Authors: L. A. Gilbert
“Art.”
“Ugh. Mr. Trinder?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, I don’t like him much. Kieran neither, actually.” “So, you guys know each other from just art class?”
Drew felt himself grow warm and turned away. He plucked a flyer from a stand and pretended to study it. It advertised the date and time for some sort of comic-book signing in a couple of months’ time. He shoved it into his pocket. “Pretty much. He mentioned a movie and an author I liked.” He shrugged. “We both like the creepy shit.” He looked at Matt and made a scary oogie-boogie face, laughing when Matt glared.
“I don’t know how you can like that stuff, man.” Matt shivered. “I had to sleep with my fucking lamp on for a week when you made me see that
Paranormal Activity
movie.”
“That’s because you’re a pussy.”
“No way. You have to betwisted in the head to like that shit.” “What shit?” Travis asked.
“That’s called bribery.”
Drew grunted. “That’s called keeping your little brother quiet.” “Fuck.” Matt sighed.
“I like this kid,” Kieran said to Drew.
“Oh for—” Matt began.
“Uh. No….” He laughed.
Kieran gave him a knowing look. “Not your kind of thing?” “Not really.”
“Well, at least you have good taste in movies.”
“Uh….” Kieran hesitated.
“We hadn’t planned on it, Trav.” Drew nudged the kid.
“What?” Matt looked between Kieran and Drew. “You just fleeced me for two comic books; I’m not taking you to the movies as well.” He looked up at Kieran and Drew again. “Which one of you assholes put that in his head?”
They made it to the burger house, but fries and a Coke weren’t enough to satisfy a nine-year-old who had his mind set on what he wanted. Travis’s insistent pleas had them standing outside the movie house, looking up at the dot-matrix text of what was showing.
“You like the old scary films too, huh?” Drew asked, feeling unexpectedly pleased as Kieran gripped his arm, and disappointed when he dropped it.
“I love scary shit and old shit. Hitchcock, Frank Capra films….” “Look!” Kieran pointed at the billing. “They’re showing
Rope
.” “No, no. Let’s see
The Birds
.”
“Um, when you say old
scary
movies… how scary are we talking?” Matt asked, playing it casual. His brother leaned against his leg, munching on popcorn. He nodded down at Travis. “You know, because of the T-man.”
Drew snorted. “Yeah, because of
Travis
.” He looked at Kieran, grinning. “Matt’s actually a throwback from the eighties. He loves all those corny films where the kids wear oversized sweaters and legwarmers.”
“Oh, oh!” Kieran laughed. “Films where the guys hold boom boxes outside the girl’s bedroom window, and walk across the football field with their fist in the air?”
“That’s it!” Drew laughed.
“You both suck, you know that?” Matt griped.
Matt shoved Drew’s arm off of him and nudged Travis in the butt with his knee for laughing. “Say what you like, but I’d rather be a throwback than a freak who watches the kind of shit you two do.”
“You know…,” Kieran began. “Statistically, as teenagers we’re supposed to be into action junk, like
Transformers
or something.” He laughed when both Drew and Matt shivered dramatically.
Matt immediately pointed a finger at Drew, shutting him up when Drew grinned wide and opened his mouth to speak. “It’s nothing, kid,” he said to Travis, and then to Drew: “He is
not
seeing that film. I’d be grounded for a week, so don’t go getting it into his head.”
“What is it?” Travis chimed impatiently.
“It’s nothing; it’s just a film with puppets.”
“Like with Kermit and Miss Piggy?”
Matt groaned. “We can’t, it’s not showing. But there’s others….” He looked at Drew and Kieran. “So this bird film, I don’t suppose it’s animated, with an after-school-special vibe?”
“Well,” Kieran answered, “
The Birds
is about this woman that turns up at this place called Bodega Bay, just as these bird attacks start happening….”
“Soon enough the birds are killing everyone,” Kieran continued with relish. “You know, swooping down at them in the thousands and poking their eyes out and stuff. It’s awesome.”
“Sorry, Matt.” Drew grinned. “It’s not quite
Pretty in Pink
.” “One of these days I’m going tobeat you so hard, Anderson.” “I want to see the bird movie,” Travis whined.
