Delia looked at Simone, who winked at her with a smile that made her smile as well. She knew that things would be right from now on.
Chapter Twelve
Saturday had finally come and Simone was nervous about their first date together in years. He had decided to keep things casual as far as what he wore, nothing more than a pair of blue jeans along with a red T-shirt. He had called the movie theatre ahead of time for he wanted this date to be a special one. As he made his way toward her place, he found himself taking small steps instead of big strides to get to her door. “Man, you’ve got to get yourself together.” Simone kept telling himself this as he stepped up his pace a bit. Ringing the doorbell he waited a second and saw her silhouette behind the glass of the door. When she opened it, she stood there wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white and blue embroidered peasant blouse. Her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail with a blue scarf wrapped around her head. A sweet smile greeted him when she said, “Why, hello, let me grab my purse.”
He waited while she walked over to the side, coming back with her purse and slipping on some flat black shoes. “Let’s go.” After he watched her lock up her place, they walked hand-in-hand to his car. He helped her in and they soon made their way toward town.
The Goodwin Theatre had been owned by the Goodwin family for over forty years. It was the only theatre that played the old movies that both Simone and Delia loved. Even though a newer theatre had opened, playing the latest movies, it was the Goodwin that many people flocked to in order to watch some of the oldies. They would often have marathons of either Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin movies, which attracted crowds. The outside looked just the same as it always had, and the marquee stated above them, “Double Creature Feature” in bright lights.
Simone helped her out of the car and they crossed the street to the booth where the lady behind the glass dispensed tickets. After he paid for them, he motioned Delia toward the door. The scent of freshly popped popcorn immediately hit his senses when they walked inside and he could see that the place hadn’t changed in years. The ushers still wore those vintage usher uniforms that were red with golden buttons going up and down along the chest, also wearing small red pillbox caps. A long golden stripe ran along the side of the black pants of the young man who took their tickets, ripped them in two and gave them the stubs. “Enjoy the show.”
“Want some popcorn, something to drink?” asked Simone.
“Of course, you know I want some popcorn along with some...”
“Milk Duds,” He smiled as he gave their order to the lady behind the counter. “And we will also have a large popcorn and two cokes, please. This place sure hasn’t changed much.”
“It sure hasn’t by much. I mean, I’ve seen some changes, like in the carpet out here but nothing else, really. It’s still very much the same.” The young lady put the box of Milk Duds onto the counter while another young lady brought the large bag of popcorn.
“Can you please give me another one of those large bags?” Delia asked her.
“Sure, ma’am.” She grabbed a bag, handing it over to her as Simone watched her open it up with a flick of the wrist. Pouring some of the popcorn into the bag, she grabbed the box of Milk Duds and opened it to pour some into the bag. Simone had to smile while paying the young lady for their snacks as Delia continued to layer her Milk Duds and popcorn together in a bag. “I have to say, you are the first person I’ve ever seen who has mixed their candy with the popcorn.”
Simone chuckled, “You know when she started to do that, I thought she was insane, but honestly, you need to try it because it’s very good, unusual but good.”
“You should try it but just don’t put any butter in the popcorn, it can get a bit messy.” Delia told her as Simone grabbed their drinks. They made their way toward the entrance and when they walked inside the theatre, he noticed her stopping dead in her tracks and knew why.
There was no one in the theatre.
“Simone?”
“Come on, let’s grab our seats before they get taken,” he joked while pushing her down the aisle.
“Taken? Who’s going to take them? We are the only ones in here.” They both walked to their favorite spot, middle row, middle seats, and as they both sat down, the lights slowly dimmed. “I can’t believe you did this again, you got the entire theatre just for us.”
Giving her a kiss on the lips, Simone felt her nuzzle up against him while Frankenstein started. They munched on popcorn, sipped on their sodas and made silly commentary about the movie itself. He looked over at her, watching her gaze intently at the movie while her hand slowly moved from the popcorn bag. Taking the popcorn, she put it into her mouth, and those lips rubbed against each other while she chewed a bit. He felt her grab her soda to take a sip. “Oh, this is the best part, here,” she said when the movie came to the part where the creature was starting to come to life.
He looked up for a moment to watch the lighting come down upon the instruments that brought the monster to life. Looking back at her, Simone saw the gaze of wonderment and awe upon her face, almost child-like. She looked up at him while nuzzling against his chest. “Are you enjoying the movie?”
“I’m enjoying the movie,” he kissed her forehead, “but I’m especially enjoying the company too.”
“So am I, glad to be doing something we both love so much.” Her arm wrapped around his waist and that sensation overjoyed Simone even more. This was what he had wanted, he wanted to feel her next to him, he wanted to have her near him and now it was finally coming true. The evening at the movies continued to be one that Simone knew he would never forget for as long as he lived and they continued to snuggle with each other in their seats.
Once they finished watching the movies, Simone mentioned to her, “I was going to take you to the drive-in but since that place has been closed for years, I thought up another place instead.”
