Chapter 11

As soon as Rory and Jim got home from Junie’s house, Rory headed for the shower and immersed her naked body under cold water. Jesus H. Christ, could Jim have gotten any sexier today? Even Junie was drooling and she was in a serious man-hating mode right now. Rory looked around the pool and all of the moms and teenage girls were staring at Jim like he was a Grade-A piece of raw beef at the meat market. Who knew that working in construction for two and a half months could do that to a man's body?

When Jim took off his shirt at the pool, she had a total “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” moment like he was Phoebe Cates with her top off. She’d choked on her margarita and Junie had to slap her between the shoulder blades. “Good golly, cuz, what’s the matter with you?”

“Tequila went down the wrong pipe,” Rory had replied with a gasp. Heck, she had a whole 80s teen movie afternoon just watching Jim horse around with the boys at the pool today. At one point, she even heard the “donk-donk-chicka-chicka. Aww yeah” song from “Ferris Bueller” and wasn’t sure if it was playing on the radio or just in her head. Ugh, this was bad, she was majorly crushing on Jim. This was junior-high-crush bad!

And then just because she didn’t want to have another intimate night alone together with Jim, she decided it would be a better idea for the two of them to go to the movies. Where it was dark and she’d be sitting right next to him for two hours. Great. Yeah, Rory, that’s not a recipe for disaster at all.

What the hell was she doing? Everything with Sam was going perfectly. Was that why she now had this need to self-sabotage?

No, not everything with Sam was going perfectly. He was working a lot more and they were arguing more about the baby thing. She’d brought up fostering, but Sam said he didn’t want to go down that route yet until he was sure they couldn’t have kids of their own. Rory would tell him it wasn’t about that. It was about opening their home to a child who really needed one.

Maybe she was having all these weird feelings about Jim because she and Sam haven’t been getting along too well. No, that wasn’t it.

This was different. She’d always had a bit of a thing for Jim and even Sam knew that. He used to tease her about it, her little crush on his rockstar brother. It never bothered him. She’d bet it would bother the hell out of him now.

Ugh, she needed to stop overthinking this. She was a woman in her early thirties. She was in her prime. She read somewhere that a woman got horniest around this age, so maybe it was all normal. If it weren’t Jim, maybe it’d be the mailman or something. Before Jim came along, she was obsessing over Benedict Cumberbatch and often fantasized about him. She’d have totally nasty, porny dreams about Benedict Cumberbatch that she was perfectly fine telling Sam about the next day and he would just look at her and say, “Oh, come on, you never got that dirty with me!” But that’s because Sam never really wanted to push past his limits.

She decided to look as casual as possible. She pulled on an old t-shirt, which she partnered with loose jeans and sneakers. Over the t-shirt, she wore a UCSD hoodie. She didn’t put on makeup. She scraped up her curly hair into a ponytail and instead of wearing contacts, she wore her dorky glasses.

She met up with her brother-in-law in the kitchen and tried to school her face into a blank expression even though her stupid heart was pounding out of control. He was dressed casually, too, but made it look sexy. His old Nirvana t-shirt clung to his pecs and his old, faded jeans hugged his crotch like the treasure it was. His outerwear was an old brown bomber jacket that he bought used in Johannesburg years ago for twenty dollars, but Rory had seen the same style jacket sold name-brand for hundreds of dollars. Jim just made it look cool. His dark brown hair was combed back from his face, but the shorter ones in the front had settled to his natural left parting.

God, he was gorgeous.

"Ready to go?" he asked with a smile.

Rory felt stupidly underdressed. Jim was also wearing casual clothes, but he just looked so cool. What if he were embarrassed to be seen with her? Oh, who cared. It wasn't like they were going on a date. "I'm not even sure what's playing. I just want to go to the movies because I want to see something on a giant screen and eat movie theater popcorn."

"Oh, I looked it up. There's a new Pixar movie, a Vin Diesel movie called 'Furious and Fast,' and one about communist liberals gunning down American patriots called 'Good Guy With a Gun.'" He emphasized the last one with heavy irony.

Rory laughed. "I don't know if I'm in the mood for a Pixar movie. They always make me ugly-cry. Let's go watch something gory and controversial."

"All right. Then we have forty minutes to get to the theater, find parking, get snacks, find seats."

Rory scoffed. "Find seats? It has been a while since you've been. You can reserve seats in advance now, Jim."

Her brother-in-law stared at her in disbelief. "What? That's crazy talk. Will wonders never cease."

Rory pulled up the movie theater app on her phone, chose the movie, picked their seats, and paid for the tickets. "All set. Let's go. I don't want to miss the previews. They're the best part." She sent a quick text to Sam to let him know she was going to go to the movies with Jim.

She drove them to the movie theater and in the enclosed space of her car, she could smell Jim's cologne and the mint of his toothpaste. Her skin prickled with her awareness of him like static electricity that hung in the air when it was dry. Deep inside, she ached to be touched by him, but she dreaded it, too.

He'd been looking out the window, but his attention was on her now. "Are you all right? You seem lost in thought."

"Oh." Rory laughed nervously. "I'm just trying to remember if I'd left the stove on or something at the house."

"No." He smiled at her. "You checked twice before we left."

"I don't know where my mind's been lately. I just feel really scattered," she found herself confessing to him. "These days, it always feels like something is missing, like I'd forgotten to do what I was supposed to, or I left it somewhere."

Her brother-in-law stared at her for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I get that way sometimes. And when I do, I go for a run. Or I swim. Or do a hundred pushups."

Rory bit her lower lip. Was he teasing her? Just the thought of him sweaty and doing those activities made everything in her body tighten, including her heart. Finally, they reached the movie theater and she parked her car. Before she could open her door, Jim had already gone around the hood and opened it for her.

“Thanks, Jeeves.” She laughed to cover up her anxiety, her nervousness around a hovering Jim who was a snack and a half.

“Let’s go.” Her brother-in-law held out his elbow.

“Thanks.” Rory put her shaking hand on his arm. “Ready to see some gore?” Just touching him made her feel weak inside.

"I'm absolutely thrilled." He grinned, flashing his dimples.

Rory nearly melted into a puddle on the asphalt.

They went inside the movie theater where Rory showed the usher their digital tickets on her mobile phone. After scanning them, the uniformed usher with an old-fashioned hotel bellhop's cap allowed them in.

Jim told Rory he loved the cap. Rory asked if he wanted one for his next birthday.

They both laughed, easing the momentary tension between them.

After buying popcorn, nachos, drinks, and hotdogs, they went into the darkened theater and found their seats. Thankfully, the previews had just started, so they were able to see the trailers for seven upcoming horror movies.

"I think I want to watch the one with the evil nun who possesses an ugly doll," Jim whispered, his mouth just inches away from Rory's ear.

Rory tried to control her shiver, but it didn't work.

Jim began to take off his jacket. "Are you cold?"

"No." The kind of chill she felt couldn't be resolved with stylish outerwear. "I'm fine, Jim."

As the movie started, she and Jim reached into the giant popcorn bucket at the same time. Their fingertips touched. Rory yanked out her hand like she was electrocuted, spilling popcorn on herself.

"You okay?" Jim asked immediately.

Rory sighed. It was going to be a long two hours…