Josh and Randy entered the darkened theater and climbed the stairs to mid-level in the stadium seats to an empty row and walked to the middle. They were exactly eye-level with the center of the screen. Randy sat down, and Josh immediately shed his jacket into a high-back seat and sat down next to Randy. It made Randy slightly uncomfortable. Josh was within inches, and for some reason, it made it difficult for Randy to breath. Besides, most guys that go to movies together usually leave an empty seat between them, don’t they? At least, that is what Randy had observed on several occasions. The previews had already started, so both were quiet. Randy finally relaxed enough to breath normally, but he was still intensely aware of Josh’s proximity.
Early in the movie during a scene where Liam Neeson’s character is in a dark room waiting to ambush one of the bad guys, Randy found himself gripping the arms of the chair. Josh covered the hand closest to him with his hand lightly and squeezed. He whispered, “What’s wrong?” Randy almost couldn’t answer. The touch was unexpected and completely took his mind off what bothered him in the first place. He was now bothered a lot more with Josh’s action. Randy whispered, “I don’t like the dark very much.” Josh leaned close, “It’s okay, Dude. I’m here.” He then lightly squeezed the top of Randy’s clenched hand over the end of the arm rest, removed his hand, and settled back. Randy’s breathing returned to normal, and he physically relaxed. But, he was still puzzling over the physical contact of Josh’s and finally concluded Josh was apparently a “touchy-feelly” person. After the end of the movie where Neeson’s character had saved the day again, Josh and Randy exited the theater out the side door leading to the parking lot into the cool autumn night. It was more crowded than normal since Monday was a day off for students in the local schools. The two young men walked closely together—Josh with his easy, loose-limb stride and Randy with his more clipped steps. As they approached the shiny red truck under the parking lot light, Josh asked, “Well, Dude, whatcha goin’ to do tomorrow?” “Not sure…have some homework for Mrs. Wagner and Mr. Holt. What about you?” “Supposed to be a pretty day. According to the weatherman, it might be one of the last ones before the weather turns colder. How about we go fishin’ at my dad’s stocked pond?” Randy hesitated. He didn’t have any fishing equipment and tell the truth, he had never been fishing before. Josh seemed to read his mind, “I have plenty of fishin’ rods and reels to choose from. Dad is a big into fishing. He goes out on one of those charter fishing boats deep sea fishing at least three or four times a year. He writes them off on his taxes as business expenses since he usually takes out clients with him. Mimicking an older man’s voice, ‘Josh, you gotta know how to work the system,’ he tells me.” “Okay, sure, but I’ll have to tell you, I’ve never been fishing before.” Josh stopped as they got to the tailgate of the truck and turned to him, “Your dad never took you fishing? What about a granddad?” “No,” Randy replied lightly grasping the tailgate of the truck with the both hands, “Mom’s dad lives up in Washington DC, and so, growing up, he took me around to all the DC sights rather than take me fishing. I’m not sure if he fishes anyway. He’s more into museums and history than outdoor stuff. Dad’s dad passed away when I was just a baby.” “No uncles?” “No, both mom and dad were only children. She says that might be why the marriage didn’t work out. They were both too used to having their own way. Personally, I would say dad being a self-centered asshole is why they got divorced. Mom was too nice when the truth came out about dad’s fuckin’ around. She was hurt, but didn’t get angry. I guess I had enough anger for both of us.” Josh watched as Randy grasped and ungrasped the tailgate while talking. Josh leaned up against the tailgate with his left arm hooked over the tailgate. “That’s too bad, Dude, your mom seems to be a really cool, nice person.” “Yeah, she actually has seemed happier this last year since the divorce was finalized than I remember her being in a long time. She doesn’t talk much about what happened. She says dwelling on the past isn’t going to change anything.” “Sounds like she might have wanted the divorce, too, but just didn’t have a solid reason until your dad gave her one.” “I guess,” Randy reluctantly agreed. Josh looked Randy over, “It still bothers you that they didn’t stay together?” “In some ways, yes, but in other ways, I’m glad I don't have to live with dad as well. Just hate being one of the statistics—child from a broken home, one parent family.” “Hey, man, there are a lot of kids out there today in that situation. And some of my friends live with their grandparents because their parents are too busy shacking up with a new person every other month or too far into their drug habit or, even worse, in jail. At least you seem to have a stable home with your mom. One guy I know even has to live with his older brother. But he don’t mind it since his brother lets him lay out from school whenever he wants.” Randy smiled at Josh and said, “I guess you have a point. It’s more normal than not nowadays.” Josh lightly punched Randy on the shoulder, “Yep, it’s the new norm,” and pulled out his keys, “guess it’s time to head home.”
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They took Josh’s truck. It was a shiny red Ford 150 double cab with all the chrome less than a year old. The interior was beige leather and was just as nice as the interior of his dad’s Jaguar that he had ridden in once.
