FRIDAY NIGHT REBELS
Every Friday night, I watch a movie. Whether it's with a group of friends or alone every Friday night you can see me faithfully sitting in the Roosevelt Field local cinema watching which ever action/horror/mystery movie makes it's way through the big, black projectors on that evening. Romance and Humor movies were for other occasions.
This Friday, I went alone.
I bought a small popcorn to go along with my coke and sat down in the highest seat in the theater.
Unlike most people, who think that the closest the sit to the screen, the better picture of the movie they will be able to see, my eyes just don't seem to work that way. I get a major migraine if I sit anywhere past the halfway line.
I was lucky enough to get a very good seat. The rooms in this particular cinema were very large, and I found one about three quarters up. Not far enough so that I'd have to squint to see details of the movie and not close enough so that I'd have to move my head to see opposite sides of the screen.
Perfect.
When I sat down in my seat the previews had just begun being screened. I waited patiently and popped a couple popcorn pieces in my mouth.
A couple of minutes into the movie and I was already enthralled. They always did this too me, movies, the pulled me in so much until I couldn't see anything around me until it was finished. The good ones, at least.
Then, I heard a rustle behind me.
It was a familiar-looking boy, about my age– sixteen. He had light, blonde hair and big, cerulean eyes. He had come in through the EXIT door and he settled himself in the seat next to mine.
"Did you just come in through the exit door?" I asked. If there was one thing I knew, was that you were supposed to exit from said door. Hence the name: EXIT.
"Yeah, the dude wouldn't let me in 'cause I was late. No big deal. Just keep your mouth shut, Al."
"Al? What are you– oh." I recognized who he was now. Cody Pitman. I only knew him of name and face, but I'd never actually held a conversation with him. I had heard that he was quite the bad boy. Of course he'd come through the EXIT doorway.
Apparently he sort-of knew me too.
"Did you even pay for a ticket? And please don't call me Al. It's Alicia."
"What are you gonna do, Al? Tell on me?" He had the most annoying smirk on his face.
"Alicia."
"Fine, you don't like Al. How about Ali?"
"Alicia."
"Alicia's so prim-and-proper, though. It'll be like you're a goody girl. Then again, maybe Alicia is a good name for you…" He trailed off and put a finger to his chin, as if he was giving it true consideration. "Nah. You might give the impression of a good girl, but I know that inside you're a rebel. Ali shall be your rebel name."
"Ok. Sure. Ali. Just let me watch the movie." Anything to shut him up.
"Sure thing, Ali, Kabali."
I groaned in response, but keep my head facing forward diligently.
He left me alone, except for random whisperings in my ear that said things like these: "You see that girl there? The blonde? She's a spy." And, "I bet twenty dollars that the bomb is on the dude." And then later, "See! What did I tell you? I knew it."
As soon as the movie ended I stood up to leave.
"Could you move your feet, please?" Cody's black and slightly deteriorated Pumas were blocking my path.
"Why?? We were having so much fun!" He said, in a fake valley-girl accent. It annoyed me. A lot.
"Please. Move."
He ignored me and popped another piece of popcorn in his mouth. I turned around and walked the other way, went around the entire set of seats and went through the door, but not without one last glance at Cody.
He was still sitting there, black Pumas held up on top of the seat in front of him. Even from behind I knew that he had a smirk on his face.
The next Monday at school I was walking next to my friend, Lacey Bow, when I saw him again. He was talking to the English teacher, Mr. Valise, from what I could see he was trying to get an extension on the essay that was due today. I had already handed mine in, two days ago, since you get extra points if you do that. It was one of those things that I always did.
So maybe Cody was sort of right. I was a self-labeled good-girl. Why did that have to be a bad thing?
I saw him walking out of the classroom and hoped for his sake that he wouldn't approach me.
Unfortunately, he did.
"Hey Ali! He said, as he walked by me and went out of the English room; his hair was messy like he'd just rolled out of bed. "Fun on Friday, right? We should do it again sometime."
And that was it.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to Lacey's face, her eyebrows cocked non-believingly.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" She asked, giggling. Lacey loved gossip in every shape and form.
"Ughh. He was there at the movies, that was all." That was what I responded, trying to sound bored.
"Oh, ok." Lacey answered, her face disbelieving for a second. It changed almost instantly.
"Whatever. Did you do the Calc homework?"
I sighed and followed her into our classroom.
The following Friday, I went to the movies again. This time, Lacey accompanied me. We got there late, and the movie was just releasing, so we had a hard time finding seats.
"Ali! Over here!"
The voice startled me. I looked back to see Cody guarding the seat next to him, high up in the theatre where we had sat last time.
"You could have warned me to save three seats," He yelled, which set on track a couple of shushes from the audience. "It's fine though, you can sit on my lap."
Lacey giggled. I swear to god, sometimes I think that giggling is the only thing that girl can do.
