More Like a Movie

“Who is Felicia?” I asked Vic curiously as I joined him on the couch in the student lounge. It wasn’t too busy in here, considering it was late afternoon so students were either in their late classes or back at the dorms, which is where I should have been but Tony kicked me out; something about “preparing for a big presentation”. I didn’t protest since I’ve seen Tony at his most stressed and it wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed. I brought my feet up, positioning them underneath me, waiting for Vic to answer my question.

He shrugged and locked his phone, slipping the device into the front pocket of his extremely tight jeans before turning his attention to me. “Just a girl in my first class,” he said, “I need to get the notes I missed this morning.” He was casual, bringing his arm up to rest against the back of the crimson love seat.

I looked down at my shoes and nodded, fumbling with the laces and thinking over his response. He always hated when I did that, telling me that thinking would get me far in life, but overthinking would be the reason I would have a mental breakdown at such a young age. He was probably right, but did that stop me?

“You missed class this morning?” I frowned, already thinking of reasons why he would skip. From what I could tell, he wasn’t sick and nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. I was a little worried, ever since I learned Vic had failed a class here already, I became even more interested in learning about his past, which he was so eager to keep private. I can’t really blame him, though. It’s none of my business. “What?” I asked when I realized he had been staring at me with a contemplative look on his face.

“You have that look in your eyes,” he shook his head and smiled.

“What look?” I shot back defensively.

He rested his hand on my knee, patting it gently as if to tell me that I shouldn’t be upset; it wasn’t anything bad. “That look,” he said pointing at my face. “The pout on your lips, the barely visible nose scrunch, and your eyes are all dark like you’re thinking hard. I feel as though you’re peering into my soul, Kels, trying to find out my secrets. It’s kind of creepy, to be honest.”

“Oh,” I whispered, slightly embarrassed at my actions. My cheeks were growing warm, mouth still hanging open slightly as I turned away from him. Truthfully, I was worried and I didn’t want him to know. I assumed he’d be annoyed with me for caring, but the playful glint in his eyes told me otherwise. Relieved as I was, I couldn’t stop myself from going back to my original question. He noticed, too, for he just rolled his eyes and sighed, ignoring me altogether. I should expect that from him by now. Any time a subject that he didn’t want to touch came up, he would get cold and reserved.

“Moving on?” I asked hopefully. A change in topic was clearly needed. Vic wasn’t up for talking about his morning, so I needed to switch the conversation to something less personal. “What’s on the agenda for tonight?”

His attitude changed quickly and he was back to being his cool, calm self. I was thankful that he wasn’t upset, seeing as how that perfect smile was back on his face again. Putting my full attention on him, I waited for him to answer in hopes that maybe we could hang out or something. If not, I guess I could stay here, possibly stop back at the dorm briefly to pick up my books and such to get some work done.

“I was just planning on staying in again. Hanging out in my dorm, eating Chinese, watching Netflix and try to study for a test I have coming up.” So his plans weren’t all that exciting, but at least it was something to do. I didn’t want to come off as a nuisance that was always bugging him, but I really didn’t want to be alone, either.

“Can I come?” I asked, smiling at him cheerfully. He’s commented before on how I have a nice smile so I figured I could use it to my advantage.

“You want to be with me while I eat Chinese food, watch Netflix and ignore you?” He looked at me, confused. All I could do was nod, because yeah, I had nothing better to do and at least I’d get to eat something other than the bland cafeteria food offered here. That was one of the things I missed most about the comfort of my own home: the food.

“Alright,” Vic spoke. “Come by at 6 and bring the Chinese.” He stood up, placing a hand on my head and ruffling my hair, something he always does when he leaves me. It’s annoying, but I don’t call him out on it. I’ve grown used to it.

I nodded in silence, watching him walk around one of the pool tables, stopping to talk to some guy briefly before he made his move for the elevators. After he left, I was alone so I thought about staying here for an hour or so until I could go back to my place and see if Tony was close to being finished. I looked around, taking in the few students who were seated in here, too. Unlike me, they were all occupied with something. That’s when I realized I didn’t have my laptop or any of my books, so the option to work on any assignments was immediately tossed out the window.

I decided to take my chances and make a pit stop at the dorm. If Tony was busy, I’d just slip in quietly to grab my things and find a quiet place on campus to chill for a few hours. If he was done, though, I’d get in a few hours of sleep.

