Chapter Three

Their first public date that week would be to go see a movie at the same cinema complex that Becca used to frequent with Derek, without fail, every Thursday. Derek was a creature of habit and she knew that he would continue to do that now that he and Gina were able to go public together.

Luke picked her up from work, which had a few of her colleagues in a flutter, surprised to see Becca had already moved on to such a handsome man (those that knew that she and Derek had split up in any case).

They grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Wendy's near the cinema complex, on the off-chance that Derek may have taken Gina there too. But they discovered quite quickly that he hadn't.

"You used to do this every Thursday?" Luke checked as they were eating. Wendy's was nice, but it wasn't the healthiest of meals and followed by popcorn or snacks at the cinema would only add to that. It surprised him, as she appeared to be in quite good shape, and he knew that Derek always tried to err on the healthier side of things.

"We wouldn't eat at Wendy's every time. We'd quite often eat at home together or we'd eat something we'd brought in before leaving work," Becca corrected him. She and her ex would eat out often enough, but they usually reserved the fancier restaurants for other date nights; it almost didn't feel right to follow a fancy meal with a night at the cinema.

"Fair enough," he conceded that it didn't sound too bad like that. "So, what movie are we seeing?" he asked, not entirely sure if there were any recent new releases or something that she hadn't seen yet.

"I was thinking maybe Justice League?" Becca suggested. "Or Coco." There wasn't much being released at the moment, with most of the bigger films set to be released from next week on in the build-up to the festive period.

"Justice League sounds good to me," Luke said somewhat predictably, making her smile to herself. "So... if we do see him there..." he started, wanting to know what her plan was and what sort of PDA they may have to indulge in. The most effective in making his colleague jealous was to be all over each other, including kissing, but that was beyond what they'd both agreed they were comfortable with.

"Definitely holding hands, possibly some hugging," Becca answered. She was thinking of the little things that her ex had always been uncomfortable with in public. He just about used to let her hook her arm through his and on occasion, when she was cold, he'd wrap his arm around her. But he'd always kind of spun it to be her decision not to do those other things, so seeing her do them with Luke should put quite a bee in his bonnet.

"Okay," he nodded agreement. "And once we're in the movie, make it look like we're sat close together?" he suggested.

"If he's in the same movie, yes," Becca nodded, wondering how he was going to make it look like they were without actually being close.

As they walked up to the cinema complex, Becca started feeling rather nervous. Was this really such a good idea? She wasn't sure if she could pull it off convincingly and she was worried that it could impact Luke at work if they did manage to convince Derek that they were actually starting to see each other.

As if he could tell, Luke took hold of her hand, his thumb comfortingly rubbing the back of her hand as he gave her an encouraging smile. She took comfort in that smile as they patiently joined the queue to get their tickets, while trying not to be too obvious as they looked around to see if Derek and Gina were there or not.

"They've just joined the queue behind us," Luke told her softly when he'd heard his colleague's voice. He felt her nod as she restrained her curiosity to look over her shoulder, instead turning towards him a little.

"Thank you for doing this for me," Becca said in a similar tone of voice, glancing up at him as her second hand clasped over his hand holding hers. He knew that to someone watching she'd look a little shy as she did that, so he made sure to give her another smile in response.

"Any time," he said, surprised to see her genuinely blush as she leaned in towards his shoulder. When it was their turn to order he pulled out his wallet to pay, to make it look like he was properly taking her out on a date. But in reality, Becca had already given him her share of the ticket price and snacks when they were at Wendy's. He was already doing her a favor, so she insisted it shouldn't cost him any more than it would if they were just two friends going out or he was by himself. They kept their attention on themselves and joined the queue for the snacks, pretending to only see Derek and Gina for the first time as they were making their way away from the counter with Becca holding their drinks and Luke carrying the big tub of popcorn to share, his free hand loosely on her shoulder.

"Luke, Becca," Derek nodded, sounding like he was the aggrieved party from his previous relationship instead of the one who had caused the damage.

"Hi Derek," Becca nodded back, feeling her date's hand give her shoulder a squeeze.

"Hey Gina," Luke said to the other girl with a friendly tone and smile, as she was a colleague of his as well after all. She seemed to appreciate it as she gave a smile back.

"I didn't know you were dating," the redhead said, making small talk now.

"Oh, well it's only our second date," he chuckled in response, gently pulling his date in a little closer to stop her from focusing too much on her ex's new girlfriend; Gina was pretty enough, with dyed dark red hair; in her opinion, over the top make-up; and a smart but noticeable and provocative outfit. In other words, the complete opposite from Becca. "Have fun, whichever movie you're going to go see," Luke added now.

"We're going to see the Justice League," Gina told them.

"Us too," he grinned, seeing his other colleague grimace a little. "Enjoy," he wished them as he steered Becca towards the screen as Derek and his date joined the queue for the snacks' counter. "You okay?" he asked softly when he saw the pensive look on her face, getting a nod in response.

