One Wild Night

"Hi! It\'s nice to..."

.

Tom grabbed Lucy\'s hand and dragged her to the side before Anita could complete her greeting, leaving her standing there to watch them both in amusement since she had been expecting that sort of reaction from Tom. Although she was surprised that Lucy didn\'t tell him about her.

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked with a frown as she tried to free her hand from his grip.

"How is she your friend?" Tom asked, glaring in Anita\'s direction before returning his gaze to Lucy. Of all persons in that building to become friends with? Why did it have to be Anita? Why?

Lucy smiled at him, thinking he was feeling shy because he was surprised to meet his crush this way, "How do people become friends? Don\'t worry, I think she likes you too, so no need to be shy," Lucy said in a conspiratorial whisper, which made him look at her with a puzzled frown.

"Likes me too? How?" Tom asked, glancing at Anita who was standing there with an awkward smile on her face as she fanned herself because of the heat, while they both continued to whisper.

Lucy smiled again, "I never would have figured you to be so shy around someone you like. It\'s cute. At least you now know why I said we can\'t tell my friend about our temporary relationship. Don\'t worry, I just reasoned that it would be wise I become friends with her, that way I can learn more about her and tell you all you need to know to get her. I got you," Lucy said as she flashed Anita an apologetic smile.

Help him to get her? Wait a minute, she was really trying to matchmake them? The moment he had seen the smile on her face earlier, he had suspected this but had discarded the idea to be ridiculously silly, but he was actually right? What on earth would make her think that Anita was the person he was in love with? How had she managed to jump to such a farfetched conclusion like a toad?

"Let\'s join her," Lucy suggested as she tried to walk away, but Tom pulled her back.

"I don\'t want to hang out with her. I don\'t like her," Tom said plainly, making Lucy raise a brow.

"Since when? Come on, stop acting like a shy little boy. You are not confessing your feelings to her yet, so there is no need to be... What are you frowning at me for?" Lucy asked when she noticed how Tom was frowning at her while gritting his teeth like he was seriously annoyed about something.

Shouldn\'t he be thanking her? Why was he upset?

"I am not shy. And I really don\'t like her!" Tom said through gritted teeth.

Lucy snorted, "Yet you had lunch with her and stood me up? And when I asked you if she was the one you said yes, so what are you lying for? Tell that to someone else," she said with an eye roll.

Tom triid to remember the day Lucy was referring to and all that happened to make her think Anita was his mysterious lady. His eyes narrowed when he remembered the time she asked him if the lady he had lunch with was the lady he liked. He had said yes since he believed Lucy didn\'t know what Anita looked like and thought it was best to just tell her it was Anita... His eyes widened in surprise when he remembered that she had eaten lunch at the cafeteria that day instead of her office. Was it possible that she had seen him with Anita? For God\'s sake what was all this complications for? Just when everything was going well, and now this? And why was Anita playing along? Why was she here when she wasn\'t even interested in him and didn\'t want anyone else to know about their history?

"You see? You can\'t defend yourself. Let\'s go in before the movie starts without us," Lucy said as she stubbornly walked past him and went to join Anita.

"Is everything okay?" Anita asked in mock concern as she glanced in Tom\'s direction. She really hoped Tom hadn\'t revealed the truth about their relationship to Lucy.

"Yes. Sorry we kept you waiting. He is usually very shy around pretty ladies," Lucy lied with a sweet smile, "Let\'s go in. He will join us soon," Lucy said before glancing in Tom\'s direction, "Meet us inside after composing yourself," she said with a wink before walking away with Anita who glanced at Tom with a knowing smile that twitched the corners of her lips.

Tom ran his fingers through his hair as he watched them walk away. How was he going to tell Lucy that Anita wasn\'t the one he was interested in? If he said she wasn\'t the one, Lucy might want him to show her the lady he was interested in. Oh, God! Why did things have to be so complicated just when he was trying to stop telling her so many lies? What could he do now? Tom asked himself with a sigh as he walked into the building.

He saw people trooping towards the area where the tickets were being sold to the direction that led to the various viewing halls. He looked around as he tried to find Lucy.

"Hello! Are you Mr. Tom?" A uniformed guard asked as he approached him.

"I am," Tom said as he glanced at the guard curiously.

"Your friends have gone in already since the movie is about to start showing. They said I should hand you this ticket, and ask you to join them in the third viewing hall," he said as he handed Tom the movie ticket.

