Love from, Hell

After Blockbuster, Julie and Malcolm went to the skate park. Julie sat nearby while Malcolm practiced his tricks. She sorted through the movies, trying to put them in a good watching order in her head. Occasionally she would look up to watch Malcolm, since she couldn’t help herself, but he was completely absorbed in his tricks and didn’t look back. Julie smiled to herself anyway.

When it was getting late and Julie was about to work up the courage to call Malcolm away from the half pipe, he came cycling over on his own. She smiled at him and he held the bike perfectly still while she climbed on. They rode over to the local food mart and Julie selected some junk food for them to eat while they watched their movies.

Julie picked out Miss Vickie’s chips, Jujubes, and some Werther’s Originals for her parents. Malcolm offered no opinion on the junk food and Julie had the suspicion that he’d never had any before. She couldn’t imagine a father giving his son a ridiculous sports car but never giving him chips.

After she bought their items, they returned home. Julie’s mother was making dinner when they came in the door.

“C’mon in here you two! I want to see you eating before I leave,” Heather called from the kitchen.

Julie and Malcolm walked into the adjoining dinner table. Julie set their bags on a chair and sat down. Malcolm sat down fluidly in his chair.

Julie’s mother came clicking into view. “Julie, we’re just going to be Maureen's if you need anything. I see you bought junk food,” Heather tutted disapprovingly.

“You look beautiful, mom,” Julie complimented.

Heather was wearing a modest but pretty evening dress and had swept her hair up. Malcolm hummed quietly along with Julie’s comment.

Heather blushed and patted her hair. “Thank you,” she said to both of them and turned away.

Julie smiled at Malcolm and he smiled a little back at her.

Heather returned to the kitchen and poked around the pork chops she was cooking. “What did you rent anyway?” she asked.

“A bunch of old movies,” Julie said.

“Like what?” Heather wanted to know.

“Jaws,” Julie offered.

“That’s not that old,” Heather chuckled at her daughter.

Julie shrugged. “It’s a classic,” she said.

Ken came down the stairs then, looking respectable in slacks and a nice shirt and tie. “Ooh what did you guys get?” he asked, immediately interested in the treats and made to come over to the table.

Heather stopped her husband by grabbing his tie and pulled him back; then she fiddled with his tie, fixing it. “You leave their stuff alone. We’re going out and you don’t need junk food anyway,” she scolded.

“You look sharp Dad,” Julie grinned at her dad.

Ken grunted at her, giving her the thumbs up. Heather turned back to the dinner and began to dish out the food on to two plates. Since her mother was distracted, Julie snuck a hard candy from their bag and tossed it to her dad. He stuck it in his pocket quickly, grinning at his daughter.

Julie’s mother set their plates down in front of them. “Don’t think I didn’t see that, Julie Katherine,” Heather told her, using Julie’s middle name.

“We’ll see you kids later. C’mon Heather!” Ken boomed from the back door.

Julie’s mother hurried around, collecting her purse and her jacket. Ken helped his wife into her coat.

“You two be good. We’ll be back later tonight.” Heather added.

Julie called goodnight to her parents and they left. Julie and Malcolm ate their dinner in silence and although she would have liked to talk to him, she didn’t say anything. Julie was slightly preoccupied by the fact that they were going to spending the whole night alone watching movies. Although she was fairly sure Malcolm wouldn’t read into it at all or escalate their situation, Julie couldn’t help thinking about it. Potential was such a wonderful, nasty tease.

After dinner, Julie and Malcolm washed the dishes then took their DVDs and junk food upstairs. The front room was more of a guest room and in the main part of the house. When Julie and Kyle were younger, their dad had made the guest bedroom into a TV and games room. It was much more cozy and casual then the front room.

Julie led Malcolm into the den and he looked around, interested. It was a dark color, like Kyle's room, and it held a futon, a large TV, and a pool table. Julie sat on the futon and spread out their supplies on the coffee table. Malcolm sat next to her.

"We're going to start your education off with James Bond," Julie said.

Malcolm looked at her. "Should I take notes?" he asked calmly.

Although he sounded absolutely serious, Julie knew he was joking… or at least she was pretty sure he was.

Julie stood up and put the DVD in the player and then returned to the futon. "Just note how fantastic Sean Connery is," she instructed him.

Malcolm nodded. Julie hit the play button and tucked her legs up under her. They both quickly became absorbed in the movie. Julie would sometimes break her concentration to check Malcolm's reaction. He was seemed to be thoroughly appreciating Sean Connery's acting.

When a sexy scene came on, Julie swallowed uncomfortably and leaned forward to open the junk food, to distract herself from her awareness of Malcolm and the boy-girlishness in the movie. She offered Malcolm a Jujube. Malcolm took a red one and looked at it. Julie popped a green one in her mouth.

Malcolm carefully put the jujube in his mouth. Julie jumped, startled, when Malcolm gagged. She stared at him while he quickly spit the Jujube discreetly into a napkin.

"Are you trying to poison me?" he demanded. It would have been funny if Julie wasn't so concerned about his reaction.

