(42) Cinema Verite

The summer mix I made for Patsy hums from the corner of the room as I look up and down at my reflection in her closet door mirror. “You look cute.” She assures me from where she’s perched on the edge of her bed. I sigh unhappily, SURE I look cute. My friend is clothed in brand new chino khakis with a crisp blue button-down that makes her look even tanner, while I’m wearing a simple pair of jeans and a boring violet T-shirt. I had been so into my summer reading that I hadn’t realized what time it was, rushed to Patsy’s house in order to not be late, and hadn’t had one minute of primping time for our big night. I could tell though, that Patsy had spent only all day on her faultless ensemble.

“I don’t feel like it, unfortunately.” I smile at her weakly. This has to be one of the most important nights of my life as a teenager, and I have had absolutely no preparation time. “Do you have any good perfume?” I murmur letting a piece of my hair fall disdainfully down my back. As Pasty hops up to search her bathroom I run through my mind everything that has happened since that fateful night that Kyle had just decided to call me.

I had picked up my phone at like ten o-clock one idle Tuesday night, expecting to hear about Britney’s trip to the Cape, and then it had started. Kyle Madson, a varsity hockey player, the guy who sat next to me in World Studies, and the best friend of Jeff Waters told me he was no longer going out with Hannah and he wanted to get to know me. I had almost fallen off my bed with surprise. Me? Daria Knight? Princess of the plain and royally romantically challenged? As I could hardly breath where I was sprawled on my cloud covered bed spread, he explained that he had just decided to call me from where he was visiting his brother’s college in Virginia and wanted to hang out as soon as he got back. We talked for several hours that night, finding hundreds of things in common and making two weeks seem like a year away.

From that fateful night everything continued like a dream, talking to him every night and exchanging emails daily throughout the two weeks he was gone. It seemed like the perfect budding summer romance until one day he just decided to inform me that he had a problem. “Oh, what is it?” I still can hear myself asking cheerfully, thinking nothing could be such a big deal with our potentially perfect relationship. He had slowly started to explain in his deliciously deep voice,
“Well, I think you should know that I really like you a lot, Daria.” I had smiled like I had never smiled before as I had twirled the phone cord around my finger. “But, I like someone else as well.” My smile instantly faded and I stared at the tiny knots in my carpet with shock. “Before I came out here, I hung out with this girl at my club, and well, she called me the other night, and I guess I like her also.”

I can still make out my weak little voice responding, “Well, Kyle, who is it?” and then he had smacked me in the face with his, “Heather Stone.” I was so apalled, irritated, and bewildered all at the same time, that I had slammed down the phone immediately, and when he had called back I quickly blamed it on the fact that I had accidentally turned it off. He continued to apologize for the situation, to insult himself, and then ask me for advice. What could I possibly say? Forget Heather, she’s a brat and besides, she can get any boy she blinks at? After I had gotten off the phone with him, I pathetically took a shower at like 11:30 at night, allowing my tears to be hidden by the fountain of water pounding on my face from the shower head above me.

After a few days though, I regained my self-confidence and went back into the I-don’t-need-a-guy-to-be-happy mode, although it’s hard when in every sitcom and movie it’s the exact opposite. Then a few nights ago, Kyle called me from his own home and told me he knew a guy that liked Patsy and that we should all hang out. I had reluctantly agreed, not sure whether I could stand to see him when he had hurt me so much. Now though, I am minutes from finally spending time with him face to face, Heather is still vacationing in Florida, and this is what Patsy promises to be my BIG chance. I’m no where near ready though, maybe it’s because I still feel sticky from sitting in the sun all the day, and then again, maybe it’s because it’s not Jeff Waters that is about to sit next to me in the movie theater.

As I hear car doors slam from Patsy’s driveway, I shake all thoughts of Jeff completely out of my mind. My friends are right, Jeff just isn’t meant to be. I believe that now, I’ve completely erased him from my heart, but for some reasons he keeps appearing in my dreams. I can’t dwell on that now though, I tell myself as I shut the closet door, slip my bare feet into my favorite flip flops, and run a brush once more through my hair. “They’re here!” I holler towards the bathroom down the hall.
After a few minutes, Patsy and I laugh cheerfully as we open the front door and greet our guys for the night. We pile into my little red car, the guys crammed into the back with Patsy next to me in the front. As I pull out of the driveway and into the street, we roll all the windows down as well as the sunroof so that the wind tousles our hair as we blast music and dance around to it in our seats. Patsy and I chat about first-day-of-school outfits as I sit comfortably behind the wheel, with the guys discussing the oncoming torture week for soccer and football in the back. The sun is still moving down as every light turns green as we approach it. We can’t ask for a better night. It’s a night for craziness, for laughter, for passion.
It isn’t long until we reach the cinema, and find a parking space on the other side of the world because we’re already fifteen minutes late. We walk quickly to the building, Patsy and Bruce discussing what they’ve heard about the movie we’re about to see, and Kyle and I swapping stories about the summer. As I listen to him describe the exciting things he did in Virginia, I eye him closely. He has a decent build, dark, hair, and deeply tanned skin, a guy certainly worthy of calling a boyfriend and nothing at all like Jeff.

