A little Eureka fluff to help me through my writers block. Post Episode 4x9, and some spoilers for the Harry Potter 7.1 movie.
A Midnight Movie
Jo stood in line at the concession stand and waited for her extra large popcorn with butter. Hands already full of her M&M's and bottled water; she was staring absently at the box of sour patch kids and didn't hear the girl at the cash register.
"You want anything else," she asked Jo again, for the third time.
"Um, no," Jo said shaking her head. Picking up her snacks she headed towards the theater. There was still another 50 minutes before the movie began, but already there were lots of fans already in place anxious to watch the midnight release of Harry Potter. Jo followed the mob in and without really looking around grabbed the nearest seat that she could find and sat down a little apart from the others in the row. She sighed as she took in all of the young people around her, and tried to drum up some excitement to see the show, but all she was really feeling was lonely. Zane, her Zane had gotten her hooked on the Harry Potter books and movies when they first started dating. They'd had a marathon of the first four movies and he'd taken her to see the 5th one when it had been released at Midnight at that very theater almost two years prior. She glanced down at the empty seat next to her briefly before turning her attention back to her popcorn. Before founders day, they had been planning to go and see the movie as they always did for the midnight showing, and in a moment of weakness she had decided to follow through on the plan. There were just so many things that reminded her of him, but she kept hoping that she'd find some way to get through it. Her Zane- was gone. She sat munching quietly on her popcorn and willed the time to pass so that she could immerse herself in the movie and forget, just for a little while.
Zane sat in the last row of the theater and stared down at the last person that he would have expected to see walked into the theater. He wondered just for a brief moment if she'd followed him, but dismissed the idea as she simply grabbed the first empty seat that she found. He watched her as she looked around at the more enthusiastic fans who were dressed up, but she didn't seem annoyed, she looked sad, he realized. More proof, if he needed it, that she wasn't the Jo Lupo that he knew. He saw her glance at the seat beside her and he wondered if she had come alone. He hadn't spoken to her in several weeks. They hadn't been avoiding each other, not really, but whenever they did find themselves in the same room there had defiantly been tension. Mostly because he wasn't sure how to act around her anymore. The realization that somewhere in some alternate universe they had been dating, more than dating he corrected remembering the ring, was a lot to take in. That and the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about that kiss. It was enough to throw any guy off of his game. Curiosity getting the better of him, he grabbed his jacket and drink and stood up, and walked down the steps to where she sat alone, staring off into space.
He stood just out of her line of vision and watched her for a moment longer before he cleared his voice, startling her out of her musings as he asked, "Is that seat taken?"
She turned her head to look up at him, and he caught the quick flare of surprise in her eyes before she managed to school her features, but not before he caught a glimmer of something in her eyes. He wondered if it wasn't happiness. Curiosity peaked even further he didn't wait for her to speak, but stepped into the aisle and sat down in the empty seat beside her.
She quickly found her voice, "Zane, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he said as he stretched his legs out and made himself comfortable. "Didn't realize that you were such a fan of the Wizarding World."
She blinked and he watched as she quickly tried to come up with a story. "A friend," she said as a blush stole across her cheeks, "got me hooked on them a while back. I've never missed a midnight showing since. "
"Really," Zane drawled watching her face, "I don't remember ever seeing you here before, and believe me, I would have noticed. A woman who appreciates the subtle mystery of Harry Potter is hard to find."
"Zoe wasn't interested in coming," Jo asked, trying not to bristle.
Zane quirked his eyebrow up as her tone went from embarrassed to annoyed. "I wouldn't have asked her in any case, which is why she'd not currently speaking to me," He told her, and enjoyed the quick look of confusion she shot at him.
Zane suppressed the urge to grin and instead looked at the screen, "I told her that we were only ever going to be friends, and she didn't like hearing that very much." He watched her out of the corner of his eye as Jo swallowed hard but said nothing.
Zane reached over and grabbed a handful of popcorn, and grinned as she glared at him, "She'll get over it. She was hardly in love with me, it was just a crush."
"Which you seemed to enjoy a great deal," Jo said as she opened her bag of M&M's trying to act calm.
