Page 101 of Down Bad

“It’s a game. Someone wins. Someone loses.”

He picks up a single popcorn kernel and flicks it at me. It rolls down my shirt and plops unexcitingly onto my lap. “Just because someone wins doesn’t mean the other loses. Maybe we both win. She enjoys a victory. And I enjoy the satisfaction of knowing my big sister is now having a … slightly improved day because she murdered both my bishops, beheaded my queen, and backed my king into a corner cowering for his life behind a wall of pawns.”

Before I know what to say to that, my phone buzzes. I pick it up and read a text from Henrietta.

“Is it sold?” asks Wyatt.

I hear the weird shift in his voice, like he just asked a sensitive question or something.

I pocket my phone. “Not yet. The first showing went well. But two more sets of buyers are stopping by tonight. Might be another hour or two before I’m out of your hair.”

“Why not stay in my hair?” He throws an arm over the back of the couch. “Still got the rest of the movie, and maybe another one after it. Y’know … if you want.”

I gaze into his eyes. That puppy-dog excitement behind them.

It isn’t the same as his in-the-mood-to-get-banged look.

I think he just wants me to stay.

I don’t know what to do with a look like that. I think I’d rather him just want to fuck.

“I can make more popcorn,” he says, and his voice sounds like we’ve already decided on our own personal movie night. “But first things first, you’ve got to see how this ends. Trust me, you will not see it coming.” He settles back into the couch and watches the TV.

After a second, I do, too.

He’s surprisingly silent through the whole climax.

Movie ends in its promised bang.

The good guy gets the girl.

Bad guy’s dead in a rain of hellfire.

Credits roll.

He actually watches the credits. “So many people are involved in making these movies happen,” he says, like it’s a new concept. “More than just the leading actors, y’know. It’s incredible.”

I stare at him instead of the screen, wondering if he knows his level of thinking of others is what I find incredible.

Ten minutes later, the next movie’s on.

Another ten, popcorn bowl’s on the coffee table, forgotten.

Then we’re slouched against each other’s sides somehow. His shoulder pressed to mine.

I put my arm over the back of the couch just to stop my bony shoulder from digging annoyingly into him.

His head slides onto my chest a minute later.

It’s not until I hear Wyatt’s breathing change that I realize he hasn’t said a word the whole beginning of the movie. I’m about to say his name, but stop when I realize his grip on the throw pillow he was clutching released.

He fell asleep.

On me.

I can still slip out from under him. Leave him be. Wouldn’t be the first time I left him sleeping in his own house.

My phone lights up on the arm of the couch. I can read it from here. Henrietta. She’s giving me the all-clear and asking whether she should wait for me or lock up on her way out.