A Night at the Movies
The softness of the red arm chair and the slight smell of old popcorn made her forget the hectic and problems of her life. That afternoon the howling feeling of upcoming panic had occupied her mind and she knew she had to get out of it before it grabbed her. Once in a while this feeling haunted Eliza and she knew what to do. Go to the cinema. All by herself. So no one could disturb her and she could just loose herself in the movie. So she did. While the commercials filled the silver screen she thought about the movie she had picked. Brokeback Mountain was a big name in movieland and she'd heard it was touching. Although the movie was already available on dvd, the cinema was playing it again for only one week. The trailers were running now and Eliza realized that she was, with two others, the only one in the room.
As the screen kept lighting up with images, Eliza heard a man entering the room. She always hated people who were too late and although the movie hadn't officially started yet, it irritated her. It kept her mind off of the nice, cozy haze she was falling into. The annoyance grew even larger when the man walked towards Eliza. 'You're kidding', Eliza thought, 'You're so not going to sit right next to me while there is plenty of room left.' But all she could say when he asked her if he could sit next to her was; "Of course." His voice had reminded her of some really strange things. At the moment of haze that occurred to her when he spoke her mind had emerged with thoughts of flat buildings, Jane Austen and magic. But this last thing would probably just occurred her mind because of the amazing warmth she could hear in his voice. It had surprised her and for a moment she thought she recognized that voice, but that would be bizarre and she fell back in the question of why he had to be so annoying by sitting right next to her.
The movie started and Eliza was swept away by it and was sucked into the story and found in the man next to her a great companion. He turned out to be a great movie watcher, he didn't make any unnecessary noise and sighed at the best moments. Eliza had never thought it was so nice to have someone to share a movie with. Most of the people talked through the movie, making dumb jokes and got nervous and giggling at the good parts.
By the time the movie paused she couldn't directly move. She was just staring at the big letters on the silver screen that confirmed the fact that the pause had started. A deep voice woke her up.
"Quite impressive.", the man next to her said.
"It surely is.", she replied.
"I'm going to get something to drink, do you want something?"
Eliza looked at him for the first time and did suddenly know that she wasn't just pretending things when she recognized his voice from something. 'I know him!', Eliza thought, 'but who the is he?' The answer was laying on the tip of her tongue but didn't came out.
"No, I'm fine", she responded.
"Are you sure? Not a hot cup of tea or something like that?"
"Well.. okay, yes, some tea would be nice..", she said and was trying to order her thoughts. 'I know this man, he looks so bloody familiar.' As he stood up he got something really gracious and proud and she suddenly knew who he was. 'Alan Rickman! Oh my God..' When he smiled at her and walked away her thoughts became making sense. 'Flat buildings, Die Hard, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility and magic, of course, Harry Potter. This is crazy.. I'm watching a movie with Alan Rickman.. and not like he is acting in the movie, no, he is sitting right next to me...'
Just when Eliza was recovering from the first shock, he walked over to her again and she totally understood his fans. This man was really charming and extremely handsome.
"Here.", he said to her while giving her a cup of steaming tea, "Be careful, it's hot."
"Thank you.", Eliza replied.
"Ohw, and I have bought us some popcorn." He smiled and for a moment Eliza thought that she could never breath again. The only thing she did was smile and in the state her mind was at that moment she thought that it must be a really awkward smile.
"Well, what do you think of the film?", he said.
"Like you were saying earlier; quite impressive."
"Yes, those guys really know how to act."
"Well, so do you.", she said and he looked at her like she was saying something totally crazy. For a moment she thought she had made a mistake and said to him;
"I'm sorry.. for a moment I thought you were Alan Rickman."
"No, don't be sorry, I am. It just still surprises me when someone recognizes me.", he smiled and sipped his tea.
"Thank you for the tea.", Eliza said.
"No problem.. And you've already said that."
Her mind was desperately finding something to say to this man.
"Have you ever considered playing a gay man?", she said.
"Well, I did", he replied. Eliza felt like a fool.
"Really? I didn't know that."
"Yes, pretty nice film, a part from me diving from a boat naked, of course."
Eliza's mind was quickly making images by that thought and she wasn't completely able to banish them from her mind.
"What's the name of that movie?"
"Dark Harbor. Polly Walker and Norman Reedus are really charming in it."
'And you are naked in it, I so need to see that movie!', Eliza thought.
"I think the movie is going to continue.", he said and was right, as the lights dimmed.
