Fools

10- Noah

Noah

Sam instructed me to go to the movie theater. He got a job there almost a week ago and I guess his boss, Jenny, already loved him and Sam claimed he could get us in for free. When we walked in, Sam told me to "stay right here, I'll be right back," and he dashed to an 'Employee Only' room.

I shifted from foot to foot, standing off to the side as I watched customers buy popcorn at the concession stand, and waited for Sam. Emily wasn't working tonight I noticed. Good.

Why did I think 'good' at Emily not being here? Who cared if she saw Sam and I there? She knew Sam and I were friends. I had gone to the movies with Jason and with Carter before. Yet with Sam it felt... different? Maybe because I know he's gay? But, Carter was bisexual and hanging out with him alone didn't make me feel weird. So I didn't know why Sam would make a difference.

I looked down at my appearance. I should've just stayed in my sweatpants and t-shirt. God, it seemed like I was trying to impress Sam!

No, I had smoked weed in my school clothes, that was why I changed; I didn't want to reek of Marijuana with Sam. Which is why I also drenched myself in cologne. Oh God, did I have too my cologne on? I lifted up my shirt to my nose.

Nah, I smelled good. Sam smelled good too.

Fuck, I had to leave. Maybe I should tell him I don't feel good and I should just bring him back home? But after I thought that, Sam stepped out of the forbidden room, and walked up to me with a mischievous grin. And all thoughts of ending this evening early flew out the window.

"Hehe, I asked her if I could use theater eleven. And I also may have kissed up to her a bit and fed her compliments," he laughed like he was a genius. "Hold on, I'll get us popcorn and drinks," and again I was left waiting. But that time, I was able to watch Sam. He was leaning over the concession stand. I didn't know what he was saying, but the girl working looked to be giggling and she twirled her hair around her finger. Then, a minute later, she grabbed him a large bucket of popcorn and two cups.

He came back to me, still grinning, "The girl at the concessions doesn't know I'm gay and she flirts with me all the time. Am I bad that I played along with it to get us free popcorn?"

I laughed, "gimme my drink," I said, yanking a cup from him to go fill it.

Once we had our drink, we walked all the way to the back of the building to theater eleven. Which supposedly, was never used. Meaning, it was just us two in there. We sat all the way in the back row. "So are we going to be watching a blank screen?" I asked with my tone laced with sarcasm.

"No," Sam said pointedly. "I also got Timmy, a coworker of mine who works in the movie area to set up a movie for us," he smiled.

"Wow, five days and you already have everyone wrapped around your finger."

"Four days," he corrected me with a smirk.

"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd think this was a date."

What the fuck did I just say? Christ, I wanted to shoot myself.

Sam's cheek immediately burned pinker than his crew new. "Ahh hahaha, no, don't flatter yourself, jeez." Then Sam pulled on the collar of his sweater. "Is it hot in here? I feel hot," he laughed nervously again. And I felt myself smile. Then, my smile dropped when Sam started taking his crew neck off, almost lifting his under shirt off as he rambled about how hot it was.

I laughed, pulling his white shirt down to help him out. "Dumbass," I commented.

And when his pale, pink sweater was off, he smiled at me, "frickhead."

"Shut up."

About fifteen minutes in, the movie started, but I couldn't tell you what it was. Sam and I were talking the whole time.

"Yeah, so I used to live in Chicago," Sam told me. "But, my parents got too worried about everything that's been going on with, ya' know, police brutality and the protests, and riots. Haven and I went to a BLM march and it turned nasty real quick; people getting hurt and we got tear gassed."

"Damn. I saw all of that on social media and the news, but I'm sure it's more intense when you're there than what videos show you."

"Oh definitely. The videos were only half the horror. But, that's why we moved," Sam explained. Then almost cautiously, Sam asked me, "how... how long have you lived here?"

"Uh, pretty much forever. I went into foster care for a little over a year when I was like twelve? But, I was just a town over, so it didn't make much of a difference," I told him. I'm not too sure why I didn't just ended it at 'pretty much forever.' That was enough information.

"Foster care? Why were you in foster care?" Sam asked, looking genuinely curious.

And already I started feeling anxious and irritated, "well, you already fucking know the answer to that one," I muttered.

"No," Sam denied hastily, placing a hand on my arm. "Please, let me explain this morning. I was with Emily at work on Saturday and Jason was there, and we all just got to talking about everyone and then you were brought up, and Jason told me not to talk about your parents because it was a touchy subject. And that's it, I swear. But, that was still invasive and totally disregarding your privacy. And that was so wrong of us."

My jaw was clenched tight and I tried not to feel mad, but I was. Especially at Jason. Who the fuck was he to tell someone else about my personal life? I didn't even want to look at Sam because part of me also felt ashamed. What kind of ominous shit, 'don't talk about Noah's parents' is that?

But then, soft fingers were on my jaw and I was facing Sam. "Hey, I'm sorry. Truly. That was not okay, and if I want to know more about you, I'll go to you. I promise."

I exhaled, feeling my anger drain some. "Okay," I whispered.

"Okay," he repeated in the same gentle tone, but his hand remained on my face. And I looked down at his mouth, and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest, and I looked back up to meet his eyes- his vibrant green, wide eyes- and I felt myself lean into him, and-

A loud noise erupted from the screen, breaking us both apart.

What the fuck? Was I about to kiss Sam?

Sam exhaled, his hand on his chest as he chuckled, "that scared the shit out of me," he confessed. "I totally forgot there was a movie playing."

"Wow, did you just swear?" I asked, teasingly.

"Shut up. I do swear," Sam told me matter-of-factly. "I just don't have a trucker, potty mouth like you."

I laughed and we stayed in that empty theater eleven, joking, and talking as if I never tried kissing him.

*

I dropped Sam off a little past 6:30 pm. But it wasn't until after I got home that I realized Sam had left his pink crew neck in my car.

**

Definitely a first date 🤭

Thank you for reading! Comment your thoughts.

Disclaimer: I have no clue what it's like to work in a movie theater! So if any of this is implausible... welp ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Xoxo, Bert