DECEMBER - JOÃO FÉLIX

13. movie

DECEMBER THIRTEENTH —
VERA'S POV
the sound of a phone ringing filled the room, causing me to move in my sleep.

i heard joão groan in annoyance, sitting up and looking for his phone. a few seconds later, he finally found it and got out of bed with it in his hand.

i could still hear his sleepy voice as he began to walk out of the bedroom and close the door behind him, probably not trying to wake me up.

i tried to fall back asleep but couldn't so i just sat up in bed, zoned out.

he came back into the room with a huge smile on his face, stopping in his movement once he noticed i was awake.

"what happened?" i asked, already smiling because of the smile on his face. he walked back over to me and sat next to me.

"my childhood best friend is getting married late january!" he spoke with a smile on his face. my face brightened at the news.

"oh my god, that's so exciting!" i laughed lightly, he wrapped his arms around me with a wide smile.

"he kept bugging me about it, i told him she would say yes but he never listens."

he let go of me, smiling once again before pecking my cheek. "did i wake you up?"

i shook my head, getting out of bed and walking to my bathroom. "what do you wanna do today?" i heard joão ask from my bed.

"do you want to go watch a movie?" i asked, suddenly wanting to go only for the popcorn.

he walked over to the bathroom with a smile, "you wanna go on a movie theater date with me?"

i scrunched my face in disgust, shaking my head and looking away from him.

"fine then." he spoke before playfully storming out of the bathroom.

—

i wasn't in the mood to dress up, especially to a movie theater. i ended up wearing a random dark red soft sweater i had with grey sweatpants, letting my hair down after brushing it out.

joão was already downstairs waiting for me, he looked just as comfortable as me. i flashed him a smile before walking over to put my sneakers on.

"let's go!" i spoke with a smile, skipping over to the car. joão followed behind me, laughing lightly.

the car ride to the theater was just us talking about which movie we should watch. it was more of me talking and joão just agreeing.

once we made it to the movie theater, joão took my hand in his for the first time in a public place, taking me by surprise.

i looked up at him, he looked back at me with a smile on his face before looking ahead.

"let me pay this time, joão. it was my idea." i tried to convince him, he nodded as we walked through the door.

i don't know why i trusted him, the second we got to our line he began to take out his wallet.

"don't, joão." i fought back, he shook his head in disagreement. "pay for it next time." i sighed deeply before looking away from him.

he seemed to notice i was upset about it so he let me buy the snacks instead, we ordered a huge popcorn bowl and two sodas.

"what's the movie about?" i asked as we sat down in our seats, joão already began to put his arm around me and hold me closer to him.

i tried not to show my face because i was visibly blushing, taking a sip of my drink and hoping he would not notice.

"it's a love story set in the 1890s." he explained simply, taking his arm off me after he was satisfied with how close i was to him. yet he looked straight at me, not daring to look away.