“This is the best decision we’ve made in a long time!” Mary grinned, pulling Lex a little closer so she could kiss her. 

Lex grinned back at her. “I should have known you’d be totally up for this,” she said.

“Hey,” Mary replied, shaking her head. “You were the one who suggested this.”

“Yes,” Lex replied, nodding. “I did.” 

“I am so having popcorn for breakfast,” Mary declared. She straightened and stood on the tips of her toes, trying to see if anyone was ready to open the entrance of the theater. “Do they have popcorn at this hour? I’m hoping so!” 

“They always have popcorn,” Lex chuckled. “If they don’t have fresh popcorn, they’ll just sell you last night’s leftovers.”

“Ew!” Mary replied, frowning. “I don’t want that!”

“You’d better check the quality before you pay, then,” Lex winked. 

Mary laughed, amused at the goofy expression on her girlfriend’s face. She knew that not many people got to see this side of Lex. Even though Lex had become a lot less tense overall, she was still very serious-minded when it came to work. 

“I will,” Mary sighed, crossing her arms. “Damn, when are they finally going to let us in?” 

“Yeah, I have no idea what’s taking them so long,” Lex said, pulling Mary back into her arms and nuzzling her neck. “But I’m playing hooky and I’m in good company, so I don’t care.” 

Mary laughed, leaning into Lex’s embrace. “You aren’t playing hooky! You took the day off!” 

“Hmm, taking a day off feels like playing hooky,” Lex replied. She paused for a moment. “That’s kind of sad, isn’t it?” 

“I wouldn’t say that,” Mary responded without giving it much thought. “You are a bit of a workaholic.”

“And you’re all about work-life balance?” Lex quipped, but her voice gave away that she was slightly hurt. 

“Hey,” Mary said and kissed Lex tenderly. “Your hardworking attitude makes you a great boss; you’ve got everyone’s back.”

“But it does get in the way of other things,” Lex said pensively. “Like going to the movies.” 

Mary smiled. “We’re here for the first daytime showing of the new Pixar movie!”

“Yes,” Lex said slowly. “Because I felt like I needed to do something crazy, you know?”

Someone opened a door down the street, and everyone in line turned to look. But the movie theater remained closed. 

Lex sighed. “I thought things would get better after we fixed up the house. But we’re never home to enjoy any of it! We were even going to get a dog and everything, you know?” 

Mary met Lex’s beautiful blue eyes. This seemed to be turning into a more serious conversation than she had expected. Milly had recently told her that Hannah too had been ruminating lately; was this becoming a family thing? 

“We both really love our jobs,” Mary said, smiling. “That’s not a bad thing, right? But I think I understand what you mean. We’re putting other things on hold.”

“Exactly!” Lex nodded fervently. “That’s exactly it! And I don’t want to put our lives on hold. Putting us on hold is not okay with me. Putting you on hold is not okay with me!”

Mary smiled again. Lex could be such a sweetheart sometimes. She was so incredibly thoughtful and concerned with everyone’s well-being, including Mary’s.

“I want to kiss you and hold your hand and never let go,” Mary blurted out, overcome with affection for Lex. 

“I want to be with you forever too,” Lex said, swallowing hard. “And I want to see funny movies together, and beautiful places around the world and I want to have a dog we can pamper!” 

“You’re so cute,” Mary whispered, wrapping her arms around Lex. “I want all that too. I really do. We’ll make more time for it from now on.” 

“Yes, please,” Lex said, nuzzling Mary’s cheek. “Let’s book a vacation as soon as we get home.”

Mary laughed. “A vacation? Are you sure?”

Lex pursed her lips. “Go to the shelter?” 

“Even worse,” Mary grinned. “We can’t adopt a dog when we are away from home so often.”

“She can come to work with you!” Lex said. “Hannah won’t mind. She brings Amadeus all the time.” 

“Still,” Mary said, amused. “It’s no fun for a dog to be at the office all the time. We’d both need to cut back on our working hours.”

“Okay,” Lex said, “I’ll do more of my work from home then.”

Mary laughed a little uncomfortably. “What has gotten into you today? We haven’t talked about any of this in ages and now you want to change things immediately.” 

“I know,” Lex said, her eyebrows lowering. “It’s just that this year flew by so quickly. Everything flies by so quickly. I don’t want that. We’ll be old and gray before we even know it!” 

“You’re already turning gray,” Mary quipped. 

“One hair!” Lex said quickly. “Just one!”

Laughing, Mary ran her hand through Lex’s short hair. “I think I saw one more this morning,” she said with a mischievous smile.

“Liar!” Lex grinned and pulled Mary into another long hug. “Stop lying to me!” 

Mary took in a deep, happy breath. That was what she loved the most about being with Lex: conversations that went from banter to serious topics and back to banter effortlessly. Mary had never felt so comfortable with anyone else in her life. 

A loud clank finally announced the opening of the theater. Mary and Lex smiled at each other before letting go and joining the line of people into the old building. 

“I see fresh popcorn!” Lex said enthusiastically. 

Mary grinned. “Bring it on!”