Chapter nine
Why was I feeling so jittery? This wasn’t a date, was it? It doesn’t matter because Theo and I are friends. Nothing more. But how come I always had those stupid cliché butterflies around him? You know what, I should just swallow them. I am on a mission to find out what love is, not whether my childhood crush looks cute in a collared shirt. This entire conversation was playing inside my head while I stood in front of my bathroom mirror getting ready for the double date with Sammie and Josh. My phone buzzed, signaling a text, most likely from Theo. Ignoring it, I grabbed my bag and placed my sacred journal inside it along with my wallet and phone.
“Dad? Hey, Dad!” I yelled as I walked down the stairs.
“In the kitchen!” He yelled in response. Curious as to why my Dad was in the kitchen, as he isn’t the greatest chef in the world, I wandered in there to find my Dad with an apron on looking over a pot. He turned around when he heard me come in.
“Are you cooking?” I asked with a sly smile. He rolled his eyes in return.
“Yes, and don’t give me that look. I can cook, it’s just I have to take a few safety precautions before it.” I laughed and grabbed my purse of the counter.
“I’m heading out to the movies with Theo and Sammie.”
“Well, I was hoping you would stay for dinner. I need to tell you something.” He said in a rather nervous tone.
“Oh, but Dad, I promised Sammie and Theo’s on the way. Can it wait?” He sighed knowing there was no point in arguing. I pulled my Dad into a hug and just as we pulled apart the doorbell rang.
“Bye Dad! I’ll see you soon and you can tell me whatever it was you wanted to tell me!” I say as I walk out the door. Once I closed the door and turned around, I found myself two inches away from Theo. A smile graced his face as I was trapped by his blue eyes once again. I could feel his minty breath against my skin, causing goose bumps to form.
“Ready to go?” He asked in a whisper. I simple nodded my head; nothing much was processing other than Theo’s eyes would be the death of me. He really did look good in a collared shirt. He gently took my arm and led me to his car and like a gentleman he opened the car door for me. Blushing, I got in as he closed the door behind me and jogged to the driver’s side and got in. I was still in a daze as Theo backed out of my driveway and onto the street.
“Rory? You okay?” I looked up, giving Theo a sharp look.
“Hey, I only called you that name to get your attention. So what movie are we seeing tonight?”
“I don’t know. Doesn’t matter, I’m not here for the movie.” I said shrugging my shoulders. Theo gave me a quick offended look before returning to the street.
“I wanted to buy the large bucket of popcorn, but now I can’t do it without looking like an idiot if we’re not going to watch a movie and eat it as well.” I laughed and shook my head.
“You can still buy it; I would happily join you in eating it.” Theo smiled as he pulled into the parking lot of the theatre. Theo’s phone rang next to him. He quickly glanced over and saw it was Sammie calling and motioned me to pick it up.
“Hello?” I said as I answered the phone.
“Aurora?” replied Sammie in a surprised tone.
“Yeah. Theo’s driving so I picked up the phone. What’s up?”
“What is taking you so long? Don’t tell me Theo is driving at grandma pace to talk with you as long as possible. No, wait don’t tell me. You guys took long because you wanted to make up for lost time.” I could feel her winking on the other end. My cheeks flushed as I turned my back to Theo so he wouldn’t notice as he pulled into a spot.
“Would you shut up before I stuff your face into a popcorn bucket. Theo and I are in the parking lot and will be there in two minutes. Bye.” I said and cut the phone before Sammie could embarrass me anymore. Theo ran to my side of the car and opened the door for me once again. I got out as he closed the door and led the way into the theatre.
“So, what did Sammie want?” He asked rubbing his hands together.
“She was wondering what is taking us so long. I told we were right outside.” Theo smiled and opened the door for me. I couldn’t help but smile. He was a gentleman and it was starting to feel like a date. Oh no. These feelings can’t arise. This is a mission. Swallow those butterflies with some popcorn, Aurora. I spotted Sammie who was holding onto someone’s arm. Looking closely it turned out to be Josh. Thankfully he didn’t have mud in his hair this time. I pulled Theo along as he looked dreamily at the popcorn machine.
“Sammie!” I yelled and waved my arm to get her attention. She turned and saw me and pulled Josh along to meet Theo and me in the middle. While the two guys shook hands and greeted one another I pulled Sammie aside.
“Well at least he isn’t pulling your hair.” I said as Sammie punched my arm, but had a smile on her face. Something about her was different. Her face was lit up and her smile was wide.
“He’s changed, Aurora. Give him a chance. All that aside, this date is going to be the beginning of your romance novel. Just imagine it, two teenagers madly in love, and their passionate love for one another cannot keep them apart.” I rolled my eyes.
“If I wanted to write about ‘passionate love’ I would have just mashed up the plot of ten different romance movies and pasted a picture of a couple looking off into the sunset on the cover.” Just as Sammie was about to protest Josh and Theo had made their way over to us. Josh held out his arm for Sammie, and Sammie with a smile that even the Joker could not imitate, grabbed a hold of his arm.
“We’ll see you inside the theatre.” Said Josh. The two of them turned and started walking. Josh was talking about something, and Sammie listened enthusiastically. She leaned as though she couldn’t bare to miss a word his was saying. Her eyes light up every time he smiled and she was in a trance with him. I must have been standing there for a good five minutes because Theo stood beside me with two tickets and a bucket of popcorn. I turned to tell him how Sammie looked like she was under a spell, but it turns out Sammie wasn’t the only person. Theo had a warm smile on his face as he handed me my tickets. As I took mine I could feel the butterflies in my stomach begin to move faster. Oh no. I said I wasn’t going to feel those butterflies. In fear that I would embarrass myself, I stuck my hand in the popcorn bucket and stuffed my face with popcorn in an attempt to a) stop myself from blushing and b) stop myself from saying anything stupid.