“No, you don’t.” Matt said firmly, glaring at both Kieran and Drew when the pair cracked up. “Look, they’re showing the new Chipmunk movie, you want to see that?”
The relief on Matt’s face was unmistakable. “Thank fuck,” he muttered, and shoved Drew when he started to crack up. “Okay, looks like your movie’s a little longer than ours, and I’ll have to get him home after this so….”
“Yeah, cool. We’ll say ’bye here, then. I have to get back after this too. You busy tomorrow?” Drew asked while messing up Travis’s hair with both hands.
“I’m free in the afternoon. Meet you at the usual place?” “Sure thing. Bring your mitt.”
“Cool.” Matt purposefully knocked Kieran’s shoulder with his own as he shepherded Travis past them over to the separate ticket booth. “Good to meet you, Kieran. See you at school, yeah?”
That left the two of them. They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Drew gestured for Kieran to go first toward the ticket booth.
“No, I’m good.” He showed his ticket to the usher and waited a second for Drew to do the same before continuing. “And I’m getting out of here after graduation,” he said with conviction.
Unsure of what to really say to that and not wanting to pry, Kieran nodded. “I see. Well, I’m sure the fire department here could use more men.”
The room darkened, and they eased into a comfortable silence as the trailers began. It was kind of cool, Drew decided, being here with Kieran in an empty theater and watching an old film they both happened to admire. He couldn’t help but think that this would have been a great first date. But even as he thought it, some squeamish, straight-laced and eager-to-please part of him rebelled against the idea.
Part of him wanted to do what seemed to be a rite of passage for all other guys his age. He wanted to lay his arm across the back of Kieran’s chair and have Kieran rest his head close against his shoulder. Or even just reaching across the armrest and taking Kieran’s hand would have felt both natural and arousing for him. Instead he sat in this empty theater, barely paying attention to the film with every sense hyper-aware and preoccupied with Kieran sitting so close.
The whole afternoon had been a tug-of-war with what he wanted. He’d wanted to hang out with Kieran today to test the waters with Matt. He wanted to know what his best friend thought of Kieran, but at the last minute he almost lost his nerve. Kieran was actually funny and sort of cool in his own way, but he was also kind of hot and completely frustrating to Drew at the same time. He wanted to put his hand on Kieran’s leg in the dark theater, but then horse around with the guy like he was Matt in the daylight so no one would look at them weird. There was no manual, no set-out rules of conduct, and it wasn’t something he could ask Matt about.
He’d told Kieran it wasn’t dinner and a movie, and where were they now? He was about to finish school having never truly kissed someone he’d wanted to kiss or touched someone who honestly made him hot under the collar. It didn’t feel fair. So… fuck it.
With his heart in his throat and staring straight at the screen, he slowly inched his hand off of the armrest until the back of his hand touched Kieran’s. He felt Kieran start, sensed Kieran turn his head ever so slightly to look down at their hands and then look back at the screen.
Glad that Kieran didn’t look right at him or say anything, because he knew he’d lose his nerve if that happened, he knew that all it would take was one movement, one movement and he’d have Kieran’s hand in his. He stared ahead at the screen, turned his hand, and then touched his palm to Kieran’s. He threaded their fingers together.
He felt another involuntary jerk in Kieran’s hand, but then he was relaxing, and there it was. They were holding hands. It sounded so juvenile and simple but felt so dangerous and out of bounds. He let his thumb gently rub against the side of Kieran’s hand, took a breath, and chanced an embarrassingly inhibited look at Kieran.
Even in the dark, he could see the blush in Kieran’s cheeks and the pleased smile that he was trying to tamp down by biting his lip. The second Kieran looked at him, he felt a strange mix of panic and amusement rise up, something that must have been identical in Kieran’s mind, because they both looked back at the screen at the same time, smothering nervous grins.
He didn’t know if this had been his plan from the start, or even what his intentions would be outside the movie theater, but for right now he didn’t care and allowed this one small thing; just for now he didn’t let go of Kieran’s hand.
bam
, out of nowhere—held his hand. Sixteen hours, forty-eight minutes, and thirty-two seconds… and so on. He went about clearing the storage room in a daze, or, to be more accurate, he didn’t so much clear as sluggishly move the mess from one place to another.