When I reached the familiar door, I wasn’t expecting to run into Jaime. We knocked heads which in turn caused him to drop whatever it was that he was holding. I whined at the sensation, throwing my hand over my forehead as I stumbled backwards. In front of me, Jaime groaned, bending down to pick up his books.

“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled reaching to help him up.

“It’s no problem, Kell,” he said with a smile and straightened out his things. “Tony kick you out?”

I frowned and nodded. “What were you doing in there?” I asked simply perplexed by the fact that I wasn’t allowed in my own room, but it was totally okay for Jaime to pop in.

“Oh,” he shook his head catching onto what I was thinking. “No, he just asked me to bring him some food from the café. I was just dropping it off and now I’m about to head out.” He stopped mumbling and scanned me over quickly. “What are you doing? Want to hang out for a bit?”

The thing about Jaime was that he was a hyper personality. One minute he would be on a long rant about something completely passionate and the next he was talking about me and asking me things. I shrugged and went along with it thinking there was no harm. I had about two hours to kill until I had to get ready to head to Vic’s anyway.

“Alright, let’s go.” I stepped back and let him lead us down the hall, following wherever he went in hopes that this wouldn’t turn out painfully awkward.

All of my hopes were crushed the second Jaime and I entered the music shop just down the street from the school. He briskly walked to the back of the store without telling me so I followed him. That was his plan all along. He wanted to get me alone. Just so he could ask one question.

“What’s going on with you and Vic?”

“I-what?”

“Yeah,” he gestured going towards a row of CDs and just barely skimming through them. Like a lost boy, I followed him still trying to understand what exactly he was getting at. “Vic doesn’t take well to strangers; he doesn’t befriend anyone who is new. So, what’s going on there?”

“I don’t know,” I told him honestly. Suddenly it felt like I was being accused of something and I was starting to feel weak and uncomfortable. Jaime took notice and from the mirror overhead I could see my face had completely drained of color.

“Kellin,” he rested a hand on my shoulder carefully. “It’s a good thing, don’t worry. I just thought something might have happened…my curiosity is all.”

He began walking away again, but this time I stopped him by tugging on his arm. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “It’s none of my business anyway.” There was something he wasn’t telling me, but I wasn’t about to pry it out of him. I learned that when it comes to Vic, I can’t go behind his back to try and get details because one: he always finds out and two: when he’s ready, he’ll open up to me. So, I let it go.

The rest of the time was spent in an awkward silence and every once in a while I’d catch Jaime stealing glances at me. Of course that confused me even more, but I didn’t think about it too much. I didn’t want to get worked up in public.

“He’s happier, you know.” Jaime broke our silence when we walked back outside. “I mean, as happy as Vic can get really.” That comment seemed to unsettle him, making his eyebrows arch together in contemplation. “Okay, I’m not saying Vic’s like, never happy or anything, but ever since you’ve joined our little group you’ve given Vic someone to bond with. It’s nice.”

I hummed in response not knowing what else I could possibly say. It felt like Jaime was trying to tell me something, but obviously he wouldn’t do that to Vic so it was left to me to figure it out and right now I was trying to decide if I should bug him or let it happen on its own.



“Is that Rocky Horror?” My voice raised in delight when I walked into Vic’s room and saw him sprawled on his stomach across his bed. The laptop was perched at the foot with Vic placed in front of it. He turned to face me, smiling and nodding.

“Yeah, it’s one of my favorites.” He waved me into the room and I obliged, holding a giant paper bag of all of the food Vic put on his list. “Can you shut the door? I only left it open so you could come in.” Vic murmured before returning to the film. It was nearing the end, but I joined him anyway, pushing him to the side only to have him willingly scoot over to give me some space. I smiled and momentarily thought about the conversation with Jaime earlier.

I decided not to bring it up yet and instead enjoy the movie, grinning the whole time. Before Vic, I never met anyone who appreciated The Rocky Horror Picture Show so it was nice to finally find someone who enjoyed it the same.

Too soon for my liking the credits were rolling and Vic was sitting up to grab the containers of food, handing me one along with a pair of chopsticks. I wasn’t exactly skilled in the art of using them, but I did pretty well. We ate and Vic handed me his laptop, giving me the option to pick something to watch next. I settled on It. Horrible choice, really, considering my ridiculous phobia of clowns, but I actually liked the story and I was on a Tim Curry kick after watching Rocky Horror.

