21
Here's the short list on things that could completely send me over the edge:
1) Nudge
2) Talking about my feelings
3) Not knowing who the bad guys are
4) Sitting in a dark movie theater with only two exits at my disposal
That last one was about to put me in bird therapy for a long time.
Fang, Nudge, Angel and I sat in the worst place imaginable in a movie theater – the back row. Angel was on the outside of Fang, holding his hand. I was on the other side, gripping his left. And not because this was our first movie date and I was being all gushy sentimental either. Nope. I'd been massively twitchy for the past hour and his hand served as my personal stress ball.
Nudge flanked my outside although I really wished I could send her to the front row. If I thought that child talked too much on a normal daily basis, nothing compared to what I experienced with her right now.
"OMG!" she squealed. "OMG, Max! Did you see - I know he did not just – What?! That car just flew over that - Okay, she should so not wear that dress with those shoes."
Yep. Welcome to my nightmare.
Candace and her friends sat in front of us. All girls. Maybe another reason I squeezed Fang's hand. Especially when the tall blonde one flipped her cascading curls so that she could turn around and check him out every few minutes. There were two others, a short stocky one with psychedelic blue braces and another who freakishly looked like Candace's twin. Maybe she was. If you haven't already noticed, I wasn't much of a stickler for particulars. Didn't even know their names. I'm sure they told us when Candace first introduced every one, but I was too concerned about the ginormous fifty-plex theater and its many exitless rooms.
Gazzy sat next to Iggy, Gazzy running the play-by-play of the movie quieter than Nudge. Not that Iggy was paying attention. The second Candace patted the seat next to her, I knew his mind would be all over our homely tutor. Probably a good thing he couldn't see the movie.
"Your missing a good part," Fang snickered in my ear, causing the blonde beast to whip her head around with a pout.
"The only good part will be us getting out of here."
"Max," Nudge whispered too loudly. "I'm going to the bathroom." Nudge was already stumbling over my feet.
"Not alone you're not." I jumped up behind her, crawled over Fang and Angel, thankful for the minor getaway.
Nudge dashed into the bathroom just down from our theater and I almost made it in after her when a shadowy figure at the end of the long corridor caught my eye. Our gazes met fleetingly before he ducked into a nearby theater.
Hmmm. What could somebody in a monkey suit possibly be doing in a movie theater? Extra formal date perhaps?
Crap. Two choices here. Ignore the surreptitious stranger and trail Nudge into the bathroom. Or follow him.
I'm sure you can pretty much guess which option I went for.