Wednesday
5:30 p.m.
You know those moments in your life in which you don't think you could possibly explain the reason as to why they were happening?
Or why you were the one experiencing them?
Well.....
It was almost like I was unworthy, undeserving, and if you wanted to take it a step further with your vocabulary, I was god damn unqualified.
Of what was happening to me right now.
And I couldn't even put it into words.
I wouldn't ever be able to put it into words.
............
Because Yuri Katsuki was in my room.
My fucking room.
And he was wearing that distressed denim jacket that would some day give me a one-way ticket to the insane asylum.
"Madonna.....Depeche Mode.....Toto......Beach Boys..." his sweet like candy voice murmured through cigarette smoke as he flipped through vinyl after vinyl, his fingers running themselves across the shelf that they called home. "Of course, Beach Boys."
All I could do in response was roll my eyes at what I knew was gonna come out of his mouth next.
His cliché insults had started becoming more and more predictable as each summer day passed.
"Before you even think about insulting my music taste......"
"What? Oh, I would never!" and I swear even a toddler could have picked up on the amount of sarcasm in his voice when he said this.
I gave him a pout.
"You truly cannot appreciate The Beach Boys to their fullest potential until you have become one with the ocean," I said as I flopped down onto my bed with a sigh, my fingers dancing and reaching for Yuri's pack of Marlboros that he had tossed on my bed.
"I'm more of a Rat Pack kind of boy, Nikiforov. I think you know that by now."
And god, did I know.
Ever since that day down at the water, we had somehow, effortlessly and naturally, found a way to waste time together.
It was like we were drawn to each other by this mutual feeling or mutual bored attraction to hang out with each other.
As if we'd die if we didn't.
And I knew I would.
I knew I'd die.
I couldn't say whether that feeling was the same for the spunky ravenette that I had fascinated myself with.
Maybe he was just here to complain about meaningless minutes and waste all the time he had in the world.
But what I do know is that I can't help but beg for him to come over just so I can laugh at his jokes, jokes that without any endeavor can make me suffocate from laughter.
His sarcasm only being an added bonus.
I know that I can't resist the way his nose crinkles when he laughs......
Or the way his subtle dimples always seep through when he gives me sunshine smiles and devious smirks.
And when these things happened on my account, when he smiled at something that came out of my mouth or at something that I so stupidly and recklessly said.......
I swear I felt like I was the luckiest teenager in the world.
But if I couldn't resist these things......
Then I knew I couldn't possibly stand the way his ebony curls and painted freckles and......
Brown, vibrantly brown eyes.......
Drove me crazy.
Drove me wild.
And they had driven me far enough to want to spend the rest of this cliché, hopeless, and boring summer with him.
"What is it about that music that gets you so worked up?" I said as I laid down on my back and stared up at my ceiling, watching as the puffy, clouded smoke floated up into the air and outlined my posters. "I just, don't understand."
Yuri's face loomed above mine as he came into my line of vision with an unimpressed look stuck on his face.
"Shame on you, dickwad," he said as he, out of the blue, hit my face with the backside of a record, his luck being the fact that he missed my cigarette. "You should know better by now."
"But your music is so slow, and complicated," watching him longingly as he teasingly swayed over to the record player by my window. "Not to mention it's old as fuck."
Within these past few weeks, Yuri had gone on and on about the works and wonders of Frank Sinatra, Frank Valli, and Dorris Day......
Playing jazz and swing over my Jeep speakers as I desperately tried to find the reason as to why Yuri would shout his love for these very tunes from rooftops.
I was yet to find that reason.
But because I was so deeply infatuated.......
I had driven myself all over town to find records upon records of music that would make Yuri smile from here all the way to San Francisco.
"Old? Vic, the 20s through the 60s are not old," he said as he let out a puff of smoke and a soft, youthful laugh.
"Sure isn't new."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean it has to fall under the category of ancient, does it?"
"I never said ancient."
"Old........ancient. They're synonyms, fish boy."
I was now sitting up in bed, leaning lopsided on one of my hands as I gave him a smirk through my cigarette, looking at his hands on his hips and his raised eyebrows.