"No! Why, what's the matter?" she asked.

Malcolm ran his tongue along his teeth. "This tastes like chemicals," he said, making a sickened face.

Julie frowned and took another red jujube and put it in her mouth. Malcolm watched her intently. It tasted fine to Julie. While she was chewing, she figured that if someone had never tasted junk food in their life they would think that jujubes tasted funny. They weren't made of anything natural, and most of the favoring was artificial too.

Julie looked at Malcolm and swallowed the candy. "Have you ever had jujubes before?" she checked.

Malcolm shook his head, disgusted.

"I guess you get used to the taste when you're little," Julie said apologetically.

Malcolm made a face as he tried to get the bits of left over Jujube out of his teeth. "And you were concerned with my diet," he muttered picking up the bag.

Julie held back a giggle as he looked over the ingredients, a critical frown on his perfect forehead. He continued to lick his teeth clean.

Julie picked out a Werther's Original. "Here. Try this," she said, hoping the caramel would get the taste of jujube chemical out of Malcolm's mouth.

Malcolm twisted off the wrapping and put the candy very cautiously in his mouth.

Julie raised her eyebrows, waiting. "... better?" she asked curiously.

Malcolm paused, assessing, and then nodded. "Better. But I don't think I want to know what's in these either," he said cryptically.

Julie giggled and he looked at her. She pushed the candy into the grocery bag.

"No probably not," Julie agreed.

They continued watching the movie. Julie noticed that Malcolm took awhile to relax back into the futon again. Probably wanted to be sure that she wasn't actually trying to poison him, she thought amusedly to herself.

By the time Sean Connery finished up his movie, the rain had gotten much heavier with the darkening of the night and a wind had picked up. Julie put in the Matrix and returned to the futon and yanked the blanket down from the back of the futon over her legs and gently pushed the blanket over Malcolm's legs nonchalantly without asking him. He didn’t protest and just glanced at Julie quickly. She hit the play button and settled back.

Fifteen minutes into the plot, Malcolm demanded that Julie pause the movie. Julie obliged, surprised.

"What's up?" she asked him.

Malcolm frowned at the screen. Neo had just woken up in his Matrix pod.

"The Matrix creates the world they, as humans, perceive?" he checked.

Julie nodded; kind of impressed he'd caught on so quickly.

"So the writers are pitching to their audience that a machine is running the world and an elite group of people have somehow escaped the Matrix system and are now trying to stop it?" Malcolm continued, looking at Julie.

Julie nodded.

"How many people have watched this movie?" Malcolm wanted to know. He stared at Julie, like her word would be law.

"It, um, was really popular. One of the most popular movies ever. Millions of people watched it," Julie said.

Malcolm frowned. "Are there people that believe it was true?" he asked.

Julie raised her eyebrows. "Yeah I think so actually. Lots of people were convinced that our lives are run by the Matrix," she said.

"Ha!" Malcolm barked his laugh at the screen.

Julie looked at him, blinking. She hadn't expected that reaction. Malcolm looked at her and grinned crookedly. It knocked the breath right out of Julie and made her brain turn to mush.

"What a deceiving concept. The Matrix. That's clever," Malcolm complimented the movie, chuckling.

Matrix? Julie wondered dreamily: what was this outrageously handsome creature talking about? She stared mindlessly at Malcolm's beautiful, snickering profile. A long moment passed then Malcolm looked at Julie expectantly. She gazed at his blue eyes.

"Julie? … are you going to play the movie?" he prompted gently.

Julie blinked and looked away. She shook her head and hit the play button. She looked at Malcolm again when the movie was playing. She would sell her soul to see Malcolm smile at her like that again.

After awhile, Julie let her concentration move back to the Matrix. Malcolm would break the tense atmosphere the movie's plot created with short bursts of laughter at things he found amusing. Julie never got used to it, and always looked at him with startled amusement whenever he found something humorous. He thought the prophecy scene with the little psychic boy to be particularly funny. Eventually though, the plot progressed into more serious scenes between the agents and the 'elite' group. They were completely silent as Neo narrowly escaped the agents once and the plot intensified.

They were nearing a crucial part of the movie- the death of Morpheus. The heroes were hiding in the walls of the apartment building from the agents, when the lights in the den flickered and the electricity went out. Only then did Julie realize that the wind had been howling fiercely and making the windows rattle and that it had become completely dark outside.

"The power's out," Julie explained to Malcolm.

"What?" he said. He'd heard what she said, but didn't understand.

"Um, the wind? Knocked out the electric power," Julie pointed toward the dark window at the power pole that held the blown out electrical box.

Malcolm nodded, slowly understanding.

"What do we do now?" he asked Julie.

Julie's mind raced and she tried to dismiss the more physical and inappropriate thoughts that immediately popped into her head and made her blush deeply. Thankfully it was dark, so Malcolm couldn't see her fluster.

"Um, we'll dig up some candles and light them," Julie managed to answer.

