His Nineteenth Secretary [✔]

Thirty-seven

"Can I press play now?" He asked. It was the day after we went to see the beautiful fountain.

He had asked me the type of movie that I loved while we were having dinner earlier, and I had told him that I loved horror movies. I was only joking about it, but he didn't seem to sense the sarcasm, I didn't know he would take it seriously, and here we're in the living room about to watch one.

"Yeah." I held a popcorn to my mouth from a big pack of it that was placed in the space between us on the couch.

"You're shaking." He observed.

"I'm not, or it could be because of the thin clothes that I have on." I lied.

"But it's not cold in here. Do you want me to get you a blanket?"

"No need." The actual truth was that I totally suck at watching horror movies, even Alicia dreads watching one with me. The way I would scream and grip whatever or whoever was close to me during the scary scenes was nothing to bear with. She would prefer to stay at a considerable distance away from me, but even with that, my screaming usually freaked her out more than the scary scene does. She would resort to switching of the tv, and I would be the one to plead with her to switch it back on.

The piercing and agonizing scream, the eerie and ominous sounds, and deadly echoes sure always scare the hell out of me. They always seem so real and would leave a lasting effect on me after watching it. However, I convinced myself that that was long ago and I should be able to bear with watching one now.

In case some of the scenes got too scary for me, I took precaution, so Brian wouldn't fall a victim of me holding too tight unto him.

"Why are you sitting on the floor?"

"I love sitting on the floor whenever I'm watching a movie." I lied.

"Oh okay. Maybe I should try it, too." He made to sit down beside me on the floor.

"No, don't."

"Why not?"

"Because you're a guy, and I'm a lady."

"What has that got to do with sitting on the floor?"

"It does matter a lot." I placed a hand on his thigh to restrict him as he made to stand up again. He narrowed his eyes at me for that.

"Ruby!"

"Okay, okay, no one has to sit on the floor." I stood up and sat on the couch beside him. "Hit the button." I said with determination this time.

"Alright." He drew me closer to himself so that now I was resting my head on his chest.

"What's the title?"

"Pet sematary." He answered. The beginning of the movie wasn't that scary, and I did wish it would be that way until the end. The content of the pack of popcorn and the can of pepsi continued to reduce as the movie played on. Soon, the pace at which I was picking up popcorns slowed down as I sensed the tension heightening.

I was going to let out a yelp at the scary scene that was going on that moment but cautioned myself, remembering that Brian was beside me. He, on the other hand, looked completely unfazed, I wished I could be like that too. I diverted my eyes away from the TV screen for the scene to pass even though the screaming coming from it was unavoidable and when I thought it already passed and I decided to resume watching it, I flinched at what I saw.

"Goodness? What's wrong?" He asked with concern.

"Nothing. It's just..."

"Is it because of the movie? I thought you said you liked horror movies?"