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It's Monday, Meissa's favorite day. The only day the theater is closed to the public, her only day off, and her turn to choose the movie. Midterms are done and so is she, so she picked a favorite of theirs in lieu of going for something new. In their favorite seats, the two of them cozy up with the snacks Laia long ago charmed the popcorn guy into letting them have for free. It's just them and the movie, the closest to peace Meissa can find in this small town.
Then Laia asks, "Do you think love can be like that?"
Meissa looks at the screen. The music is rising. Gregory Peck just turned back in search of an Audrey Hepburn he will never see again, and he's seconds away from walking off the scene himself.
She can't resist. "Like what? Hopeless?"
Laia rolls her teary eyes, but doesn't conceal her smile. The End flashes on the screen, breathtaking. Chills run down Meissa's body.
"I mean, full of understanding. Full of… certainty. With no doubt that it is special."
Ah, Meissa knows what this is about. That feeling Laia had confided to her, one rare quiet night in their dorm. The feeling of waiting for someone, missing someone who had never even been there.
Meissa likes to think of herself as optimistic, but pragmatic. You have to be, in this industry. Movies only feel magical because they make them that way. It's angles, light and timing behind the miracles. In fondo è solo un trucco. It's everything that life can't be. Here, there are no heroes, no cameras following you on a journey. It's all painfully ordinary.
But sometimes, when she stares at her unfinished script for too long, she understands what Laia means. She, too, is waiting. She, too, longs to touch greatness with her unremarkable hands. She, too, wants to find her people, the ones who know her completely.
Of course she wants to be a hero. Of course she wants an adventure. All this has to mean something. It can't all be dying empty noise.
"I'm sure love like that exists," she finally says.
Laia rests her head on the seat, turns to look at her with those devastating brown eyes. Meissa can't believe this woman is real, human like the rest of them. She gets the urge to capture her in yet another short film, to let her live on further than this town and longer than this life.
She tries to remember her line of thought. "Um, life imitates art, right? Look, if you want it so much, it's because you won't rest until it happens. So, you'll make it happen, eventually. Just like I will with my movie. Isn't that what you're always telling me?"
Laia considers this, turning to the dark screen.
Finally, she sighs. "Maybe we just need to go to one of these huge European cities and see what happens."
The tension breaks, and Meissa snorts. "I call dibs on Rome."