Malcolm waited for Julie to lead him to the candles. Julie stood and carefully maneuvered through the dark hallway and down the stairs. She was pretty sure they had been in the big chest of drawers near the fire place the last time she'd looked for them. But her scatterbrained mother must have moved them since then. Julie was digging hopelessly through the drawer when she heard a faint sound from somewhere in the house. Julie jumped up and bumped into Malcolm.

"Did you hear that??" she whispered urgently.

Malcolm paused and listened very tentatively. There was a noise, it sounded like someone was moving things around quietly.

"It's coming from the basement I think," Julie murmured, terrified. Thoughts of rapists and murderers immediately flooded her brain and the fact they'd been watching a scary part in the movie wasn't helping anything.

"Do you have a flashlight?" Malcolm requested quietly.

Julie knew where that was and quickly went into the kitchen to retrieve it and then hurried back to Malcolm, not wanting to be alone. Malcolm turned it on and the beam of light made things better and worse. Better because now they could walk without bumping into anything, and worse because it was harder to see what wasn't directly in the light.

Malcolm started toward the basement stairs near the backdoor. Julie crept closely behind him. He silently and slowly opened the basement door. Sure enough, the noise got a little louder. Malcolm stepped down on to the first stair. Julie whined very quietly in her throat and followed him, gripping the back of his shirt, frightened for him and for herself. They silently descended the stairs.

When they got to the bottom, Malcolm covered the flashlight by tucking it under his arm. He looked back at Julie. She kept a firm hold on his shirt. Malcolm lifted a finger to his mouth to warn her to keep quiet. He pushed her back and she was going to protest but remembered that she was supposed to be quiet.

"Who's in here?" Malcolm demanded calmly, not entering the room yet. He waited and there was no sound. Malcolm stepped bravely into the room then and shone his light around.

There was a scuffling and a box of Christmas decorations fell over.

"Come out and leave and we won't call the police," Malcolm offered smoothly.

Julie wanted to smack her forehead; she should have grabbed a phone. Malcolm walked carefully into the room toward the box of Christmas decorations. Julie hissed, objecting his getting closer. He waved at her impatiently. He kicked the box and leapt back. A large raccoon came streaking out from under the box and hid in another dark area. Malcolm exhaled in relief. He looked back at Julie to check that she had seen what it was.

She didn't look relieved. "Let's just leave it. It might have rabies," Julie called to him, spooked.

Malcolm shone the flashlight around the room. "How did it get in?" he wondered.

Julie looked over at the small strip of window at the top of the room that was level to the ground floor. It had been pushed open. Julie pointed to it.

Malcolm looked over. "Ok. Be ready," he warned.

"Be ready for what?" Julie wanted to know, but Malcolm was concentrating on his what he was doing.

"Malcolm!" Julie stage whispered, scared. What was he planning?

He set down the flashlight on her father's work table slowly his eyes fixed on a spot. Julie couldn't see anything. He picked up a large wrench. Julie watched with wide eyes. Malcolm stood perfectly still for a long minute then chucked the wrench at his target.

Julie gasped and squeezed her eyes shut as the wrench made a loud clunk sound and there was a squeal. Julie felt her heart beat 3 painful times then she slowly opened her eyes. Malcolm was picking up the flashlight calmly and then he turned and walked toward her. Julie closed the distance between them and put her hands on his forearms stopping him. He looked down at her.

"Did you kill the raccoon??" Julie demanded.

Malcolm blinked at her. "No-" he answered.

Julie breathed, relieved.

"-I just scared it. It ran back out the window," Malcolm finished.

Julie nodded, letting herself calm down. Then she became aware that she standing very close to Malcolm and was touching his arms.

She backed away, embarrassed. "Sorry," she muttered.

Malcolm ignored her apology and picked his way through the boxes to the window and shut it firmly, locking it. He came back over to Julie.

"I guess raccoons are afraid of storms," Julie said.

"I guess so," Malcolm said looking at the window.

There was a rumble of thunder in the distance. Julie stared up at Malcolm and he looked away from the window and back down at Julie. She felt her skin prickle under Malcolm's blue gaze. Even in the near pitch black, his eyes were intense and scorching. The atmosphere was so fantastically charged that Julie could almost touch it; almost taste it.

Then, there came a loud bang from upstairs. Julie shrieked and jumped reflexively into Malcolm for safety.

"Julie?? Malcolm??" Ken called out from upstairs.

She let her breath out in a whoosh of air and looked at Malcolm. He smiled a little and she realized he was relieved too. Julie hurried up the stairs and Malcolm followed her.

"We're here dad. There was a raccoon in the basement," Julie called to her dad.

That night, while Julie lay in bed, she tossed and turned. Although her room was supposed to be dark, she was unnerved by the loss of the option of having light. And she was also nervous that in the dark of the night Malcolm would disappear. It was strange- he hadn't been out of her proximity since they'd met, yet she didn't trust him to stay. Correction: she didn't trust herself to be enough to make him stay. The thought of Malcolm being gone when she woke up made her feel anxious and upset- and she was having a hard time trying to deny why that was.