Turns out Alec had stopped in front of a movie theatre. He had booked an evening show for – I looked down at my ticket – Grizzly Zombies & the Haunted Campfire: The Sequel.
So, a horror, huh?
I squeezed my hand, which was still in Alec's, and he looked down at me. I smiled at him and he smiled back, albeit he looked more constipated than happy to be seeing this movie.
From his relaxed and confident persona inside the car, he had reverted back to the nervous, blushing mess of an Alec as we moved across the ocean of people to our respective seats.
In the darkness, I could sense the heat of his skin and his closeness. This wasn't really a good mindset to be in when the person in question was muttering and rambling about how this movie was "rated to be the most epic zombie saga of the decade," and how his friends had recommended it to him because "it was a must-watch!"
I could tell, by a glance at his frowning smile and quivering fingers, whatever he was saying was complete bullshit. He picked the movie, not his friends. It wasn't an epic saga, it was a scary, full-of-blood and gore, and making-your-girlfriend-cling-onto-you type of movie.
For the past few weeks we'd been talking, I'd realized that Alec was an open book. I wonder why he even bothered trying to lie.
But it seemed fun, so I nodded along and we sat down. After the ads, the hall dimmed and the movie started.
I counted the minutes, roughly 14 minutes, until the first body was severed. I wasn't a fan of horror, but I was pretty used to watching such "scary" movies because of Hayden, who started watching X-rated films since he was eleven, which in turn meant that I started watching them too, when I was not even eight years old (I was seven and a half).
So I jumped when the fire engulfed the zombie, who completely decapitated the woman, but not as much as Alec – who as I spied, couldn't handle it at all. He was paralyzed with fear and unable to look away, only paling and watching, petrified and horrified, and all those words.
But the movie only worsened from then. I don't want to go into details, but the movie was beyond anything I'd seen. Even me, a veteran of scary movies, was actually scared. I glanced at Alec, behind me, who was turning a shade of white.
And when I turned back to the screen, away from his face, another bloody scene made me shy away. We spent an entire hour that way, until the intermission rolled by. And we decided to get up for a quick bathroom way.
As we tried to get up, Alec rolled from his seat, almost tumbling down into the row in front of us. I gasped, immediately going to his aid, "Oh my goodness, Alec, are you okay?"
"I – I – I – I –" He looked from right to left to straight to me, shaking his head, "Yeah."
Yeah, my ass.
"Okay, we're gonna go outside, come on," I put his hand on one of my shoulders and helped him balance on his feet. As we were moving down, I heard a snicker from somewhere below us and turned to see what was the matter. Of course, Alec decided to turn his attention there as well.
"Lololol," A guy was not-so-discretely pointing at us, and laughing "Dude, that guy's sooooo lame."
I felt like punching the stranger, but let it go. I could tell that Alec, who was prideful to say the least, had been completely humiliated. Not only from this movie thing, but from the spicy food thing as well. I sighed.
When we were outside, I decided it was better to not go in at all, "Alec, let's go to a park somewhere and see the sunset."
But Alec wasn't listening. His eyes were distant and his jaw clenched. He looked away, shaking his head, "No, I can g—" But before he could finish, I punched his stomach, annoyed.
Which turned out to be the wrong decision.
It was in a sudden. Alec's face turned sickly green, and he hunched over, making these gagging sounds. My own eyes widened, and I bent down to ask him what happened. But before I could even so much as touch him, he was running and running and running somewhere far away.
I followed, my legs breaking into a fast sprint. He was heading in the direction of the washrooms. Was he okay? What happened?
I watched him slam the door and hurry inside the male's toilet, and I stood my fingers shaking and my face twisted in worry as I waited for him to come out. Was he puking? What happened? Was it because I punched him in the stomach?
I heard the horrible sounds of choking and gasping for air, followed by something plop-plop-plop-ing down the toilet seat. He was definitely vomiting. I put my hand on my mouth, shocked and scared. Was he sick? Is he okay? I hope he's okay.
Maybe it was the adrenaline or just my primal instinct of concern for him, but I dashed inside the male bathrooms. I'm pretty sure that was I was doing broke some law, but I didn't care. I rushed past the urinals and basins, to the stalls and kicked at each of them, until I found the one he was lying in.
Alec's green eyes were closed and his hair was matted with a layer of sweat. The toilet bowl was filled with the Mexican food we'd just ate minutes ago, and Alec was sitting on the ground away from the seat, exhaustion, and pain clear on his face.
A sob came out of my throat. I didn't even realize I'd begun crying.
I hopped past his long legs and flushed the vomit to clear the stench in the air, and then I sat down beside him, my eyes flowing with unshed tears and worry, "Alec." I sobbed his name.