“Man, this is sweet,” admired Randy. “Yeah, I got it last year when I turned sixteen. One of dad’s ‘gotta keep up with the Joneses gifts.’” “Whadya mean?” Josh sighed while he casually drove with one hand on the wheel along the interstate in the fast lane doing about seventy miles per hour, which made Randy somewhat nervous. “Dad is all about what looks good, whether it’s the truth or not. He’s a contractor and knows most everyone in the county, even built many of the houses in the area in the last twenty years that aren’t built by those corporate contractors in the subdivisions. I would’ve been just as happy with a used, not-so-flashy truck myself.” “Oh, gotcha,” Randy replied thinking about how his dad drove a Jaguar and belonged to the Starmount Country Club. They pulled into the crowded parking lot, and Josh parked the truck out at the edge of the lot taking up two spaces. “You don’t mind walking a little ways, do ya? One of the joys of driving this monster is trying to keep it from getting dinged or scratched. Dad would give me hell if he found a scratch on it.” “No problem,” Randy said and feeling the need to be supportive, “Parents can really freak out over the stupidest shit.” “You got that right,” Josh agreed as they were walking away from the truck and doubled click the remote making the truck beep assuring them it was locked. Finding out the next showing of Taken 2 wasn’t for another hour, Josh suggested they go find a bite to eat at one of the restaurants in the open air shopping center. Randy agreed, and they began walking around the fenced-in lake with three fountains towards where most of the restaurants were located. They decided on Red Robin for some burgers, and were seated as soon as they arrived. They had just ordered when a group of fellow classmates came in the door, saw them, and descended on their table. “Hey, Josh, what's happen'?” one burly red-headed guy rumbled as he and four others crowded around the table. “Hey, Dude, just grabbin' some food,” grinned Josh, “Y’all know Randy here, right?” gesturing toward Randy across the table from him. There were murmurs of “yeah, sure” and “hi, Randy.” “Y’all want to join us? We just ordered.” Randy and Josh had been seated at one of the tables where it was a long padded bench on one side and chairs on the other and the tables had extensions to be folded out for a larger groups of people. Two more tables were expanded and it turned into one big party. When the waitress returned with the two Cokes, she found her table had increased by three more guys and two girls. Orders were taken and the waitress scurried away. The burly red-headed guy, Dustin, sat next to Josh in one of the chairs. He was on the football team with Josh. Randy had not gone to any of the games, but he guessed Dustin was in a linebacker position. One of the girls sat next to Randy on the padded bench and introduced herself as Courtney. She was Dustin’s sister and had long curly-tight red hair. Her boyfriend, Cody, sat next to her. Throughout the meal, Randy would see Cody slide his right hand up Courtney’s thigh to the point of his outer two fingers rubbing up against Courtney’s jeans right below the zipper. Randy would avert his eyes, but not before seeing Courtney smile wide and lightly slap Cody’s leg next to her with her left hand. Cody would stop, remove his hand, but it wouldn’t be long before the whole process would start over again. Across from Cody, Brittany, Courtney’s best friend, sat with her boyfriend, Blake at the end of the folded-out table. Randy sat quietly throughout most of the meal, observing the others, laughing, nodding, agreeing when appropriate, but never contributed to the conversation with more than the occasional, “yeah, you’re right.” He still felt out of place, but whenever he looked over at Josh, he noticed Josh was watching him and smiling encouragingly as if he knew how Randy felt. By the end of the meal, Randy had relaxed some and was starting to feel part of the “crowd.” At the end of the meal the girls excused themselves to the ladies’ room. As they walked away, Dustin wanted to know, “Man, why is it they have to travel in packs to the restroom?” Grinning, Josh responded, “Well, for one thing they have to make sure their hair and makeup is right and there’s no food in their teeth.” Cody said, “That’s what a damn mirror’s for.” Blake jumped in, “It’s not just that. They need each other’s opinions on if they look good. A mirror doesn’t give you that.” Feeling bold, Randy added, “Rather like that magic mirror in Snow White.” All eyes swiveled to Randy, and suddenly Randy wished he had not opened his mouth. “Yeah, it’s that ‘who’s the fairest of them all.’ That’s the part that the ladies want answered. Plus, they're probably gossiping about us as well,” Josh added. Randy flashed Josh a smile of gratitude, which Josh returned with a slight nod of the head. Dustin bellowed a laugh, "Yeah, I know my sis wanted to know immediately where Alyssa was when we first saw you. I told her you had changed teams, and she punched me in the shoulder!" He rubbed his upper left arm, "For a girl, she can put the hurt on." There was a split-second pause, and then Josh grinned and said, "Girls! They have to have something or someone to talk about. Next, they'll have me getting a sex-change operation!" The other boys hooted with laughter. After the girls returned, the everyone walked back together over to the theater. The group was going to see the new scary movie, Paranormal Activity 4. They tried to talk Josh and Randy into going to that movie instead of Taken 2, but Josh waved away their requests saying he wasn’t in the mood to see a scary movie; he wanted some action. Randy was thankful because he avoided scary movies since he had experienced enough darkness and anxiety in his basement growing up. He didn’t like reliving those feelings. |