Reason To Believe (Kellic)

Chapter Four

„Come on, let’s say Hi to Adam before he closes,“ Vic suggested and dragged me towards an inconspicious box with a curtain instead of a door without waiting for an answer. The box turned out to be a photo booth. It was quite small and there was one stool. A window of glass seperated us from another small room in which a bald man with a camera sat. The man wore a tee shirt with his own face on it, which was a little weird.

Vic sat down and dragged me onto his lap, where I stayed without hesitating. He put his arms around my stomach from behind. „That’s Adam,“ Vic whispered into my ear. I could feel his breath touching my earlobe and it made me shiver in pleasure. „He’s a photographer, and a damn good one.“

„Hello, Vicky,“ Adam greeted him.

„Hey, Adam. That’s Kellin, he works at the Octopuarium,“ Vic intoduced me and I smiled and nodded as a form or confirmation.

„Hello, Kellin. Well, you know how it works, Vicky“ Adam said and Vic nodded. Vic took a few coins out of his jeans pockets and put them in the intended slot. I had noticed that people with a work-relationship called him Vicky, while those he knew better and those who were his friends got to call him Vic. I was a little proud that I was on the friend side, because I could easily have been just an employee in the same mall as he was and nothing more.

„We’re gonna make this evening last forever, alright?“ Vic said. „Come on now, look as cute as always and let’s take a couple of pictures.“

I blushed heavily at him calling me cute and started smiling like an idiot and before I could respond Adam had already pushed the shutter button. For the second pic Adam counted down from three and before I knew what was happening, Vic kissed my cheek, just the moment before I heared the familiar sound of the camara. For the next picture Vic started tickling me and I couldn’t help but bursting into a fit of laughter. Adam captured that moment twice, the second time with me almost falling off the chair.  Soon he handed over two cards with each the four same small pics of Vic and me through the slit. I had to admit they were quite adorable, especially Vic. It was the proof Vic had kissed me, because I thought I may just have been imagining things. You can’t understand how happy I was that it was real.

We went to a place called The Music Theatre. The Music Theatre was the best thing that ever happened. Vic bought us two tickets for the twenty o’clock show. The music hall was comparatively small. It had five or six rows with maybe ten red velvet seats each. We were the only vistitors and chose two of the middle seats in the last row. We didn’t have popcorn (not only because I only ate heavymetalcorn), because we didn’t want anything to distract us from the experience.  Short after we entered, the lights went out and the doors were shut. Fortunately, there weren’t any adds.

Nebraska came out of the speakers and Vic and I just sat there and listened. Vic was a good listener. He didn’t move, not once, the only sound he made was his smooth breathing. As we’re halfways into Atlantic City, at „down here, there’s just winners and loosers, don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line“, he took my hand. He didn’t let go of it through the whole album. Now and then, he lightly brushed his thumb over my hand, but most of the time he just held it.

As the harmonica of Reason To Believe subsided and turned the room into silence, Vic and I kept sitting in the velvet chairs for quite a while to catch the last breezes of that moment and suck them in to remember them forever. We were full of reverence for the music and the darkness and the silence that was filled with echos of touches and fragments of lyrics. We then made our way out of the hall in silence and Vic still didn’t let go of my hand, much to my pleasure.

Most of the stores had already closed or were just about to close when Vic and I left The Music Thearte, not all of them, though. „Do you want cotton candy?“ Vic asked as we walked past ABC-andy, which still had the doors opened and the lights turned on. I nodded as an answer.