"Let's just leave." I suggested.
"No. I came here to watch a movie, and that's what I'm gonna do." Trust Lacey to become innovative in the worst possible moments.
She walked over to where Cody was sitting.
Eventually, I gave in and sat down next to Cody. Lacey, being the sweet and innocent-minded (coughnotcough) person that she is, allowed me to sit there while she found a seat directly behind me.
We were only halfway into the movie and we were already falling asleep. Well, not really, but we could've. If we wanted to, that is.
"This sucks balls." Cody declared. I had to say I agreed with him.
He started throwing popcorn pieces to the couple that was making out in front of us.
The man looked up annoyed. "Hey, what's the deal?"
"We came here to watch a movie, not you and your girlfriend swap saliva."
"You got a problem with that?"
"Yeah. I do."
I looked at them both. Cody had to be crazy. It was like Clark Kent against Spongebob, and I'm sure you can guess which one is which.
"Shut up!" The rest of the moviegoers also disliked this argument.
"Hey, wait a second, what's going on here?"
The security guard had apparently noticed the raised voices.
Oh shit.
"It's nothing," Cody said looking away.
"It's not nothin'. We come here to watch a movie and we don't need to be hearing these kids complainin'."
"We came here to watch a movie too, not to see you two."
"You don't have to watch if you don't want to," The man said with a little push.
I looked back at the security guard. He was short and his hair was thinning. It was also apparent that he was baffled. He hadn't been working here very long.
"I want you both to leave."
The man and Cody agreed in the following statement: "What?"
"I said it. Leave."
The man was spitting on us. His stress toleration levels must be very low.
"We're not gonna leave just because–" Cody started.
"I said leave, or I'm calling back-up."
"Wow, it's all right. We'll go, right?" The man said to Cody.
"Well of course you don't mind leaving. Not like you were doing any movie-watching anyways." Cody muttered.
"'Bye." He said in our direction, with a small hand wave.
The security guard looked baffled. "You two need to leave also."
"What? But we didn't even do anything!" Lacey complained.
"It's called association."
"I'm not leaving." Lacey said, and that was final.
…
A couple minutes later, we found ourselves roaming the Roosevelt Field Mall with Cody Pitman.
"Why did the gum cross the road?" He asked.
"Enlighten me."
"Because it was stuck on the chicken's foot!" He started laughing, and people started staring. I can't say I didn't feel uncomfortable, because I did.
"Aw…come on Ali, loosen up." Lacey was already using the nickname.
"Whatever," I replied.
"Hey, I have an idea…" Cody said, while I got scared.
"What?" I asked warily.
"Let's go ice-skating."
"Yeah!" Lacey said enthusiastically.
They both looked at me expectantly.
"Fine, let's go, but you are warned. I'm not the best ice-skater in the world."
…
I definitely stayed true to my word. As soon as I stepped on the ice, I fell.
"Here, let me help you." Cody tried to help me up, and I pulled him down by mistake. Lacey was just staring, laughing.
"Sorry," I said, sure that my skin tone closely resembled a dried-up tomato at the moment.
He just laughed.
The rest of the evening continued something like this. He would try to help me up, and he would help me skate for a little until I made him fall. At first, it was quite embarrassing, but I found myself letting go of that.
Cody had made me get kicked out of a movie, and I still had the most fun I'd ever had.
When we were leaving, Lacey pulled me into a corner and whispered, "you like him."
I blushed, "no I don't."
Just as Lacey was going to retort, we heard a call from behind us.
"Listen, Ali, I'm sorry about the movie, but come next week and it'll be my treat." He said, "I'll even buy you popcorn."
Surprisingly, I went.
We started to see each other every Friday. It wasn't verbally spoken, but we both knew that the other person was going to be in the movie theatre sitting on the highest seats at eight-o-clock whenever a blood-pumping movie was playing.
Until one day he didn't show up.
I sat down in our usual seats, at the top of the theatre. The movie started and Cody hadn't arrived yet. I figured that he was just running late, so I put my purse on his seat so that it wouldn't e occupied when he turned up. About five minutes into the movie, someone approached me.
"Excuse me, are these seats taken?" A girl about my age with long, beautiful blonde hair asked, referring to the both seats on my right, one of them including Cody's regular spot.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry."
"It's ok, thank you."
Just then, Cody arrived and just as I was about to open my mouth to call him over, the girl spoke.
"Oh, hey! Cody! You get the popcorn?"
"Yeah, here." He said, handing the popcorn to the girl, "Extra butter, right?"
"Yum!" The girl squealed.
My heart started racing and I ducked down in my seat praying that he wouldn't see me.
He did.
He nodded his head at me in the dark of the movie theatre and my stomach dropped. Not even a "hi" or an "oh, hey, Alicia. This is my sister."