“Aurora, you sure you’re alright? Because if you’re not, I can always tell same you got the flu or something and we can leave.” He said trying real hard to hold back his laughter. I shook my head no, as my mouth was still filled with popcorn. He slipped his hand into mine and began to pull me towards the theatre. I almost choked on the popcorn when he did that. But fortunately I swallowed it and followed him. As he looked straight ahead trying to find our theatre number I looked down at our entwined hands. His hands were larger than mine, but I liked it, it made me feel small and petite; and every once in a while his thumb would skim across the back of my hand. I was starting to get feelings and I knew they had to be stopped. I wiggled my hand from his gripped. Theo was quick to look over at me. At first he looked a little hurt, but I gave him a smile and he smiled back.
“And here we are. After you, Ms. Sitters.” Theo said as he opened the theatre door for me. Walking in, I realized the preview had begun, so the theatre was too dark to see. How in the world was I supposed to find Sammie and Josh and write about their undying, passionate love for one another in the dark? And then I felt Theo’s hand once again in mine. My heart stopped beating fast for a second and then began picking up its pace once my brain realized I was holding hands with an extremely cute boy. He led me to an empty row and we sat down behind and couple, which I when I looked closely was Sammie and Josh. Sammie had her head on Josh’s shoulder and he was holding her hand.
“Young love.” I heard Theo say from next to me. I turned to look at him. His blue eyes looked my multi-colored eyes with eagerness. Thank goodness the theatre was dark, because I was blushing like crazy.
“I wouldn’t call it love.” I say in whisper. Theo’s eyebrows lifted in confusion, which was also a signal for me to explain myself, so I continued.
“They are young, Theo. They couldn’t possibly know what love is.” And then Theo hit me with a question.
“And you know what it is?” I sat there for a second, a little embarrassed at what Theo said. Yes, I don’t know what love is, but I know there is a difference when someone is in love and when someone has a crush.
“What Sammie and Josh have is an infatuation. It’s not the same as love.”
“How is it not the same?”
“If you’re infatuated with someone it’s that you’re attracted to that person physically than their personality. Infatuation is like liking a celebrity. I have an infatuation for Andrew Garfield, but would I marry him? Probably not because I’m not Emma Stone.” I could see Theo smile at my comparison.
“Look more closely at Sammie.” I leaned a little forward in my seat to get a look at her. She wasn’t watching the movie, she was watching Josh watch the movie with her still in his.
“She’s not even watching the movie! They paid eight dollars for it and she’s not watching it. She’s watching him.” I say a little offended that she would waste money to go to the movies and not watch a movie.
“Aurora, Sammie is in love. She doesn’t care about wasting money to spend time with Josh. When you’re in love nothing else matters other than that person. You might not think young people would get that now a day, but some of them do. Some of them realize that the person right next to them is worth spending piles of money and wasting years thinking about them.” Theo was leaning in close to me whispering this, not to disturb anyone in the theatre. I could feel his mint breath against my neck and his voice making me melt. As I tried to push out my hormonal thoughts, I thought about what Theo had just said. Every time Josh talked to Sammie, Sammie looked like her life was complete and she could want nothing more. She was out of this world every time Josh’s hands were entwined with hers. She spent most of her time talking about Josh and how his hair flipped a certain way or the ‘cute’ things he did. Sammie is in love.
“I guess you’re right. Maybe young love can last forever.” I say as I turned to look at Theo. His blue eyes shown with something I couldn’t quiet place. Our faces were only a few centimeters apart and I could hear his heartbeat. Or was that mine? I’m pretty sure it was mine because it was going pretty fast. Theo smiled after a while.
“Young love lasts forever. I would know.”
*
Theo and I sat behind the love couple and chatted quietly about everything from why movie tickets were so expensive to type of tissues we used when we cried about books. Before I knew it, the theatre lights were on and it was time to go. Theo offered me his hand and without thinking about my psychotic butterflies in my stomach, I took it. We waved to Sammie and Josh and I promised Sammie to start writing her romance novel.
By the time Theo pulled in my drive way it was eight o’clock. Theo walked me to the door and the two of us stood there for a while. I shuffled my feet awkwardly waiting for Theo to say something as I’m guessing Theo was doing the same.
“Hey.” We both said at the same time. We laughed the awkward moment that was there before dissipated.
“I just wanted to say thanks for correcting me. I think I would have gone on thinking youngsters don’t know a thing about love.” I say looking down at my hands.
“Well I wanted to thank you for taking me with you to the movies. I really enjoyed it. But maybe next time it should just be the two of us.” Said Theo as he winked at me playfully and walked a way. I was little shocked, but then shook myself out of it.
“Good night, Rory!” Theo yelled from the car. I shook my head and took out the keys from my bag and opened the front door. I closed it behind me and began walking to the kitchen hoping to see me dad there. As I walked into the kitchen and placed my keys on the counter I found not only my dad, but I found another man with him. And they were kissing.
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Hey guys,
I know its been such a long time since I updated and I'm sure you guys thought I was dead but im not! I'm alive! I've just been taking so many exams because it's almost the end of the year so final exams and state exams. Twenty more days and then out of shcool and then updates will be regular :)
thank you guys for putting up with my late updates and staying with me and commenting because this book means a lot to me and means a ton that you guys like it :)
comment, vote, and fan (because i need to stay cool this summer get it like a fan will keep me cool. okay yeah i know lame joke)
love,
Alex :)