I shudder at the thought. Country music has always been one of my least favorite genres. “I don’t think it’s possible to change that much,” I tell him, shaking my head, “And I was never a ‘cowgirl’ anywhere.”
“Anything’s possible,” he shrugs, “I mean, you said yes to this.”
My face flames and I glance at him. “What, you thought that was impossible?”
“Kind of,” he admits.
I wonder what he means by that, so I ask him to elaborate.
“I don’t know, it always just seemed like a bad idea, like I’d screw up my friendship with you,” he says.
He glances out the window as he speaks, and while I don’t think he’s lying, I can tell there’s other reasons he’s not sharing with me.
So I decide to go ahead and drop it for now. Instead, I glance around, trying to see if I recognize the area. It’s a little strange, the juxtaposition of everything familiar interspersed with random new buildings I don’t remember from when I lived here.
I do know where we are, and we’re in an area where not much is changed. There’s a new chain coffee shop here, a new pharmacy there, but it’s otherwise the same as before. But it doesn’t give me any hints as to where Trent might be taking me.
His surprise is successful all the way up until the moment when we’re turning into the parking lot. “A drive-in?”
He nods. “Just opened up last year. They play all kinds of stuff, classics, Disney movies…”
“And which are we here for?”
“I think you’ll consider it a classic,” he says with a chuckle.
He pulls up to the ticket seller and requests a ticket to one of my all-time favorite movies: The Princess Bride.
And he’s absolutely right, I don’t care what anyone says, this movie is definitely a classic.
“I’ve always wanted to go to one of these,” I admit, looking around, “So we just tune the radio to the right station to get the sound?”
He nods. “Yep, there’s instructions on the ticket,” he remarks as he pulls into our designated spot.
The view is perfect, with the screen close enough to fill most of the windshield, and even though I’ve seen this movie a million times, my heart races with excitement.
He changes the stereo over from the Bluetooth on his phone to the radio, then adjusts the station until it’s right. There’s just some music playing, maybe a step above what you’d call “elevator music.”
Trent turns in his seat and lifts the lid off of the cooler. He reaches in and turns back with a bottle of strawberry soda in one hand and a root beer in the other. “Thirsty?”
I grin and take it from him. “I see you came prepared.”
“Can’t have a movie without snacks,” he says solemnly, “Do you want any popcorn? That’s the one thing you can’t really pack yourself, it’s not the same unless you’ve got the fresh stuff.”
I shake my head. “You don’t need to get anything else on my account,” I assure him, “Whatever you brought is perfect.”
He unhooks a bottle opener from his keychain and opens both my bottle and his own. “Well, then,” he remarks, holding out his root beer, “Cheers.”
I clink my soda against his. “Cheers,” I answer, then take a swig.
He takes a drink of his own, then flashes me an apologetic look. “I would have brought some wine or something, but they don’t allow alcohol, and I figured getting kicked out of the drive-in would be a pretty lousy date.”
“Yeah, it would,” I laugh, “Soda is fine, promise.”
But it makes me realize: he’s trying to impress me. And I can’t help it, I burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Trent asks me incredulously as I crack up.
I shake my head, struggling to catch my breath. “Nothing, nothing, just something silly,” I tell him.