How to Survive Your 19th Life [BL]

Chapter 18: The First

I found Malai in the front of the theater with two bean bag chairs and a small table with popcorn, soda, and snack cakes. She waved me over when she spotted me. I quite liked Malai. I dropped into the oversized bean bag with a childish grin and downed a handful of popcorn immediately.

"Slow down on that, Solo," she said, giving my hand a playful spanking.

"Should I spit it out and put it back?" I asked.

She made a face and I laughed. I took a moment to look around the room. There were more people here than usual – some other people I've been making acquaintances with. Yeong-su Kim, Tariq Jackson, Kanani Brown, and Alexis Michelakakis. I knew most of their dirty details through Malai, who seemed to try to constantly act as an adhesive for me and other people. Yeong-su and Kanani were dating, and apparently Malai thought Tariq had a crush on her, but couldn't quite confirm it.

The four of them came over, always together. Like Malai, they were all chemistry majors, which is how they met. Tariq pulled up a chair and sat it next to Malai's bean bag. She gave me a look of suspicion, probably wondering again if Tariq liked her.

"What are you two lovebirds doing over here?" Kanani teased as she and Yeong-su sat in the chairs closest to me. Alexis sat on the floor beside me, right in front of Kanani who began immediately playing in her hair.

Calling us lovebirds was a running joke among Malai's friends, who all knew I was gay, just overly dependent on Malai's company. Malai ate it up.

"We're planning our wedding," she purred, extending a hand to me. I grabbed her fingers and kissed the back of her hand. Joking with her was one of the highlights of my Friday evenings.

Tariq gagged loudly. Malai nudged him. "We're kidding of course."

"I know, me too," he said, looking up at the blank projector screen.

"Movie's not on yet, doofus," Alexis said.

After about ten minutes, it looked like almost everyone had found their seats and were settled in.

"Give the go-ahead Alexis," Malai said. Alexis was the club's VP. She also had a clapperboard specifically to signify the start of movies. It was her favorite thing in the world apparently.

She stood, surveying the crowd. Then she waved at three newcomers who were hurrying towards the front to join us. My heart dropped into my stomach.

Joanna was heading our way with Shiva behind her. I sank back into my bean bag as far as I could go, which wasn't much. Alexis pulled up a couple of chairs for them.

"What are they doing here?" I asked Malai.

"Joanna was in this club before she left. You know them?"

I very purposefully did not speak on anything regarding Shiva. It was something only Emiel and Henri knew about. There was no reason to spread the mess around for others. It was public enough.

It wasn't until Joana and Shiva took their seats did they notice me. Their faces sank down into absolute shock, and then revulsion. Shiva, I could understand, but I had no idea why Joanna's face held such contempt.

"Is there a problem here?" Tariq asked. He was always very observant, especially when it came to drama.

"No, no," Shiva said, clearly forcing a smile. "Solomon and I used to be roommates is all."

Tariq sighed and cracked open a can of Pepsi. "Damn well you're looking at him like he was the one that leaked that picture instead of your girlfriend."

Joanna's face went beet red. She looked from Shiva to Tariq to me and back to Tariq.

"Chill Tariq," Malai said.

Yeong-su chimed in with, "Yeah man, that's kinda harsh."

Joanna then held her hand up and said, "Correction, his wife." On her ring finger was a sizable diamond. Kanani and Alexis squealed and rushed over to her, blocking me from her vision at the same time. They crooned over the ring, asking a million questions.

Tariq leaned over to me and slapped my leg. This was his way of saying 'I got your back.' He then whispered to both me and Malai, "Is that supposed to be a flex? Emiel Hugo had her dude folded like a pretzel just a few months ago and she cuffs him?" I flinched. Tariq caught that. "You knew about it Solo?"

Reluctantly, I nodded. Malai gasped and said, "And you didn't tell me?" She practically yelled this.

Alexis, Kanani, and Joanna stopped their chatter and looked over at us. It was clear we were talking about them by our guilty faces. I pushed out a laugh, focusing on Shiva's angry face, and said, "So you found time to get hitched at Yale, huh?"

"Yale?" Shiva said. "What are you talking about dude?"

My face went hot. Coherent sentences jumbled around my mouth. "I heard you and your---Joanna went to Yale."

Rage flashed across Shiva's face.

Alexis jumped up in front of us with her clapperboard and announced to the auditorium and the projector operator in the back, "Thus commences the viewing of The Irishman, a 2019 Netflix film starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino. Silence your mouths and cell phones, or get the hell out!" She clicked the clapperboard.

Everyone clapped as they usually did and Alexis bowed before sitting down. The lights dimmed over us. The movie started. I kept my eyes on the screen but felt Shiva's gaze on me in the descending darkness.