A Date to Remember

Chapter Two: Perturbed

Checking the time on his phone, it was exactly a quarter to five, and Apollo was already at the movie theater. He was standing in - what seemed to be - a mile long line of girls and their despondent boyfriends. The defense attorney was almost flabbergasted at the sheer number of Nicolas Zapps fans; actually, he was simply surprised that there were other people willing to watch these kinds of movies at all.

And Apollo knew damn well that they were all in line to watch the same movie, because the only other options available to watch were shitty remakes of mediocre action films from the early 2010's and an obvious (and unnecessary) BDSM exploitation flick called Forty-five Shades of Gray - which Apollo had the misfortune to read the original novel by accident in high school; the amount of whipping in that book would put Franziska von Karma to shame. Not even the most movie depraved single man or woman (or at least the ones with greater common sense) would have any interest in any of these movies.

Speaking of movie depraved, where the hell is Athena? "I told her not to make me wait. I look like an idiot waiting in line to watch a chick flick by myself. If Athena doesn't show up in three minutes, I'm leaving -"

"Don't you dare think about leaving me behind."

"Gah!" Looks like Athena was already here, "What took you so long?"

"I was only a few minutes late. It shouldn't be a big deal, so don't get your panties in a bunch." Athena crossed her arms, "Besides, I had to get a couple of things ready before we watch the movie. Plus, I took some time to pretty myself up. I want to look good, you know."

"Hmm..." Okay. That IS a valid reason for being late. Especially when you consider how well prepared she was - and by prepared, I meant that she clearly made a lot of effort on her choice of clothes and how she looks, which Apollo did not fail to notice.

His younger co-worker wore a yellow plaid shirt over a white v neck tank top which showed a nice amount of cleavage, and was just slightly covered by Widget. Resting on her shoulder was a black tote bag. She didn't go all out with her makeup, but it was still well done. Athena also wore short, dark wash denim shorts only a few inches long. As for her shoes, they were a pair of black colored two inch heeled sandals (if that's what they're even called.)

Summarized = Athena looks gorgeous.

"Uh..." Apollo couldn't help but stare at her. He wasn't sure if he should compliment her for looking beautiful, because he didn't want to make it appear as if he was trying to flirt with her, 'Well, she honestly does look fantastic, I have to admit... So, should I make a comment, or -'

"Uhm, Earth to Apollo?" His thoughts were cut short by Athena waving her left hand in front of his face, "What are you staring at?"

"Err... Nothing. I just kinda spaced out a little." He scratches the back of his head with an awkward grin, 'I need to get myself together, dammit. I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine... I need to stop ogling her.' He finished his thought and changed the topic back to what they should be focused on, "So... You got enough money to pay for two tickets?"

"Yup." Athena fished through her bag and flashed her wallet. Two $20 bills were peeping out of its corners, "I'm sure this is enough to pay for both our tickets, two medium drinks, a large popcorn -"

"No." Apollo cuts the young attorney's list short with a disagreeing frown, "I highly doubt it. Snack prices are so expensive, it's criminal. Sorry, but we're gonna have to go without candy -"

"Oh please, Apollo. I never said anything about candy... Besides, I already have that covered." Athena gave an impish giggle, "I smuggled some candy I bought from the dollar store with me."

"Theaters don't appreciate people bringing in outside food, Athena. I am not interested in getting caught with any, then get kicked out of the theater."

"Yeah, but I'm not interested in coughing up five bucks for a fun sized candy bar."

'I give up.' At this point, trying to argue with his junior is futile. Apollo just made the "whatever" gesture before asking the redhead, "How many did you even bring with you?"

And faster than you could say "abracadabra, where the hell did you get that", Athena whipped out three king size chocolate bars out of nowhere, waving them around, "And that's not all, 'cause I got more where that came from." She took her tote bag and opened it. Inside of it were several medium sized packs of assorted sweets hastily stuffed to fit into the relatively small bag, "I even hid some in a place they'll never look through."