"Alright then. I have a challenge for you, Katsuki," I said as I took a mental picture of the way he immediately accepted the so-called challenge with his eyes.
"Oh? You know I can't resist those......"
I let out a huff of pride under my breath as I inhaled a puff of smoke, looking at him with a fathomless stare as I did so.....
"I challenge you to find a song of your own personal taste that you think will enlighten me," and I could see the gears in his brain already turning and grinding at the chance to do so.
He had already been trying to do so these last few days.
"Hm, find a song for the boy with the most predictable and cliché taste in music.......this really is a challenge," he mumbled as he gave me a short and sexy side glance, digging deep into the vinyls again.
He didn't even have to try.
He had me under his finger.
He had me on a string.
I was a puppet that moved my arms, my lips, and my will to breathe through this desolate hope and hunger for him.
I could constantly feel the strings snap and my body break away from all of its control around him.
His gaze even being enough for me to fall deep, deep, deep, and deeper underwater.
I was so far gone.
Jesus, am I okay?!
"Only challenge is that you don't have any songs for me to choose from, Vic," Yuri said impatiently with a pout as he turned around to face me, his hips pressed up against the table as he leaned against it. "There's not a single note of jazz in any of these songs."
"Look harder."
He let out a tisk and wasted no time in digging right back into my plethora of music genius, much to his debate though.
And all I could do was look at him like he was the hottest thing alive.
And god, he was.
He really fucking was.
Especially when he was wearing that denim jacket that slightly hid away his crucifix, and had a lit cigarette dangling in between his cherry lips.
I had to do everything in my power to keep every inch of my body intact and not.......
Erect.
"You think you're so sneaky, don't you Victor?" I heard him say as he turned around suavely, averting my trailing gaze from his backside immediately.
Shit.
"Wh-What do you..uh mean?"
"Don't think I don't notice how your vinyl collection is all of a sudden......growing," and I watched closely as he twirled a Bobby Darin record in his delicate, caramel hands. "Tell me, is this your secret effort in trying to, as you put it, enlighten yourself with my music taste?"
I let out a sigh of relief at the fact that I hadn't been caught for a different deed, a different act.
But I couldn't help the bashful smile that slowly crept its way onto my face as I looked at the hopeful glimmer in his eyes.
"Hey, just because I give you shit about your music taste doesn't mean I don't and won't, make a tiring effort to appreciate it," and I could have melted at the way I watched his cheeks blush and his lips smile back at me.
"You're such a softie, Nikiforov."
"Only for you, since you're mildly tolerable."
"Don't flatter me."
And I hadn't mentally or physically prepared myself for the way his teeth overlapped his lips and bit down....
Bit down with a smile.
God, he didn't know what he was doing to me.
Someone get me out of this room.
Someone please........
"Hey, Merman! Just wanted to let you know that I........" and the door practically shot open as my dad appeared hurriedly, and out of nowhere.
Yuri and I both jerked away as if we had been caught doing something.
But of course, that something was nothing.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know that you uh.....you had someone over," my dad said flustered as he gestured to us with his worn out, wood shop hands.
I watched as my dad gave Yuri a double take, his eyes and his head quickly realizing that this boy had never been brought to his attention.
And he hadn't.
Yuri had this thrilling fantasy of climbing up to rooftops and jumping into windows, so that's what he did.
He was a worshipper of anything that was out of the ordinary.
And well.....climbing up peoples homes like they were jungle gyms was definitely out there.
But god, it didn't matter that he would sneak into my house.
I loved being the first one to see his luminous face when he stumbled through my balcony window like he was some kind of dream angel, coming to take me away from reality.
Call me selfish, but I was ecstatic and almost euphoric when it came to the thought of having Yuri all to myself.
God, I'm such a loser.
"Oh, da-... umm yeah, this is......"
"Yuri. Uh..Yuri Katsuki!" I heard Yuri say suddenly to my dad as he held out his hand for him comfortably and lithely.
I couldn't see a single flash of discomfort or apprehension in Yuri's eyes.
