"It's a pleasure to meet you Janice."
Janice nodded.
"Likewise Richie."
The awkwardness was suddenly interrupted by an arm slinking its way around Richie's waist.
"Nearly ready sweetheart?" asked Tim, extremely smoothly.
"Oh, hi Peter," ventured Tim, finally noticing Peter and Janice.
'That's what Richie's doing here. She's with Tim,' he thought, a little slow on the uptake.
"Hi Tim," uttered Peter. "Good to see you again."
"And you," replied Tim.
"This is Janice," announced Richie, once again smiling.
Tim offered out his hand.
"Pleasure to meet you," insisted Tim.
"You too," replied Janice politely. Clearly Tim appearing on the scene had pleased Janice, who was not impressed with Peter running into Richie.
As silence once again threatened to envelop the group, Richie was the first to speak.
"Which film are you guys going to see?"
"The one in screen three," answered Janice.
"Ahhh... the romantic one, that's nice," replied Richie, trying to make Peter feel as awkward as possible.
"Anyway," stated Tim, ever the diplomat. "We're in screen one and it's about to start, so we'd better get going." With that, he scooped Richie along with the one arm that was still wrapped very much around her lithe waist, heading through the crowd to the stairwell which led to their screen. Richie waved goodbye over her shoulder, all the time laughing at Tim having to drag her away.
Turning to Janice, not knowing what to say, Peter realised something strange and unsaid had gone on between the two women. Not sure what, he knew it had something to do with him.
"I'm really sorry about that," he stressed. "I had no idea they were going to be here."
"It's alright," said Janice, clutching her bag of sweets. "Let's just pay for the snacks and go watch the film."
"Sure thing."
Having paid, the two of them headed into the screen, grabbing two seats in the middle right at the back. Peter marvelled at how quiet it was. The relatively tiny screen was almost deserted, with most cinema goers clearly choosing one of the blockbusters in the other, bigger screens. It had to be said, he much preferred it this way. As the previews played, the two of them munched their snacks, occasionally sharing a slurp of the huge fizzy drink with the hosepipe for a straw. Once the film started, Janice snuggled up against Peter. It was a good job it was dark, otherwise she might have noticed the look of fright on his surprised face. Not ten minutes later, that look had been replaced by one of contentment. Curled up together, the two of them laughed at the same parts of the film, sighed at the same parts, but he drew the line at joining Janice in crying at the ending. It was sad, even he had to admit that, but he pushed all his emotions to one side, only then realising that he'd been doing that for most of the night. Janice had a good weep at the tear jerking part, but you couldn't tell that she had by the time the lights flickered into life at the end of the film.
Leaving together, with Janice clutching Peter's hand and Peter, surprisingly, not minding, they reached the foyer as all of the films finished at once. Swarms of people swept out from doorways on all sides, heading for the long ancient hallway that led back outside. Hoping against hope that he wouldn't bump into Richie again, he wasn't sure he could cope with that, especially as he'd had such a wonderful time with Janice, but he needn't have worried. Janice had a similar thought, and in one swift move dragged Peter into the flow of people, heading quickly for the exit. Once outside, she dragged him off round to the left of the building, in the opposite direction to the throng of cinema goers. Most were either turning right or queuing for the last of the late night buses right outside the cinema's main entrance.
In the quiet recess of a deserted shop doorway, the two turned to face each other, as they sheltered from the drizzle.
"Thanks for a lovely evening," whispered Janice, the condensation from her breath brushing Peter's face.
"You're welcome," he replied. "I've had a great time."
The two of them just stood there smiling at each other. His legs once again turned to jelly, his arms went weak, and his tongue felt as though it had tripled in size. He didn't know what to do or say next. Luckily for him, he didn't have to do or say anything. Gazing up into his eyes, the diminutive Janice stroked his cheek gently, and then kissed him passionately on the lips. Peter's whole body exploded. Inside his head, the biggest firework display imaginable played out. Bright colours, explosive noises, everything. The kiss seemed to last forever, Peter lost in its wake. Eventually Janice pulled away, at least, that's what he guessed as he'd had his eyes closed the whole time and still hadn't opened them. With the fireworks still going off in his head, he forced his eyes open. Janice stared up at him, with the same smile he was pretty sure he was wearing.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Oh yes," he sighed contentedly.
Janice wrapped her arms around him, as he did the same to her. With her silky blonde hair nuzzled against his chest, he didn't have a care in the world. Everything just seemed to melt away into nothingness. She gazed up at him after about a minute or so.
"I really should be getting home. I've got an early shift at the sports club tomorrow, sorry."
"That's okay. I understand. Can I walk you back?"
"It's totally the opposite direction for you."
"That's okay," he whispered. "It's just I'd worry about you getting home safely otherwise. Just let me walk you back... please?"
Janice smiled.
"You're very sweet. Okay."
The two of them headed towards Janice's house which was in exactly the opposite direction to Peter's, although about the same distance out from the centre, about ten minutes' walk.
Walking her up to her front door, he thanked her once again for a good time, kissed her goodnight, and promised to see her the following day at the sports club. Then he set off into the, by now, pouring rain, heading home. Within seconds he'd taken the decision not to walk back through the city centre, the most direct route home, because he knew that it would almost certainly be full of drunken idiots by now. Instead, he thought he'd go through the suburbs, knowing that it would probably double the time it would take him, from twenty minutes to about forty; he didn't really mind, in fact he was sure the walk would help him clear his head. He had an awful lot to think about.
Five minutes after leaving Janice, he found himself walking briskly down a quiet suburban street, contemplating the evening's events. He was so lost in thought he failed to notice the car that had slowed right down and was pacing him as he walked, that is until the driver wound down the window.
"Oi... Shorty! Want a lift?"
Peter ducked down and looked through the window. It was Tank. With a big grin on his face, he grabbed the door handle and leapt in.
"Hello mate, fancy seeing you here."
Tank shook his head as Peter fastened his seatbelt, and then slammed his foot sharply onto the accelerator pedal.
"What are you doing out and about at this time of night?" asked Peter cheerfully, glad to see his friend.
"Just finished a coaching course at the sports club and it ran a little later than expected."
"Ahhh," sighed Peter, remembering that Richie had told him that. "Still, this is a bit out of the way for you... isn't it?"
Tank looked across at Peter disapprovingly.
"It's not like I've been cruising the streets all night. I know how you think. I knew you wouldn't walk back through the town centre, alright."
"So you were spying on me?" Peter fumed.