“You do. They seep into the collective unconscious somehow. Same way I knew the grand gesture comes after the big fight, remember?”

Ruby raised an eyebrow. “You should really be a lawyer or something. You just keep talking until you win.”

I put my hand to my heart and gasped. “I feel so attacked right now.”

“Do you think I should be a lawyer?” she asked.

I took a long look at her. “No way. You’re far too good. You keep cat treats in your pocket in case you see a stray. That’s not lawyer material.”

Ruby blushed and I felt a warm rush, realizing that maybe I had been able to make her feel the way she made me feel.

Throughout the film, I kept looking at Ruby out of the corner of my eye. Her eyes were fixed on the screen. We chatted at first—Ruby did not appreciate all the stabbing—but after a while, the conversation died off, except for a few comments here and there. I don’t normally say this sort of thing, but Monica’s hair is horrendous. Wait till you see this bit, it’s wild! Aww, no, I liked the sassy friend.

There was an elephant in the room. Or in the car. I mean, the whole point of coming here was to smush our faces together. We weren’t supposed to actually watch the film, right? But I wasn’t sure how to cross over into smush land smoothly. I eyed the space between us, assessing it for pitfalls. I was really far too close to the steering wheel to actually maneuver even if I wanted to try to kiss her.

Maybe if I let the seat back a bit.

“Ooof.” I hadn’t realized we’d been parked on a slight slope and when I released the seat it slid back dramatically. Subtle.

“I was just, too close to the . . .” I trailed off, gesturing at the steering wheel.

Ruby smiled that uncomfortable smile, you know the one, where your lips are pressed together and you sort of nod to go along with it.

I wasn’t even paying attention to the film anymore and it didn’t look as though Ruby was either. The fizzing tension in the air was too loud. Every part of my body was on high alert; every slight brush of her arm against mine seemed to charge the air around us. Was she doing that on purpose? Was it just me? How did you transition from having a conversation to kissing? I tried to think back to any other time I’d kissed someone but I drew a blank. It can’t always have been this difficult. I’d have remembered.