He talked to my dad as if Arlo was just a casual, good natured friend.
"Yuri? That's a wicked name!" and my dad had a stupid grin on his face as he made it his ultimate goal to be Yuri's new best friend.
Not a day goes by where my dad doesn't call himself "the Cool Dad."
And now that he had the chance to come off as a saint towards the pretty boy, he was damn well gonna do it.
"Thank you sir!" Yuri said, with a satisfied smile on his lips.
"Oh, just call me Arlo mate. Wouldn't want to make you walk on rocks around me," and I was visibly cringing at this point.
God help us all.
Yuri just gave my dad one of those polite laughs, a laugh that you'd definitely give a teacher when they made a painfully stupid joke.......
But Yuri's laugh sounded like he was almost amused at how "Dad" my dad acted.
If that made any sense at all.
"V, how come you didn't introduce me? What, do you think I'd embarrass you or something?" my dad said as he leaned against my bedroom doorframe, a smirk on his face.
No Dad, I didn't introduce him to you because then you'd see the way I look at him and figure out that I'm gay as hell.
"Guess it just.......didn't cross my mind."
"Alright then, kid."
My eyes left my dad to look at Yuri, who was already looking right at me with a smug smile, ebony strands of hair in his face as he leaned back on the table and kept his eyes on me like we were in the middle of a staring contest.
"Well, listen I came up here to tell you that I don't think I can do a movie tonight. I've got Mr. Dahlman calling me every damn minute for me to come down and help with his landscaping. Lazy asshole can't even get up off the couch to do the damn dishes, it seems.
You good if we skip?"
It was our thing to go see a cheesy movie every Wednesday night.
Every time we went, the order was always the same.
Large popcorn, complimented by a large cherry coke (of course), and my dad not going into the theater without grabbing a pack of skittles while I could never resist a pack of Swedish fish.
There was nothing better than pigging out on buttery popcorn and satisfying sugar that melted in your mouth, spreading over your tastebuds like wildfire.
And there was nothing better than laughing over stupid jokes and predictable movie plots with my dad.
Because it was moments like those in which you'd never want to forget the feeling of absolute contentment.
But I was okay with skipping for one week.
"Yeah sure Dad, don't worry about it," I said nonchalantly as I kept burning down my cigarette, Yuri's eyes still on me for some reason.
And my eyes met my dads as his sparked with some kind of idea, like he had been struck by a bolt of lightning or lightbulb.
Oh god, what now?
"Or hell, you could just take Yuri! I'm sure he'd love that!" my dad said excitedly as he patted Yuri's shoulder," I've got the tickets ready in the kitchen if you guys wanna head down there."
Fuck, fuck, fuck.......
"Uh well, I'm sure Yuri's fine if we just stay here....."
"Awe come on Nikiforov. You're no fun," came Yuri's voice with a razzing tone, his eyes now glinting with mischief and adventure, as if a movie was a forbidden party. "You know I'm a sucker for the cinema."
I did know that.
And I'd love nothing more than to see a movie with those brown eyes.
But there's something about going to sit in a dark, comfy room, with velvety red seats and the intoxicating smell of popcorn and cigarettes....
Along with Yuri sitting right next to me looking like he does, while I do everything in my power not to lean over the seat and kiss him senseless, which would make him lose interest in what was projected on the screen (hopefully).......
That sounded like an accident waiting to happen.
"Well...I mean.....wouldn't it just be better to stay here? I mean, there's probably not even any good movies screenin' anyways," I said, a little more defensive than nonchalant this time as I leaned my elbows on the end of my bed, watching both my dad and Yuri.
And both of them had unamused expressions on their faces that were pointed straight at me since I was the culprit of their disappointment.
"What do you mean? The Outsiders is playing, that's your favorite movie! And don't even think about bullshitting with me on that," my dad said confidently as he gave me that look that clearly said "seriously?"
God dammit Arlo.
"Guess I can't fight you on that, can I?"
