𝗚𝗥𝗨𝗗𝗚𝗘 - 𝙼 𝚡 𝙺

4. The Simplicity of Things That Just Aren't Simple

In theory, things really should have gone smoothly.

The plan was simple:

Find some girls. Take said girls out. Post with said girls so that stupid Mattia got it through his thick head that he wasn't the only one who didn't give a fuck about the situation anymore.

But simple plans often had funny ways of fucking you over when you least expected them to.

That was what Kairi thought as they entered the movie theatre, anyhow.

At his side was Alejandro, who's arms were filled with an assortment of grossly overpriced movie snacks. He sipped on his blue slushy that he held in one hand, and hugged a warm bucket of popcorn to his chest with the other. Kairi himself had an armful of gummy snakes and maltesers and the like.

Behind the boys were two girls from their school. They were nice enough people, and they weren't total strangers either, which was somewhat of a plus. Kairi had seen and hung out with them at many a party in the past, too.

So far the boys had just picked the girls up and taken them to the movies. It wasn't awkward or weird - conversation flowed easily. It had also been quite advantageous for the group of teens that the theatre happened to be empty. They were going to see some trashy horror film that had already been out for a while, making it the perfect movie for mucking around without other movie-watchers to be mindful of. Everything was hunky dory.

Or rather, it had been.

But simple things never stayed simple.

It started with the giggling.

Kairi heard it as they were scouting around for their seats in the dark room.

At first he assumed it was one of the girls behind him - but then a second, deeper laugh joined the more feminine one, and Kairi's heart dropped. Ale and the girls were too busy whispering and sharing popcorn as they climbed the stairs to notice that they weren't actually alone in this theatre.

And they weren't the only ones who hadn't noticed.

There, in the very far left corner at the back of the room, sat Mattia and Vic, both chuckling as they looked at something on Mattia's phone.

Kairi wanted to turn the fuck around and run before either of them looked up and recognised them. It could have been so simple. So easy to just reroute the troops and march them all right back out of the theatre.

Kairi turned to Ale with the intention of telling him about this predicament—and that was his first mistake. Because he turned too soon, not realising that Alejandro was already right there behind him.

One second, Ale's arms were full of popcorn and slushie and whatever else. The next, they were not. And the commotion was enough to startle the girls behind them, who squealed.

Domino after domino fell, the chain's completion coming when Mattia's head snapped up. As cliche as it was, it all happened so fucking fast.

Kairi was vaguely aware of the mess that was now spilled out around his feet, and his friends who were flurrying about to pick up said mess, but he couldn't move or think or blink or breathe.

The room was dark. The world was fuzzy. There was only Kairi. There was only Mattia's eyes.

They bored into him with a glinting harshness that Kairi should not have been able to see in this ridiculously dimly lit room. Why was it so dark in here? Why could he see and recognise the harsh glint of Mattia's eyes when it was so fucking dark in here?