The Bookish Life of Nina Hill(52)

“And the alien’s saliva is actually K-Y Jelly,” replied Carter.

“And the shots where the aliens are scrambling through the air ducts were actually filmed with the actors lowered on cables down a vertical shaft and the camera was at the bottom,” added Leah.

“Stop!” said Nina. “I want to actually enjoy the movie.” Then, a minute later, “Look, you can see the spear gun Ripley used in the first movie inside the escape pod door, there, on the floor,” to which the other three responded with thrown popcorn.

The thing about watching a classic like Aliens at the ArcLight in Hollywood is that every single movie fanatic there has seen the movie many, many times already. When Hicks said, “Game over, man!” so did everyone else, and when Newt said, “They come at night . . .” eight hundred people added, “mostly.” It was so much fun, and when the four friends came out of the theater after the movie, they were all giddy and giggling.

Despite that, when Nina saw Tom standing there, chatting with his friend Lisa, her first impulse was to panic and consider various avenues of escape. Then her frontal cortex resumed control and she smiled and went over to speak to him. Not a Xenomorph with acid for blood, just an attractive guy she’d already kissed and texted with. You can do this Nina, she told herself.

For his part, Tom had spotted her as soon as she came through the theater doors and couldn’t take his eyes off her now as she approached. He spoke first. “Hi there. You mentioned this was playing, and it’s one of my favorites, so, you know.”

“It’s one of my favorites, too,” she replied, and grinned at Lisa. “Hi there.”

“Hi, Nina,” the other woman replied. “Does your trivia team often socialize together?” The rest of Book ’Em had arrived, and Leah answered for them.

“Whenever none of us can find someone better to hang out with,” she said, not realizing this might be a sore spot for Nina and Tom. “We’re one another’s last resort.”

“Yeah, if we’re all still single at forty, we’re going to set up a commune,” Lauren said. “And draw straws to see who has to sleep with Carter.”

“Wow, that’s flattering,” said Carter, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah, short straw takes the honors,” added Leah.

Nina smiled but excused herself to run to the bathroom, and when she returned, Tom was standing there on his own.

“What happened?” she asked. “Zombie outbreak?”

Tom grinned and shrugged. “They all suddenly had appointments. It was weirdly coordinated.”

“Huh,” said Nina.

“Are you hungry?” Tom asked. “Or do you need to go home and read?”

She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m hungry. Besides, I can always read the menu.”

“Great,” he said, and turned to lead the way outside.

“Did she go for it?” asked Lisa, hiding behind a nearby cardboard cutout of Jabba the Hutt, which was fortunately big enough to conceal them all, although Lauren had to crouch behind the tail.

“Yes,” replied Carter, turning and high-fiving the others. “Yahtzee.”

Luckily for Nina’s anxiety, they found themselves in one of those restaurants where the menu gave the full provenance of every ingredient. Plentiful reading material is so helpful on a first date.

“It says here,” said Nina, “that the fresh mint used in the lamb burger was grown in a hand-thrown but unattractive pot on the kitchen windowsill.”

“Really?” said Tom. “Did they include a photo?”

Nina shook her head. “Not even a witty little pencil sketch.”

“Disappointing.” Tom looked at his menu. “Well, it says here that the pomegranate extract used in the salad dressing was hand squeezed by the middle daughter of the farmer who grew it.”

“Really?” said Nina, hiding a smile. “Well, if one of us orders the steak frites, a young boy named Harold will catch a bus to the the nearest community garden and dig up the potatoes for the frites himself.”

“Well,” said Tom, gravely, “it’s getting a little late for Harold to be out alone. Maybe we should choose something else.”

“I appreciate your consideration for Harold’s welfare,” said Nina. “I’ll have the burger instead. The lettuce and tomato were picked an hour ago by a willing volunteer, so, you know.”

Tom nodded and closed his menu. “I wish more restaurants had backstories for everything.”

“We’re doing fine on our own,” replied Nina. She ran an exploratory systems check and was pleasantly surprised to discover she didn’t feel anxious. Maybe she was still a little hyped from the movie.

“Ripley might be my favorite movie heroine,” she said. “I love the way she’s clearly scared out of her mind and would pretty much give anything not to be there, but she sucks it up and powers through. That’s real heroism.”

“Yeah,” agreed Tom, “my mom always used to say, ‘If you’re not scared, you’re not brave.’ ” He took a sip of water. “Mind you, she was usually saying it to get me to try something dangerous.”

“Isn’t that unusual, for a mother?”

“She’s unusual,” he said, but didn’t elaborate. The waitress came over and they placed their orders, falling silent for a moment once they’d cleared that hurdle.