Page 29
Ten
“The last one intrigued me,”Maddie said as they neared the venue of the next movie they planned to see. Out of the three films they’d seen so far, the last had been the only one halfway decent. Still, she was having fun with Joe, Chloe, Sam, and even Fudge and Micah. As promised, Breckenridge was beautiful, and she enjoyed getting in touch with what other artists were doing. Such days never failed to inspireher.
“Agreed,” Joe said, walking into the old movie theater. “It wasn’t exceptional, but it had something.”
“It was sort of creepy,” Fudge said, holding the door for Maddie.
“It was brave,” she said walking in to the lobby.
“The satire was perfect,” Micah chimed in behind her. “Clearly influenced by Bret Easton Ellis.”
Maddie faced him. “Ellis? I’d say more Elio Petri.”
“I’ve never even heard of Elee Peteri or whoever.” Chloe rubbed at her mouth. “My God, it’s so dry here. Does anyone have any lipshit?”
“No, definitely Ellis,” Micah insisted, removing his baseball cap and pushing his sunglasses to his head. “I think Maddie has some ChapStick.”
Maddie blushed, ignoring the glint in his eye and the memory of her hand on his privates as she dug into her purse for her ChapStick. “It’s almost gone, but take it.” She handed the tube to Chloe. She turned back to Micah, not letting the intimate flashback interrupt the debate. “American Psycho would never have existed without films like Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion.”
“But I guarantee you that—” Micah pulled his crumpled program from his back pocket and flipped until he found what he was looking for, “—Todd Nichols never in his life saw a Petri film, or Z or Salo, for that matter, so I’m calling Todd’s influence Ellis.”
Maddie pursed her lips. Few people could keep up with her on film history. Even in the biz she never ceased to be surprised by how many people had no idea about the background of their art. Micah’s ability to intelligently and convincingly hold his end of the debate warmed her core. “Just because the artist is unaware of the influence doesn’t mean it isn’t valid,” she argued, less forcefully than before.
“I think you’re mistaking influence with roots.”
“I got the tickets,” Sam cut in. Maddie hadn’t noticed he’d gone to the ticket counter. “This one’s popular. We need to get in if we want to find seats.”
“Lead the way,” she said. Thankfully, Sam wasn’t acting weird after the drive up. In the backseat of the van where he sat with Maddie, he’d taken her hand. Maddie had pulled away, gently but definitively, and shaken her head. He got the point. If only Micah could be so easily dealt with. Except maybe he had been. He hadn’t made any moves on her the whole day. Maybe he meant what he said about being just friends.
“Oh my God, Micah Preston!” A female voice came from a group next to them. “Can we have your autograph?”
Fans. They’d been lucky so far not to be noticed, but Micah had worn his cap and sunglasses for most of the day. Now, with them removed, he was recognizable.
Maddie stood close enough to him to hear his soft sigh. The admirers saw nothing but his bright smile. “Sure!” He stuck his cap into the back pocket of his jeans. “Do you have apen?”
They didn’t, but Maddie did. She handed him one from her purse, vaguely aware of someone snapping a cell phone picture as shedid.
“Micah, what are you doing in Colorado?” another of the girls asked.
“We’re shooting a film near Golden.”
“Cool! Do you need any extras?”
“I wish.” Micah was polite, charming even. “But it’s about a bunch of outlaws hiding in the mountains. Small cast. Hey, I’d love to stay and chat, but my friends are waiting.” He returned Maddie’spen.
“That wasn’t so bad,” she said as they joined the rest of their group at the theater doors.
“No, but they took our picture. That gets online and the rumors will begin about you andme.”
You and me. Her heart sung. How nice that sounded.
“That’s our one pic, Maddie,” he teased. “We’ll have to be more careful in the future.”
She shivered at the thoughts those words elicited of sneaking around, avoiding paparazzi and fans. It was an unexpected turn on. Maybe a secret affair with Micah wouldn’t be so bad. But then there’d be the inevitable break-up and that would justsuck.
At the door they surrendered their tickets to the usher and entered the theater. Sam had predicted correctly—the room was packed and available seating was sparse. Finding six seats together would be impossible.
“There’s four,” Fudge said pointing to an area near the front.
