Since Enzo’s still working, I’m left with the rest of my roommates. First, there’s Adrian, who has this whole broody, mystery vibe on the outside. In reality, he’s the biggest film geek I know.
Jake is squished in the middle, considering that he’s the shortest after Enzo.
Finally, Mason. Aside from being the tallest of the five of us, he’s also the smartest and pretty introverted. We don’t see him around the house as much because of how dedicated he is to his studies.
Once I hear gunshots, I lean over Adrian’s shoulder and glance at the movie they’re watching. “What is this?”
Adrian is the first to respond. “Die Hard, duh. You know this, Carson.”
“Yeah, I know.”Die Hardis one of the best movies ever made. “Why are you watching it in the middle of October?”
“Because we can?” Mason asks, confusion lacing his face as he stares at the three of us like we’re the Three Stooges. “It’s our choice.”
“Here we go,” Jake mutters like he’s about to hear my rant on the action film in front of us. “It’s not a Christmas movie, Ryder. We’ve talked about this so many fucking times.”
Of course, Jake knows what I’m going to say. “Does it take place during Christmas?”
He nods.
“Then I rest my case,” I declare, throwing my hands up. “It’s more appropriate to watch during the holidays.”
“You are going to die on this hill, aren’t you?” Adrian groans.
I raise both brows at him. Fuck yeah, I will. To me, it doesn’t feel right to watch it any other time—except maybe in July, when the wholeChristmas in Julything happens.
“I don’t even know why I asked,” he mutters to himself. “I’ve tried showing you much better movies but you always come back to this one but you hardly watch it.”
“Miller, it’s a matter of preference.”
“Well, coming from me, your preference should expand to more than just Bruce Willis with a major superiority complex defeating Severus Snape.”
“For your information,” I argue. “I do watch other movies.” Is that a lie? Kind of. Growing up, I was a little too busy to watch them. However, if someone had an extra ticket to the cinema or if Carly was watching a movie in the living room, then I would watch.
“Name one movie that doesn’t belong to Disney or isn’t in theDie HardFranchise.”
I lift a brow. “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “That’s on me for setting the bar too low.” At my grin, Adrian narrows his eyes. “Oh don’t act so smug, Ryder.”
Shrugging helplessly, I hop onto the bed and squeeze myself next to Adrian. “Shall we continue?”
“Do you want us to start the movie over again?” Mason asks.
“No need,” Jake answers for me. “At this rate, he can probably re-enact the entire film from start to finish.”
I lean over to give Jake a shove, which has him tumbling over to Mason. The laptop tilts over on its side, resting on Mason’s left knee. Just for one night, I let myself forget about my schoolwork. That’s what Friday nights are made for—to relax. The rest you can worry about on Saturday and then relax again on Sunday.
Throughout the film, I start to realize why I don’t watch movies with Adrian. He’s a stand-up guy, I swear. However, his biggest weakness is the inability to hold back from making comments about production. He is the only person I know who does this—aside from my sister, that is—and it’s really fucking annoying.
“Adrian, if you make one more comment,” Mason grumbles. At least he’s not sitting next to the film critic.
“Hey, Carson,” my cousin approaches me after our lecture. “Are you coming to tonight’s party at my place?”
I shake my head as I shove my notebook into my backpack. “Sorry, Bales. I promised Carly I’d go to a screening of hers.”
She rolls her blue eyes—ones very similar to mine. Despite being my cousin, she looks more like she could be my oldersister, instead of being a year younger than I. “She’s still in her film producer phase?”
I shrug. “That is what she’s majoring in, after all.”
