Page 27 of Christmas at the Movies
Holly and her parents stepped out of the house into the cold, drizzly morning.
‘I bet it’s going to be busy today,’ said Mum, unlocking the mud-splattered Volvo.
Rainy days were good for the cinema. Holly wasn’t an idiot. She knew that the cinema was in trouble and they’d probably need a whole monsoon season to change its fortunes. But somehow she couldn’t imagine them not having the Picture Palace in their lives – it was her second home. She’d even taken her first steps in the lobby.
Holly’s parents were weirdly quiet in the car. They usually chatted and sang along to indie rock songs on the radio. But today, Mum just gazed out of the window, stony-faced. She was obviously still sulking about the fact that Holly hadn’t eaten her pancakes.
Good, thought Holly. She deserved to be upset. But she couldn’t help missing her parents’ terrible singing. It was better than the silence.
Holly swiped through her notifications as they drove along. Her friend Riley had sent her a message, asking her if she wanted to go Christmas shopping at the outlet mall in Swindon.
Soz. Have 2 work 2day.
Then, her pulse racing with excitement, she checked filmboi06’s profile. She scrolled through his feed, looking for new updates. Her heart leapt as she saw he had posted a picture from the night before. She enlarged the image, trying to work out if the girl he had his left arm aroundwas just a mate, or his girlfriend. His right arm was around a male friend in a football jersey, so it was impossible to read anything into the picture. Holly studied the caption –epic seshwith a dancing girl emoji – trying to parse a deeper meaning from it. She didn’t think he had a girlfriend, but there was no way to be sure without asking him – and she definitely wasn’t going to do that!
She scrolled through older images, which she had practically memorised. She sighed at the adorable throwback image of him as a little boy with wild curls, cradling a puppy.
Filmboi06 was Aaron, who worked at the cinema. She’d gleaned the following information about him from his socials:
He REALLY liked movies
He had a pet dog named Molly (presumably the one from the picture)
His grandparents lived in Jamaica – there were lots of photos of him on the beach, with his amazing abs on display
He played rugby (which explained the abs)
He had a great smile and perfect teeth, thanks to the braces he’d worn until the end of Year 11 (judging from older pictures on his profile)
He’d run a 10K to raise money for a cancer charity, in memory of his aunt
He liked grime music (Holly had tried listening to grime artists but couldn’t really get into it. She was moreBugsy Malonethan Bugzy Malone …)
His most-used emoji was the dancing lady, followed by the skull
He liked to bake and had made his mum a very impressive birthday cake
He had dressed up as T’Challa – aka Black Panther – for Halloween
Not that she was a stalker or anything …
Of course, she could have gathered this information by actually talking to Aaron. Unfortunately, every time they worked together, Holly got uncharacteristically tongue-tied and could barely string a sentence together.
Today,thought Holly.Today you’re going to talk to him about something more than refilling the popcorn machine or restocking the coffee cups.
When they got to the cinema, Dad unlocked the doors and switched on all the lights. They had over an hour until the Saturday Morning Kids’ Club screening ofEncanto.
The lobby doors opened and Aaron came in. He looked gorgeous – as usual – in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and some vintage-style Reeboks. Holly knew – courtesy of a recent Instagram post – he’d found them at a charity shop.
Uh, Say something!she commanded herself.
‘Aaron Burr, sir,’ she said, regretting the words the second they came out of her mouth.
He looked confused. ‘Um, my surname is Armstrong?’
Holly laughed nervously. ‘I know. It was a joke. There’s, ah, a character in the musicalHamiltoncalled Aaron Burr?’
‘Oh,’ said Aaron. ‘I haven’t seen it.’