"Well then, that settles it. Both of you get out of the house now and enjoy summer. It is too pretty to be inside," and I swear to god I could've groaned at how cliché of a parent statement that was.
"Just because Yuri's here doesn't mean you have to go into full on Godzilla Dad mode you know," I said as I laid back down on my bed with a smirk that only I could see.
I could hear Yuri quietly laughing to himself by the record player.
"Oh shut it, sass machine. Yuri, it was very nice meeting you, I hope you have what it takes to tame the beast," my dad said with a rushed manner and a light smile before he shut the door and against his will, drove over to Dahlman the Dick's house.
You'd be wrong if you said that the Nikiforov's didn't have a degrading nickname for each and every loser of a person in this town.
Because we most definitely did.
"You know, if you don't want to go to a movie with me, just say so and save us all the trouble of your excuses," Yuri said as I practically jumped away from him when he sat down on my bed.
He had his ebony head gently rested against my headboard as he kept on burning down his cigarette, my eyes not being able to look away from his lips.
His converse (ones that I don't think I'll ever be able to forget) covered feet were draped over my knee as I looked at him speechless from the end of the bed.
Say something, you idiot.
Just don't say that you don't want to see a movie because you're afraid that the only movie you'll both be watching is Victor coming out of the closet.
"It's not that Yuri, trust me......
I just....I don't know.
Wanted to chill, I guess."
The way he tilted his head at me was enough of a gesture to know that he didn't believe a word I had said.
"Well, I can't tame the beast if we're just gonna sit here all summer, can I?"
"Tame the beast my ass," I said as I fell back down on the bed, in a desperate attempt to not look into his daydreaming eyes.
And his converse feet were now adolescently playing with the hem of my letterman jacket as I listened to the delicate sounds of his nicotine-coated breath.
"I think your dad might just be cooler than you, Merman."
"Oh great, now you have another nickname to add to the long list. That one being the most embarrassing so far," and I couldn't help but tilt my head to the side so I could see him again.
See him and the wide smirk he had on his face.
"By the end of the summer, I'll have a whole book of nicknames, just for you."
"Publish it for me, will you?"
"If you're lucky."
We just quietly sat there for a couple of minutes, listening to the sound of the waves from my open balcony window that Yuri had neglected to shut on his way up.
And we, of course, teased each other with smiles through that cigarette smoke before we finally found enough energy in us to make the trip down the street to Sun Pictures Cinema.
"I have an idea," Yuri said as he abruptly stood up and ran over to the window with flair. "How about we see who touches down on the sand first. I go through the window and you go through the front door?"
"Oh, you're on."
Yuri won.
★
"Two tickets for The Outsiders, please."
Mrs. Rachel handed me two tickets and a smile before we headed into the cinema.
She was a quirky, cat lady that never skipped a Wednesday night shift at the box office.
And she had never skipped on the chance to wear her pink, crocheted cardigan and red glasses.
And when I say quirky, I mean it.
'Lot of the kids up at the school always found it so damn funny to make fun of her.
Always calling her "old hag" and "cat piss Rachel."
But to me, she was just the nice lady who always had a smile on her face and two tickets waiting for us every Wednesday night.
And she had been giving me that smile since I was 7 years old.
So, for that, I was forever grateful for "cat piss Rachel."
"I can't remember the last time I've been to a cinema like this," Yuri whispered in my ear excitedly as we pushed through the creaky, glass doors and walked into the main area.
He immediately ran up to the snack bar as I watched him distantly with a bashful smile.
And I never got over how warm and at ease I felt in this cinema.
The carpet was soft and had all of the stars and planets decorating it so you felt like you were walking in space.......
And neon signs and lights lit up the sparkling ceilings and hallways with theater numbers and popcorn machine signs.
The bonus being the tongue watering smell of that buttery popcorn and the swinging sound of the slushee machine.
And the not so bonus being the fact that my freshman boy crush, Topher Westfield, still worked the snack counter almost every Wednesday and Sunday night.
Kill me now.
"Well, Yuri Katsuki, it's very nice to meet you," Topher said casually as I waltzed up behind Yuri mid-conversation and grabbed a pack of Swedish fish. "Where's daddy-o, Niki?"