"Thank you," Tom said as he took the ticket from him, and headed in the direction of the halls. After he handed his ticket to the guard by the door and was checked, he walked into the hall.

Standing by the entrance, he looked around as he tried to adjust his eyesight to the dark hall, and then Lucy raised her hand and flashed her phone\'s flashlight so that he could see where they were seated.

The first thing Tom noticed as he approached where they were seated was that Lucy was seated at the end of the row with only a space between her and Anita. The only other empty seat on the row was next to Anita, and after that seat, three guys who looked like college students were seated there.

What the seating arrangement simply meant was that if he was going to sit close to Lucy, then it had to be between her and Anita, unless he wanted to sit on the next row, Tom reasoned with an inward groan.

How did any of this make sense? Why didn\'t Lucy just sit in the middle between him and Anita since she was going to obviously be the moderator of this awkward hangout? Tom reasoned in frustration as Lucy adjusted her legs to give him room to get to his seat, and once he passed her, he sank into the seat.

"I didn\'t know what you would want so we got you a can of Coke, I hope you don\'t mind?" Lucy asked, glancing at him with a smile as she handed the drink to him.

"It\'s fine, Thanks."

"I didn\'t want to have popcorn, so we got a large box. You can share with Anita," Lucy said with a small smile, reasoning that they would be able to brush hands as couples do in movies while taking popcorn from the same bowl.

Tom gritted his teeth in annoyance, "I don\'t have the appetite to eat anything either, so I guess she can have it all to herself," Tom murmured as he directed his attention to the screen.

He couldn\'t tell Lucy that Anita was his ex. He wasn\'t sure why, but he just didn\'t want to remember that he had ever had anything to do with Anita. Plus he had asked Anita to forget their history and not bring it up, so it wouldn\'t be nice to bring it up either.

"Hi!" Anita greeted, flashing him a small smile.

"Hi!" Tom responded without looking away from the screen.

"We seem to be running into each a lot these days, don\'t we?" She asked with a small smile.

"I wonder why it is so," Tom said, hoping she would stop talking and just focus her attention on the screen since he was making it as politely clear as possible that he didn\'t want to talk to her.

"I think..."

"I think we should focus on the movie since that is why we are here," Tom said a little too sharply, making Lucy who had been eavesdropping on their conversation elbow his side.

"Don\'t be mean! You are going to ruin your chances with her by playing hard to get," Lucy hissed in at him in frustration.

Hard to get? She thought he was playing hard to get? Tom almost chuckled at the hilarity of the ridiculous situation he had found himself in.

He took in a deep breath before turning to face Anita, "What are you doing?" He asked in a whisper, but the annoyance was clear in his tone.

"Focusing on the movie since that is why we are here," Anita said without glancing at him as she carefully picked a popcorn and placed it in her mouth.

Tom sighed, "I suppose I should tell her about us, what do you think?" He asked, trying to see her reaction, and as expected her head turned to look at her.

"I thought we had an agreement," Anita reminded him under her breath, but he could hear the warning in her tone.

"If you remember we have an agreement what are you doing here with her?" He asked under his breath so that Lucy wouldn\'t hear them.

"You like her, don\'t you?" Anita asked with a slightly raised brow, and a knowing smile danced on the edge of her lip.

"That doesn\'t answer my question!"

"Let\'s just say I\'m here to play cupid. I figured she is more suitable for you than I am or can ever be, and to make up for the past I want to help pair you both together," Anita said with a pleasant smile that made Tom narrow his eyes.

What was this? Both of them were playing cupid with him? He felt like laughing at himself and crying for himself at the same time. What did he do to deserve this?

"I don\'t remember asking for your help," Tom said, trying to control his emotions.

"You don\'t have to ask. I feel like I owe it to you considering how things went between us. So don\'t worry about me. Although I think she likes you, she has only good things to say about you," Anita whispered conspiratorially.

Of course, Lucy would have only good things to say about him to Anita because she was also trying to matchmake him with Anita. Lord have mercy, what was he going to do about this?

"If I like her, I can very well talk to her by myself, I don\'t need your help, so stay clear off me," Tom warned.

Lucy smiled to herself as she listened to their whisperings even though she couldn\'t hear anything they were saying. She was just glad that they were communicating and focused on each other. She was a good matchmaker. Perhaps she should consider a career in matchmaking?

\'Nice one, Lu. Nice one,\' she patted herself mentally.