Paper Planes

Chapter 13

I'm stuffed.

Blink and I have gotten through two entire bags of chips, half a box of cookies, two boxes of CapriSuns, and we have yet to touch the ice cream. We were only on the fifth movie.

"Holy shit, it's almost two in the morning", Blink says, looking at his phone. "I guess I'll call in for the next three days."

I furrow my brows. "You have work tomorrow?"

"I just have to stop by for an hour", Blink explains, sighing and leaning back. "They don't need me, anyway."

I hum, leaning against my headboard. We let our conversation die down and continued watching Cars 3. Apparently, he hadn't seen that either, and I immediately hooked my computer up to Blink's streaming services. He even signed up to Disney+ for us.

"What movie are we watching after this?" I thought about it. So far, we've watched Moana, Frozen, and all three Cars movies. I know there's more where that came from, and-

"Oh my, God. I completely forgot!" I sat up on my bed and clicked off the movie. Blink turned to me in confusion.

"What's wrong? Did I do something?"

"What? No", I answer, honest. "But we have to watch West Side Story immediately."

"Okay", Blink nods, scratching his chin. "Why?"

"Um, because it's only the greatest musical of all time? It's amazing? I'm in love with Rita Moreno?"

Blink chuckled and focused on the screen, watching the mouse move. "What's it on?"

"HBO Max", I answer quickly, smiling triumphantly when the familiar purple takes over the screen. "Which I actually have."

How else would Mom watch Euphoria, and I Adventure Time? "Is it good?"

"The greatest."

I smiled giddily as the movie began to play. The instrumental began to play and I could feel the excitement in my bones.

"This is nice", Blink commented, and I smile wider. "I like the music."

We watched the screen change colors. "Oh, it's still going."

We sat in front of the computer screen and I grabbed a cookie. Blink was looking around.

"Why's it so long?"

"Just...let it happen."

"Okay", he says, staying quiet for barely a minute. "This is very long."

"It's, like, six minutes."

"...That's a very long song."

I chuckled and continued, mouthing the words to the familiar tunes. I heard Blink laugh at me but I didn't care. There was absolutely nothing that could stop me from enjoying myself.

"Hey", Blink pokes me, causing me to look at him. "It's starting."

I immediately turn toward the screen, staying quiet for most of the movie. But when I hear the familiar tune of 'Gee, Officer Krupke'....

"I apologize in advance", I say, staring at Blink. As soon as I start singing, I could hear him laughing.

I love this song. It's unhinged and hilarious, but it also explains something so many people take for granted: having the system on their side. From the perspective of the Jets, the system is against them, and always will be, but they make light of it, and I love it.

Blink clapped when I finished singing. "You've got a beautiful voice, Mush."

"Thanks", I accept, blushing slightly. I went to grab a cookie, then realizing we ran out. "We're officially out of snacks."

Blink hummed, looking at his phone. "No point in going out", he shows me the screen. "It's 3:00am."

"The witches hour", I say, trying to sound spooky. Blink rolls his eye and hits me with a pillow, leaving me in a giggling fit. "What?!"

"You're just so embarrassingly adorable", he compliments, smiling widely. "I can't handle it sometimes."

I look away quickly, clearing my throat to hide my blush. I look at the screen. "Oh, hey, look! Uh...they're singing again!"

Blink chuckles and wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Can't say I'm wrong."

We spent the rest of the movie in silence, me sitting completely still. I was afraid to move. He seemed pretty comfortable, and I was worried about his comfortability in the most platonic way possible.

Eventually, we finished the movie, and by now it was around 4:00am. I giggle at a sudden thought.

"Well", I stretch, leaning back, "it's too late to screw."

Blink choked as I started laughing. "W-what?"

"It's a 'tick, tick...BOOM!' reference", I explain, holding my stomach. I could barely talk with how much I was laughing, but I could hear Blink sigh in relief.

"Okay", he says, chuckling nervously. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Down the hall", I answer, calming down. "There's only one direction."

He nods and gets up, leaving the room and me alone. He's a lot of fun.

I wonder why I was against him in the first place. We honestly should've been friends sooner. I heard the shower running and I saw he took his backpack, taking his pajamas with him.

Do we, as teenagers, even have the right to call our night clothes pajamas? Most of us only wear a t-shirt and sweatpants, shorts if you're feeling fancy (or it's summer time in Manhattan). I mean, I'm quite literally sitting in a shirt and shorts.

While I was thinking, I didn't realize the shower went off. Big mistake, a rookie one in my case.

"Hey", Blink calls, walking into my room. "I left my undershirt in here. Apparently, I'm an idiot who forgot to pack a shirt to sleep in."

Holy chicken drizzled in guacamole he had abs. Like, actual abs. Like, they were real. And he was hot.

I cleared my throat and looked out of the window, seeing it was still dark outside despite that it was morning. "Um, yeah. Okay."

Blink grabbed his shirt quickly and pulled it over his body. "Well, it's officially Saturday."

I nod, merely glancing at him. I can't look at him! I don't know why, but I refuse to look at him right now.

"What's the plan?" I slowly turn to him as he sits back down on the bed. "It's about 4:20."

I snort and smile. "I'm not sure anything's open right now."

Blink shrugs, standing up and shrugging. "My job is."

"You're going to work?" Yes, I am saddened by this news, but he did say we'd watch movies for the whole weekend. Maybe he'd come back.

Blink shook his head quickly. "Hell, no. I'm not missing out on the best weekend ever."

I smiled wide. "I was just saying they might be serving coffee right now. We usually open pretty early."

"Even at-", I look at my phone, "4: 23 in the morning?"

"Definitely", he chuckles, searching for his shoes. "Wanna go?"

I grab his shoes, passing them to him. "Duh."