I had clearly missed introductions.
"Couldn't make it tonight. Had Mr. Dahlman on speed dial."
"Say no more."
Topher already had my large popcorn and cherry coke ready at the counter as he gave it to me with a smirk.
Usually, the looks he gave me made me squirm and blush like a madman.
But ever since Yuri's been in town, I've found myself unaffected and quite frankly, uninterested, by anything Topher Westfield did.
And I was now a sucker for anything and everything Yuri Katsuki.
"It's on the house tonight, man. Don't worry about it," Topher said almost in a whisper to me as I grabbed my popcorn and held out a $5.
If I had been a freshman boy in that moment, I probably would have passed out right then and there, my premature body not being able to handle the overload of happiness.
But all I did was walk away with a casual wave and a basic smile.
"Thanks, Toph. You're the best."
"Anytime."
Yuri and I made our way down the hallway to theater #4 in complete silence as I watched Yuri look straight forward with his blue raspberry slushee straw in between his lips.
His silence made me feel very uneasy.
And the look on his face was.......oddly weird and.......
Unfamiliar.
"What kind of nickname is Niki? I mean, come on," he finally said as we walked into the theater side by side, the previews echoing throughout the empty theater. "Where's your damn creativity?"
No one ever came to Sun Pictures Cinema on a Wednesday night.
And theater #4 never had another living soul inside of it.
Unless you counted Jeff, the guy who sat upstairs, dead ass asleep, as he projected the film on the screen.
"What? You jealous, Katsuki?" I taunted as I skipped in front of Yuri and threw a popcorn kernel, watching as his nose scrunched up and his frown disintegrated behind a smile.
"God, as if Nikiforov."
"Admit it. You just can't stand the thought of me having other friends, can you?"
"No, it's just that I....."
It seemed like he had to mentally stop himself from finishing off that sentence as I watched him stand still at the end of the aisle, while I sat down in the same seat as I always did.
Is Yuri.....?
Is he seriously jealous?
Or is it that, maybe just maybe.....
No Victor.
Don't even think for a second that he feels the same way.
You god damn idiot.
And I hadn't noticed how Yuri had sat down right next to me as I finished the painful battle in my mind, my eyes immediately looking into his brown ones.
He was so close.
"Forget it. It's nothing," he said as he leaned back in his seat and grabbed a handful of my popcorn, not missing the opportunity to throw a kernel in my face as payback.
"Awe, come on. You're wasting the popcorn."
"You started it," and I could finally feel relieved at the way Yuri's drop dead beautiful smile returned to his lips.
"Be quiet, the movie is starting."
He nudged me with his elbow and muttered what was, no doubt, "fuck you," under his breath.
And then the title of the best movie ever made appeared on the screen as I fell into a cinematic trance.
I couldn't help but reminisce in the feelings and memories of the movie as I leaned back in my seat and let the plot unfold before me.
I remember reading the book and worshipping it like it was the best thing in the world when I was a little kid.
And it was, it really was.
It still is.
And it was funny because I have never been much of a reader, especially when I was a kid.
But I do remember walking into the library at the end of the street on a really rainy, stormy, California day......
And sitting there in this leather recliner chair in the back of the store for hours and hours.......
Just reading that book like it was my lifeline while Mr. Karlman, the librarian, kept the store open just for me.
And I remember hanging up book posters and drawings of Pony Boy and Johnny, while also dragging my dad to the nearby thrift store just so I could find a leather jacket and a belt.......
Because I wanted to look just like the boys in my book, the boys that smoked cigarettes, combed their hair, and wore tight white tank tops and "black as ink" leather jackets.
And I wore the jacket I had found all by myself everywhere.
Sometimes I'd even steal hair gel from my dad's shelf in his bathroom and slather it on my platinum hair, slicking it back with the feeling of being the coolest, most badass kid in town.
My dad loved it.
But my mom hated it.
She always thought that it was "immature" and "inappropriate" to dress up as a greaser, which had never been a nice term or name to use towards someone.
