Irene and Wendy met up at the theater to check out the new movie.  Something about space and how the Earth needed saving. Needless to say they were meeting there to see each other, not just for the movie.

They’d come alone, disguised, and met up in the theater seats. Both had separate schedules all day so they hadn’t even seen each other. The movie theater was the perfect place for a couple like them to meet. Or so they thought. In the darkness they could hold hands and be themselves. Feeling free, they removed their masks and hoods.

The movie had many special effects, some of them so bright that they hurt Wendy’s eyes. She knew 3D movies usually had moments like this, but the lights from the screen practically blinded her. Irene commented on it too, “Gosh, what strange effects,” she whispered to Wendy.

When the movie was over they left one at a time like they’d come in. They promised to meet down the street near a restaurant they both liked and they would catch a cab together back to the dorm. Wendy left first, and Irene left shortly after.

When she exited the movie complex, Irene walked by a couple who were discussing someone taking photos in the theater they had been in.

“Wow, that’s really rude,” Irene thought, “glad we weren’t in that theater.” She didn’t connect the dots, although she should have.

When Irene met up with Wendy again, she joked about the movie and how the only thing she had seen the whole time was Wendy.

“That movie was good, but it was better spending time with you,” Irene said.

“I liked the movie, but those effects were really hard to look at.”

Little did Wendy know that those bright flashes weren’t part of the film they’d watched.  What the couple thought were special effects were actually the flashes from a hired camera, hiding underneath the theater’s seats. Hiding like a coward.

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Irene sat calmly and listened as Wendy defended the both of them and their relationship. She wished she could do the same.

They showed the photos of them in the theater.

She was caressing Wendy’s hands,

Laughing at Wendy’s expressions,

Stealing kisses,

Irene's face was expressionless but she wondered how they'd fooled them with the photos. Where had the person been hiding? How long had they been there? Did they follow them out of the theater?

Wendy continued to talk and argue.

Irene found herself grabbing Wendy’s sleeve, tugging it. Irene held on tightly to Wendy’s hand  She knew Wendy was willing to defend their actions as long as she lived, but now she was in a predicament not of her own choosing.

Instead of saying what she really wanted to say, she spoke the words they’d made her rehearse, “We’ll stop this…whatever you think this is. What can I do to set things right?”

She was nothing but a machine.

The company said their lines from the memorized script and Irene watched as a defeated Wendy was forced out of the room.

Irene would never forget the look Wendy gave her before the door was slammed shut.

“If only you could see my heart, baby,” Irene thought.