off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ ninety six

Romance had never been Ricky's favorite genre, whether it came to books or movies. It lacked the mindless action of a thousandth Die Hard knockoff, it lacked the thrill of a murder mystery, it lacked the self aware humor of a comedy. Whenever Ricky watched a romantic flick, all he could do was yell at the screen when the characters acted in a stupid manner, or think it really hard in his head, depending on who he was watching it with.

Vicky, on the other hand, lived for romance. The fairy tale ones, the pure, inevitable stories of soulmates finding their way to one another. And this was her house, so it was her choice of movie! She would have expected Ricky to complain, beg for another movie, but he'd simply nodded at her decision, and since then, seemed pretty focused on what was happening on the screen. At first, the both of them had simply opted to sit next to each other, like they were stuck in separate seats in a movie theater. Less than halfway through the movie though, Ricky had leaned back and put his arm back around the couch, Vicky had laid her legs out, they'd scooted closer for warmth, and, well... They'd sort of ended up cuddling, without a word.

It was nice having a home date from time to time, Vicky thought, her head tucked in between Ricky's arm and his chest. One of her hands was resting on his stomach, feeling it rise and fall with each breath he took, just a little too quick considering they were resting. Ricky's fingers were tangled up in Vicky's hair, stroking it mindlessly, sometimes brushing against her ear like a tickle. Vicky hadn’t died, yet this felt like heaven. Though she despised horror movies, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it meant she could have even more of an excuse to cling to Ricky like that. They'd have to schedule some more of those movie dates, until there would be no movies left to watch.

The peaceful atmosphere just had to be broken, and the sound of the front door unlocking made them both flinch. In a matter of seconds, Vicky and Ricky untangled their limbs from one another and jumped to their feet, hitting pause on the movie to better hear what was going on. There were steps, no, sets of footsteps, slow but strong in the entrance hall, and Vicky wondered if the reason she hated horror movies so much was because she was in one herself.

"Is it a burglar?" she whisper-yelled to Ricky.

He passed a hand through his hair, his eyebrows knitting together. "I don't know! Are we gonna die?"

As Vicky looked through her living room searching for anything that could serve as a weapon, her heart pounding in her chest, Ricky rummaged through the whirlwhind of blankets on the couch to find his phone. By the time he finally grabbed it, it was too late to call emergency services, and the shadows of the intruders stretched into the living room. Vicky pinched her lips together, moving to hide herself behind Ricky's arm...

Only to see her parents strut into the living room, smiles on their faces. The breath she'd been holding escaped her mouth in a stunned gasp, and they turned to look at her — them — with wide eyes.

"Mom! Dad!" she whined, scared within an inch of her life. "I thought you were supposed to be out with friends all day!"

That was the exact reason she'd even invited Ricky today, so they would be alone without interruption. Speaking of, Ricky's fear of a dangerous burglar had melted right off, replaced instead with... Well, a different fear. The one of being right in front of his girlfriend's parents, for the very first time. He was even paler than usual, and Vicky winced. She was relieved, but he wouldn’t be anytime soon.

Her mom shed her coat and threw it on a rack. "We were, but something came up, so they couldn’t make it. We still ate out together, but we thought we'd just go home afterwards."

Then, her parents' eyes zeroed in on Ricky, and she felt his entire body turn into stone. She gulped as she let go of his arm, having forgotten she was holding onto him. This wasn’t exactly how she was planning to introduce her boyfriends to her parents, but it would have to do. She spared one last glance to the screen behind them just to make sure they hadn’t accidentally paused on too romantic a scene.