Afternoon Date

Tom watched the door open and he smiled wide at his date. “Hiya! Wow, you look great!” He smiled wide feeling his face turn to a bright pink.

Natalie smiled back, looking down at her bright, spring dress. She closed the door to her apartment and off onto the city’s streets they went. “Thanks for hanging out with me, today! I’ve been so busy with work, I forgot what a day off feels like! So, what’s first on our agenda?”

“I was thinking we can get a quick bite to eat at this Parisian style place, then head to the movies for this comedy I’ve heard was great, and then end the day at pier. What do you think? You should be home before 7 tonight so you’re ready for work tomorrow.”

“Sounds great!” She dressed perfectly for the day: bright spring dress and sandals. Tom was looking sharp himself with his cardigan, light blue fitted button up, and plaid patterned pants.

They entered a quaint café, not too far from Natalie’s apartment, and were placed into a booth in a corner by their server. “Anything to start off with?” She asked the two as they got comfortable in their seats.

“Coffee, please.” “Me, as well.” The two replied back.

“Coming right up,” she placed two menus on their table as she walked away to fetch their drinks.

Natalie’s smiled wide; she already knew what to order days ahead of their date. She briefly looked at the menu before looking at Tom. He was quite handsome; chiseled jaw, peering eyes with shimmering gray irises darting side to side as he read the names of the dishes. He was quite fit, too, with how the fabrics on him clung to his body.

“And here you are,” the server said as she placed the two coffees down on their table. She took their orders: a croissant sandwich for Natalie, and a breakfast burrito for Tom. When the two were alone again, they started off their conversation.

“What do you like to do for fun?” Natalie asked, leaning slightly forward and her elbows on the table.

“I’m really into hiking, lately,” Tom said. “I went camping a few weeks with some friends and had a blast up in the mountains. Outside of that I really like to paint. Mostly nature, landscapes. Things of that sort. What about yourself?”

Before Natalie spoke, the walls and the glass windows of the café shook. Everyone in the café looked around, gasped, including the two. The rumble followed down to the floor, shaking the tables causing the hot brown liquids to spill out of Natalie’s saucer and onto her bright dress. “Oh! Are you okay?” Tom said, bunching up napkins and handing them over to Natalie.

“It’s fine! It’s fine! It wasn’t hot, just warm.” Natalie started patting down her dress with the napkins, feeling her hands brush against Tom’s in that brief moment. Her face turned red, embarrassed at the ochre-tan stain that now clung to her dress. She grabbed the empty mug that fell in her lap and placed it back on the table. She sighed; she spent so much time at work picking up extra shifts for her dress.

“What a wild earthquake. Do you think that was a 6.0 or something?”

“Yeah, that was rough. I haven’t felt anything that strong in a long time,” Natalie concurred. The server came back to their table and offered a new drink for Natalie, who asked for a glass of water, instead. A local news station was on the television during their meal, which reported a 5.4 earthquake that started in several cities away. Natalie, Tom, and the rest of the restaurant settled down once they heard that any aftershocks would be minor.

After eating their meals and paying for the tab, the two went out to the movies. The cinema theater wasn’t too far away from them, just a few blocks away. The two salvaged their awkward meal by talking about their interests and jobs on the way to the complex. Tom offered her his cardigan to hide the stains of her dress, to which Natalie accepted. She could smell his cologne and laundry detergent on the fabric; light and fragrant, not too overbearing.

Color her impressed, Natalie thought – On top of smelling good, Tom knew how to keep up a conversation. He knew how to end every sentence with something interesting and keep Natalie invested. If he wasn’t talking, she was enamored with how handsome he was.

Although the cinema theater was in a seedier part of town, the afternoon just started. They would be out of the area before the evening and have just enough time to end the day at the pier.

“Two tickets for the showing at 1:00 PM, today,” Tom paid for the tickets to the comedy he was talking about earlier. As he reached for the tickets from the cashier, he bent one of his elbows out, inviting Natalie to hold arms as they walked into the auditorium.

