Tethered (Book Two of The Invisible String Series)

Movies and Star-Gazing

Y/N POV

"So are you going to tell me where we're going?"

Chuckling, I let my eyes wander away from the empty road ahead of us for just a moment, my gaze landing on my girlfriend, who keeps angling her head to look out the windows of the truck in an effort to try and figure out where we're headed. "You know, the whole point of a surprise date is that I don't tell you where we're going."

Lizzie huffs, and out of the corner of my eye I watch as she sits back against the truck's seat with a small smile on her face. "Okay. I'll stop asking, but if you're planning on driving me somewhere just to kill me, I would like to know."

I can't help but laugh a little at that as I turn the truck onto the familiar gravel path and the worn, wooden sign finally comes into view. "If I was going to murder you, I would have done it sooner."

The brunette seems to finally take notice of the sign, letting out a light gasp before her head whips around to look at me. "We're going to a drive-in movie theater?"

Nodding, I fail to fight back the smile as I watch Lizzie bounce excitedly in her seat as we pass through the toll booth and into the empty grass lot. "We have to have at least one movie date as a couple, and I figured this would be the perfect place to do it. It'll just be us, so we don't have to worry about being photographed or anyone bothering us."

The brunette turns in her seat once again to look at me, her green eyes widening slightly. "You rented out the entire theater?"

Throwing the truck into park, I give Lizzie a wink and smirk when my words cause her cheeks to heat up. "Only the best for my girl."

Todd, one of my old high school classmates, is waiting for us near the screen and I give him a wave as I slide out of the parked truck. His family owns the drive-in, and I've been here more times than I can count with my parents as a kid. And then again as a teenager with my friends. It's been a few years since I've been, but my mother confirmed that the theater was still up and running, so when I called him last week to see if he'd be willing to do this I was immensely thankful that Todd agreed to it. "Hey, Todd. I really appreciate you doing this for me."

Todd waves me off, clasping my hand in his when I hold my own towards him. "Don't mention it, Y/N. I've got the movie all set up whenever y'all are ready."

After finalizing the last few things, Todd disappears to start the movie after handing me the keys to the place and I turn back to see my girlfriend staring at me with a goofy smile on her face. "I figured we could watch a movie like I used to when I was kid. Is that okay?"

The brunette nods, closing the distance between us and tossing her arms over my shoulders, lightly pressing her lips to mine. "I love it. And I love you."

Before either of us can get too carried away, I pull away and move to open the gate of the truck, revealing a storage container that I'd stowed away earlier when Lizzie wasn't looking. I hand over the basket full of snacks to the brunette before climbing into the bed of the truck, laying out the several blankets I'd brought for us to sit on and to keep us nice and warm and comfy. Once I'm satisfied with the layout I turn back towards Lizzie, holding a hand out to help her into the truck bed and wait for her to settle until I climb in amongst the pile of blankets and pillows, making sure to wrap one of the thicker ones around the both of us. It's just a little past sundown, and I know the night is gonna get a little chilly later on, but I know we'll be sitting warm and comfy through the majority of this movie.

Just as I start to pull out the containers full of food and snacks, the drive-in's screen lights up and I make a mental note to send Todd and his family a nice gift basket once I'm back in LA. I know I'm paying them enough to rent out this entire place, the day after New Years, but I still want to make sure they know how grateful I am for them doing this.