And Then There Was Vince

Chapter 18: What Is Happening?

I'd only been invited to a stay-in movie night, but I was really struggling to decide what to wear. In the end, I settled on my new Wreckers t-shirt, festive overalls, a pair of purple Converse, and then some French braids for my hair. I looked a bit like a city girl who had never seen a farm girl and was trying to dress up as one for whatever reason. Oh well.

My mother let me walk to Vince's house at half an hour before 7. Surprisingly, I didn't make it there too early. I was actually the last to arrive only 15 minutes before the stated go time. There were a lot of mock teases floating around the room about my tardiness, and maybe one or two about what I was wearing.

I didn't mind it at all, though, and I soaked it all in.

I was in love with the cheese of the whole thing.

Reflective dollar store pumpkin streamers were hanging around the TV room which was overflowing with pillows and blankets. Orange lights were suspended around the doorways and there was actually a spooky party mix CD playing from somewhere inside.

The kitchen was stocked with pizza, orange bowls of premature Halloween candy, and several bottles of apple cider. This looked less like a weekly movie night to me and more like a once in a month Halloween party.

We all took turns filling our plates with whatever unhealthy substance we thought would satiate us, and then proceeded into the theater.

By the time I was finished carb-loading, the only spot open was on a pillow on the floor next to Vincent. I sat beside him without getting too close.

"I knew you liked horror and figured you'd probably like Halloween as well," I whispered as the first movie started, "But I definitely never pictured you as the type to hang sparkly pumpkins."

"I didn't do that," he deadpanned. "Someone else kinda calls the shots with these things."

"He loves it," Kelsey argued from the couch behind us, jabbing him in the shoulder with her big toe.

"Almost as much as I love pain and suffering," he agreed.

The majority of the first movie's screen time was spent by them exchanging similar quiet banter. I couldn't place my finger on what was bothering me, but the elation I'd felt upon arrival was slowly snaking its way out of me. No matter how close I got to Vincent and how far removed I'd become from caring about Ashley, I still spent a lot of my time feeling positively left out.

I spent a little longer than necessary in the bathroom at "intermission." It was already pushing 10:30 by the time I finally emerged. Oddly enough, I was looking forward to leaving. This entire get together had felt entirely fitting for me, but I knew I still didn't belong.

When I got back to the room everyone had been rearranged in their seating. My previous place on the floor had been taken, and there weren't any open pillows around. Kelsey motioned me over to the couch where just a tiny sliver still existed between her and Vincent.

"Don't be shy," she told me. "It's only gay if our coochies touch."

I snorted half-assedly at her comment, trying my best to keep the amount of thigh fat resting on her body at a minimum. I did end up placing the largest amount of my body on her. I couldn't even think of the alternative.

The rest of the room chattered excitedly as the second movie played, laughing about character decisions or things that weren't related to it at all. A bubble of silence had more or less fallen on our end of the couch. Kelsey appeared to be doing her best to ignore us, and neither of us said a word. I started feeling more and more alienated, and kept glancing at the clock on his wall. It felt like it was taking an eternity for the hands to get to 11.

A teen was getting brutally murdered when I felt it. At first I'd thought it had been a mistake and moved my hand away as a reflex.

But then I felt it again, and finally brought myself to look over.

Vince was stealing glances at me with an odd look on his face as his fingers tried to get a hold of mine.

I helped him, then stared ahead frozen in place.

It felt like my heart was going to crack through my rib cage. My head felt stuffed to the brim and was spinning with so many different thoughts. I'm 90% sure every part of my body was shaking. I silently prayed that there wasn't enough light being given off by the movie to expose my deep crimson cheeks.

We sat there for the final minutes, hands clasped together between our cramped legs. It was a private moment in a packed room. We didn't speak, and both stared ahead nervously. I had completely lost my grip on reality.

What exactly was going on?

I jumped when my phone started buzzing in my pocket. A quick look at the clock reminded me that I was Cinderella living on two minutes of borrowed time.

"Shit," I groaned as I untangled our hands and stood up with effort. "My mom's here."

I had spent so long that night wishing I could leave it, and the last stretch had dragged on in some frazzled disorientation. But now, as I stood in the living room doorway, I felt like it hadn't lasted long enough.

"Lame," Kelsey sing-songed. "And just when things were starting to get good."

She cast a playful look at me sideways, and I figured she wasn't talking about the terrible slasher movie.

I didn't say anything on the way home no matter how much my mother pestered me. I figured simple statements about how great the night was should suffice.

I was curled up in bed, cozy and nursing a bad case of butterflies when my phone lit up. It was a call from Ashley.