He opened his eyes, groaning as he got up, "God, I'm so dumb."
At this point, I wasn't really sure of what was going on. Just that Alec looked really sick and he hadn't been acting like himself at all the past few hours. I had chalked it up as him being nervous, but he looked too sick to be nervous.
A scenario popped in my mouth. A dramatic scenario, but in the panic at the moment, it served as a clear explanation. Maybe Alec was sick and dying. More sobs left my throat.
"No, no, Alec," I cried, clutching his shoulders and shaking them without much strength, "Oh god, Alec, why didn't you tell me? I would have done better. I – I –"
If only I saw his expression, I'd know I was overreacting. He was confused, "Wha—?"
"I don't want you to die!" I shouted, my words a blubbery mess, "Alec, please, no. You're too young!"
"Harp–? Wha–? No, I'm no—" Alec was frowning and staring at me as if I'd grown two more heads.
"NO!" I wailed. Because of my loud voice though, the other men (who might have entered after me) started to notice that a voice that shouldn't belong here, was here.
Before Alec could say anything, the stall door was pulled with force and there stood two older men and a young child, staring down at me and Alec. In fact, there were probably more, I just couldn't see them is all.
"WHAT THE—" One of the men started to say, but the other stamped his foot.
"Hey, my kid's here!"
"Papa, look! A girl!"
"—FUCK!"
"Papa! That guy just said the F word!"
"Man, I told you my son's here, dammit."
"What's a girl doing here, fuck!"
"A girl?!"
"Oh god, dude, there's a girl here."
"Papa!"
"Are they having sex or something? Damn, haha."
"Son, let's get out of this dirty place."
"Shouldn't we, like, call someone or something?"
But despite the commotion, my water tap had opened, and I couldn't stop wailing at the top of my lungs. Alec, a bit perplexed, got up, grabbing me in the process, "Sorry, gentlemen, my girlfriend's just worried about me because I'm sick."
At his admission, I started crying even more, "So you are sick??!"
He apologized to the men, and perhaps seeing my endless crying, they let it go, because soon Alec had guided me out of the washroom, and sat me down on one of those chairs around the popcorn stand. I could still not stop crying.
"Harper," Alec fiddled with his hand, trying to console me but not really sure how to go about it, "Harper, hey, it's okay."
"But you're dying," I said, and I swear I sounded like a dying horse – not that I knew what a dying horse sounded like, but still.
Alec sighed, running his hands through his hair, "No, no, I'm really not. I'm a perfectly healthy boy."
I stopped crying for a second, sniffing and staring at him through the haze, "Y-Y-You're not?"
"No."
I started crying again. This time, in relief.
"What did I do now?" Alec yelped, looking around my face and trying to wipe the tears with his shirt sleeve. But then stopping, as he probably realized it was mixed with my snot.
I sniffed loudly and searched inside my handbag until I found a tissue. I wiped my face and blew my nose, crumpling it and pushing it away. I stared at Alec, taking deep breaths and trying to calm myself, "A-A-Are you sure y-you're not...?"
"Yes."
I sighed in relief, bringing my legs to my chest and covering my face inside my closed elbows, "Thank the God."
"Hey," Alec nudged my shin, "Harps?"
He called me Harps.
"Yes?" I whispered, still shaken.
"I'll..." He sighed, smiling embarrassedly, "...take you up on your offer. Let's go watch that sunset, and I'll explain everything."
I sniffed, nodding.
"Ah, but before that?" Alec scratched his neck, "I think you might, um, wanna go to the bathroom, maybe?"
I frowned, huh?
"Y-Your face..." He started, but then his eyes widened, "Not that you don't look absolutely beautiful, but y-your face...um..."
Suddenly my eyes widened. Shit. I put on eye makeup today.
"Ugh," I groaned, too tired to dash to the bathroom or bother trying to hide my face. He'd seen it anyway. I got up and started walking back to the bathrooms that we'd so casually run away from, "Wait here. I'll be back in a couple."
"Yep," Alec said, nodding and trying to stop a smile.
Gosh.
Why was it that we were seeing our most embarrassing sides on the very first date?!
Wasn't this kind of realization reserved for a double-digit-numbered date?
Of course, when I reached the bathroom and saw my face, I looked like some raccoon. Scratch that, I looked worse. The black make-up was running down my cheeks until the end of my jawline. Mix that with tears and snot, and that's how Alec saw me few minutes ago.
Not that you don't look absolutely beautiful... I remembered him saying.
I stuffed my mouth with my fist and pseudo-screamed.
SO EMBARRASSING!!!! *insert gibberish screaming*