Yoichi went down there and ended that fast. Two boys slunk out with their heads down like they’d just been expelled from life.
Once over, the teenagers filed out still buzzing.
The theater went quiet for a few minutes while the staff quickly cleaned.
The next crowd came in hushed for the French romance with Japanese and English subtitles.
Tons of women in elegant coats, silk scarves, and expensive shoes.
A group of three near the middle spotted me before the movie started. One nudged the other, pointed up, and gave a friendly wave.
I waved back.
Nika leaned against the railing. "You're popular here. Lots of people have been looking up and watching you."
I shrugged. “You know I’m that bitch.”
Nika snorted. “Naw. Your man must be Him-othy.”
Kaoru eyed her. "Him-othy?"
"Him-othy." Nika held out her hands. "As in, Nyomi’s man is not justHim. He is the Him of all Hims. The Timothy of Him.”
Kaoru smiled. “The Timothy of Him?”
“The greatest of the greats." Nika winked. “Him-othy.”
Deja chuckled. “Ignore her."
“Well. . .” I grinned. “My man is actually Him-othy so. . .we don’t have to ignore her.”
Deja laughed some more. “Look at my girl, Nyomi, so happy to have a man. Last time you were in my chair, talking about how no man could do nothing for you and you were all about your career now.”
“I hadn’t met the right man.”
“Naw.” Nika snapped. “You didn’t get the right dick.”
Kaoru loudly laughed.
I frowned at him. “It wasn’tthatfunny.”
"It was a little funny," Kaoru muttered.
Yoichi nodded once.
Traitor.
When the French romance started we went quiet. And in the quiet, Kenji crept back into my thoughts and the anxiety rose. I did my best to focus on the story.
I found the film interesting.
It was about a prostitute who fell in love with her top customer’s son. She’d met the son as she stood beneath a street lamp in the rain outside of his parents’ house. Her red lipstick had been smudged from sucking his father off. Her mascara bled slightly at the edges.
The son gave her a ride home, and the next she was fucking him in shitty hotel rooms.
Every scene was drenched in lies, sex, and inevitability. I could feel the collision coming long before the final reveal happened and father and son fought.
Many of the women cried discreetly.
