Chapter 111 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“You see? You can’t defend yourself. Let’s go in before the movie starts without us,” Celsie said as she stubbornly walked past him and went to join Anita.

“Is everything okay?” Anita asked in mock concern as she glanced in Benne’s direction. She really hoped Benne hadn’t revealed the truth about their relationship to Celsie.

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

Benne ran his fingers through his hair as he watched them walk away. How was he going to tell Celsie that Anita wasn’t the one he was interested in? If he said she wasn’t the one, Celsie 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? Benne 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 Celsie.

“Hello! Are you Mr. Benne?” A uniformed guard asked as he approached him.

“I am,” Benne 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 Benne the movie ticket.

“Thank you,” Benne 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 Celsie raised her hand and flashed her phone’s flashlight so that he could see where they were seated.

The first thing Benne noticed as he approached where they were seated was that Celsie 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 Celsie, then it had to be between her and Anita, unless he wanted to sit on the next row, Benne reasoned with an inward groan.

How did any of this make sense? Why didn’t Celsie just sit in the middle between him and Anita since she was going to obviously be the moderator of this awkward hangout? Benne reasoned in frustration as Celsie 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?” Celsie 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,” Celsie 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.

Benne 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,” Benne murmured as he directed his attention to the screen.

He couldn’t tell Celsie 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!” Benne 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,” Benne 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,” Benne said a little too sharply, making Celsie 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,” Celsie hissed in at him in frustration.

Hard to get? She thought he was playing hard to get? Benne 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.

Benne 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 Celsie 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 Benne 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,” Benne 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, Celsie 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,” Benne warned.

Celsie 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. Nice one,’ she patted herself mentally.

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