Friday, October 16th, 1953
6:45 p.m.

"Thanks, Phil."

Phil confidently nodded as he opened the projection booth door to let Therese in. "No sweat, I love the company up here."

"Coulda fooled me." chimed Dannie who was watching the newsreel through the projection window.

"Hi, Dannie." He looked back over his shoulder to see Therese give a small wave and just as quickly returned to the newsreel.

"Therese!" Phil exclaimed with hands raised in the air. "Where ya -"

" - been?"

"Exactly!" Phil checked the projector again to make sure everything was in order for the feature. "Yeah, Therese. I saw you in April, and, what was it, June or July? That night at what's-her-name's?"

"Yup, what's-her-name's."

"Where the hell you been hiding?"

Dannie looked back at his brother with a blank expression. He knew where she had been, but sometimes his brother was completely clueless.

"Oh, you know. The usual."

"Well, 'the usual' seems to be quite the hiding spot."

Therese walked behind the projector to sit over by Dannie. Before saying anything to him, Therese took a quick look through the projection window to see what was playing on screen to make sure she wasn't interrupting . "How's Louise?"

Dannie nodded with a smile, "Really good, ya know? She's been busy with work, probably up for a promotion by the end of the year. We went to see Stalag 17 last week. You'd love it."

"Again with the Billy Wilder?"

"Ah," Dannie dramatically sighed, "he's the best." He put down his pencil and turned to face Therese, "So tell me," he quickly glanced over at his brother who was now too preoccupied with splicing some film strips together, and then back at Therese, "how's Carol?"

Dannie knew. Just from that day looking at the photos from under the sink. And Louise, of course. They were the only people aside from Abby (and not by choice, Harge) who knew about the two of them, and both could truly care less. They lived in Greenwich Village, surrounded by people from every walk of life, every possible living arrangement, every kind of preference. Life was too short to be hung up on those types of things, Dannie said when she told him a few months earlier over lunch.

Therese looked back over at Phil, still busy, yet still spoke in a hushed tone, "She's well. We're doing really well."

"Is she coming tonight?"

"No, she has an engagement at seven."

"Sorry."

"No, no. It's fine." Therese tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and crossed her legs at the knee. She was slightly bothered that Carol wasn't there, but she did have work engagements on occasion, such as drinks or dinners with owners or important clients. Therese had the same thing too, usually just drinks with the others in the photo department. "We're going up to Vermont before Christmas, so we'll have some quiet time together before the holidays. Apparently I'm going to learn to ski."

"Look at you."

"Yeah, look at me fall all over the place, more like."

"Nah, you'll be a natural."

"Is Louise coming?"

"No, she's at dinner with her folks. They're in town for the weekend."

"Oh, meeting her parents... ?"

"Nothing like that! Well, maybe we'll go to dinner together tomorrow night."

"Picture's starting, kids." Phil said. Dannie readied his notebook and pencil. Therese took off her coat and placed on the back of her chair.

Once the movie started, they were all quiet watching, drinking pop, or in Phil's case, working on those reels. They watched, laughed, joked around during the dull parts; overall relished each other's company.

There were no external interruptions until about an hour into the movie when there was a knock at the booth door.

"Knock, knock."

Therese and Phil turned to look at the office door to see who was there. Dannie, too engrossed in his notetaking, kept peering through the window.

"Carol." Therese did her best to hide her enthusiasm in front of Phil, but there was probably no use. "I thought you had a party."

Carol assessed the room, seeing only Phil and Dannie, and felt somewhat at ease, particularly knowing Dannie from some prior conversations at get togethers. "I did, but I said to hell with it. Same old, same old. Hope I'm not too late."

Therese smiled. Always late. "Phil, you remember Carol?"

"Hey, how ya doin'?" Phil cheerfully said as he held out his hand.

"Very well, thank you for asking, Phil. And you?"

"Can't complain." He looked around the room to see if there enough places to sit. "You wanna sit? I think I could scrounge up another chair downstairs."

"That's okay, Phil. Carol can have my seat. I was sitting at a desk all day anyways."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, go on."

Phil busied himself again with the film and turned around to resume working at his desk. Therese stood to offer Carol her seat and help her remove her wool coat which ended up draped over her own on the back of the chair.

"Hello, Dannie." Carol said in a low voice over his shoulder, knowing very well from Therese to proceed with caution if interrupting him while watching a movie and taking notes.

"Hey, Carol, thanks for comin'. You've made Therese's day by showin' up."

"Really?"

Therese stood behind Carol and placed her hands on her shoulders once she sat down. "I like watching movies with you. We don't go often enough." Therese whispered into her ear. To keep her hands occupied, Therese began to knead Carol's shoulders through the tweed fabric as best she could. Therese enjoyed doing little things like massaging her shoulders or twirling her hair, all to keep her fidgety hands busy. Carol didn't mind; she thought it was sweet the way her little finger would wrap around an errant strand and twist and turn it in every direction for minutes on end. Even the slightest contact made her heart skip a couple beats, especially when out in public.

Carol asked her again if Therese wanted to take the seat, but she declined once more. She liked holding Carol's shoulders, and sometimes Carol would reach a hand up to rest upon Therese's for a few minutes, then politely return it to her lap whenever she thought the boys' attention might have been wandering.

Moments later, Therese started shifting from foot to foot, stabilizing herself by clinging to Carol's shoulders. Truthfully, standing still in heels was much more cumbersome than she had anticipated. Just like the character in the movie they were watching, Therese took off one shoe to alleviate the fatigue in the heel of her foot and wiggle her toes around. It felt better, but wasn't relaxing enough.

Carol felt the shift in the body weight pressure on her shoulders and knew Therese was uncomfortable. "Come sit." Carol sweetly beckoned once more.

"No, I'm okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm - "

"I mean, it's no - "

"For fuck's sake, Therese." Phil didn't even look up at them as he spoke from his desk. "Go sit on your girl's lap already before Dannie makes me start the movie over."

Dannie burst into laughter, Carol snickered and rolled her eyes. The embarrassment only lasted a moment, that was until Carol tugged one of the hands at her shoulder to pull her in front of the chair where she sat. "You heard him." she whispered then patted her lap with one hand. Therese obediently sat on Carol's lap without muttering a word, facing forward so she could still see through the projection window. She had initially been embarrassed, but then realized she needn't be. Not with Dannie and Phil. She had good, trusted friends who admired and respected her, plus they both liked Carol who was always charming and witty with them.

Dannie kept writing, Phil kept working. Therese snuggled against Carol as they watched the movie. Carol rested her chin on Therese's shoulder and wrapped both arms firmly around her waist. Her thumb toyed with the pewter buttons of Therese's jacket, opening and closing the buttons to slide a finger against the silk shirt with underneath. There were moments like this, particularly when no one else was watching, where Carol could get just as fidgety as Therese. During a particularly raucous scene, Carol turned her neck to move forward and press a lingering kiss to Therese's right cheek.

"I missed you."

After five more minutes, they were no longer paying attention to the movie. Not as though Carol had seen all of it from the beginning anyway.