But that was definitely not his sister. The way that she dug her face in his chest whenever there was a scary part made me want to pull her hair off of her scalp. I did a double take on her hair again. Strangely, her hair looked less beautiful and more mop-like by the second.
When the movie was over and Cody and the girl (whom I had dubbed The Mop) shared a kiss, I was the first person out of the theatre. I didn't remember a single part of the movie.
I went to my bed as soon as I got home. I felt heartbroken for some reason, which was ridiculous considering Cody and I never had anything. He had never even showed signs that we were anything more than movie-buddies.
I mean, we weren't even technically friends. Why should I even care that he happened to be going out with The Mop?
The thing is, I cared.
I really, really cared.
That entire week was a personal battle for me. I took the long way to classes during school if there was any way that I would run into Cody.
For some reason, I didn't tell Lacey about what had happened. She had assumed things that I had denied, even though a small part of me might have agreed. If I told her now, it would be pretty embarrassing. And I still didn't know whether or not I was going to the movies.
Part of me wanted to go to the movies on Friday. Mostly because of my curiosity if Cody would show up also, with or without The Mop. The other part of me didn't want to, because there was a big chance that Cody would show up with her, and I didn't want to go through the humiliation of being there and seeming like I had nothing better to do.
In the end, my curiosity won. Almost entirely because I really didn't have anything better to do.
I stalled for time. I changed my clothes again and again, until I opted for a jean mini with a brown eyelet shirt. I re-checked my hair.
I finally left.
My house was a short five-minute walk from the theatre. My short steps made it a twenty-minute walk.
I couldn't stall forever. I strided into the movie dome, bought my ticket and a small coke, and made my way inside the theatre.
I was thrilled to see that Cody was alone.
I walked up to him, though he was fully interested in the movie, with a small smile creeping up the sides of my lips.
"Is this seat taken?"
"Uh, yeah…" He started to say, not taking his eyes off the screen.
My heart plunged. So he was here with her.
"Oh, sorry."
Then, he looked at me. "Oh, Ali, I thought you were someone else. No the seat isn't taken. I mean, it is, but not for you. I mean, I was saving it for you." He rambled, which was strange because he had always been the more articulate of the two.
"Ok, thanks."
I took my seat and didn't say anything. There was a lingering silence between the two of us. It was like a challenge: we both needed to say something, but neither of us wanted to go first.
Finally, he cracked.
"I though you weren't gonna come."
"Why not?"
"Well, because, I thought that you might have though that I might be here with, you know…"
"I can still come to the movies alone, though."
"Yeah, I guess."
"I mean, I'm capable of coming without meeting you here. I always used to."
And so I might have been lying. If I would have walked in the movie theatre and saw Cody here with her, I would have walked straight out again.
"Right. What I meant to say was that I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before. That I was coming, you know, with her."
"Why would you need to though? But I guess a heads-up might've been nice."
"Right. Let's just say that it was an experiment."
"She was pretty," I offered trying to act nonchalantly.
"I guess."
"You guess? You don't think your girlfriend's pretty?"
"Well, yeah, she's pretty. She isn't my girlfriend though."
"She's not?" I asked.
"Well, no, like I said, she was more of an experiment. About ten minutes into the date I realized that could never go out with her."
"Hmmm. Why?"
"Well, first of all, she's very messy when she eats. She was sucking her fingers all through the movie. Also, she didn't like that movie, and I would have too say that it was the best horror movie I have seen all year, don't you agree?"
I was slightly jealous that he had seen "the best horror movie he had seen all year" without me, but I tried not to let it show and nodded, even though I didn't remember a single scene of it.
I also didn't really get where this was all going.
"And other than that…she wasn't…"
He paused for a second. "She wasn't…" I prompted, my inquisitiveness getting the better of me.
"She wasn't…you."
I inhaled a short gasp of oxygen. This wasn't what I had expected.
"What?" My question came out low, almost a whisper.
"I couldn't stop thinking about you all night," he clarified.
Our foreheads were now touching. Our lips were getting closer and closer.
I could smell his breath now. Just…like…popcorn.
Finally, we gave into temptations and kissed. At first, it was just a brush but then it deepened. I finally understood what people meant by tingles-up-your-arms butterflies-in-your-stomach kisses.
His hands touched my face lightly, as if I was treasured. I liked that feeling.
After what seemed like a much too short amount of time (I don't know how much later, and frankly, I don't care) we broke apart.
Those two inches that separated us suddenly felt like miles.
"Would you like to go out with me sometime?"
Ah, isn't that the million-dollar question?
"Eh…on one condition."
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"We don't go to the movies."
He smiled, and nodded in agreement.
And for the second time in a row, I didn't see a bit of the movie I had gone to see.
A/N: Second one-shot. Just a little something that has been swimming around in my mind for a couple of days. Based on something I saw at the movies…with a million times for fluff. The title kind of sucks though, ideas are welcome.
What'd y'all think?