"Let me guess," Apollo had his hands on his hips, with a sarcastic voice, "You hid them in your pockets."

"Even better." Athena snickered mischievously, setting her bag down on the ground...

What she did next made the older defense attorney's jaw drop...

The young defense attorney's hand slightly tugged on the neck of her tank top, then used her free hand to dig through her own cleavage. After a few seconds, she fished out a bag of butterscotch candy, "It pays to have a healthy sized chest." She winked, then shoved it right back in.

With his eyes opened wider than a plate and his mouth hanging low, the look of sheer shock on Apollo's face was absolutely priceless (and hilarious). It got even more priceless when his astonished mien began morphing into different kinds of facial expressions: from horrified to impressed, then traumatized, then back to impressed. It was as if he was trying to find the appropriate reaction to a drop dead gorgeous eighteen year old girl casually pulling candy from the space between her boobs - like she was some kind of Mary Poppins and Willy Wonka fan fiction love child... And said love child had been conveniently named "Victoria's Secret".

"Apollo, you're spacing out again."

"I - Oh... Uh. Yeah. Sorry." He scratches the back of his head, "I, uh, was thinking about something."

Yeah, "something". Athena doesn't have to use the Mood Matrix to know that he was obviously distracted by her "hidden compartment".

"Just... Just try to make sure we don't get caught with smuggled candy, okay?" Her older co-worker sighed, turning around. He paused for a few seconds before the people in front of him began walking to the ticket counter, "And it looks like the line is moving."

Monotonous whispers of "thank god" and "it's about time" floated around the line. Finally, we were making some progress.

And twelve long tedious minutes later, the "couple" finally got to the ticket counter, both relieved that the waiting was finally over. Athena pulled out her wallet, readying the twenty dollar bills, "Yeah, we would like two tickets to see A Date to Remember."

The ticket guy (if that's what they call them) poked the computer screen a few times before it calculated the price, "Okay, that will be twelve dollars." More screen poking, "Cash or credit?"

"Cash." Athena placed one twenty dollar bill on the counter.

"Thank you ma'am." The ticket guy took the bill and did his "cashier business". He gave her the change and the two tickets, "Here are your tickets."

"Thank you." Athena picked up the tickets and handed one to Apollo.

Ticket guy smiled, "You're welcome. Enjoy the movie with your boyfriend."

Now you may assume that Athena or Apollo would be defensive about it and say something along the lines of "he / she is not my boyfriend / girlfriend". But oddly enough, neither one of them made a remark about it. The only thing close to a response was an irked lamentation of this whole ordeal. Belaboring with the ticket guy about how Athena wasn't his girlfriend won't solve anything, "Yeah. Whatever. Let's get this movie over with."

The entire theater lobby was virtually packed with people doing all sorts of things. Crowds of the same couples from the line outside were gathering around the snack bar, rabidly trying to see who could get to the counter first. A girl and her boyfriend were busy playing shooting games in the mini arcade; two young boys were waiting behind them. The rest were obscured by the large crowd right in front of Apollo and Athena.

Anyways, moving back to the two defense attorneys, Athena was absolutely disheartened by the massive line to the snack bar. She had enough of waiting in lines. Even if she had the patience to wait in line, it wasn't worth it. By the time they get to the counter, the movie would have already started.

"You know what? Let's just ignore popcorn and drinks for now and just watch the movie. We both know that we won't come out alive if we wait in that line." Sighed Apollo, seeming pretty disappointed as well, "Come on, let's go." He patted the young attorney on the shoulder, encouraging her to get through and get out of the massive crowd.

After fighting through several moviegoers, they reached the queue of people waiting to get through "that guy that checks your ticket" and finally watch the movie they paid for. Lucky for the two attorneys, the line wasn't as long as they expected. Probably because the majority of the other folks were still waging a war to see who could get their popcorn first.

