She said she has a husband and a daughter and she can’t just give them up for some torrid affair with a man she met on the train. She said she has to get you out of her life, that she has to cut it off, once and for all, because you’re all she can think about and it’s time for her to think about her family again. She said it has to be goodbye, that she can’t go on with the lunchtime hotel rooms and the lies about working late. She said it’s over.
“If that’s really your decision, I’ll respect it,” you said. ”But if you change your mind, tomorrow evening you can find me at the Sony Loews Cinerama Dome Stadium 28 where I’ll be seeing Faster starring Dwayne Johnson. If when you wake up in the morning you still want it to be over, I’ll never contact you again. But if tomorrow you find you’ve changed your mind, meet me at the Sony Loews Cinerama Dome by the Fandango ticketing machines in the lobby at 7:10 PM. The movie starts at 7:40 and I like to get there a half-hour early to get good seats.”
She said she means it, it’s over, and you’re going to be seeing that movie by yourself tomorrow.
“I wouldn’t be able to make it through the night if I believed that,” you told her. ”I already bought two tickets. When I get to the theater tomorrow, I’m going to buy two Dasanis, two Dove Brand Cream Pops, and two trays of Nacho Cheese Hot Pretzel Bites. Meet me there. Meet me by the Fandango ticketing machines.”
She told you to stop it. Stop tempting her. You grabbed her by her shoulders, the both of you in tears.
“Meet me there!” you shouted. ”Meet me by the Fandango ticketing machines! I love you too much to let you walk away from happiness like this. Tomorrow you are going to go to the Sony Loews Cinerama Dome Stadium 28 and you are going to meet me by the Fandango ticketing machines no later than 7:10 PM and you and I are going to see Faster starring Dwayne Johnson. Do you hear me you beautiful little girl?”
She shook her head no.
“Meet me there,” you said.
She shook her head no.
“Meet me there,” you said one last time.
It’s 7:18. You can feel the Nacho Cheese Hot Pretzel Bites getting cold. The Dove Brand Cream Pops are turning to mush. You wish that the theater were more crowded, that there might be too many faces gathered around the Fandango ticketing machines for you to be sure. But you’ve studied every face, and none of them are hers.
You drop her Nacho Cheese Hot Pretzel Bites into a garbage bin, along with both of the Dove Brand Cream Pops. You take one last look around the lobby. The area surrounding the Fandango ticketing machines is desolate, as if the other moviegoers knew the area had been reserved for heartbreak. You consider throwing away her ticket as well, but you decide to hang onto it. The last thing to remember her by, a movie ticket she refused to claim.
You make your way to the up escalator. It’s blocked by a suitcase.
Her hand is still on the handle. She’s smiling at you through tears. You take the suitcase from her. You take it because you’re worried if you don’t, she’ll change her mind and run back outside.
“I’m afraid I threw away one of the trays of Nacho Cheese Hot Pretzel Bites,” you say to her.
“Then we’ll just have to share,” she says.
You rise. The escalator carries you. You float higher and higher, fleeing the world below, so that you can begin your life together in Theater 12 for the 7:40 screening of Faster starring Dwayne Johnson.
Happy Meet Her By The Fandango Ticketing Machines Day!