Erin, Aaron, and Grace

Chapter 7: Aaron 11/15/19

Aaron walked from theater to theater on autopilot. Periodically checking his phone to see the time. The shift felt like it was taking longer than usual. He had an underlying feeling of guilt about having to go to work and leave Grace. A thought occurred to him.

He took out his phone and texted Grace.

'Hey so I'm thinking we should get wings. You want wings?'

That'll be nice, I think she'll like that.

Aaron knew she was still struggling, and that was the main reason he'd invited her to visit. The more time they spent together the closer he felt to her. He wanted her to have a nice weekend for her birthday. He rarely splurged, so he felt justified in doing so now.

Aaron entered a theater, patrolling it silently as the light from the explosion on screen flashed across his face. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out when he reached the hallway, it was Grace.

'That sounds awesome!'

'Hot or mild?' He typed.

His phone lit up with Grace's response.

'Medium, I like a little spice but I also like to taste my food.'

He sent a thumbs up in response and put his phone back in his pocket.

The break room was filled with the laughter of the other regal ushers. Aaron numbly remembered the night he'd come back from his long weekend at home and he'd told them about his date with Grace. It was the only time he'd ever talked about some girl like the other guys there did.

"What did you do?" His coworker Sam had asked. "Basically everything," he'd said.

Aaron pulled into the parking lot for his apartment after work. He grabbed the takeout bag and flung open his door.

He was excited to see Grace.

The asphalt and snow glittered in the moonlight. He walked quickly to his building and climbed the stairs with a spring in his step.

He'd given Grace his key before he left, so he knocked on his front door.

Grace opened it. She was already in a deadpool t-shirt and her batman boxers, her hair up in a bun and her blue Legend of Zelda socks pulled up high. She grinned ear to ear when she saw him.

Aaron thought she looked fantastic.

"I've brought the rations!" He raised the takeout bag as proof.

"My hero!" Grace exclaimed.

Aaron threw his arms around her for a moment and breathed in her sweet vanilla scent.

Then released her so he could set the food down on the coffee table, and peeled off his coat.

Grace dashed to and from the kitchen and set two plates down on the coffee table with a flourish.

"They had like a deal for buying twenty-four wings and waffle fries, so I went a little crazy," Aaron told her, and plopped down onto the couch.

"Dude you got WAFFLE FRIES?" Grace hollered. "Have I ever told you how incredibly attractive you are?" Grace leaned in and put her arm around him, laughing.

"I also got a second kind of wings, so we've got garlic parmesan and mango habanero," Aaron said taking the styrofoam boxes out of the paper bag.

"Aw hell yes, these look amazing," Grace said opening the boxes one by one. "I love waffle fries, man," Grace picked one up and popped in into her mouth.

"Hold up, we're going to need napkins," Aaron declared, getting up and retrieving the roll of paper towels from the kitchen.

He paused for a moment walking the ten steps from the kitchen to the couch, and watched Grace, serving herself wings and fries.