It didn't take long before Apollo and Athena to go through the ticket check, "A Date to Remember is in Theater A." Athena repeated what was on the theater list, "If we get there early, we can get the best seats."

"Define 'the best seats'. I don't wanna sit in the front row."

"Uh, no. Nobody sits in the front row." Athena gave him a somewhat sassy look, "The best seats are at the very back of the theater - the top row." She took Apollo's arm and pulled him towards Theater A, "Now hurry up. I don't want anyone stealing the top row seats."

Wow, that girl was surprisingly stronger than Apollo thought. "Hey! Hey! I can walk on my own you know?!" He nearly tripped after his younger female co-worker dragged him all the way to Theater A's door... And then he actually tripped - but that didn't stop Athena from dragging him across the floor.

"Pick up the pace, Apollo. We might lose our seats!" At this point, Athena was practically pulling him along like a ragdoll. The poor guy nearly bumped his head on the theater door.

As the two entered the theater room, Athena finally lets go of Apollo's arm - to which Apollo thought to himself, 'What the hell did I do to deserve this?' He stood up and patted the dirt off of his clothes. Small particles of popcorn stuck to his jacket. Gross, "Ugh, this sucks."

As Apollo tried to expel the disgusting foodstuffs off of his pants, Athena began scanning the room for any empty seats. This was surprisingly easy, considering that there were only a few people in Theater A. Probably because the others were still fighting for snacks. Athena then turned to the top row. Luckily, nobody was sitting there, "Yes! The top row seats are completely empty!"

Once again, Athena pulled Apollo's arm as she ran to the vacant row of chairs. The older defense attorney gave up and went with her, "Wait. Wait. Wait. Can we sit on the row below it instead?"

"What? Why?"

"I kinda forgot to tell you that I've been in Theater A before. And the chairs at the very top row are anything but clean."

"..." Nah. He's just bluffing, "I doubt it -" Athena stopped mid-sentence when she saw what was on the top row seats.

Several half empty plastic cups of soda spilled on the seat cushions; some of them spilled all over the floor. Floating on the puddle of carbonated drinks were pieces of popcorn bloated from being soaked in the sugary liquid. Partially masticated wads of gum had been carelessly stuck onto the armrest. And one of the seat cushions had a questionable stain on it. To top it off, the entire row smelled rank of slightly rotten snacks.

"Told you they were dirty -"

"Okay, okay... You were right. You don't need to be so stuck up about it." Guess it's actually a good idea to listen to Apollo sometimes, "Ugh..." The younger defense attorney backed away from the disgusting scene, "How about we sit two rows down from the top row - You know what? Make it three." She walked down a few steps before sprinting to sit on an empty seat.

"You're gonna fall and break something one of these days."

"I might. But these days are not 'today'." Said Athena as she sets her bag down on the seat to her left. Her hand reached for the chair to her right and patted it, "Sit here."

Apollo silently agreed. He shuffled over and sat beside his junior who looked way too psyched about watching a chick flick than a normal human being should be. Oh the joy, "When will the movie start?"

"Hush!" Athena growled at Apollo who then frowned right back at her as he thought to himself, 'This girl takes her love of chick flicks way too seriously. The projector isn't even turned on yet and she's already going crazy.'

Rummaging through her bag, Athena pulled out two chocolate bars, "Want some?" She waved one of them in front of the older defense attorney's face, "They're really good."

Although Apollo wanted to grumble and decline Athena's offer (reason being that he was still irritated about getting dragged into the theater), he was actually kind of hungry. That chocolate bar looked pretty enticing, "Yeah. Sure." He took the chocolate bar from Athena's hand, unwrapped it, and took a bite, "Thanks."

A loud creak and slam echoed in the theater; it sounded like a door was opened with much force. After that, hordes of people rushed inside, flooding the room and trying to find any vacant seats...

Guess the movie was just about to begin.

Okay... I ran into writer's block. I'll publish the next chapter when I can. Toodles. Reviews are appreciated.