The Stupidest Thing I've Ever Done

Part 5

During the low parts of Jaws we'd crank our heads over to the screen that was marathoning Back to the Future to quote Michael J. Fox. We couldn't hear him, but we could guess what he was saying. Even when we couldn't we ad-libbed, and at some points we had each other rolling in our chairs from laughter. Once our laughter softened, and we went back to watching our screen, my exhaustion hit me.

I hardly lasted through one flick. By the time the credits started rolling my eyes were burning for rest. I had been leaning on Cass's shoulder, blinking in and out of sleep.

She pushed me off, shaking me a little.

"Tryer," she said.

I groaned as my head flopped to the other side, the warmth of Cass's shoulder still on my cheek but fading away.

I rubbed at my eyes. The sounds of families packing up their kids and leaving the theater overran the final sounds of Jaws.

"Let's go home," she said.

I was too tired to care about missing the following movie, but I thought to myself about how my mother didn't have to gripe about how we didn't stay for what we paid for.

I stumbled in the dirt while stretching; asking Cass, "Wanna go the lame way or the cool way?"

"The cool way," she scoffed. "Obviously."

We collected our trash to toss into the nearest bin. We wadded up the wrappers and crushed the paper cups, shooting them in like they were leather basketballs. When the trash was gone I stuffed my quilt back into my bag and threw the straps over my shoulders. Cass folded up her chair and I folded up mine.

We were headed back home.

The silk movie screens were black now, and the remaining cars that were determined to survive another two hours sat perfectly still in their spots. The only light came from the concession stands. After a few moments I heard the "Let's all go to the lobby" song playing dully from one of the cars still sitting in the lot. Soon even that disappeared.

It felt easier sneaking by this time because there were so many people walking around in between shows. Kids and teens were either running back to their cars, racing to the bathroom, or going to beg their parents for cash to spend on junk.

I was feeling pretty confident by the time we reached the fence again.

First we tossed up our chairs, listening for the thump as they hit the other side.

We wrapped our greased up, salty fingers around the chain-link fence. Cass looked at me, eyes glowing with the stars she was named after. The blonde curls of hair nodded at me in the slight breeze.

"Race you to the other side," she said.

"Loser buys ice cream," I said.

"Deal!"