Tuesday matinees are the best kept secret of the movie industry, she thought, pulling into one of the many empty parking spaces right up next to the building and shutting her car off. For starters, nobody goes to the movies on a Tuesday, period. Then there’s the added bonus of her local theater doing Discount Movie Tuesdays, where she can get a full $6 taken off the price of a ticket.

The mostly empty theater and the reduced price of the tickets were perfect for what she had planned today. What they had planned for today, she corrected herself, feeling her cheeks grow warm.

She bit her lip and checked her phone, wondering if he was here already. She had one text notification and when she swiped to open it, she read “I’m here. I’ll wait for you by the front doors.” She looked up and there he was, glancing around the parking lot with his hands in his pockets. James. He hadn’t seen her yet.

With one last fluff of her hair in the rearview mirror, she grabbed her bag and hopped out of the car. When the door shut, louder than usual in the empty parking lot, he glanced over to her. She couldn’t help the tongue-between-her-teeth-grin that spread across her face when she saw him, even as her belly started doing somersaults. He smiled a small smile back at her and waved and she had to remind herself to walk to meet him. She felt like skipping. And running away. Both at the same time.

She reached the spot where he waited for her.

“Hi,” she said, smiling brightly at him.

“Hi,” he said back, still smiling his small little smile at her. “Wanna grab some snacks?” She nodded and followed him to the concession stand. She moved closer to his side as they peered up at the menu, and the spot where their arms rubbed against each other felt tingly.

She ordered a large Icee and a pack of gummy worms, letting her mind wander to what had brought them here while James finished ordering and paying. It had all started innocently enough, at a party they had both been attending a few weeks ago. She had known James for awhile, casually, but found herself wanting to talk more with him as the party went on and as she poured herself more drinks.

She found herself tucked away into a quiet little corner with him a few hours, and a few more drinks later, discussing anything and everything but mostly movies. Suddenly his eyes focused on something on her face and he leaned forward, raising his hand to touch her. “You have an eyelash.” He said quietly and gently tried to grab it between his pointer and thumb, brushing her bangs up and away from her eyes in the same motion.

She shivered slightly and giggled. “That tickles.” She glanced up at him from under her bangs, which had already fallen back down onto her forehead. His eyes sparkled when she said that and his mouth opened with a tiny gasp.

“You’re ticklish?” He said quietly, his eyes focused intently on hers as he waited for an answer.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “You have no idea.”

“Where?” He whispered, stepping even closer to her and putting his hand on her elbow. His fingers tapped the soft skin there gently and slowly. She shivered again, harder and longer this time and closed her eyes.

“There. Everywhere.” She whispered back as his hand traveled up her arm from her elbow and back down slowly. “How about you?”

”Yes,” was his answer, quiet and simple. She grinned up at him, and then it was her turn to put her small hands on his arm, tapping and swirling her fingers up and down. He leaned forward, bending his head down slightly. “There. Everywhere.”

She bit her lip and let her hand travel up his arms, across his shoulders, and down to the middle of his chest. “What about your belly?” She asked coyly, rubbing small circles over his sternum that were seriously distracting him from the question.

Her fingers started to slide down his chest, toward the belly in question, as she waited for him to answer. He grabbed her wrist suddenly, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. “You have no idea.” He repeated her earlier words back to her and she felt her toes curl in her shoes.

She wiggled her fingers, still trapped by his hand around her wrist, and said “Me too.” She didn’t miss the way his eyes flickered down to her belly, where just a scrap of skin was visible in between her crop top and her skirt. She laughed quietly and stood up straight, making sure to push both her breasts and belly out towards him. Her belly brushed against his hand and they both took sharp inhales of breath. They looked at each other, hands still caught between them and she started to feel like if she didn’t touch more of him or he didn’t touch more of her that she was going to burst. She opened her mouth to tell him so, still brave from the drinks, but suddenly somebody yelled his name from across the room, and the atmosphere between them seemed to pop.

He smiled down at her and said, “Let’s talk more later.” The words had a ring of promise in them that made her clench her thighs together. She nodded and grinned at him, giving him a small wave as he walked over to his friends and she headed back towards hers.

They soon lost each other in the crowd of the party and, as it often happens, didn’t find their way back to one another before the party ended. She glanced around as her and her friends made their way out of the apartment but he had already left or was somewhere she couldn’t see him. She shook off the wave of disappointment and happily followed along after her friends.

She didn’t think much of the interaction, unless she was alone in her bed with her hands between her legs if she was being totally honest, until she saw her phone light up with a new text on the other side of the couch a few days later.

The number wasn’t one she was familiar with but it didn’t take her long to figure out who it was when she read the message.

”Still ticklish?,” was all it said but it sent her belly tumbling and her heart racing.

“Who wants to know?” She wrote back quickly, adding a few feather emojis to the end of the message.

“Somebody who wants to tickle you,” was his reply.

She bit her lip hard. “Hmmmmmmm, I’m gonna need more information than that.”

Her phone buzzed with a new message, “Somebody who has imagined getting his hands on more of you than your elbow.”

The reply made her laugh. “I’ve been thinking about you too,” she texted back quickly.

“What have you been thinking about?”

“Depends. What have you been thinking about?”

She watched the three dots flicker as she waited for him to finish typing. “I’ve been thinking about the word everywhere. I’ve been thinking about what that might mean, and which spots I’d go for first.”

“And what spots are you thinking about?” She could barely move her fingers fast enough over the screen.

“I want your belly in my hands as soon as possible.” She laughed out loud and felt her face heat up.

“Same,” was her only response.

“Wanna catch a movie on Tuesday? I heard there’s a Studio Ghibli fest going on and it’s my only day off this week.”

She was mildly taken aback by his change in topic, especially when she had just started to feel the pulse between her legs that meant she was well on her way to being turned on. Confused, she glanced around her room, thinking about what to say or not to say when her phone buzzed again in her hands.

“We can make sure to get seats at an empty showing… and in the back.”

She grinned at his follow-up message and quickly replied, “Yes.”

She felt somebody lean against her arm suddenly, and it shook her out of thoughts. James looked down at her, knocking his arm into hers again. “Ready?”

“Oh yes.” She said, following him across the lobby and toward their theater.

Their seats were in the very back and they settled into them quietly. They spent the few minutes before previews started to discuss their favorite Ghibli film and even though she wasn’t able to fully concentrate, given that his hand had wrapped around hers as soon as they sat down and his fingers were rubbing small circles on the patches of skin they could reach, she realized that she really enjoyed talking with James.

The lights went down and the previews started. James’ fingers went still and she could feel his eyes on hers. She pulled her hand from his and began to trace lines up and down the inside of his arm. James shuffled in his seat, which made his black t-shirt ride up and a small line of his belly became visible. She kept tracing up and down his arm, “accidentally” brushing his belly whenever her fingers wandered close enough.

She made a few complete circuits this way, loving how soft and warm his skin was. Suddenly, he straightened slightly and she glanced over at him. His cheeks were red and she looked at him questioningly until she realized that a bulge had already started to grow in his pants.

She slid her hand over from his arm to his belly, letting it sit softly there. “Hard already? This is going to be so fun…”

He gulped as her hand started making slow circles on the top of his belly and she giggled softly, wiggling her way down into her seat and leaning closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

The previews ended and the movie started, but she was growing certain that neither of them would remember much of it when it was over.