The Friend

Alicia

"Shit—I mean, hey are you okay? Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Alicia replied.

"Okay...what the hell was that?" he mumbled to himself.

Alicia folded her lips to keep from smiling.

The movie was picking up and it was getting harder and harder for Rodney to remain still. He kept jumping in his seat or squirming away when a gory scene was happening. Finally, when the protagonist picked up an axe and brought it down on a zombie's head, he screamed. Alicia flung her head back and laughed out loud.

"I—I need to take a break," he said, starting to get up.

"Oh c'mon, this is the good part," she grinned.

"Let me pass," he hissed at her, but she just kept laughing.

The music was picking up again. Quickly, he tried to move past her, but she grabbed his arm and forced him to remain in his seat. He started screaming again as the zombies bit into human flesh. Alicia laughed out loud as he just kept on screaming and screaming. It was cute seeing him so stressed out over an imaginary film.

And that was how he acted for the rest of the viewing. Gone was his front. He kept ducking behind her, yelling, screaming. At one point he even grabbed a fist full of popcorn and threw it at the screen.

When the movie was over and they exited the theatre, Rodney was gripping his chest, trying to catch his breath. His eyes were wide with shock as he kept on blinking. Alicia wiped the corners of her eyes as she held onto her stomach.

"Whew, I felt like I lost 15 pounds just now from all that laughing," she said.

"I—that's nothing like the scary movies I watch. That was intense," he said.

"Mhmm," she said.

He gave her a sheepish smile and they continued walking, before he stopped them at a photo booth.

"We don't have any pictures together," he said. "Let's take some."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, really," he said.

It was tiny in the booth so when they sat down, their shoulders were touching. She gripped her skirt and practiced breathing. In front of them was a screen, a bright light and the camera lens. Alicia bit her lip. She wasn't sure if she wanted to take pictures with him. Sometimes when she took pictures with Maxine, she thought she looked really bad. Where Maxine was photogenic, she wasn't at all. She knew it'd be the same thing with Rodney since he was so good-looking and she thought that it would just remind her that he was way out of her league.

"Hey, what's the matter?" he asked.

"Do you really want to take pictures with me?" she asked.

"Of course, I pulled you in here," he chuckled.

"It's just that...you're so fine..." she said, looking down at her fingers.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you think so, but what's wrong, Alicia?"

"I...I'm not really dressed up—I mean, I don't want to ruin these photos. I'm not—not really photogenic and—" she started.

He grabbed her chin softly to face him.

"Alicia, you're the most beautiful girl I know," he said.

With the spotlight on her, she didn't know what to say. She wanted them to stop talking about her looks, but she was pleased with his compliment. She reached out to make sure the  lens was properly on them.