“Well, show me the way then.” They walked arm in arm along the sidewalk, past the shops where they stopped and window-shopped. They soon stopped at a vacant building which used to be Murray’s Jewelry Shop but had been vacant for a couple of months now. He had everything set up inside just for the two of them, and he honestly couldn’t wait for her to see what he had done.
* * * *
Why in the hell were they going to Murray’s old Jewelry Shop, she wondered? Delia had to admit that the evening so far was going rather well. But of course she always had enjoyed being with Simone. It had been forever since they had gone to the movies and after dealing with the bullshit with Rodger and his family, this was a welcome experience. She was shocked that he had gotten the entire theatre just for them, just like when they had gone there all those years past. The way he held and cuddled with her made her love the moments they were sharing even more special.
This was where she had wanted all along, to be with the man who deep down she had loved since she first met him. And now they were making a start to something that never should have ended in the first place.
But why were they going to this old jewelry shop? “Why are we here, Simone?”
He knocked on the door and told her, “You’ll see soon enough.” That was when the door slowly opened and a woman, who appeared to be around their age, stood in the doorway with a smile. Simone took Delia’s hand and led her into the vacant store, where it was dark inside after the lady closed the door behind them. Then the woman walked ahead of them toward the back of the store as they followed closely. She could see a glow from the back as they continued around the corner and she saw a blanket on the floor along with two big pillows. Votive candles were scattered around the room, giving the room a wonderful aura of serenity. When they walked toward the blanket, she saw a set of plates and glasses along with a big white box in the middle. He helped her sit down on the floor as he went over to his side. “If you need me for anything, Simone, just call me and I’ll be back. Enjoy,” the lady told them with a nod, leaving them alone.
“Dinner in an old abandoned
store I see. This is pretty interesting, to say the least, Simone. What’s in the box?”
She watched him grab the top of the box and open it and immediately the aroma of onion rings escaped from within. Soon, he pulled out a plate which had two burgers wrapped in white paper and some onion rings in white containers. “Oh my God,” she said wide-eyed. Those onion rings, she thought, those couldn’t be from way back then. Delia had to taste them to make sure that she wasn’t imagining what she pictured. Grabbing a small ring, she put it in her mouth and found herself immediately moaning. The nostalgic taste of years gone by came back to her mind when that onion ring hit her taste buds. “Where did you get these from? We both know that Stokey’s is long gone and this, this is a Stokey’s onion ring.”
All he did was smile while plating her food with the onion rings and burger. “Wait a minute, I think she forgot something,” She watched while he went into his pocket to get his cell, dialed some number and waited. “Yeah, Tina, you forgot the drinks. Yes, thank you.” He looked back at her with a smile. “I’ll explain everything once Tina comes in.”
Delia was puzzled, what did this Tina woman have to do with this meal? Soon she would get the chance to find out since the woman known as Tina came back in with two tall glasses with whipped cream and a cherry on top of each one. “That one there is hers,” Simone told the woman as she handed Delia the vanilla milkshake while she handed him a chocolate one. “Delia, I want you to meet Tina Monroe.”
“Nice to meet you, Delia,” Tina told her, moving toward her to shake her hand as Delia nodded and smiled.
“Tina is Stokey’s daughter. You know, from the drive-in. She used to help her father cook at the restaurant and loved to cook so much that she went on to cooking school.”
Delia was shocked to hear this, “So you used to cook the burgers and stuff.”
“Yeah, I was pretty much hands-on with everything with my dad. He taught me everything I knew about cooking. That’s why I went to cooking school and I opened up my own restaurant in New York.”
“Wow, that’s amazing, I can’t believe that Simone brought you over here tonight.”
“Well, I was shocked when he called up my restaurant and told me what he wanted to do. I honestly thought it was sweet so I came over and Renzo was nice enough to let me use his kitchen to make the food, even though I had to make him and some of the other guys’ burgers as well. But I was happy to bring back some good memories for you both with my dad’s food. I’ll let you all go now, take care.” Tina told the two with a wave as she left them alone once more.
“I honestly can’t believe you pulled all of this off, Simone,” She started to feel herself tear up for it was moments like this that she had missed with him. Moments like this when he would shock her by doing something spontaneous. Moments which she’d missed so much and now they were going to be able to relive many more moments like this together again.
“Let’s eat before the food gets cold,” Simone told her and they began to eat. Even the burgers tasted just like they had all those years ago, Delia thought. Taking a taste of the milk shake, she realized that it was her favorite, butter pecan.
My God, he remembered, she thought and that was when she found herself crying.
“Darling,” he moved closer to her as she tried to turn away from him but he pulled her into his arms. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“I’m sorry, but everything has been so wonderful. I honestly couldn’t help but cry,” she told him, feeling his thumb rub away the tears along her cheek. Delia found herself warmed by his touch as he continued holding her, touching her, as they sat there holding one another in that vacant building that night.
“Why did it take us so long to get to this point of our lives, Simone? I wish that we could have been a bit more open with our feelings.”