The theater was half filled with other couples and other movie goers scattered around the seats. The two found a perfect spot, in the center row near the front for a perfect view. Although the room was slightly noisy at first, everyone calmed down and became quiet as the lights turned down and the previews started rolling. Natalie pushed her shoulder up against Tom’s side, who reciprocated the feeling with his bicep.

Once the previews were done, the opening credits started rolling. Natalie felt her heart flutter as she heard Tom chuckle at the characters on screen. She heard something loud coming from the doors, maybe an action movie playing in the next auditorium. She shrugged the sound, trying to focus her attention on the movie (or Tom, which ever worked).

Suddenly, she heard the doors slam, followed by heavy stomping and footsteps. A man came out of the shadows of the auditorium’s entrance, screaming and shouting at the people in their seats. His clothes were disheveled, his hair a mess, one arm holding onto a cardboard sign with scribbled handwriting.

“It’s coming! They’re coming! We gotta get out of here!” The man screamed, waving his arms around and flapping the sign to obscure the screen. He repeated himself several times, making sure he had everyone’s attention. He got on the stage, blocking a portion of the silver screen. The audiences started booing and telling him to get off. “No! You gotta believe me! It’s coming!”

Two men in uniform with black shirts that said SECURITY, followed up the steps and flanked the man, holding his arms before dragging him off the stage. “No! Everyone! Hurry!” He was taken off, kicking and screaming. Like a bad dream, he was taken out of the audience’s forefront down back into the entrance, presumably to get kicked out of the complex. The audience later clapped and whistled in praise; they were able to continue the movie.

Within an hour and a half, the ending credits began to roll. The lights came back on, and the theater started to empty. “That was a fun movie. Too bad that one guy ruined it. What was his problem?” Tom said.

“I don’t know. We got a lot of strange people around this part of the city,” Natalie said. She would know, she lived her for the last few years but never had any issues like this one. “Well, we’re going to the pier, now, right? That’s quite a walk!”

“Don’t worry, I ordered an Uber as we were walking out,” Tom said as he stared out into the streets. He flagged down a large car, which pulled up to them on the curb. The driver verified Tom and Natalie before letting them into her car. She pulled up the directions on her GPS as the two buckled up in the back seats.

In the car, Natalie was staring out the window, lost in thought as he watched the buildings passing by. Her hand was in the middle seat, and she felt a warm hand brush up against her. She turned lightly, looking back at Tom, admiring his side profile.

After a good 20 minute drive through the city and to the edge of the water, the two got out of the car. Natalie felt a chill overcome her; that’s strange, the weather forecast said it would be sunny all day. I guess weather reporters had their days, too. The sky had some clouds that blocked out some of the warmth of the sun’s rays. But that wasn’t going to stop their date. She could pick up a cheesy tourist sweater at one of the vendor booths along the pier, easily.

The two walked from the sidewalk down to the wooden steps. Several people seemed to be packing up early, from the vendors and their tents to the people at the water’s edge putting away their foldable chairs and fishing lines. Natalie couldn’t blame them, the weather took a slight turn. A disappointing one at that, too. She

The water today seemed odd; it wasn’t the fresh blue that she was used to, but instead a murky gray. Must be the algae bloom, or something else weird going on in the water. There was an earthquake not too long ago, maybe all the sand and dirt got shifted around at the bottom of the waters.

She noticed how often Tom was looking back at her to see how she was doing. Whenever he asked every few steps, she would shrug it off and put on a fake smile, saying she was doing okay. “Today felt like such a perfect day for a date. Just bummed out that we didn’t get that sun and wind like we were expecting earlier. My dress got stains on it. And our movie was ruined by that weirdo screaming out.”

Tom took her hand and gently guided her to the end of the boardwalk. He smiled back at her, making butterflies in her stomach. Gosh, what a dreamboat. Maybe today doesn’t suck with a smile like that.

“Natalie, I’m glad we went out together. But I feel like something is wrong. I’m having a great time, aren’t you?” Tom said, back against the rails.

A shadow covered him from behind, waves starting to pick up and splash against the pier before being sucked back toward the ocean’s horizon. Behind Tom, dozens of miles away, a creature the size of a skyscraper began to emerge from the depths.