Page 1 of Christmas at the Movies
24th December 1995
James O’Hara pulled his overcoat closed against the cold wind as he hurried across Leicester Square. The cuckoo clock outside the Swiss Centre chimed the hour, reminding him that he was running late for the film. He hated missing the trailers so he quickened his pace, navigating around last-minute Christmas shoppers clutching Hamley’s bags full of toys, tipsy groups of office workers spilling out of pubs and people rushing to Charing Cross to catch trains home for the holidays.
He stepped into the warmth of the cinema lobby and pulled off his hat. His wavy, sandy-coloured hair crackled with static electricity as he pushed it out of his face.
‘One forBabette’s Feast,’ he said to the girl at the ticket booth. Her name badge said:Erica – I’m Happy to Helpand she wore a reindeer antler headband over her shaved head. But her sour demeanour suggested that she was anything but thrilled to be working on Christmas Eve. And who could blame her? ‘Hope I’m not late,’ James said, smiling. He had a video of the Danish film at home, but he was looking forward to seeing it on the big screen.
‘That’s on at midnight,’ Erica said, unenthusiastically.
Damn!He must have got the time wrong when he’d checked the cinema listings. ‘What’s playing now?’ he asked.
Erica pointed to a poster with Sandra Bullock on it. It looked like a romantic comedy, which wasn’t his favouritegenre. But he’d come all the way into town, the pubs would be packed, and it was freezing outside …
As James was deciding what to do, the cinema door opened, letting in a blast of cold air. A girl strode into the foyer. Around the same age as him, she was bundled up in a parka and wore a fluffy purple beret. Her hair was brown, apart from one streak of purple at the front that matched her beret. Her nose had a smattering of freckles and a diamond stud that twinkled under the cinema’s fluorescent lights, but it wasn’t as bright as her smile.
W = A* V.The equation for the rate of electrical work popped into his head. This girl could power a whole generator with her megawatt smile.
‘Brrr!’ She shivered, pulling off her gloves and rubbing her hands together to warm them. ‘It’s freezing out there.’ She stood behind James.
‘You can go ahead of me,’ he said, gesturing for her to take his place at the counter. She was nearly as tall as him, so he could look right into her eyes, which were light brown flecked with gold. ‘I’m still deciding.’
‘Thanks.’ As she stepped past him, he inhaled a familiar warm and spicy scent – like oranges mixed with cinnamon and cloves. What did it remind him of …?
Suddenly, it hit him – she smelled like Christmas.
‘One forWhile You Were Sleeping,’ she said.
Erica handed the girl her ticket, then James watched her stride into the cinema. Her long legs were encased in black tights that had a ladder down one leg and ended in a pair of scuffed Doc Marten boots.
‘Take a picture, it will last longer,’ muttered Erica.
Flustered at having been caught staring, James handed Erica a five-pound note. ‘One, please,’ he said quickly. If the film was awful, he could always nap. He’d pulledseveral late nights on the trot finishing off his computer engineering coursework before the end of term.
Apart from the fact that it showed an interesting mix of second-run blockbusters, obscure foreign films, arthouse movies and raucous screenings ofThe Rocky Horror Picture Show, the Prince Charles was also the cheapest cinema in all of London, which was why James frequented it regularly. It meant he could afford to go to the cinema several times a week, even on his meagre student grant.
Taking his ticket from the sullen Erica, James went into the auditorium and looked around to see where the girl had sat down. It wasn’t hard to spot her as the cinema was practically empty, apart from a few couples and an old man snoring loudly in the back row. She was sitting on her own, smack bang in the centre of the auditorium. That was where James liked to sit too, but if he sat right next to her in a practically empty cinema he’d look like a creep. Besides, someone would undoubtedly join her before the film started.
So James sat down two rows behind her, at the end of the aisle. He was close enough that he could see her profile. The silver hoops in her earlobes glinted in the light from the projector as she wriggled out of her parka. As she settled back in her red velvet seat, he caught another whiff of her spicy Christmas scent.
James had missed the adverts, but luckily not the trailers. His ex-girlfriend, Kim, thought watching trailers was a waste of time, but the advertisements for forthcoming films always filled James with happy anticipation. It was good to have something to look forward to. Kim hadn’t even been that into the movies themselves, which was probably why they’d split up at the end of the second year. ‘You’re obsessed with films,’ she’d complained. ‘Why can’t we evergo clubbing or to a gig, instead of always going to the sodding cinema?’ But James could never see the appeal of bobbing around with sweaty strangers in a dark, smoke-filled nightclub. You couldn’t have a proper conversation without shouting to be heard over the music. Unsurprisingly, Kim had left him for a guitarist in an indie band.
Some people thought going to the cinema on your own was strange, but not James. You weren’t truly alone when you were sitting in the cinema; it was a communal experience. Everyone was united in the dark theatre – laughing at the funny bits, gasping at the jumpy scares, crying at the sad scenes. It was a collective ritual, a bit like going to church – not that he’d been to mass lately.
But tonight was Christmas Eve, and it felt lonely to be on his own. The nearly empty auditorium was a reminder that most other people had other places to be. His mates from uni had all gone home for the holidays, and his dad, Sean, was working a late shift at Pinewood, where he was Head Carpenter. He was building a set for a new Tom Cruise movie that was shooting in the new year.
As he sat alone in the cinema, James found himself wishing he had someone to hold hands with. Someone to share a bucket of popcorn with. Someone to discuss the film with in the pub afterwards. He’d been so busy with his studies that he hadn’t dated anyone since Kim had dumped him. It had got to the point where even his dad kept hinting about whether there were any nice girls on his course. (In short, no. There were only two girls in the computer engineering department and they both had boyfriends.)
Judging from the trailers, 1996 was going to be a bumper year for movies. There was a new Coen brothers movie coming out, and a ground-breaking animated film calledToy Storythat had already opened in the US. James couldn’twait to see it – the animation had been done entirely by computer, for the first time ever.
‘Computers are taking over the world,’ his father had grumbled. ‘Soon they’ll have robots building sets and they won’t need chippies like me.’
‘I don’t think you need to worry, Dad,’ James had reassured him, though the guys in the robotics department at Imperial were working on some amazing technology.
The feature presentation began. Set in Chicago at Christmastime, the film was about Lucy, a lonely young woman who was pretending to be engaged to a man in a coma.
As you do,thought James, rolling his eyes.
But the girl with the purple streak in her hair was clearly loving the film. Her shoulders shook with laughter at a funny scene on the screen. Soon, James found himself paying almost as much attention to her as to the movie itself. His eyes kept drifting to her face as he watched her reactions. He thought she was more beautiful than any of the actresses on the screen. He looked forward to the bits that made her giggle, because her laugh was so contagious it made him chuckle too.