"She's just so different to me, I don't get how he could have been with both of us," Becca told him honestly. She wasn't sure what else there was to say; she thought he'd loved her. Luke didn't say anything to start with as they found some decent seats, pretty much in the middle of the middle row.

"This might sound weird, but I think it probably says more about him than about you," he offered as they sat down. She seemed to consider it before she slowly nodded.

"Maybe."

"Don't drive yourself mad trying to figure it out," he advised her, holding his arm out to go around her shoulder. She leaned into him, surprised when he pulled her in lightly for a quick hug.

"Thanks Luke," Becca smiled, it not having gone unnoticed that she seemed to be thanking him a lot. He gave her a squeeze in response before pulling back a little to reposition her so that it would look like he had his arm around her shoulder and holding her in close, without actually touching each other.

Derek couldn't help himself from spending most of the film trying to keep an eye on his ex-girlfriend and his colleague, to see if they really were on a date. He'd expect to see them sat close, which he had grudgingly noticed as soon as Gina and he had taken their seats, and potentially to see her move in even more. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it did look like Becca moved in quite early on in the movie, resting her head on Luke's shoulder. He hadn't seen that before the film had started, she'd already turned her scarf into a little pillow, so she wasn't actually leaning on her date's shoulder.

He craned his neck once or twice when it looked like they might have started kissing, getting an elbow from his own date to pay more attention to the movie. They'd only made it look like they were by Becca looking up to say something in his ear as he looked down. Luke did eventually lean his head gently against hers towards the end of the movie, which did convey that they were actually quite comfortable around each other. And that was almost enough to annoy Derek.

"Did you actually see any of the film?" Gina asked annoyed when the credits started rolling and the main lights came on. She shrugged her coat on as she got up.

"Of course, I did," her boyfriend argued, though he'd be hard-pressed to give many examples if she asked him for them. She simply gave him a look and started making her way out of the row and towards the door. "Gina, baby, come on," Derek implored her now, quickly following her and catching up with her before she left the theatre. "I'm sorry, okay?" he apologized as he pulled her in for a hug. "Come on, come back to mine," he whispered now, kissing her neck suggestively. She blushed as she could feel herself giving in; he'd used that move to great effect a couple of times when they first started seeing each other behind Becca's back.

"Okay, okay," she conceded, laughing as he hugged her close.

"That was good," Becca said to Luke as he helped her up, not having seen how her former boyfriend and his new girlfriend exited the theatre. If she had, it would belie something that she thought was a given about her relationship with Derek: he didn't like public displays of affection in the same way she did. She'd have loved if he'd exited the theatre like that with her, just once.

"Yeah, it was alright," he nodded. He preferred the Avengers films, but it wasn't bad. The thing he'd enjoyed most was actually spending time with her if he was being honest with himself. "I'll drop you off home," he offered, having come by car and he would need to drive past hers to get home.

"Thanks," she smiled gratefully.

It didn't take them long to make the journey back to her apartment complex, which they did in relative silence.

"Tonight was a good idea, I enjoyed myself," Luke said when he parked the car.

"I'm glad. And thanks again," she nodded with a smile. "Would you like to come in for a drink?" Becca asked, seeing it wasn't that late yet and she was enjoying getting to know him better. She could see him hesitate briefly as he glanced at the clock as well. "Unless you need to get going, of course," she added quickly, thinking for sure he was going to say no.

"Yeah, sure, I'd like to," he surprised her now, turning the engine off. She gave a relieved smile as she now made to get out of the car. She'd only just opened the door and stuck her foot out when his hand reached out to help her out. He gave her a sheepish smile as she took his hand; his parents had always raised him to be a gentleman, which included helping women out of cars, holding doors open etc. Luke let her lead the way up the stairs and, out of the corner of his eye, saw Derek looking through one of the door windows as they passed the second level. Thinking quickly on his feet, he gave her a light, playful tap on the bum.

"Hey..." she started to complain as she turned around and, seeing him wink, whined "hunni!" They both laughed as he jumped up the last two steps to pull her in to tickle her. "Luke!" Becca complained as she laughed, leaning into his broad chest as she tried to tickle him back. "You bully," she squealed now, only making him laugh louder. "Do you think he saw?" she whispered as he guided her towards her front door.

