Sparks Reignited

37 | Normalcy

Watching a movie has never been this disturbing.

I'm sandwiched between Blaire and Kyle. After the lights go out and the opening scene rolls in, the audience is silent for several minutes. We completely focused our attention on the screen. However, fifteen minutes into the movie, Blaire keeps wriggling in her seat and I hear muffled giggles.

I cringe at Ian and her. I will not lie, but it's a little annoying. We are in the back row seats that are half occupied. But that doesn't stop us from receiving some stink eye from the surrounding people.

I'm changing my mind about what I've said before. Having a double date is a bad idea.

As I shift uncomfortably in my seat, not daring to look to my right, Kyle searches for my hand in the darkness and thread his fingers through mine, giving me a light squeeze.

I lean into his side. "Help," I whisper into his ear. "They can't keep their hands off each other!"

At my plea, he leans slightly forward, putting his hand inside our popcorn bucket. He tosses a couple of them in Ian's direction to send a silent warning message.

They pull away from each other, but not for five minutes, before they exchange muffled words and giggles. Now, after witnessing the undeniable attraction between Ian and Blaire, I wonder how on earth did they hold out that long when their parents were dating. Incredible.

As if on cue, Kyle behaves oddly as well. He rests a hand on my left knee and slowly slides up my thigh, but I stop him before he gets past two inches.

"Kyle, what are you doing?"

He whispers into my ear, and I can almost hear the smirk in his words. "We can't afford to lose to them, can we?"

After suffering from his multiple advances, I now know better. "Haha, nice try." I remove his hand and grab his chin, forcing him to stare forward at the screen. His cheeks are squashed together, so he ends up looking like a pouting kid. "Behave."

He huffs in disappointment just as Blaire turns towards me and loops her hand around my arm. "Help, Riley! This Ian! He can't stop dropping spoilers about the movie."

That's why they couldn't stop laughing earlier. "You sounded like you were enjoying yourself earlier."

"No! He's annoying as hell!"

"Baaaaby," Ian whines. "Am not!"

"Oi, Hernandez. Stop gluing yourself to my girlfriend."

Someone in the audience shushes us and we all fall back into our seats. My cheeks are flaming in embarrassment. The four of us sitting together is a bad idea because our noise level automatically turns up several notches and I don't know how we're going to survive this for the next two hours before someone chases us out.

"That's it," Kyle mutters beside me. "We're bailing."

In the darkness, we exchange a look of agreement. We cast a look towards our unsuspecting friends and rise from our seats slowly, slipping out quietly. Behind me, Blaire's confusion rings in her hushed voice. "Where are you guys going?"

I whisper back. "Toilet!"

"The hell? You guys need to hold hands to go to the toilet? What is this—preschool? Oh. Or is it hanky-panky time?"

Her questions fall on deaf ears as we make our escape. Once outside, Kyle shakes his head at me, amused. "Should have done that earlier."

A chuckle escapes my lips. "We wasted our money, though."

"That's a lot better than having others report us to the staff for being a nuisance."

He's right. Fingers intertwined, we step out onto the streets. "Where are we going now?"