Let Me Be Your Hero

Chapter Two : Movie Night Fright

"Popcorn or pizza?" Jon asked me with his phone in one hand and a box of popcorn in the other.

"Hmm," I brushed my fingers over my invisible beard, thinking my options through. After a few more seconds I said, "Popcorn."

"Okay, popcorn it is." He slid his phone into his jean pocket and proceeded to put the popcorn in the microwave.

"Can we watch the movie now?" I jumped into the love seat. I arrived directly after school, and he has had me standing around for God knows how long. I'm a very impatient person. 

"Yeah, let's start up the night with something mild. How about 'The haunting of Molly Hartley'? And then we can move on to the good stuff later, okay?" He asked, going over to the library of DVD's set up next to the large plasma screen TV.

This is why we always spend movie night over here at his place. He has this freaking amazing living room. The walls are a dull red, but when the lights are off it has this bloody appearance to it. The room itself is probably larger than the local cinema's movie room and the sofas are all made of leather with built-in heaters. Heavenly.

He grabbed a DVD from the large array of choices and started up the movie. He squeezed himself in the seat next to me. The love-seat was so tiny and he was so big, it was a tight fit. Surprisingly, I was okay with that. The warmth radiating from him made me feel safe. Chucky could appear right now with a butcher knife and I would be fearless.

I just sat there waiting for the tedium to commence while watching the opening scene with the trees until a name caught my attention. I perked up with a silly grin on my face. I had no idea he was an actor in this film, otherwise I would have forced Jon to put the movie on sooner.

"Why didn't you tell me Chace Crawford was in this?!" I sat upright in anticipation of Chace and that gorgeous smile of his. I heard Jon mutter something that sounded like, "Such a girl." under his breath.

"So...When is he coming on screen 'cause otherwise this is a rip-off." I asked five minutes into the movie.

"What is it with you and that guy? He's old." Jon glanced at me, seemingly disgusted with my eagerness.

I gasped. "He is not old! He is absolutely gorgeous! You're just jealous he's hotter than you." I stated, crossing my arms.

"Do you hear yourself? That sounded so shallow." He snorted. That wasn't shallow! Was it?

"Jeez, hold your horses. It's not like I'm gonna marry the guy. Besides, you don't need to be jealous, babe. For the billionth time since guys started taking an interest in me; you should know that you are my best friend and no one is going to change that." I told him mockingly.

"Shut up," He snickered.

"Jon," I whispered trying to get his attention away from his snickering. I could smell the buttery aroma of freshly popped popcorn and my stomach began to grumble at the delicious scent. This led to a round of laughs on his part. My stomach had a mind of its own, grumbling at wrong moments when Jon would sober up only to be consumed in laughter again. My face was probably a bright crimson by now.

"I think it's about time you get the popcorn out of the microwave. I've been smelling it up for the past three minutes and my stomach can't take the temptation anymore." I lay comfortably on the sofa, watching as he disappeared to the kitchen without a smart-ass comment. Weird.

He came out of the kitchen a minute later with a clear plastic bowl in his hand filled to the brim with delicious buttery popcorn. He gave me a disapproving look, then lifted my head, put it in his lap, and placed the bowl on my stomach. I wanted to complain, but I was actually comfortable, believe it or not. We continued to watch the movie in silence. I would jump at all the suspenseful parts and then swoon at the scenes where Chace was present. I could stare at him all day, I'll tell you that.