We shifted positions, now I was lying with my head against the pillows and Vic was sitting cross-legged next to me. We were just at the part where Georgie loses his boat when I couldn’t stop thinking about what Jaime said. I made Vic happier. Was it in a friendly manner or something more? I didn’t know and that was what was killing me. He was so hard to read sometimes.

“Your friends say I make you happy,” I decided to say after some thought.

“Is that so?” He looked over at me, neither smiling nor frowning.

“Yep,” I shuffled up a bit so I could be somewhat level with him. “What do you think about that?” I wanted to hear his thoughts then maybe I could pick up on something. Normally I’m very observant but it was like Vic was immune to it.

He placed his near empty container on the stand next to the bed and moved the laptop from my lap pausing the film so we wouldn’t miss any more of it. He then shuffled closer so our bodies were barely touching. “What do you think about it?” He turned the question around on me.

“W-what?” I swallowed nervously, feeling my body temperature rise.

“Yeah,” he smirked, inching closer so my back was leaning towards the mattress. “What if they were right? What if I said you did make me happy, what would you do?” He cocked his head to the side. “You obviously have some kind of thoughts on it. You’re blushing like crazy.”

I squeaked and brought my hands up to my cheeks, trying to hide the coloring that was burning on my pale features. Yeah, he definitely knew what he did to me and he enjoyed every minute of it. “You’re making me nervous,” I admitted, my words coming out with a shaky breath.

“Good,” his voice was deeper now. “I can’t let you think you have some sort of power over me, now can I?”

Oh God, he was so close. I could feel his breath tickle my nose and smell his mixture of shampoo and Chinese food when I inhaled. The temptation to wrap my arms around him and bring him down onto me was too strong, so I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back slightly.

“Let’s just finish the movie, okay? Shouldn’t you be studying anyway?” I wanted all attention off of me. There was something different about his behavior and for a brief second I thought that maybe he would try something, like kiss me, but he didn’t and I guess that’s a good thing. I’ve never kissed anyone before and I was practically shaking at the thought.

“I finished before you got here,” he sighed and resumed his position from before, gaze flicking back to the screen. I couldn’t help but feel like he was a little disappointed. Maybe he wanted to kiss me as much as I wanted him to. Is that what Jaime was talking about?

Fuck, I really needed to get his words out of my head.

By the time It was over we were both pretty tired. It’s long, a little over three hours and we had taken a few break times in between to eat and talk for a little. Vic had been kind enough to walk me to the door, though I think it was just so he could lock it after I left.

“Thanks for letting me ruin your night,” I laughed, turning around in the doorway and leaning against the frame. “We really should do something other than watch movies, though.” We were always absorbed in the cinema in and out of the classroom.

“Well,” he stated moving closer. “I have a few ideas.”

“Oh yeah?” I smirked. “Like what?” I was feeling kind of flirty, which never happens with me, but I instantly found myself wishing that he would reenact the moment from earlier on his bed when I was so sure he was feeling exactly what I was.

Vic leaned into me, his big brown eyes scanning my face before locking our gaze. Bringing his hand up, he allowed his fingertips to brush against my cheek, tingles immediately forming at his touch. He brushed his fingers through my hair, my eyes threatening to flutter closed as warmth spread through me. I saw his eyes flick to my lips and I swallowed hard. I don’t know what I was thinking, but the words escaped me before I could stop them.

"Vic, I've never been kissed," I mumbled out, biting my lip as soon as I spoke. I felt like such an idiot. He probably thinks I'm fucking weird now. Expecting him to laugh at me, I was surprised when he kept a serious face, fingers still running through my hair. The space between us got a little bit smaller when Vic leaned in again, our lips only centimeters apart. I held my breath and closed my eyes. This was it. It had to be, I was finally going to be kissed; and by Vic. Opening my eyes I watched him. I watched as he bit his lip, dipping his head forward, only to move up and place a soft, warm kiss on my forehead.

My shoulders deflated and I tried not to let the disappointment show even though I was practically on the verge of screaming. Vic pulled away from me and gave me a smile, but it wasn’t his usual cocky grin. This one was genuine.

“There’s a house party tomorrow night. I expect you to come with me?” His fingers nudged mine, literally shocking me from the static. The movie side of me took that as a stupid sign and I nodded, still unsure of what to make of this moment.

“Uh, house party?”

“Yeah, this kid, Justin Hills still lives at home and his parents are always away on business. Kid has like the best parties and you said you wanted to go to one. So now is your chance. I’ll be by tomorrow night to pick you and Tony up. I hope you’re ready, Kels. You’re about to have a new experience.”