Danger (BoyXBoy)

Carmike 11

I knocked on my mom’s door, trying not to spill the hot soup I made her.

“Come in”

I walked through the door and placed it down on the dresser next to her bed, where she was laying while watching old movies from the 80’s.

“You feelin’ better mom?”

It had been almost a week since the incident with Rick, and neither one of us had heard from him since. I guess my psycho thug attempt worked pretty well.

“My eye still hurts a bit but thanks to you I’m doing fine”

The bruises on her face were almost completely gone but there was still a small cut above her eye, which had healed from a huge gash. “I can’t stop worrying about what we’re gonna do for money though... I guess I’m gonna need to pick up extra shifts at work or maybe-”

I cut her off. “Mom, I got a call from the movie theater yesterday. I got the job, we’ll be fine.” 

Her face immediately lit up. “Are you serious? Congratulations honey!”

I smiled and sat down next to her. “I told you mom, we don’t need him to survive. I’ve got everything under control.”

Just as I said that there was a pounding on the front door. We both jumped and looked.

“Stay here mom” I got up and grabbed the loaded gun sitting on the shelf and ran to the door. “Who is it?” All I heard was mumbles and a kicking on the door. “Who is it?!”

I heard something fall on the floor and an annoyed grunt. “Cooper open the damn door, it’s me!” To my relief, it was Maya.

As I opened the door she burst in, holding her purse, a tray of coffees in one hand and a bag of donuts in the other, while there was a bouquet of roses wedged in between her arm and a card in her mouth.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

She looked at me with what may have been the sassiest face I have ever seen.

“Do I look like a fuckin’ octopus? How am I supposed to carry all this shit and talk at the same time? Now shut up and take a coffee and some donuts”

I shrugged my shoulders and closed the door, walking over to Maya who was fumbling around with all her things.

She sped-walked in to my mom’s room and handed her a card, and said “Here you go Mrs. Nixon, get well soon” Smiled, and walked back.

“Well thank you Maya…”

She came back and looked at me, while without realizing it, I was still holding the gun.

“What the hell are you doing with that damn gun pointed at me?!” She said, scared.

“Oh god... sorry!” I set it down on the kitchen counter and went back to her.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love the company, but is there a reason you’re here?” I said with a light laugh.

“Well I wanted to give your mom that card so she knows I’m here for her, and I thought it would be nice to bring you all some of this overpriced gourmet Starbucks shit, what’s so bad about that?”

“Uhh… nothing, thanks a lot. What about the roses there?”

She jumped at her own remembrance and handed them to me. “Read the card on them”

I looked at the bright red roses and grabbed the little white tab on the side. It said, 'To Maya, will you give me the pleasure of being my girlfriend? –Will'

I gave a blank look to her and slowly smiled. She jumped and screamed with joy and ran over and hugged me.

“Well congrats Maya!”

She released her hug and sat down at the kitchen table. “I can’t believe it, I’m in shock!”

I lifted my eyebrow at her. “You’re acting as if it wasn’t totally obvious that he’s like in love with you” I laughed and sat down next to her.

“So, have you had any luck with any ‘girls’ lately?”

My mom was in the next room, and I’m pretty sure she could hear everything we were saying, so ‘girls’ was the codename for ‘guys’.

“Nothing at all actually”

As I said that my phone vibrated, causing me to reach in and check it. It was from Jay. It read 'You ready for your first day of work tonight?' I checked the time and I realized I had to leave in 20 minutes.

“Shit Maya I gotta get ready… I work tonight”

We stood up and she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

“Alright well have fun tonight... maybe me and Will could swing by and see a movie tonight”

“Okay, bye Maya”

We hugged good bye and as soon as she left I ran to the shower and hopped in. it was my first day and I was already gonna be late. I got out and dried off and pulled on my work uniform: black pants, a white dress shirt, and a red button vest that read 'Carmike 11 Movie Theater' and pinned on my name tag that said 'Cooper'. I ran down the hall and took the elevator and was off to work.

I pulled in the parking lot and walked to the front doors, keeping my cool. 6:00 o’clock, right on time. I walked in and saw Jay and Michelle standing behind the counter where popcorn was being sold.

Michelle saw me and reached out her arm, shaking my hand. “Hello Cooper. I’m your manager Michelle, and I think you already know Jay.”

I smiled at her. “Nice to meet you Michelle”

She nodded and pointed at everyone. “Over there is Dana and Grace, they also work the concession stand with you, and there is Robbie and Chris, the janitors. I’ll let them introduce themselves. Since you know Jay I decided today he would train you. Jay, take it from here.” Michelle walked away and in to a small room of to the side of the lobby.

Jay looked over at me from the counter. “Well… first order of business is the register. Now to use it you have to-” He continued talking but I stopped paying attention.

I was too busy studying him. His short black hair went perfectly with his bright light blue eyes. He was slightly taller than me and he had a light stubble across his chin. He looked pretty old for a 17 year old, but he was a senior so it made sense. He was really attractive… Angie was a lucky girl. She was also a stupid bit-

“Cooper, are you listening?”

I snapped out of my daze and looked back at the register. “Yeah I got it. It looks easy.”

"‘Awesome... now to the tickets…”

The next few hours he led me around the theater showing me how to properly sell tickets and how to start a movie and how to respond to asshole movie-goers. Finally, the Saturday night 8:00 rush came in and Jay and I were assigned to play and supervise the showing of 'This is the End'.  Maya and Will were coming to see it as well.

Jay and I walked up to the booth in the theater where the projector screen was. The movie theater was 'old', in other words ghetto, so yes, they did use projector screens still. The tiny black room was empty aside from 2 chairs, the projector, and a small door that led to the hall in the lobby. Out the glass window you could see the screen and all the people flooding in to the dark theater, but none of them could see us. I saw Maya and Will walk in and take a seat in the front.  Jay and I took a seat in the booth and played the movie.

At first neither one of us talked, but he kept giving me strange looks. Around 15 minutes in to the movie, he stood up and pulled out a key, locking the door in to the projection room. I gave him a confused look and stood up after him.

I whispered “What are you doing?”

He looked at me nervously. “Cooper… I have to ask you something”

“What is it?” My heart was pounding.

He paused for a moment before he asked me the scariest question. “Are you… you know… gay?”