It's been a year since Clay, otherwise known as Porkchop, planned the graduation event in Newport Beach. The event where a handsome Tyler Hamilton caught Clay off guard by kissing him. Clay, up until that day, had never kissed a boy before.
At 24 ye...
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THEY were playing 13 Going On 30 at the drive-in theater just outside of Atlanta. It was off the edge of a grassy park in a little parking lot with a giant screen. Everyone parked their cars in designated spots and paid only 5 dollars to watch the movie. You could watch it inside your car, but it was more known to set up a little bed or comfortable seating arrangement in the back of the car, or even just outside.
The movie sound came through the speakers of each car if you tuned to the correct radio station. It was one of my favorite places ever. I discovered it in high school when I was alone for Spring break. Pretty much all my friends were gone on some sort of trip, but I stayed at home. It was fun and then it was kind of lonely; I had to find some new way to kill my time. So I took a drive and ended up at this cute little breakfast spot outside of town. The people were all super friendly there, and I heard them talking about the drive-in. I went back to that drive-in about 5 more times in the span of that 2-week break.
I think it'd been over a year since I'd gone to the drive-in. Mostly because I worked and on my days off didn't necessarily think of driving up to see a movie. Even though I loved movies and watched them at home, anyway.
It was way more fun to go to a drive-in with someone else. I'd gone with Gracie a couple of times, even though movies weren't necessarily her thing. They were definitely my thing. Gracie was more of a dinner or walk around town type of person. We worked well because I pretty much liked everything, and Gracie was really easygoing. But I knew that it wasn't her favorite thing. Sometimes it was easy to tell she was hesitant to agree. Just because there were other things she would have preferred, though she was open-minded.
When I asked Tyler to come with me, he wasn't even a little hesitant.
"Fuck yeah! A drive-in? I've always wanted to go to a drive-in!" he exclaimed. It was right after we finished watching some random movie that was on TV, once the cleaning had ended.
Again, I was kind of shocked that he'd never been to a drive-in, but I guess it was less common than a picnic. I just considered it another one of those amazing cliché things that everybody should experience.
So he agreed, and we made plans to go a couple of days later. That day was now today, and I was so excited.
We drove up in my car, which had a big trunk that we could sit in for the movie. I piled in a bunch of pillows and cushions and blankets to make it more comfortable. Maximum backseat comfort. I always created the best cushiony space for a drive-in movie, and I took pride in that.
We had bought the tickets for the drive-in online, so all we had to do was pull up and show the woman working the entrance our online tickets, and we were in. Tyler reached forward to switch off the music as we pulled into the parking lot, which was fairly crowded. The movie screen was in front of us, and we were in the last row of cars, directly in the middle.
