or she could just have one of those faces, but Jame was decidedly crafty. This way, if her response was what he expected it to be, he would know where she went to school, and it wouldn't be creepy. Or, at least, she wouldn't think it was creepy. And that was good enough.

[raena]

"Waitress was good, but it's about a half... hour... in..."

The boy behind the window hadn’t even bothered to look up from his sudoku book in order to answer Raena’s question. That was pretty lousy service… she didn’t even get eye contact. Not that she could blame him. It seemed like a pretty mind-numbing, mundane job to have, sitting inside of that little ticket window all day long. He was probably half-asleep by the time she had shown up.

She was about to just pick whatever happened to be showing next when the boy looked up from his book and asked her a question.

"Do you go to Pitt? You look familiar,"

Without his glasses on Raena got a better look at his eyes and facial features as a whole. He was actually kind of good-looking, with and without the glasses. The question had seemed innocent enough, though she knew that he probably asked dozens of girls the same thing every day. She was tempted to lie, make up some extravagant story. And she did.

“Actually, I just came in to town with the circus. I’m one of the trapeze artists, and we’ve got a few hours to kill until we set up the big tent just outside of the city,” she said, working very hard to keep a straight face.

“Either that, or I’m a freshman at Pitt. Both are quite likely scenarios, minus the fact that there hasn’t been a circus here in three years,” she added, laughing a little. “I take it you’re a student there as well?” she asked curiously, hoping her random little outburst hadn't made him think she was insane or anything. Just a little random is all. When it came down to it, Sawyer was usually too pissed off (or drunk. or both.) for her to just goof around with, and so when she was with other friends or complete strangers she loved being random and funny, just for a change.

[Jame Qwilleran]

“Actually, I just came in to town with the circus. I’m one of the trapeze artists, and we’ve got a few hours to kill until we set up the big tent just outside of the city."

Jame paused for a moment, pretending to be fooled, and then pointed at her with a waggling finger and a crooked grin. "Youuu. Almost had me going there... but not me, no sir. I'm not your average everyday sap. I'm an above average semi-annual sap, thanks very much."

“Either that, or I’m a freshman at Pitt. Both are quite likely scenarios, minus the fact that there hasn’t been a circus here in three years. I take it you’re a student there as well?”

"Oh, I see. Yes, I am a stude-- waiiittt a minute there. You're pulling my leg again, aren't you? You're actually a spy or a ninja or something, I just know it. Come clean," Jame replied, crossing his arms over his chest and raising his eyebrow. It was a tactic his mother had always used on him when she'd wanted him to tell the truth, but mostly it just made him laugh, which in turn made his mother laugh. Laughing was good.

[raena]

"Youuu. Almost had me going there... but not me, no sir. I'm not your average everyday sap. I'm an above average semi-annual sap, thanks very much."

Raena couldn't help but laugh. "It appears I have underestimated you." She really was enjoying this conversation, even if it had passed the point of funny, moved on to silly, and was well on it's way to ridiculous. She couldn't believe that she was saying half of these things. He must've thought she was crazy.

"Oh, I see. Yes, I am a stude-- waiiittt a minute there. You're pulling my leg again, aren't you? You're actually a spy or a ninja or something, I just know it. Come clean,"

Raena held her hands up in the air in one of those 'please don't shoot' poses. "You caught me," she said as if admitting defeat. "I'm really an undercover officer for the FBI, but you've gotta keep it on the D-L. That's government slang for hush-hush," she added, whispering in a conspiring tone. It was kind of weird holding a conversation, especially one like this, through the small holes in the plastic plexiglas.