He pulled me along. “Where are we going?”
“You can’t come to the drive-in without getting a proper view.”
I could barely make out the ladder. “Is every date going to involve us climbing ladders?”
“Depends. Is this a date?”
“I… uh…” We had talked about getting together. I secretly hoped there would be kissing. That made it a date in my head, but we had never used that specific word. Had I gotten the wrong?—
“I’m messing with you.” He pulled me closer, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. “Now it’s officially a date.”
Every kiss brought me back to that first moment. Bursts of lights in the sky with loud bangs, and us, two scared teenagers, unaware of how to make the next move.
He dragged me along the gravel.
I attempted small talk. “So, I got invited to be on the carnival committee.” I didn’twantto do it, but I owed Firefly for that night. What could it hurt? It’d be areimbursement for all the baked goods occupying my fridge. “I think I’m going to do it.”
“Am I going to wind up in the dunk tank again?”
“Only if you’re in a speedo.”
“I know where you’ll be spending all your tickets.”
I was thankful he turned his attention to the screen. Otherwise, he’d have seen how excited I got thinking about him sitting in that tank. Yeah, this guy had definitely gotten under my skin. After walking around the brush, trying to reclaim the parking lot, we reached the base of the ladder.
“Is this safe? You know I’m a klutz, right?”
“Probably not,” he said. “But it’s a time-honored tradition.”
“If I die?—”
“Nobody will ever find the body.” He flashed a smile before taking the first step upward. When I hesitated, he looked down. “Come up, and I’ll tell you about my time behind bars.”
Evil.
Bribery served as motivation as I tested the first step. In the dim light from his car’s headlights, I gripped the sides, cautiously following. It must have been twenty feet by the time we reached the platform at the base of the screen.
“You ran a pie smuggling operation.”
“Nope.”
“Caught riding a moose?”
“I didn’t get caught.”
I snorted as he offered a hand, guiding me to my feet. From up here, the car looked so far away. Its headlightsbarely illuminated the screen. It always surprised me, admiring the night sky. Peppered with stars, it wasn’t nearly as dark as the tree line beneath it.
“Alright,” I said. “Spill the beans.”
He moved toward the center of the screen before taking a seat. He patted the wood to his side. I joined him, legs swinging in the empty air. Something about the empty parking lot and the vastness of Maine made it even more romantic than a drive-in movie.
“Breaking and entering.”
“I knew it!”
He cocked his head to the side. “You thought I rode a moose through town.”
“Close second,” I chuckled. “You can’t leave it there. Were you breaking into No Big Whoop for a late-night whoopie pie?”
