Bryden and I just walked into the theater and the first thing he does is ask me "So, Amy... Now that we're here what movie do you wanna see?"
"Warm Bodies."
"You say that like you've been planning it, but yeah let's go get the tickets." We head over to the ticket stand, and he tells me to go pick out some of my favorite snacks after he hands me thirty dollars. I walk over to the concession stand and pick out some food which I don't intend on sharing but rather making him carry so I can find Karma easier. He comes over to me holding the tickets, and I have popcorn, twizzlers, and two boxes of different chocolates, which I hold until we get our tickets checked.
When we enter the large, dark room, Karma is the second thing I see. The first being the massive screen plastered to the wall. I take back the chocolates and the twizzlers, and walk calmly, like I didn't see her, just behind her row and proceed to keep this calmness throughout the movie.
_____
About halfway through the movie, Bryden asks me, "Isn't that Karma? From math class?"
I don't wanna get caught eavesdropping, so I shush him and lean back in my chair, almost cuddled up to him.
We watch the rest of the movie in silence, and we stay until the lights come on, because that's when Karma and Liam get up. That, and the fact that I just wanted to lay there for a few more minutes. When I get up, Bryden is waiting for me at the end of the row, and to avoid being caught I decided to strike up a conversation standing next to him. "Like the movie?"
"The zombie was pretty cool. He's kinda what I aspire to be. Cool, handsome, undead."
I heard a voice call from close behind me, "Amy?" Obviously, it was Karma's.
"Oh. Karma." I turned to look at her.
"Didn't think you'd be here." She's mad at me. She's hiding it but she is.
"Yeah, neither did I. This was a last minute movie pick." Bryden chimes in.
"Well, I don't wanna keep Liam waiting. Gotta run." She scampered over to Liam who had been waiting for her at the door.
"Well, Bryden. I had a good time and since I drove us here, you can expect me to walk you to your door and talk to your mom after you walk in." I stated as I started walking to the exit.
"Okay. I'm cool with that."
"Make sure you talk about me to her. You know how much she hates me, but hopefully she'll be like my mom and see how happy I make you and finally get over it."
"Wait... Your mom hated you? For what?"
"Uh... You know, it's really not that important."
He begs, "I still wanna know what it is."
"Absolutely not. If your mom found out that you found out she'd be pissed at me, and I don't want her to be any worse in class to me." We got in my car and I started driving to his house.
_____
He hits me with a question on the way to his house, "Why didn't you want Karma so see us?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You shushed me in the theater, and you stared at her for most of the movie."
"I don't know. We're best friends, it would have been weird to tell her 'hey, I'm going to the movies too, and I'm gonna follow you to the same movie.'"
"You knew she was gonna be here?"
"Well, duh. I'm always with her, and we were talking about her date tonight and this is where it ended up."
"Amy, I really like you... I like your sense of humor, I like your hair, I like you. I'm just talking out of my ass now and I should just shut up." I kissed him. I pulled over, grabbed his face and kissed him.
When I let go he was just as shocked as I was, "I'm sorry. I am so sorry." I started driving again.
"Why would you be sorry? You just shut me up and made me happy about it."
"I'm sorry, because I only did that to shut you up. I can't date you, but it's not you, because you're a great guy and you're everything I'd want in a guy but-"
"Why did you even come out here with me?"
"Promise me you won't tell anyone."
"Promise to not tell anyone how I was rejected by my crush? Hmm... No problem."
"Remember how I said your mom would be pissed at me for telling you? Well, she forced me to go with you. I would have went anyways, but I don't think this is what she had in mind."
"How did she force you?"
"Blackmail. Oh, and I promise to explain more the next time I see you in school."
"Ah, okay." We kinda just sat in silence, besides the car radio playing songs. When we got to his house, we sat in the car for a moment. "This is me."
"I know. Hey... can you not tell your mom that I told you about the blackmail, and please tell her you had a good time."
"I wouldn't be lying. Being rejected by a crush couldn't be any better if anyone else was doing the rejecting."
"I'm flattered and thanks. No hard feelings?"
He opened his door, got out and bent down so he could still see me. "Don't worry about it." I just smiled and waved as he walked up to the door. When he got to the door, he turned around, and waved at me. I waved and then shorty after he opened the door and walked in so I drove home.