“Sweetheart, it was mainly me. You always told me how you felt about me. It was just that I had a hard time expressing my feelings for you. I think I realized that you were the one even before our first date and even before that incident with your diary.”
“Really, when was that?” she wondered, because all these years she thought that the reason he fell for her was because of their first date.
“Do you remember the football game between Kellington and Evers? The one where we went into overtime and ended up winning, thanks to Kevin Stratton’s twenty-five yard touchdown? Well, it was when we went to celebrate back home afterwards and Mom made us homemade pizzas.”
Delia did remember that evening as the celebration had gone on for hours on end until Ms. Cipriano had told everybody they had to leave. “Your mom told everybody that they had to leave, but told me and Andrew that we could spend the night. I always enjoyed being included with you guys.”
“Yeah, everybody got pissed off, especially some of the girls. They kept asking me and the guys why did you get to stay and they had to leave.”
“I got plenty of flak from the girls for weeks after that celebration. They constantly gave me the evil eye.” They found themselves laughing at her comment but it was very much the truth.
“Remember when everybody had gone to sleep and I came to your room, which actually was Renzo’s, since he was away at school?”
“Yeah, you came in and we started to talk. I think we talked for most of the night until I got so tired that I ended up falling asleep.”
“That time I spent with you that night, I swear it was the most wonderful time I had ever spent with a girl. We lay back in bed and we just talked and talked the entire night away. Then I looked over and saw you were fast asleep while we were in the midst of talking about Godzilla. I swear, I had never seen anything more beautiful than the sight of your sleeping face. You looked so peaceful sleeping there beside me, I honestly didn’t want to get out of bed because I thought that if I did, I would probably wake you up. So I watched you sleep, I even reached out to touch your face. Your skin was so soft, and so were your lips. I had to touch your lips,” She felt his fingers tracing along her lips and his touch brought up goose bumps on her skin. “I know you don’t know this but I’ll tell you now, that night while we were in bed, Delia, I kissed you.”
Delia sat up for a moment, shocked by his admission for she never thought that he would have kissed her without her knowing of it. “It was a small peck on the lips, I wanted to just see how it was to kiss you. I moved in, watching to see if maybe you would wake up, but you never did. You were a sound sleeper for sure, so I decided to move in and give you a kiss. It was quick because I didn’t want to wake you up but when I looked at you again, I decided to kiss you just a tad bit longer. You started to stir a bit and I moved back as you turned to your side. You even mumbled, ‘Will you stop messing with me?’ I wanted to die laughing when you said it but I left the bed, put the blanket on you and turned off the light. I never said anything to you about it. It was my secret. Until now, that is.”
“Do you go around sneaking kisses from women who are dead asleep all the time, Mr. Cipriano?” That was when she felt his lips give a lingering kiss to where his teeth had nipped at her lips.
“The only person I’ve ever snuck a kiss from was you.” He smiled in between the kisses.
This was how love was supposed to be.
Chapter Thirteen
“Now that has to be the most romantic date I’ve ever heard in my life,” Jaslyn said the following day at the shop.
Delia was all smiles as she told her friend about her wonderful date with Simone. Everything had been so perfect, she thought, and so like Simone to have surprised her the way he did. “I knew we were going to be going to the movies and all but I really was shocked that he got Tina to come and cook for us like that. But it was lovely, Jaslyn, so lovely.”
“So...” Jaslyn moved toward her, a sly smirk creasing her lips, which made Delia shake her head for she knew what the next question was going to be. “Did you guys do it?”
“Nope, we didn’t,”
“And why didn’t you?”
“Listen, I just got over a relationship that was based on a lie and now I found out the man that I had loved most of my life was in love with me. What is happening between us right now is a huge step for me. Just like you want to take your time with Renzo, I want that with Simone as well.”
“I can relate. Things have been going really well for me and Renzo. But you honestly can’t tell me that you didn’t want to just take him to your place and just tear off all his clothes and make love to him.”
Delia shook her head to keep from laughing but a snort came from her instead of a laugh. Then, with a sigh and roll of her eyes, she admitted, “Yeah I would have jumped him in a heartbeat.” She walked away leaving her friend laughing it up at her expense. It was bad enough that they had been kissing and all, but she’d started remembering her fantasies of how it would be to make love to the man of her dreams. She had thought about it after they kissed each other goodnight at her door. Sure, she could have had him come in, they could have continued kissing, touching, and holding one another while tearing each other’s clothes off until they were both naked. Delia could imagine them making love until they were both too exhausted to move. When she woke up, they would be in each other’s arms while his breathing would be soft yet calming to her. Lord knows, she wouldn’t dare move as Delia would be in heaven lying there next to him.
But that night hadn’t been the right time, it wasn’t the moment for them to go that far.
“Delia! Where are you Delia?” The male voice she could hear shouting was Rodger, calling for her. She stood behind the door of the office, waiting to hear what else he would say.
Simone (The Ciprianos of Kellington Book 2) Page 10
