AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
•••••••••
The New Street Odeon was run-down and in dire need of an update compared to the other cinemas in the city, which boasted reclining chairs and IMAX screens, but that was exactly why Will had settled on it. This place was all but empty on weekdays, meaning Patrick could walk in unbothered.
Will had already bought the tickets online en route, and he made small talk with the anemic-looking teenager at admissions while she scanned the QR code on his phone, keeping her attention on him and not the guy next to him, whose face was casually turned away. He told himself he had chosen a practically abandoned picture house to make life easier for Patrick, and not so that he would have him all to himself, and he got halfway to convinced before the memory of Patrick’s thumb on his cheekbone came back to him.
Knowing that Patrick was gay didn’t change a thing, in theory. Nor did knowing that he had a far more flamboyant side than his exterior indicated. But as with all knowledge, it did beget more questions. Or at least one question in particular that Will didn’t dare ask.
Do I have a shot with you?
The theater was already dark by the time they had bought popcorn and drinks, and so they slipped into the first couple of seats in the back row.
“Are we late?” Patrick asked.
“Barely.”
“You’re just feeding the stereotype at this point,” Patrick teased. “About gay men always being late.”
“I object to that. We’re right on time. It’s not our fault if everybody else shows up early.”
“All I know is that if I turned up late to an audition, I wouldn’t book many gigs.”
“You do realize that the screening time they tell you is a lie,” Will said. “The trick is to rock up half an hour after that, and they’ll only just be dimming the lights then.”
“But then you miss the trailers,” Patrick countered. “I like the trailers.”
“The same trailers that have been all over the internet for weeks?” Will asked, throwing a fistful of popcorn into his mouth.
“It’s all part of the experience,” said Patrick. “I just love going to the movies. Always have. I went as often as I could when I was a kid.”
As they continued to talk over the trailers Patrick claimed he wanted to see, they lowered their voices further and further so as not to disturb the dozen or so other moviegoers scattered around the room. By the time the film began, they were whispering; each remark necessitated a turn of the head, a slight lean inward. Patrick was just a dark outline next to him, and Will found himself teasing the actor for his corny earnestness, his Americanisms.
“You guys have amazing foreign policy,” he told Patrick in a hushed tone as they watched a helicopter launch a missile.
“We learned from watching you,” Patrick fired back.
Will wasn’t even fully aware of the fact that they had been flirting until he felt the slightest nudge of Patrick’s little finger against his on the armrest between their seats. As an experiment, he withdrew his hand, plucked a single piece of popcorn from the bag in his lap, and popped it into his mouth, before returning it to the armrest. Patrick’s hand was still there, unmoving.
“I suppose it must come in handy now, too,” whispered Will.
“What must?”
“Going to the movies.” Will nodded to the rest of the theater and said quietly, “In the dark, nobody knows you’re you.”
“You’re right,” said Patrick.
“We could be anybody right now,” Will continued. “A couple of complete strangers.” What are you saying? he screamed inwardly. What are you doing?
“True,” said Patrick. “But all the same…” Was it Will’s imagination, or was Patrick’s finger moving against his? “I’m glad that I’m here with you.”
“Me too,” said Will, lifting his pinkie ever so slowly in response.
Patrick shook slightly next to him, and it took Will a second to realize he was laughing gently.
“You’re going to make me do it, aren’t you?”
“Do what?” Will asked.