Zane turned to look at her profile. "I enjoy messing with Carter," he corrected.
She turned back towards him. "Why is that?"
He stared at her, his eyes traveling over her features as he debated how to answer. "Let's just say that I'm paying him back for some bad advice that I once took."
More people filed into the theater and they had to stand and let another group of people move in to the aisle to grab some of the last available seats. As Jo sat back down, Zane decided to conduct a small experiment and draped his arm over the back of her chair. She stiffened briefly and then pretended not to notice.
He grinned then, a small half grin, and sat back preparing to enjoy the movie even more than he would have thought possible.
The theater darkened and the previews came on and the crowd in the theater began to cheer. Zane let out a quick whistle and turned to look at Jo expecting her to be looking at him in annoyance but instead she was grinning. She turned to look at him and for a moment he thought he thought he saw her look down at his mouth, but then she blinked rapidly and looked back at the screen.
The darkness seemed to make him hyper-aware of her. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she seemed to have the same problem paying attention to the screen. The previews finally faded and the movie's opening credits began, and Zane tried to concentrate, but he couldn't help but be caught up by every sound, and movement from the woman next to him. The first time that she laughed, he was completely startled. He didn't think that he'd ever heard her laugh so freely, and the sound of it was arousing, he realized. She giggled several more times at comments made by the Weasley twins before he felt that he was actually going to get used to hearing it. She inhaled quickly when Hedwig died, and she couldn't seem to help but sigh, just a little every time that Ron was staring at Hermione so obviously in love.
She caught him looking at her during the movie as Harry kissed Ginny, but instead of looking away he held her gaze as the movie continued. She broke eye contact first and reached for her water, but he noticed with some satisfaction that her hands weren't quite steady and that she was breathing rather heavily. At least he wasn't the only one.
They finally settled into a companionable silence as the movie captured their attention completely. During a particularly shocking scene with a snake, Jo turned her head away from the screen and into his shoulder. He caught a whiff of her shampoo and had to stop himself from leaning in further to inhale more deeply.
Towards the end of the movie he realized that he was playing with the ends of her hair, and abruptly stopped. Embarrassed, he wondered how long he'd been doing it, but luckily Jo didn't seem to have noticed.
They both applauded as the movie ended and the lights came on. Jo was smiling brightly and didn't appear to be nervous any longer.
"God, that was so good," she said beaming at him. "I just want to sit here and watch it again."
He grinned back, "It's a good thing it wasn't any longer, or you'd have needed more popcorn."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "I wasn't expecting to have to share."
"Who doesn't watch a movie with popcorn," he said with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes as she gathered her trash and her jacket. "You always end up stealing mine," she said with a sigh.
He paused mid-step as what she said hit him, but she didn't seem to realize what she had let slip.
"How many days do I have to wait until the next one comes out," she asked, turning back to where he'd froze.
He quickly moved to catch up with her and did the math in his head. "238 days, 37 now," he said looking at his watch.
"If Eureka had a movie theater, I think that Fargo would have to fire me, cause I'd be there watching this one every day. "
They followed the crowd out until they found themselves in the theater parking lot and paused uncomfortably as everyone around them darted to their cars.
"I'm over there," she said gesturing towards her car.
He nodded, unsure of what else he could say to prolong their conversation. "I guess I'll see you back in town."
She nodded. "This was fun," she said with a small smile and then bit her lip and turned to walk towards her car.
As he watched her walk away he quickly called out. "Hey Jo," he said forcing her to turn back. "There's an all night diner just a little ways away from here. Do you maybe want to grab some coffee?"
He watched her as she debated, and thought for just a moment that she would say no, but to his surprise she nodded and said, "sure." She gestured behind her to her own car. "Want a ride?"
He grinned and strode towards her, "yeah."
She was quiet in the car as they drove, the tension once again returning. As he opened his mouth to give her directions she turned on her turn signal and drove in the proper direction. He sat back in his seat without a word and realized that she already knew where to go. Like the theater, she'd been there before. He decided to see just when that little piece would occur to her. As the minutes dragged on and she said nothing, he wondered what else she might let slip.