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He even abandoned his moussed pretty-boy hair-do for a sophisticated gel-held pompadour.
She’d made such progress in pretending her crush wasn’t real, but she was a victim of good looks, and he looked like he would snap her heart in two. She swallowed and chewed repetitively on the inside of her cheek to distract herself from keeping her eyes on him.
“No. I mean yes, like half a bottle of beer but I didn’t finish because it turns out parties are kind of boring without you now.” He said, so easily that it made her falter a moment.
What if . . . no. Won’t happen.
“Well, I can’t sneak out with you this time, so you might have to get used to a boring party.”
“No, I know that. I’m not coming to take you to the party, I’m just coming to hang out with you. Have any scary movies?”
Tully looked him over. This was . . . new.
They weren’t strangers anymore, not by a long shot, but everything between them had been part of an act or a deal. Except for the unfortunate addition of her crush. They never did anything together just because they could; it was all because they should.
There was no reason for Nathan to sneak in to watch movies with her. No one was watching them, no rumors would come from it, and it certainly wasn’t helping his grades. In fact, other than her, no one would even know he was there at all.
“You want to watch a movie?” she asked.
“Why not? I don’t like scary movies much but it’s Halloween, might as well.”
That wasn’t what she was asking. What she meant was,you want to watch a movie with me? There was no way this was a good idea. Any moment her feelings could pass the point of no return and cause more problems than she was worth.
But Nathan was already there, waiting for an answer, and he’d left a party that had to be much more exciting just for her. The very least she could do was watch a movie with him if he wanted to. Plus, she’d been doing well at pushing back on her feelings, one little movie wouldn’t hurt.
She rolled her eyes and shut the window. “Do you want some popcorn?”
“You have some?”
She nodded.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
“Come on then. You can pick what we watch.”
Nathan grinned and followed her down the staircase like an excited puppy. In the living room, she guided him to the VHS movie collection and left him to pick out whatever he felt like watching.
It took a few minutes from taking the package out of the pantry and heating it up in the microwave to getting it out to the living room, but when she got there, Nathan already had the tape in the player and the movie paused at the beginning credits. She sat down and handed the buttery treat to him. He took a handful gratefully.
“This is already better than that party. They didn’t have any popcorn.”
Tully laughed. “What did you pick?”
“Evil Dead.” He clicked play and the movie began.
“I thought you said you don’t like scary movies.”
“I don’t.”
Did he realize he’d picked probably the scariest one they had? His options were on a scale fromWatcher in the WoodstoPoltergeistand he ended up withEvil Dead. This would be interesting.
Tully was very right about that.
He should have just pickedWatcher in the Woodsbecause he was not cut out for horror. Tully wouldn’t consider herself a fearless movie buff by any means, but compared to him she was a veteran. He jumped at scenes when nothing happened, he hid his eyes when blood poured, and best of all he yelped once or twice at the slow parts. Tully spent more time watching him than the actual film and he was more comedic than anything.
“How are you not freaked out by this?” he asked, turning his head ninety degrees from the screen to look at her and block the scene with his fingers.
“Because you’re more dramatic than the movie! I can’t even focus.” She shook her head. “Why did you pick this one if you were going to watch most of it through your fingers?”
