❝can you please just tell me where the bathroom is?❞
❝no, but i can tell you my number.❞
or in which college senior vox akuma spends his last holiday break working in the rundown movie theater downtown and goes head-to-toe with a sarcastic cinema-go...
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vox could only stare at the bustle of customers within the cramped walls of the lobby of the downtown cinema, the cheesy christmas music blaring faintly from the speakers.
perched on top of the counter, the boy craned his neck to get a good look at the very pretty blonde sitting across the room, clearly intrigued.
the new york city traffic was at its peak for the night, audible enough through the thin walls of the building. stacks of snow lined the pavement outside as a steady sea of people sauntered by with their phones tightly clutched against their ears, shopping bags and toy store goods dangling in the other. a group of drunk merry men exited the bar across the street, arm in arm, and began to sing a horrible rendition of silent night at the top of their lungs.
it was christmas, arguably the most detestable time of the year. parents running wild from one discounted store to the next, the endless visits from unfamiliar relatives, the cries of children whining for something bigger ㅡ vox could only bear so much.
as if the holiday season couldn't possibly get any worse, his apartment rent was already due next week. technically, it was shu's half, but vox's friend had recently gotten laid off from his job and he knew better than anyone than to pressure him for money.
as a last-minute attempt to help out, vox had snatched himself a part-time job at the local cinema downtown. it didn't have the best pay in the world, but it was enough to at least cover shu's half for the month and that was good enough for him.
shu was furious when he first found out about it over breakfast a few days ago ("i can pay for myself just fine," he had said with a frown), but the rest of their friend group had reasoned with him that it was just a temporary set-up until he found his footing again. indignation and anger eventually simmered into guilt and gratitude the longer the day stretched on, and by the time night came around, vox was welcomed back to their apartment with a tight hug and a muffled apology.
as he presently hung around the lobby, vox realized how low he was on the spectrum of twenty-two-year-olds now that he had spent the first few days of his holiday break in the cinema downtown, the bastion of repetitious motion pictures and popcorn-strewn carpets.
pushing himself off the counter, he dusted off his maroon vest. he was peering down at the lousy stitching of the logo smacked on his vest pocket when his co-worker walked up to him.
"movie's almost done," the man named mark announced gruffly. "some kid peed in one of the seats at the back. that's all on you, kid."
mark was a tall thirty-seven-year-old made of pure muscle and brawn, with a gangly bushy beard barely scraping his neck. during the orientation on his first day on the job, it was very clear that mark was not particularly enthusiastic with his job and vox couldn't exactly say he blamed him.
vox looked up then, the ends of his lips twitching into what he hoped was a respectful smile. "the guy down at the ticket booth told me i'm taking someone else's shift at cinema four tonight."