The definition belonging to a boy or man who was brought up rough and with this lifestyle that pleased no one.......
And that greased hair falling in front of their dangerous eyes was no help.
So it seemed that my mom was the type of woman to only appreciate the kids with light blue polos, good morals, and distinguished cigarettes.
The ones that were called Socs.
But she should've known that I've always been a Greaser.
That I've always been an Outsider.
And that, even when she left, I still kept wearing that leather jacket.
And that I can still find it...........buried deep in the hopeless mess that is my closet.
Just because I liked having the one thing that made her so fucking upset.
"Victor....." I heard Yuri whisper in my ear as he leaned over in his seat slightly to look at me, his eyes looking concerned. "A-Are you okay?"
I didn't know how it was possible for him to analyze me so perfectly.
As if I was this see through, fragile-like glass person that he could read like some kind of children's book.
Or maybe it was just the fact that I was an expressive person, as my English teacher, Mrs. Foreman, always use to say.
And he could observe me through those chocolate brown eyes without fail or effort.
Chocolate brown eyes that I had to look away from in that dark, cozy movie theater before I made a wrong move and never saw them again.
"Oh uh.....yeah! I'm perfectly fine. Just spaced out for a second, I think."
And to Yuri, I was utterly unconvincing.
Like always.
"You sure? You looked....."
"I'm fine, Yuri. Really."
But he just kept looking at me like I was the biggest liar in the world.
And I was.
But before I knew it, and before I could do anything about it.......
Yuri had gently laid his head on my letterman fabric covered shoulder, gently and as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.
And I could immediately feel myself tense up, my heartbeat speeding up like it was a race car on the track........
I could feel myself breaking off of those puppet strings and losing control.....
That control that I had so desperately worked to achieve and maintain......
But if Yuri Katsuki was leaning his head on my shoulder, then I didn't think I'd ever have control again.
Please, don't do anything stupid, Victor.
Don't let him hear or feel your heartbeat.
Then he'll know.
And this means nothing to him.
I know it doesn't.
He knows it doesn't.
"You know, you remind me of Pony Boy V," Yuri said with a sigh as I just sat there, completely still with my wide eyes glued to the tv screen as if I'd die if I looked away.
But I couldn't help but blush at his comment.
Pony Boy had always been my favorite character, after all.
"Well, if I'm Pony Boy, you know what that means," I said as I grabbed his slushee and brought the cherry red straw to my lips.
I knew Yuri was pouting and I didn't even have to look to figure that one out.
"Oh yeah? What does it mean?"
"It means you're Johnny."
I finally had enough of that lover boy courage to look down at Yuri only to see that he was already looking up at me with the biggest smile on his face, his head still on my shoulder.
That smile was dripping with admiration.
Before it shifted into something else.
A completely, disappointed frown.
"But Johnny dies in the end," he said suddenly and with determination as he leaned up in his seat and faced me with his legs draped over the elbow rest separating our seats.
"Just because someone dies doesn't mean their meaningless.
Everyone serves a purpose."
"Well, I mean yeah but....."
"Besides, Johnny was the one who saved the kids from inside the burning church, ya know."
It was funny how we were discussing the movie instead of not watching it, for god sakes it was right in front of us.
Not to mention that talking was the one thing that you were and should be deprived of in movie theaters.
But it's not like there was anyone to tell us to shut up.
And Jeff could give less of a shit.
About anything, really.
"Okay. Curiously though, why am I Johnny? I mean, personality wise," Yuri said as he put his head in the palm of his hands and started slurping away at his slushee, the edges of his picture-perfect lips being stained bright blue.
"I'm not telling you why you're Johnny until you tell me why I'm Pony Boy," and I was completely turned around and splayed out in my seat as if the row of velvet red chairs was my worn out couch at home.
But the whole theater now belonged to me, Yuri, and our never ending conversations.
"I asked first," Yuri pouted.
"Come on toddler."
"Don't call me that."
"Please....pretty please......"
And he was putty in my hands at that point.
"Ugh, fine. But don't you dare make fun of me....." and I could have fainted at the way he looked at me.