After buying tickets to “The Others” Patsy and I are sent to go find seats while the guys grab some refreshment. As my friend and I enter the designated room though, we are shocked to find almost every seat there filled. Timidly walking down the aisle past men and women, we find the only empty seats located in the first and second rows. Sliding into the second row so that we have to crane our necks to see the screen directly above us, we settle ourselves into two seats together with empty ones on each side. It isn’t long until both guys find themselves on either side of us carrying two large sodas.
As the movie continues to play, I focus on the plot and the characters, conscious though of every move Kyle is making next to me. His elbow is rested on the armrest between us, with is hands resting on the thighs of his dark khaki shorts, and I can tell that he nervously glances at me from time to time. If I actually knew that he was completely interested in me, I would of course consider grabbing his hand if he didn’t make the move himself immediately. Images of Heather though, keep floating through my mind and I can’t bring myself to do anything but smile at him from time to time.

As the frightening music plays in the darkness, my eyes are glued to the screen where Nicole Kidman as the mother of the movie is about to open the door where her daughter insists is a ghost. In the movie, just as she is about to turn the handle, I feel somebody grab my own hand and begin squeezing it. Looking down I realize with amazement that PATSY is the one grasping my hand. As our bodies tense with terror, I can’t help but think that this just isn’t right. We both have guys next to us that hopefully are interested in us, and what are we doing? We’re holding EACH OTHERS’ hands? As the next creepy scene in the movie approaches, I grab quickly for Kyle’s hand in addition to Patsy’s. As I glance at Kyle next to me though, he has his hands over his eyes, almost hiding himself where he is scrunched down in the seat behinds his knees.

My eyes widen with astonishment, Mr. Big and Strong hockey player Kyle is now practically underneath his seat with terror from a simple GHOST. For some reason I have pictured the night to be the typical one with the scary movie and the frightened girl shielding herself from the images of horror in the protective arms of her fearless guy. Now though, Kyle is nearly breaking my hand he is squeezing it so hard from where he is cowering next to me in the darkness.

The movie seems to last an eternity. “This is the scariest part.” Bruce whispers to us from where his is sitting next to Patsy. I start to let my hand drop back to my lap where it is on the armrest next to Kyle, but just as I start to move, he grabs my arm and I can feel his whole body become stiff. As I watch the mother in the movie approach her daughter who is clothed in a clean white dress, Kyle digs his fingers in my arm. The face of the mother’s daughter is shown, and as I gasp with shock I hear a piercing scream around me in addition to the rest of the audience’s cries. It’s a scream I’ve never heard anything like before, one that you would think only dogs could hear. I look over at Patsy expecting her to be the owner of the deafening shriek but then as I hear it again I realize it isn’t a girl after all. Kyle can’t seem to control himself as he let’s out another screech and I begin to shake with laughter in my seat.

As the credits eventually roll, we exit the popcorn strewn aisles of the theater and all four of us chatter on the way outside about what we have just watched. “It’s POURING!” Patsy moans. Rain is pounding onto the cars and soaking our faces and backs as it bounces on the pavement. Bruce and Patsy scatter towards the car, but Kyle and I are content to walk slowly as the drops patter on our arms and legs. “I hope I didn’t break your arm off, Daria.” He grins as I inspect it to make sure it’s still in tact. “I admit it, I’m a wimp when it comes to creepy movies.”

“I didn’t notice.” I say with a straight face, but as he looks at me closely, I burst out laughing. He shoves me gently and I shove him back as we both laugh under the outpour, the drops of moisture visible from the dim glows of the parking lot lights. I realize though, that I feel nothing, my heart doesn’t hammer under my damp T-shirt and I never had a wave of warmth when we were clutching hands in the theater. As we mess around on the way towards my car, I can’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment. Kyle is practically perfect, except for his lack of courage while watching scary films, but there’s just nothing here between us right now. There are just no fireworks, as my dad likes to call them, and I can’t help but feel completely fine with letting this one go to Heather if he really wants to. Maybe it’s that I’m not meant to have a boyfriend until I’m thirty, or it’s just the alignment of the stars tonight, or it could just be that summer love just isn’t what it’s cracked up to be anymore. One thing is for certain though, as we reach our dripping buddies and pile into the car to spend the rest of the night at Bruce’s house, you can never have too many friends, especially when they’re guys, because maybe one day, you’ll actually begin to understand them.