“Sure I do.Why wouldn’t I?”
Banks smirked, trudging up the steps until they were at the very back.This is why.”
“Whaddya mean?”Harper beamed, sliding all the way down to the middle of the back row.“This is exactly where I sit back home.”It wasn’t, not even a little, but he would have sat on his head to see Banks smile as he bounded down the aisle, only pausing to stand a seat away from where Harper had plunked himself down, wriggling until he got comfortable.
“What now?”
Banks blushed vaguely, his chiseled features aglow in the dim lighting from the old-fashioned lamps that lined the theater walls on either side of them.“Nothing, it’s just...”
Harper glanced at the seat between them, then rolled his eyes.“I’m not going to attack you, Banks, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not, Jesus, it’s just...”
“Just what?You’ve never been to a movie with your bros before?Some macho dumb robots exploding bullshit?”
“Sure, but in a big group.Never two guys just sitting alone.”
“Two is a group.Just sit where you want, Banks.It’s not a date, remember?”
All the same, Harper was sounding huffy and they both seemed to sense it.“You’re making this weird, Banks.”
Banks finally fessed up.“I know, I’m sorry.I do that.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Well, now you see.I’m not the old smoothie you think I am, Harp.”
All the same, he sank into the seat next to Harper.Right.Next to.Harper.They were old seats, thin and outdated, not like the big, roomy, living room couch size seats of most modern theaters.Even the ones at their little Sagebrush Cinemas back home were gargantuan compared to these glorified foldup chairs, the kind Harper’s mom always dragged out for the kiddie table on Thanksgiving.
Their shoes touched, squirming on the sticky cement floor.Their knees touched, wriggling to get comfortable on the thin cushions beneath their butts.Their elbows touched, jockeying for space on the barely there wooden armrests beneath them.Hell, if they turned to face each other too quickly, their lips would probably touch.
In short, Harper had never been this close, for this long, to another man in all his life.In the dark.Alone.In the back row.How the hell was he supposed to endure a raging hard-on for the next two hours straight?
“Comfy?”Banks grunted, clearly not himself.
“Kind of.You?”
Banks teased.“I mean, you should be, hogging the whole armrest that way.”
“Me?Look at you, with that big ass forearm of yours.”As if to prove it, Harper nudged his seatmate’s arm off and onto his lap.
Banks was still giggling when he huffed, “Yeah, well, you swimmers and your lanky little bodies.”
“Oh, sorry, we might have gotten moreswoleif you guys didn’t hog the school gym 24/7...”
They were flirting, suddenly.Chuckling, snorting, squirming, nervous, definitely date-like behavior.Even first date-like behavior.Harper sensed it, but dared not believe it.Then Banks leaned gently toward him, crinkling the wrapper of his juicy Red Vines.“I’ll share mine,” he said, eyes full of mirth and lips moist from more than just a mere sweet tooth.“If you’ll share yours.”