But who am I fucking kidding? I'd faint if Yuri so simply breathed in my general direction.
And because of that fact, I decided to listen to him instead of think about him.
"I mean, it's pretty obvious that you're Pony Boy.
You've got the pretty boy looks.....
And the athlete, good grades kind of lifestyle.
And every person you meet just instantly falls in love with you.
But underneath all of that, you're just a total nerd who loves music, movies, driving around in his Jeep, and talking about the world like he knows everything.
And you do.
You really do know everything.
And you see it in a better way than everyone else does, it seems."
My mouth was dry and completely tongue-tied, almost inarticulate, at the words that had just come out of Yuri's mouth.
Everything he said was like a flawless novel.
Almost like he had authorized his words and written them down like poetry, or like a drop dead gorgeous metaphor.......
I loved the way he spoke.
And I loved each and every little thing he found himself talking about.
"Y-You really think so?" I asked him as I watched him dumbfounded (still).
And I couldn't help but notice how beautiful he really did look, basking in the dark, blue glow of theater #4.
"I know so, fish boy.
So tell me.....
What makes me the epitome of Johnny Cade?"
What makes Yuri Johnny Cade?
Well, that's easy.
"Well, for starters......
You're brave.
And you...uh....you have those iconic brown eyes that belong in Hollywood.
And I think, more than anything.....
The thing that makes you the most like Johnny....
Is despite everything that comes your way, you still keep that gorg......uh....... th-that smile and that adventurous spark in your eyes."
I could feel my breath hitch in my throat at the fact that I had almost let the word "gorgeous" fall out of my mouth.
Close call.
Too close.
"Adventurous spark, huh?" he said with a brilliant smile as he nudged my side, that blush that I knew all too well at this point coming back to my cheeks routinely.
"Oh wow, I give you a paragraph of a compliment and that's all you take away from it?" I said as I took his slushee back and made it mine.
"God, you are so sensitive, Nikiforov. And give me back my damn slushee!" he reached over the seat and tried to grab it from me, determination in his cinematic eyes.
"You gotta catch me first!"
And without another word, I had gotten up from my seat and started running laps around the theater and down the velvety, small aisles.
Yuri's protests and insults, plus his slow legs, trailing behind me as he fought for that blue raspberry slushee that didn't even cost him a dime.
"Victor, you have no respect for Cinema etiquette!" he yelled as he practically jumped over a row of seats to try to catch me in the next one over.
But it was the football star against the Jersey boy.
And the advantage was finally mine.
"There's no such thing as etiquette when you're the only one in the theater, Katsuki!"
"Oh, you smart-ass!"
Finally, I decided to slow down and let Yuri run up and catch me, knowing that he wouldn't be able to do so otherwise.
But that was a bad mistake.
Because right when I turned around, the heel of my god damn checkered vans had so buggingly decided to trip on the hard surface of the theater floor......
Making me fall back into one of the seats with blue raspberry slushee coating almost every inch of my body.
And that wasn't even the worst part.
Because Yuri Katsuki was on top of me too.
In all of his denim jacket, brown eyed glory.
With a smile stuck on his lips like glue.
"And that, my good friend, is what we like to call karma," he said comfortably (and like he wasn't directly on top of me), as his finger touched down on my cheek and wiped away the cold, blue freeze.
Don't pass out Victor.....
Don't......
"Wh-a uh......umm......"
"Can't always win, Nikiforov," and he just stayed on top of me, like nothing was wrong nor different.
Just act cool Victor, don't be lame.
"Nah, you can't beat a football player Music Man. Besides, I practically let you win," I said as I lightly pushed him off of me, the push and pull feeling being evident.
It was like my heart and body wanted him there, but my mind said no.
My mind always said no.
And it was always my choice whether I wanted to listen or not.
"One of these days I'll win, you self righteous rich boy," Yuri said as he went back to our seats and grabbed his stuff.
"I'm not even rich."
Much to our surprise (and not much to our attention), the movie had ended.
But I wasn't disappointed.
