The doors to the theatre opened and Mia rushed in, hoping that the seat she had been allocated would be far away from Lou’s. She stepped into the familiar dark of the cinema, but only felt a fraction of the exhilaration that usually befell her every time she crossed the threshold. She briefly considered walking out, exchanging her ticket for another showing, and forgetting all about Lou. But she braced herself, told herself this was a dark room designed for forgetting about the other people who were sitting in there with you. The alternative was going home and moping, or walking around aimlessly. Moping wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

She found her seat and forced herself not to look around. A few minutes later, she saw Lou and the woman walk past. Good. At least they were sitting in front of her and she didn’t have to worry about Lou’s eyes boring into the back of her head for the length of the movie. They sat down diagonally from Mia a few rows in front of her. Mia had no idea if Lou had clocked her. If she had, she didn’t let on. Just as she had given zero signs of recognition at Annie’s. As if Mia didn’t exist and when Lou looked at her all she saw was a blank space.

Now that they were all seated, Mia couldn’t help but watch the backs of their heads. Lou’s long hair tied into a ponytail. The other woman’s hair dirty blonde and short, her head bopping this way and that in an animated fashion. They were giggling about something. How strange to come to the cinema on the very first date—if that was really what this was. To sit next to each other in the dark and not be able to speak for two hours.