In Real Life ✓

23. Noice

"So," Tamara said. "A month left till it's Christmas."

"Do you have like a countdown on your phone or something?"

"No." She hid her phone behind her back. "Anyway, I have an idea. So since Leslie is too scared to actually go out with Tony, I think we should do a triple date. Me and Darren, you and Gibbs and Leslie and Tony."

Leslie let out a groan and whined, "I don't wanna."

"You've been texting him non-stop," I reminded her.

"Yeah, but that's... different. Safe, from a distance. Screen to screen. Separated by cellular data and satellites."

"What on earth could happen?" Tamara sighed. "You think he's going to molest you?"

"Well, no, but..."

"Let's go this Friday."

"No."

"Yes."

"Fine," she relented.

So there we were, Friday night, in some restaurant I'd never been before, with some burgers in front of our noses. Tamara had decided to try being vegetarian again, hence the plate full of lettuce and vegetables and... I don't know, man, it looked a bit dry to me. I knew she'd be back to eating meat next week. This wasn't the first time she'd tried. She never managed to keep it up for longer than two weeks. Her record was a very impressive sixteen days.

I shifted in my seat and glanced at Tamara. "So..."

"So," Tony repeated. "Everyone having great lives and all?"

"Super great," said Darren.

Leslie put a carrot in her mouth.

"M-hm," hummed Tony.

Gilbert accidentally poked my leg and muttered, "Sorry."

I waved an it's-okay hand at him.

Tamara flipped her hair to the other side.

Darren took a sip from his drink.

Leslie bit her carrot in two with a loud snap.

"This was a stupid idea, Tamara," I combusted.

She deflated in her chair like a flabby balloon and huffed, "Well, I'm sorry! I didn't know you'd all be such party poopers. Let's just finish these burgers and go see a movie."

"Good idea," said Gilbert, suggesting a movie that was currently playing in theaters, which finally gave us a topic to talk about. Leslie opened up at last too, giggling at something Tony said, and Tamara and I proudly grinned at each other.

Mission accomplished.

Gilbert poked my leg again—intentional this time—and said, "The movie is starting in twenty minutes so we should hurry up."

"Oh, crap!" Tamara said, quickly digging her fork into her salad, which wasn't even halfway gone, before she let out a desperate sigh and grabbed Darren's plate instead, who immediately cried out, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm not a vegetarian anymore."

"Great, do I have to eat your nasty-ass salad now?"

"Yes."

"Goddamnit..."

Everybody laughed when he shoved it all in his mouth with a disgusted scowl and reached for his drink afterwards.

We rushed to the theater and got six tickets, settling down into our seats among the other teenagers who'd come see superheroes fighting air in CGI suits. I hadn't seen the previous movie of the series, so I was kinda lost, but I had Gilbert right next to me to fill me in. I used it as an excuse to move closer, leaning against his arm, secretly enjoying the warmth of his body. I could have sworn I saw him smile if it weren't so dark in the theater.

When the movie ended we asked a random person in the theater to make a group photo and posed like movie stars, because... Well, why not? We looked fabulous, naturally.

I contemplated posting a Tweet about the movie, but it might be too easy to figure out that DukeCockroach and I went to see it on the same day, so I left it and reminded myself: Christmas. Instead, I posted about how great movies in general were, which was already kind of a running joke on my account. Everyone was convinced that I did nothing else than hanging around on Twitter and watching Netflix. If it wasn't for the fact that I had to go to school, that could've been true. Up until recently, at least. I spent a lot of time with Gilbert now.

Though, to be fair, we watched a lot of movies and series together, so yeah... not much had changed. It was like Netflix and chill, but without the chill.

As the ending of our night neared, we decided to part ways and to never do this again. Despite talking with Tony for quite a bit, Leslie still stood at least ten inches away from him, her arms wrapped tightly around her body, shaking with nerves, so I guess our plan hadn't been... super successful...

Darren and Tamara on the other hand, did not hesitate to kiss each other goodbye, which left us all standing around awkwardly, looking at anything but the kissing pair. We should probably have just left at that point. It's not like we had to wait for them. I couldn't help but wonder what it was like to kiss Gilbert goodbye, though. Not like Tamara, slobbering all over the place, but just...

I glanced at Gilbert, whose mouth curled up in an uncomfortable smile, and I grabbed his hand and said, "Why don't you bring me home?"

He nodded and we said goodbye to the others and got into Gilbert's car, which was parked off a bit to the side because he still didn't want people to know he was rich and owned a car like this, and honestly, I was surprised nobody had found out yet.

Before he could drive off, I asked, "Hey, can I try something?" I hadn't planned this at all, but if I really was curious to know what it was like, I had to try it before I changed my mind.

"Oh, uh, sure. What?"

When he looked at me for a response, I just leaned forward and raised a hand to hold onto his cheek as I carefully pressed my lips against his. They were warm... and still. I couldn't stop myself from thinking of the last time we'd kissed, because back then, I'd been the one to freeze up, but now he was staring, eyes wide open in shock.

"That," I said, smiling at him.

"Oh." The surprise soon made place for a similar smile. "Uh, was it worth the try?"

I shrugged. "I guess it was alright."

"Okay," he chuckled. "Does that mean you'd want to do it again?"

"Perhaps."

He rolled his eyes.

I wasn't entirely objected to it. Which, in Eve language, meant I kinda liked it. It was nice. Not necessarily a necessity (ha), but a nice bonus nonetheless. So perhaps.

In this case, "Sure."

He was prepared this time. When I leaned forward again, he wrapped his hands around the back of my head and returned the kiss. And it was still nice. This was nice.