Because I had spent too many rainy days and too many Wednesday nights watching The Outsiders, to the point where every word and every action was either memorized or expected.
And I hadn't spent any nights at the cinema with a cute boy.
Let alone days.
"You wanna stop by Murray's for a dipped cone on the way back?" I asked Yuri as I trailed behind him all the way to the outside of the theater.
We left with a polite wave from Topher and a goodbye from Mrs. Rachel before we stepped through the glass doors and into the sticky, Summer air of Crescent Shores.
And I swear, every time I looked at this town, it became more and more generic.
If you had chosen to live in one of those picture perfect beach towns that they always describe and talk about in those novels, with their summer romances and beach bonfires.....
Well then.......
You'd live in Crescent Shores, California darling.
"I wish I could V, but I've gotta head home or else I'll have a search party out looking for me," Yuri said as he leaned against one of the neon movie posters outside with a brand new burning cig dangling from his fingers.
"Uh oh, baby YuYu has a curfew....."
"Say one more thing and I'll make you as dead as Johnny," and he ran over to me and lifted up my white shirt, jokingly holding the cigarette close to my pale skin.
"Oh, you wouldn't dare Katsuki!"
"Oh, I dare Nikiforov. I dare......"
I grabbed the cigarette and distinguished it on the ground before it could touch down on my skin or touch Yuri's lips again.
"How about you take it easy on the cancer sticks and I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?" I teased as I started walking backwards with an almost devious smirk, leaving Yuri there with crossed arms and a frown that no longer had nicotine to suffice itself.
"You would be so lucky as to have the privilege, Victor Nikiforov."
"We'll see about that."
And with that, I started waltzing down those scorching hot concrete sidewalks that were now cooled down by moonlight, the sound of my vans against the pavement calming.
At least until I heard footsteps behind me that were not so calming.
I felt hands grab my shoulders and turn me around almost like I was a fragile doll, my heart beat racing at twenty miles per minute........
And of course it was Yuri.
"Here's a cancer stick for the road, fish boy," he said as he stuck a cig in between my teeth and leaned in formidably close, so close that our noses could touch if we dared to take one more step......
And he lit my cigarette and ran away after giving me three words to hold on to.
"Stay gold, Pony boy."
I found myself waiting and watching him with smitten eyes and lips as he disappeared around the corner with a cloud of smoke.........
Still fixed to my spot on the pavement even after he left my sight.
Because.........
Because I had fallen for him.
Or at least, that's what my naive teenage mind so desperately wanted me to believe.
You know, in the book.......
Pony Boy always found himself fawning over Cherry, the pretty Soc girl with the red hair and the striking green eyes.........
The girl that every boy in town would kill to have.........
But I was changing the story.
Because in my story, Pony Boy had fallen for Johnny.
He had fallen for the boy with the ebony hair and the brown eyes that made you want to live life as if you'd never see another day........
And I was okay with that.
I was okay with changing the story.
Because yes, it's true.
Each story has a beginning and an end.
But what isn't true is that there's one ending.
Because there's not one person.
There's not one mind.
And each and every person who read and felt emotion had the choice to change the story......
Just by seeing it differently within their mind.
We have the power to see things in the way in which we wish to see them.
And I loved that power.
So I intended to use it.
Because I loved how special my ending felt to me.
So I walked home with a skip in my step and a dopey smile on my face as I burned down that cigarette that Yuri had lit on fire.......
And I was happy.
I was truly happy.
The way I saw myself in the reflection of the shop windows being enough evidence for that.
.......................
But the second I made it onto the sand and began that quick hike to the backyard of my house, dragging myself to get through that screened in porch.......
I found Summer Thompson on the wooden steps of my house.
And she was crying.
Sobbing, even.
Her tears falling from her tired eyes and running down her pure skin.
And although, I had observed all of these things.....
The one thing I saw clearly and vividly......
Was the flaming cigarette that she had between her pearly white teeth and chapped lips.......
And I knew what she had that thing lit for.
She had it lit for.......
Hopeless longing.
★
and the drama begins.
uh oh.
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