The Nerd [BXB]

44 𖠇 Family Movie Night

The Cupid's dance—or Valentine's dance, as it should've been named—had been organized to obtain funds for the graduation ceremony. Every February, the school plans this event to help with the money, but mostly so couples can show their love in public without a teacher yelling about PDA. All week, signs were being shown around with bouquets of flowers and chocolates.

Before, I didn't care much for these school dances. However, now I have someone. Oscar. So there's this warmth in my chest that fills me with joy at the thought of dancing with him underneath the disco ball, his hand on my waist as we sway side to side.

There's only one problem: He hasn't asked me yet.

   "Who are you going to the dance with?" Harvey asks me the night before the Cupid's dance the school had organized.

   "Oscar, I guess," I reply.

   The three of us sit on the couch with a blanket over our laps and a bowl of popcorn as the tv screen plays a rom-com movie my mom insisted on playing. Nonetheless, she begged so much for this movie just to end up falling asleep less than halfway in.

   "He didn't ask you?" he says, taking a bunch of popcorn and shoving it in his mouth. "Like with a sign and all the cute shit."

   I throw popcorn at him that lands above his right eyebrow. He doesn't flinch at all. "Terrible shot," he says. "Now I see why you don't do sports, Theo."

   I throw another one and this time he jerks his head back to catch it with his mouth. He succeeds. "And this is why I do play sports."

   I grin as I watch him chew his popcorn and gulp it down. "He doesn't have to ask me with a sign or anything. Besides, I could do that too and I still didn't."

   "But—"

   My sleeping mother shifts to the side and continues to snore. "But wouldn't it be cute," Harvey proceeds to whisper. "All the cheesiness aside."

   I shrug, trying to focus back on the movie. I already know my mother will interrogate us about every scene tomorrow to make sure we actually paid attention.

   "Theo."

   "What?"

   Harvey shifts his body so he's facing me completely with one leg down the couch. He puts the popcorn bowl down and takes a gasp of air. "Would you do me the honor of attending the cupid dance with me?"

   I stop chewing my popcorn and look at Harvey. "Are you being serious?"

He glances at the movie screen and then back at me, thick eyelashes flapping up and down. "That's up to you."

"And Oscar—"

"Then no," he says, eyes back on the movie. "I'm not being serious, Theo." He reaches for more popcorn, but the bowl is now empty. "It felt nice, though. Didn't it?"

"Getting asked?"

He nods.

There's a truth to that. "Sure. A bit. Somewhat nice."

"'Sure. A bit. Somewhat nice,'" he mocks me. "Shut up, Mr. Sophisticated. Do not lie to me." He grabs the blanket and begins to lay down fully, resting his head on the pillow he places on the side of the couch.

I watch him get more comfortable. "Are you going to sleep?"

"No, Theo. I'm going into hibernation," he responds, pulling the blanket up to his neck. "Wake me up when it's mating season."

I roll my eyes and laugh. "Aren't you scared of not answering my mother's questions about this movie tomorrow?" I warn him. "Remember it's her favorite."

He closes his eyes. "I'll just read a review tomorrow."

   Something flickers in my mind, tempting me to reach out to Harvey. "Harvey."

   "What?" he asks—or mumbles, actually—eyes remaining closed.

   "Do you want to talk about what the cops said to you?" I ask him. Ever since Genesis and I accompanied him to the police station to file a report against Mr. Cortez, he has not spoken a word about it.

"Theo—" He gets caught up in his thoughts. He sighs heavily. "Goodnight."

I hold myself back from insisting. Harvey, talk to me! You know you can! Instead, I do just like him and drift to sleep.

That night we all slept on the couch, even if there was barely any space for three. Yet somehow, the tangling of legs and sharing of blankets made me have the best sleep I've had in a while.

𖠇

"Why did the wife divorce the husband?"

I had barely opened my eyes to the sight of my mother looking down on me, nostrils flaring. "What?" I say, running a hand over my eyes.

"The movie, Theo," my mother says, necklace dangling an inch above my forehead. "What was the cause of the divorce?"

Last night I didn't get the chance to read a review and now I am face to face with a mother eager to talk about her movie.

"So?" she insists.

   "The husband fell for another woman—" I try to come up with the most common explanation.

   "You didn't see it." She catches my lie, staring at me dead in the eye. "Harvey?"

   "Because the guy got her a carrot cake instead of red velvet," he replies. I hear him shuffling things in the kitchen. I think he placed a bowl in the sink. "I told you to stay up and watch the movie with me, but you insisted on going to sleep. You should be ashamed, Theo."

   I am going to break that carved, sharp jaw of his he likes to brag in selfies when I smack him with the thickest copy of the Percy Jackson book I own. Preferably when he's asleep.

   My mother smiles at him. "Oh, Harvey. You've made me happy this morning."

   "What?" I stand up from the couch and head to the kitchen. "That's no reason to divorce someone! Carrot cake instead of red velvet? That is stupid."

   Harvey lays on the table with a bowl of oatmeal that he has cut pieces of banana into. "She was allergic to carrots. Of course she had every right to divorce him. He attempted to murder her!"

   "That's not a real thing," I tell him.

   "Oh, but it is," my mother replies, setting a cup filled with orange juice next to Harvey's oatmeal for him to drink. "Search it up."

   "I think I have an aunt that has that exact same carrot allergy," Harvey adds, throwing me a wink before shoving a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth.

   "I'm done with you two." I leave them behind, heading to the restroom to get ready for school.

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A\N: Sorry for keeping y'all waiting haha! :)

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