Page 30 of King of the Crease

Hank: We’ll watch it sometime.

My heart flutters at getting to watch a movie with Nick. I instantly picture us curling up on the couch together, something I don’t do with my friends.

Nick: Sounds good!

Was that a blowoff or a genuine “sounds good”? Nowadays, you need a degree in codebreaking to figure out text message meaning.

Nick: What’s Airbnb?

Hank: Are you serious?

Nick: I’m looking it up now.

He has to look up what Airbnb is? I thought that was something everyone knew about. Something about Nick does strike me as a little aloof in a way I can’t put my finger on, so I can see him being completely unaware. Or perhaps people from Maryland are staunch hotel users.

Hank: It’s a website that lets you rent out your house to travelers. Like what the ladies in The Holiday do. Technically, they swap.

Hank: Kate Winslet’s cottage in it is very cozy but totally impractical to live in.

Hank: You’re really not a movie person?

Nick: I haven’t seen much. I don’t always have the time.

Again, something about this admission is odd but not a total surprise. Nick doesn’t seem like a couch potato.

Nick: I watched Home Alone 2 today with my cousin’s kids.

Hank: And?

Nick: Honestly? I was disturbed.

Hank: I started to feel bad for the robbers by the end.

Nick: Me too! I started to think, All they did was rob a store. Nobody got hurt. The storeowner is likely insured. Do they really deserve having bricks thrown at their head and being set on fire?

Hank: If I was those robbers, I wouldn’t have chased down Kevin. I would’ve taken the money and run.

Nick: Without the cheery music, that last half-hour would be a snuff film.

Hank: How is Kevin cleaning up all that? The construction crew must’ve come in Monday morning and been like WTF.

Nick: And am I mistaken, or is there a scene where a ten-year-old boy talks to sex workers on the street? Quite the family holiday classic.

I imagine his piercing eyes crinkling at the corners while laughing, his gleaming teeth biting at the corner of his lip.

Hank: The thing I find most unrealistic about the Home Alone movies is that in a house full of children, everybody’s sleeping in? There isn’t one kid who’s up at six watching cartoons?

Nick: Now that I’m sharing a house with three rambunctious boys, I have to agree. There’s usually some commotion and someone’s crying by seven.

Hank: Maybe they need to talk to some sex workers.

Nick doesn’t strike me as the type to say LOL, but I picture him laughing all the same, and it makes me warm inside.

Nick: I should get to bed. Important day tomorrow.

Nick: I’ll make sure to set my alarm, just in case.

Hank: Well, if you ever want to come over and cross another Christmas movie off your list, let me know.