The Void Between Hearts ~~ongoing~~

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   "I swear I kind of liked it." I shrug with a smile. "Can I still hold your hands?" I ask

   "Compensation." She slides her fingers into mine. I'm gazing into her eyes and I'm thinking, HORMONES, the avid enemy of teenage love.

   "You guys are really–" 

   "Shut up Chinny. No more!" Boma says, we don't break eye contact.

   "If you keep staring at yourselves like that, you're breaking the damn rules today," Chinny says.

   The cinema is on the third floor, we take the escalator and I'm holding Boma's hands all the way. The place smells of fresh buttery pop-corn and all things sweet. There's a line-up of movie posters and people talking, 

   "Baby, you know I've always wanted to see this." A girl says to a guy. They look like one of those couples that do everything together and still break up in the end. 

    Another couple is with a baby in a stroller and there's a wailing kid pointing at an animation. 

   A woman walks up to us, smiling suspiciously, a little girl tags along with her. She touches Boma's hair. "Wow. I love mixed babies."

   I'm stunned by the rudeness. Chinny snickers like she's used to it. I can see Boma seething under the fake smile. 

   "Can my eyes be blue too?" The little girl asks. The woman quickly whisks her away.

   "Probably not. The eyes were traded for a father and I'm sure she'd rather have one," Boma says.

   Understandably. 

   One of the posters catch my eye. It has two people obviously teenagers, they're staring at each other like Boma and I just did. I like it, it's good for the moment.

   "I like this one," I say. They turn.

   "Romance?" Chinny asks with her face all twisted like I suggested a taboo.

   "I kind of like where the synopsis is going, I wouldn't mind seeing it," Boma says, my heart jumps.

   "Chinny I think it'll be thrilling. How can you not want to watch it?" I ask.

   "Hello? This sci-fi is what I'm going to watch." We turn to look at the poster. There's a man probably in his sixties holding a gun. There's also a woman in a red latex bodysuit holding some futuristic weapon. They look suspicious; we turn to look at Chinny, she's looking at us and we know she isn't changing her mind. 

   I don't want to make a choosing game out of this, so we end up watching the sci-fi and Chinny sits between us. 

   Two hours later, we're walking out of the cinema. Chinny is the happy bloom. Boma looks especially drained, with a pale face, and folded arms clutching her sides strongly.

   "Now was it bad?" Chinny asks

   "It was thrilling," Boma says, even her voice sounds strained. I want to ask if she's okay. I look at her and she looks away.

   "Nice ending," I say.

   "That's all? You guys are kidding me, I can't believe you." Chinny laughs.