At the theater
"I'll have a large popcorn, a large raspberry slush, and a pack of Twizzlers," Jack ordered "What are you getting?"
"A large green apple slush, I'll just steal some of your popcorn."
Jack laughed.
"That will be $6.80." the cashier said.
"Vicky, I'll let you handle this one."
"I don't think so Alex, we're going dutch remember."
"Fine." Jack and Irina paid the man and were walking towards their theater when.
"Oh my! Alex is that you!" a high pitched voice said from behind him.
Jack turned slowly and cringed, walking towards them was Heather, her posse and their boyfriends.
"Hey, Heather." he forced a smile on his face and hugged her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her face sagged when she saw Irina.
"I um. . ."
"I'm taking him to the movies to thank him for saving my life." Irina said helpfully.
"How sweet. So Alex, she paid your way so why don't you ditch her and hang with us."
What Jack did next stunned all of them.
"Why would I ditch someone on a date?" he said smoothly.
"Date?!" Irina and Heather said in unison.
"Yeah, remember we talked about this on the phone. You wanted to take me out but I asked you out instead. You don't have to pretend around them." he said.
Irina blushed and smiled at him.
"So what movie are you guys seeing?" she asked still smiling.
"Um. . . Avatar." Heather's friend Sandra said.
"Us too. We could sit together." Jack suggested.
With that he turned and walked toward their theater. Heather and her posse followed behind whispering amongst themselves.
"Why did you do that?" Irina whispered.
"I wanted them to know you were mine."
"Oh I'm yours now." Irina retorted.
"Yep. Forever and a day." he said back.
*******
The movie finally started and Heather and her posse where sitting on the same row with Jack and Irina. As the previews started Jack yawned and stretched. Irina laughed as he "slyly" wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She snuggled into his embrace smiling.
Heather looked taken aback.
A preview for a scary movie came on and every girl but Irina covered their faces.
"That's the next movie we're going to." Irina said her eyes bright.
Jack laughed and looked over at the other guys who were giving him the thumbs up. He smiled back. He was starting to like those guys. Halfway through the movie Irina looked over at Jack and noticed a distant look in his eyes.
"Are you ok?" she asked concerned.
"Yeah, I'm just feeling a little lightheaded." he said blinking.
"Did you take you medicine?"
"No, I didn't have a chance to."
"Do you have it on you?"
"Yeah, but how will that look. Me poppin pills in a movie theater."
"Give them to me."
Jack slipped her the pill bottle. Irina slipped the pill into her hand, pretending to feed him popcorn. Jack took the pill then took a sip of his drink. Heather was staring at them. Jack just smiled and pulled Irina closer to him. He leaned down and whispered.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
When the movie ended they all exited the theater together.
"Hey Alex I saw you two. You guys look mighty comfortable." Sandra's boyfriend Tony teased.
"Yeah, we've been kind of talking since I saved her life. Plus we got really close in detention the other day." Jack answered.
Irina smiled and rested her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her holding her close.
"So where you guys headed now?" Maria's boyfriend Hayden asked.
"We were going to head to Dino's Diner." Jack replied.
"Cool, I haven't been to that place in a long time. What do you say babe?" Tony asked Sandra.
"We're really hanging out with. . . Her." Sandra whined.
"Jack's our friend, so she's ok in my book." Tony smiled at Irina.
"Thanks Tony." Irina answered.
They all agreed to meet up at Dino's. Once Irina was in the car Jack held Irina's head in his hands and kissed her forcefully. Irina kissed him back with equal fervor.
"I wanted to do that all through the movie." he said against her lips.
"Me too, but we have to pretend like we just started dating."
"I know, but damn it's hard."
"Just remember when we're not around them, we don't have to pretend." Irina ran her hand down his chest.
"Well their not around now." Jack said seductively, his hand caressing her waist.
"Mmm. Later, we have to meet them at the Diner."
"Fine." Jack pouted before pulling out of the parking garage.
