The Beginning of The End

Chapter 17 - The Movies

THE MOVIES

The doorbell rang and woke up Carlie.

She groaned and stretched her arms above her head, yawning at the same time. She saw Luke close the door and turn towards her with a box in his hands and a wide grin on his face.

"Pizza?"

Her stomach rumbled. "Yes."

She scrambled off the couch and onto a stool at the kitchen island. Luke chuckled and sat in the one next to her. The scent of pepperoni pizza drifted through the air, causing Carlie to drool. She didn't even like pepperoni pizza because it tended to be spicy, but she didn't care right now, nor did her stomach.

A whole pizza later, both of them made their way to the couch and became couch potatoes for about half an hour. Only half an hour instead of the rest of the day because Johnny suddenly came barging into the apartment, his arms crossed.

"Movie time!" was all he said as he walked over to the couch. He plopped himself on the right of Carlie and reached for the remote.

"What? Where were you?" Carlie asked, puzzled. Luke came over from his chair and sat to the left of her.

"At Dr. Hanley's office. Now, which movie series should we binge watch?" He switched on the t.v. and sat with his elbows on his knees, looking at the screen closely.

"First, I have no idea what binge watching is, and second, who is Dr. Hanley?"

"She's the doctor that took care of you and Luke, and binge watching is where you just forget all of your responsibilities for the day and just watch movie after movie." His fingertips pressed multiple buttons on the remote, making the t.v. change screens.

Carlie never had enough money to go see a movie in theaters, or to buy a t.v. to watch a movie on, but sometimes Ana would invite her over to watch films. Those few films were only the lame so-called "chick-flicks" that Carlie faked enjoyed.

"Aha! Found it!" Johnny clicked the green 'OK' button on the remote and settled back in the cushions. The screen flashed black then the title came on in bold white letters surrounded by a red circle with a dinosaur silhouette in the background. Jurassic Park.

"I hope this is fine with you, Carlie. I know Luke likes it and I really like it as well, so it's good with us. If you don't like the first ten minutes of it then we can change it but-"

"Shh!" Carlie hissed as the title disappeared and the black background molded into a dark forest scene. He grinned and turned his attention to the movie.

A little over two hours later, the credits rolled in and Carlie just sat there, eyes wide.

"What happened to the island? And the dinosaurs? Why'd they do that? Is there another one?" All of her questions from the movie spilled out. She needed to know if there was another movie so she could 'binge-watch' that as well.

"Yes, there is another movie and all of your answers will be answered in that one, but just warning you, there's two more after this next one, and one out in theaters now, so you will have more questions..."

"Turn it on!" she practically shrieked. Luke chuckled from next to her. "What? I need to see it. Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem. It's just that you haven't even gotten dressed yet and you're wanting to watch another two hour movie."

Carlie sniffed her arm and wrinkled her nose. "Okay, shower first, then movie. Deal?"

"Fine, just use the bathroom in my room, it has soap and shampoo in it. I don't feel like adding that stuff to the other shower."

"Wait, what about you? Don't you need to shower?"

"No. Why, do I smell bad?" He raised an eyebrow, pretending to be offended.

"No! I just thought that you haven't taken a shower yet either so..."

"I took one while you two were sleeping. Just go and finish up so we can watch the next one." He laughed and gently pushed the confused Carlie towards his room.

Carlie found the bathroom easily. The room itself was a pretty good size, fitting a full shower/bathtub, a toilet, a double sink, and a closet.

She slid the curtain attached to the shower to the side and felt for the faucet handle. She turned it and felt a few drops of water fall onto her hand. She shivered at the temperature, then felt it warm up.

She backed away and grabbed a new bar of soap and a container of shampoo and set them on the shower rack. She then slid out of her dirty clothes and stepped into the shower. She was forced to keep her leg hanging out of the shower to prevent the cast from getting wet, but a sigh of relief still escaped her lips as she let the hot water cascade down onto her body, pushing the memories of everything that had happened in the past few days to the back of her mind to worry about later.

A long shower later, Carlie stepped out and dried herself off with a tower. After wiping off the steam on the mirror, she glanced at herself and gasped at how red her skin was from the hot water.

She looked around the bathroom and cursed at herself for not getting new clothes. Her dirty ones were crumpled in a pile, but she didn't dare put them on and risk getting dirt all over herself again.

"Uh, Luke?" she called into the next room.

"Luke isn't here right now, he's in the other bathroom. What's up?" Johnny said back.

"Um, I don't have any clothes."

She could hear someone rummaging around in what sounded like drawers from another room.

"You'll have to wear mine until we can get you some new clothes. Uh, how do I give them to you?"

"I'll just, uh, stick my hand out and you can give it to me? Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I'll just...can you open the door?"

Carlie cracked the door open slightly. She stuck her hand out and felt around for fabric. Johnny stuffed the pile of clothes into her palm and then it sounded like he ran out of the room.

Carlie looked at the clothes he gave her. Black sweatpants and an oversized white hoodie. She used her previous...undergarments...and pulled his clothes over her body. She pulled the waist tie tight around her waist so the pants wouldn't fall down, and then took another glance at herself in the mirror. Pretty darn good for someone who had just been through what she'd been through.

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AYYYYYY