The Bad Boy of Mine

Chapter 13 ll I am not prepared to be accused of raping an inanimate object.

-

After I got home to change, we took Chris' car to the cinema. Apparently, he has a car and a bike. He only rides the bike to school and the car to everywhere else.

As we advance into the cinema, my heart begins to race. How am I going to survive this? I can't watch horror movies! The cold wind from the weather is not exactly helping with my mood.

Chris proceeds to buy the tickets while I get the popcorns and drinks. I can already imagine myself screaming at a unhealthy range of decibels. Popcorns will be everywhere. I'll be an embarrassment.

It's not too late to back out of this, right?

I turn to look for Chris, to see him handing the money to the counter.

I guess it's too late then.

I sigh and gather the popcorns and drinks into my arms. Chris and I saunter into the theatre. Still, he radiates apprehension. I can feel it. I frown. What's wrong?

As we enter the dark room, we find our seats and settle down. Oh my, my stomach is making somersaults, there are goosebumps on my arms already. The temperature seems to have drop a few degrees. I shiver and snuggle closer into the seat.

I glance at my phone, three minutes before the movie starts. That's enough time for me to calm myself down. I begin to take in deep breaths. Calm down, Zoey.

At my eighth breath, Chris jabs my stomach with his elbow.

"Ow."

"Sorry, sorry, but can I tell you something?" he leans closer to me, almost whispering. Is he going to tell me a big secret or something? Oooo that's interesting. I lean towards him.

"Promise you won't tell anyone."

"Promise."

"Okay, good. So you see, like... you see... so... actually, you see... like... I..." Chris starts to swallow his words and stammer.

"What is it?"

"You see," he pauses to swallow, "I am kind of," he smiles awkwardly, "just kind of, afraid of horror movies."

"So I'm actually counting on you to give me some sort of moral support."

Oh no.

I can't handle that. Can't he see I'm scared too?

"But...but... Chris," I stammer, "I... I'm scared too, you see," I swallow. The breathing exercises does nothing to calm my nerves.

"What? I thought - "

"I didn't want you to laugh at me!"

"Shit, what do we do? I don't - "

Chris is cut off by sounds being amplified throughout the whole room. The movie starts to play.

My body freezes and my eyes widen. Consciously, my hand goes forward to meet Chris' hand. We intertwine our fingers and I grip onto his hand like my life depended on it. He returns a squeeze on my hand and he glances at me with a tight smile.

Here we go.

-

The movie didn't turn out as horrifying as I thought it would. Chris doesn't even seem as shaken as I am though. Every once in a while, throughout the movie, he would give my hand an assuring squeeze. I was screaming inwardly when one of the characters in the movie got killed. Chris held my hand throughout the whole movie. I don't know, was it just me, or did I became braver while watching a horror film?

Only during occasional jumpscares, Chris would shut his eyes tight, just like I do, and only open them once he feels that it's over. He doesn't look like he's afraid of horror films.