"Pretty sure," he whispered back, to which she laughed again and, as part of the charade, planted a kiss on his cheek. "Just open the door," Luke teased her now, leaning in to hug her and pretending to kiss her neck. She made sure to giggle, to make it seem like he was coming on to her. Becca unlocked the door, turning around to pull him in with her as if she was about to kiss him. He closed the door behind him before they had to. "I'm so sorry about the... the..." he started to apologize, not even sure what to call what he'd done and, letting her go, started miming the action with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Don't worry," she waved away his concerns. "It was quick thinking," she actually ended up complimenting him, to his surprise. "Drink?" she asked and led the way from where they'd entered into the living room to the kitchen on the left. It was a nice comfortable living room with a sofa, a coffee table and a comfortable armchair to curl up in, with a big bookcase to the left of the mounted TV screen. Behind the sofa was a big enough space for a small dining table and four chairs. The kitchen looked out on the living room through a big open bar space. "You can take a seat if you want," Becca told him. The bit she liked about her kitchen was that she could still see and talk with whoever was in the living room. Luke settled for standing on the other side of the kitchen bar, so he wasn't in her way but wasn't sat by himself in the living room. She passed him two glasses before going into the fridge. "Lemonade okay? I made it yesterday," she offered, holding up the big jug for him to see. She'd had raspberries and lemons left from making a dessert earlier in the week, when she'd been in her 'eating her feelings' stage of the break up, so she'd decided to make raspberry lemonade.

"Oh yum, that sounds good," Luke nodded, taking the glasses over to the coffee table. She couldn't help looking after him over her shoulder for a few seconds, before coming out into the living room as well.

They'd gotten back to her apartment just after 10 and they ended up talking until almost midnight. Becca told him about Clara and Moira, and last year's girly holiday to Disney World and Warner Brothers Studio in Orlando. It was that holiday that had fully cemented their friendship and confirmed what she'd suspected for a little while: her future lay in San Antonio, not back in Milwaukee. She'd also thought, based on her conversations with her friends and being in the capital of Prince Charming, that Derek would be her happily-ever-after. Becca wisely left that part out of her conversation with Luke, who told her about his father and some of the camping trips they'd had before he'd passed away a few years ago. Some of those were family trips, so his mother and sister came too, but there were a fair few of them that was just father and son time. He couldn't help getting a little emotional, as he didn't often have anyone to talk to about his dad, and Becca quite naturally pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry Luke, I can't imagine..." she said softly.

"I'm sorry for getting this emotional," he managed to chuckle, "but thank you." She gave him an assured smile as he slowly pulled out of the hug. Luke smiled back, his blue eyes taking her in. If they had been on a real date or wanted to be a couple, this would be the right moment to lean in for a kiss.

"And I'm sorry for keeping you out this late," Becca said, sitting back even further when she saw the time on the clock.

He glanced at his watch and chuckled. "I think that was both of us," he said fairly. "I'd better go?" He'd meant to say it as a statement but for some reason it came out as a question.

"Ehm yeah... I don't have a spare room, but the couch is yours, if you'd like," she said hesitantly.

"Oh no, I live five minutes away, don't worry," Luke assured her, getting up and smoothing his shirt out a little. "Thanks for the date tonight and we'll keep in touch about the next one?" he asked, and she couldn't help wondering why he was being a little awkward all of a sudden.

"Yeah, let's make it one for Kirsty's benefit," she suggested, thinking that, apart from the online pictures, most of their outings or contact so far had only really reached Derek.

"Great, I'll have a think of the best way to do that," he nodded, even if he didn't really want to think about his ex-girlfriend anymore. At this Becca got up off the sofa as well to walk him out, taking her cozy wrap with her. "You don't have to come down to the car," he told her, picking up his jacket from the arm chair.

"It's okay, I want to," she assured him, taking her keys with her. Realizing there was a chance that Derek was still up as well, she took hold of his hand after she'd closed her front door behind her. Luke glanced at their hands for a second as they made their way down the three flights of stairs to where his car was parked. When they got there, they positioned themselves in such a way that Luke was stood with his back to the apartments and he would hide Becca mostly from view. It didn't make sense when you considered who's flat it was and who was leaving, but it allowed them to pretend better. "Thanks again for tonight. I really had a good time," she said, feeling a little awkward as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Me too," Luke nodded, pulling her in closer and lifting one hand to go through her hair. He leaned in, gently leaning his head against hers to make it look like he was leaning in for the kiss. "Maybe you should move one hand up closer to my shoulder blades," he said softly, thinking that would make it look more real. She did as suggested; one hand more on his lower back/ hip to pull him in closer as her other hand moved up his back.

"I'm not sure how real this looks," Becca said honestly in a soft tone, looking up at him. He pulled away slightly to be able to take in her expression before he made an executive decision and leaned in to kiss her for real. Her hand moved away from his back to run over his chest to his neck and hair as she kissed him back. "I guess... now we know for next time," she breathed softly, feeling him chuckle lightly.

"Sorry," he said, knowing their arrangement didn't include real kissing unless absolutely necessary.

"It's okay," she conceded it may have been necessary now, if only for them to figure out how to make it look real next time. "Night."

"Night, I'll call you tomorrow," Luke smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek before letting go of her and getting in his car. Becca gave him a small wave before he drove off.