____
When I got home, Liam was pulling out. His car, that is. I had to wait for him to turn his car around and drive down the street. Right after, I pulled in and walked into the house with a smile on my face. No, I wasn't happy Liam took my girlfriend out to the movies. No, I wasn't happy I had to break someone's heart tonight. I wasn't just happy it was finally over and that I got to be with my girlfriend all night. I was happy I had her at all, happy I had the privilege of meeting her, happy she became my best friend and I'm happiest because I kissed her in the gym that day and started whatever this is that made her my girlfriend so I can kiss her, hold her, love her and so much more whenever I want. Whenever I can.
Lauren's on the couch watching tv with Karma and some popcorn. Lauren talks to me first, "What's got you all happy?"
"Karma. I love you." I sat down next to Lauren.
"Really? We're just gonna ignore the fact that you don't trust me at all." She was shaking her leg before she spoke, then slammed it down when she did.
Lauren stood up, "Whatever you two have going on here, leave me out of it."
"Lauren, if you had a boyfriend that you and him had to go on dates with other people, would you be mad if he followed you on your date?" Karma says, trying to play in her favor.
"Seriously, what did I just fucking say?"
I chime in, "Karma, I didn't follow you. I was already going to the movies and I knew it was wrong once I got in there so I sat behind you so you wouldn't see me because we already bought the tickets so it would have been pointless to leave then and I didn't want to hurt him by making him think I wanted to leave as soon as we got there."
Lauren was halfway up the stairs when she yelled, "I'm on Amy's side."
Karma said, "Why did you even think it was a good idea to follow me? You didn't trust me."
"Maybe I'm not ready to share you...especially with your ex-boyfriend! I love you and trust you, and you already know I don't like him hanging around you, because he has a thing for you... My point is I worry about you. I'm not worried about what you'd do. I'm worried about what he'd to you. If anything happened to you that meant you weren't mine, I don't know what I'd do. I want most for you to be happy, but I also want you to be happy with me."
"Aims, I'm sorry. I overreacted. Uh..." She chuckled, "Wanna talk about our dates?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna have to take a rain check. I kinda wanna see how you got Lauren to stay down here with you without tearing you head off."
"She's not that bad. We actually have a lot in common. We both hate Liam, we love talking academics, we worry about you from time to time."
"She has a heart?"
"Shut up." She hits me lightly and laughs. "What'd you do after Liam and I left?"
"Uh... We just talked. I told him we couldn't be more, and we talked about his mom blackmailing me. We kissed, and we went home."
"Woah, woah, woah. He kissed you?!"
"It was nothing, I told him we couldn't do it again."
"Why would you let him kiss you?"
"Uh... I did it to shut him up since he started to make me feel bad. I promise it meant nothing and we're strictly just friends."
"That's like me telling you I kissed Liam."
"You didn't, did you?"
She sent a scoff my way. "No, of course not."
"I'm sorry, you know sad things get me vulnerable and then I don't know how to handle them so I do whatever I think will help the other person, even if it's not the best decision in the long run."
"You kissed a guy you went on a date with, but followed me to mine thinking my date would pull something. Talk about being a hypocrite."
"Karma, I'm sorry, and it was a one time thing. I didn't have intentions of doing it, I just felt sorry for the guy since all he was worried about was why I was more focused on you than the movie or him."
"You stared at me, didn't you?"
"I wouldn't say stared... Okay, maybe a little... I don't know most of the plot to the movie."
"Dammit Amy." She kissed me. When she pulled away, I just laughed.
"Was that a pity kiss?"
"A little."
"You never did tell me, how was Liam?"
"We didn't really talk during the movie. For the ride there and home we just talked about my parents and you."
"I can't believe you brought up your girlfriend on your date." I did a tiny laugh and smiled.
"I had to. He was slowly inching his arm around me in the car, and I guess he thought I couldn't tell."
"So, he made a move on you?"
"He tried."
"I'll kick his ass after he bails your parents out."
"That's cruel. Beat him up a few weeks later so he doesn't try to pull the bail card."
"I'm sure he will." We just laughed it off. Soon enough I called out for Lauren, "You can come back down now."
"... Just a minute." We heard some shuffling going on up there, but we couldn't quite make out what it was. She came down the stairs and plopped next to me, which I had moved closer to Karma in the meantime, so Lauren was on the end.