The movie started off with the same passion it had had before the pause and Eliza was pulled into the story again. By the end of the movie Eliza couldn't hold herself together anymore and big tears rolled down her cheeks. A hand reached her a tissue and she accepted it gratefully.
The titles began to run and the lights went on. Eliza dried her last tears and felt the warm comforting feeling that she had longed for so many weeks. Finally she was totally relaxed.
She focused her eyes on the screen that was still playing titles and her mind on the movie she just saw. There weren't many people who sat through the whole title roll, but Eliza always wanted the moment to last as long as she could stretch it.
After some minutes the screen went silver again and Eliza stood up from her comforting chair. And at that moment she almost bummed into the man that was apparently still sitting next to her. Eliza used to be the only one left in the cinema when she would walk out, so the sight of the man so close to her made her jump up.
"I'm sorry", Eliza said, "I was just.."
"Don't worry, I know the feeling", Alan replied and smiled at her.
Eliza sat down again and looked at the man.
"I'm sorry", he said, "I will move so you can go."
"Aren't you going?"
"In a matter of fact, no", he replied.
"Euhh.. ok.. well.. have a nice.. evening…", Eliza said and stood up again.
While passing him, he touched her right shoulder and for a moment she froze and felt his warm breath upon her face. She looked up, right into his eyes and realized that she was probably too close to the man and making him uncomfortable. She quickly moved to the side and looked at him.
"I'm sorry.. I… bye…", Eliza said.
Feeling like a fool, she turned around and walked toward the exit. Just when she wanted to walk out she heard his voice again.
"They are playing it again in half an hour…"
Eliza turned around and saw Alan standing between the red comforting chairs. He smiled at her.
"That's why I'm not going… I'm going to watch it again."
Eliza didn't know what to do with this information. Why did he tell her this? Alan walked toward her and stopped just a few inches away from her. When Eliza looked into his eyes she felt like breathing was one of the hardest thing to do and talking was something that was impossible. For a few moments they just stood there looking at each other. Until Alan's face formed a smile and he touched her arm and leaned in.
"You sit down, I'll get us tickets", he whispered in her ear.
A few minutes later Eliza was sitting in her chair again and was thinking about all the things she had to do. She had work piling up and had no time.. no time to see the movie once.. and really no time to see the movie twice. She had the feeling of panic coming up again in her stomach and had the urge to stand up and get home as soon as possible.
"Relaaaax", the familiar voice said. "Don't worry so much."
She looked at him and smiled. The thoughts in her head vanished and focused again upon this man. The next half an hour they talked about movies, popcorn cleaners, Shakespeare, driving through red lights and other things. The time seemed to run by and before they realized it was already time the lights faded out and commercials were running again. Eliza looked around and saw only an old man sitting in the back.
"Only one..", she said.
"It's a shame..", Alan replied.
"Well.. there we go again.."
Again Eliza was swept away by the movie and at the end, when she couldn't fight back her tears, Alan took her hand. It was a small gesture, but it meant a lot to her. No other man had ever understood that she cried at the cinema.
When the lights went on again the old man had already left and Alan was still sitting next to her, holding her hand.
"Well, that's it then", Alan said and kissed her hand, "they are not playing it again today."
Eliza smiled at him and looked at the spot on her hand that he just kissed. She still felt the warmth of his lips upon it. They both stood up and walked out of the cinema.
"Shall I walk you home?", Alan asked and took a step toward her, so he was really close now.
"I'm okay."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, it's right around the corner", Eliza said.
"Ok, well then.. I'm going this way.."
"And I this", she smiled at him and pointed into the opposite direction.
"It was a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure was all mine."
"Well.. bye then…"
"Bye"
But Eliza couldn't force herself to walk away and Alan was also not moving.
"I..", Eliza said.
"Ssst..", Alan whispered as he laid his finger against her lips. Eliza trembled inside by the feeling of his touch and Alan took her face into his hands and softly kissed her. Eliza slowly opened her mouth and felt his soft tongue explore hers. It was the most tender kiss she had ever experienced and sighed when he pulled away his lips. They looked at each other and smiled.
"Bye", Alan whispered and Eliza turned around and slowly walked away. She stopped right before the corner to consider looking back.
"Eliza!", she heard him say and she looked at him.
"Same time, next week they are playing Pan's Labyrinth", he said and smiled.
Eliza didn't say a thing, but smiled at him and turned around the corner.