Orange

Eleven

By the time we reached my apartment complex that night, I could tell things were going to get complicated whether I wanted them to or not. Orion had sweat practically coating his entire person, his furrowed brows never moving as thoughts raced across his mind, leaving him restless and confused. I sat on the opposite side that spectrum. I was calm, resting with my hands on my knees as I waited for him to park the vehicle; a shiver traced my bare shoulders from the cold of night. Orion slid out of his car and opened my side of the door before I could, helping me out of the car even though I really didn't need it. I didn't fight him, though. He had bigger things to figure out.

We made the long, silent walk to my room. I pushed my keys into the door and opened it and realized only then that my place was still a mess from the night before. A little embarrassed, I hurried inside and picked up my clothes, earning a curious (but knowing) frown from my acquaintance.

"So, uh..." he looked around, running a hand through his curly brown locks. "This is... your place."

"Uh-huh," I said, not looking at him as I stuffed my clothes into my laundry hamper. "I know it's not all fancy and high end like your place probably was, but it's cheap and does its job."

I turned around, only to find Orion wiping down my TV.

"Woah, this thing is ancient! Is this TV from the nineties?!"

"Of c-course not!" I pulled him away. "It was the cheapest one, alright?! I just wanted to be able to watch my DVDs!"

"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow at me. "Looks like you haven't used this thing in years. Does it even still work?"

"I'm pretty sure, yeah." I reached over to press the power button. Slowly, the device spawned into life. "See? Works great."

He squatted down, all of his prior anxiety flying out the window as he let out small hums of approval. His eyes grazed through my tall collection of DVDs, seemingly reading every title of every movie that I had in the shelf.

"Ah man, these are all so old," he laughed, picking out one movie in particular. "When was the last time I watched Airplane? Man, that's a classic!"

He let out a laugh, and I felt my cheeks redden. I really can't get a read on this guy at all... Suddenly he tilted his head back to look up at me, eyes filled with childish glee.

"Hey, what'd'ya say? Let's watch it!"

"Huh?"

"I mean, if it's no big deal," he stood up, looming over me once more. "I just really love this movie, and I'd love to see it again."

"I didn't think you'd be the kind of guy to like old movies," I snickered, earning a pouting face from Orion. Eventually, though, I gave in. I popped the DVD into the TV and waited for it to boot up. I moved away, walking over to my futon and pulling my old cotton blanket over my legs. Orion shyly followed, rubbing his neck as he sat down beside me. Slowly, the movie worked its way to its iconic location—an airplane.

I forgot how fun it was to actually have a movie night. We laughed at least thirty times in the first twenty minutes, even though I practically knew this whole movie by heart. It never got old. Orion seemed to be in the same boat, in that respect. Occasionally, he would quote something as a character spoke the lines, looking over to me to see how I would react. And I would laugh, nudging his shoulder a bit as I tried to get him to focus more on the movie.

The next time I looked over at Orion, I saw something... unmistakably new. He was immersed in the movie, half-lidded eyes absorbing all the crude humor of the film as he leaned back on his hands. He had quite the striking jawline, merging seamlessly with his ears and melting like fondue into his slight cheekbones. His lips were full, slightly chapped but still soft-looking; a slight simmering sensation of mint wafted from his mouth every couple of minutes, whenever he let out a laugh. He wasn't overly muscular, but it was obvious that he was athletic, probably being an active runner who knew how to lift weights. The way his muscles swirled around his arms made me want to reach out and touch him. And yet I couldn't. It felt weird, somehow, to beg for affection after all this time. I wasn't used to the constriction in my chest whenever he tilted his head back to laugh at a pun; I hardly knew how to react whenever he ever-so-slightly graze my shoulder in an attempt to get my attention back on the movie. He didn't even realize that all of my focus, all of my energy, was directed towards him, and him alone.