Paper Wishes (#1)

Chapter Four: Horror Movies are for Bonding

(Revised version of Chapter Four posted on October 28, 2015.)

"Did you sleep well?" Kai inclined his head, a questioning look on his face punctuated by his glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose.

"Exceptionally well, thanks for asking. What about you?"

"Not as well as you did, it would seem. You're glowing, and you practically skipped down the stairs this morning," he said.

"I'm just happy today, I suppose," I said, giving him a sly smile. I'd been sleeping soundly through the night, ever since Nox's first appearance, but last night's dream had been the best by far.

"That's an understatement, but I'm glad to hear it."

"Did your client like the website you were working on last night? Was this a freelance project or one from work?"

Now it was Kai's turn to smile. "It was freelance work. The client found my online portfolio and got in contact with me. This morning he called me raving about the work I did, and even paid me extra as a bonus to thank me for 'doing such an amazing job!'"

"Congratulations!" I beamed. "I'm so proud of you! In what universe does a client ever pay extra? That's such a huge reflection of your talent. Let's go celebrate, my treat!"

"Okay, we can go celebrate," he smiled, "but after that bonus I received, I don't think I could let you treat in good conscience."

I pouted. I knew it was childish, but if you couldn't take a friend out on your own dollar to celebrate their accomplishment then what kind of celebration would that be? More importantly, what kind of friend did it make you? It simply didn't make sense to have the person you were celebrating pay.

"Come onnnn," I said, dragging out the second word much longer than necessary.

"Maybe we can do something affordable. Why don't we have breakfast at McDonalds and catch a matinee?" I suggested, hopeful that he'd agree to let me treat if he knew we weren't going to be spending hundreds of dollars celebrating him.

"All right," he conceded after taking what seemed like an eternity to answer, "but I get to pick the movie."

"Duh, we're celebrating you after all!" I was giddy that Kai was going to let me treat. It's not that I was excited about parting with my money, but I was happy that he was going to let me pay for our frugal celebration.

***

While I brought our food to the table, Kai had pulled up an app on his phone that would show us the movies that were currently in theaters and their show times. I handed him his breakfast platter and fruit punch, which he set off to the side to tell me his movie pick. To my utter surprise he picked a horror film!

I nearly choked on the coffee I was drinking - accidentally sending some shooting up my nose. It's not that Kai doesn't like the horror movies per se, but generally speaking the genre as a whole wouldn't make it on a list of his top one thousand favorite things. In fact, it tops the list of things he doesn't like. Kai hates being scared, unlike me who had always lived for the thrill that came along with fear.

"Are you sure? No," I said, holding a napkin to my poor, burnt-on-the-inside nose. "I mean are you really sure? Like sure, sure? You got maybe eight hours of sleep the week we saw The Ring on DVD."

"I'm sure," he affirmed, "I saw the trailer on TV last night after you went to bed and it piqued my interest."

"Uh-huh," I replied with more than a little bit of skepticism coloring my tone. "Are you sure this has nothing to do with the fact that I nagged you into letting me pay, and the fact that I, in fact, love horror movies?"