I arrive at the movie theater at exactly 11:52 and park Ryder’s car in an empty spot close to the front. I’m not sure what kinda car Matt drives, so yeah. I get out of the car, making sure to not lock the keys in the car, because I have done that numerous times. Yeah, I’m kinda ashamed to admit it. I lock the doors behind me and walk towards the theater, while keeping my hands buried in my pockets. I see Matt standing near the front door with two tickets in his hand. He waves at me, and I walk over to him.

          “Hey.” Matt says, handing me my ticket.

          “Hi.” I reply, looking down at the movie ticket, to see what we’re seeing. The Amazing Spider-Man. “Spider-Man?”

Matt smiles, “Do you like Spider-Man?”

I nod, even though I’ve never been a huge fan of it. “I like Spider-Man.”

          “Then let’s do it.” He says, holding his arm out. I loop mine through his, and we walk in. “Want something?”

          “Can I get candy?” I ask him.

          “Sure,” Matt retorts, leading me towards the snack stand. “What kind?”

          “Uhh, surprise me.”

Matt gets a large popcorn, and two drinks and my candy. He hands me the candy and my drink and then we walk into the theater where out movie is playing. “Where do you wanna sit?” I ask Matt.

          “Oh, doesn’t matter to me.” He replies.

I personally don’t like sitting in the back of the movie theaters with boys, unless I’m dating them. Why? Because everyone knows that when you sit in the back of a movie theater with someone, it’s to kiss them. Not always, but well like most of the time. So I walk up towards the front, and sit down on the end seat. Matt sits next to me, and puts his drink in his armrest. The lights go off and the previews end as the movie starts.

I take a sip of my drink and cross my left leg over my right. I pull my phone from my pocket, and quickly set it to vibrate. The beginning of the movie starts, and Matt puts the bucket of popcorn in between us, and takes a handful. As he quietly chews the popcorn, I’m reminded of Ryder who’s in Vernon probably puking up his lungs, who’s also allergic to coconut oil which is in the popcorn. I shake it off; I’m sure his family’s taking care of him.

About half way-or what I expect is half way-through the movie, Matt puts his arm around me. How more cliché can he possibly get? I mean, he’s hot. I mean, really hot. Like so hot, he makes me wanna bake cookies on him. But that’s beside the point. I decide to just go with it; since it’s not like it’s a crime or something, and continue watching the movie. It isn’t half bad actually. I drink some more of my drink, and then cross and uncross my legs.

          “Are you alright?” Matt whispers to me.

I look over at him, “Yeah, I’m fine.” I tell him, smiling. He only asked because I keep moving. I don’t know why, it’s just a habit I have. Like I’m not ADHD or anything, but I’m always crossing and uncrossing my legs.

Turns out the movie wasn’t half way over. There was at least another hour and a half to go. When the credits start rolling, Matt and I both get up. We, well Matt, ate most of the popcorn, so he grabs the bucket, and we get our drinks, and then leave. As we walk out of the theater, and out of the front doors I chew a piece of my candy in my mouth-he got me the Sour Patch Kids kind, and I say to him, “So where’s your car?”

Matt gestures across the parking lot from where Ryder’s is, and says, “Somewhere in that general area. I can never remember where I park in a large crowd. Like you should see me when I go to Wal-Mart. It’s sad.”

I chuckle at that, and the wind starts blowing-which is nice considering its June and well, ya know….hot. “Will you hold this?” I ask him, handing Matt my drink and candy. He takes it and I pull the hair tie off of my wrist and put my hair in a ponytail. “Thanks.” I say, taking it back from him.

          “Sure.” He retorts, then, “So where are you parked?”

I look out for Ryder’s car and spot it near the front, completely visible, “There.”

          “Ahh, okay.” He says, walking in that direction. So I assume he’s waking me to…Ryder’s car.

When we get there, I unlock the doors and get in. I pull my seatbelt on and set my drink in the cup holder. Matt clears his throat, and I look over at him, and he’s leaning over the window, which is down.

          “So this was fun.”

          “Yeah,” I say in agreement, “It was.”

          “So I’ll call you later on?” He says, phrasing it like a question.

          “Okay.” I answer.

Matt leans in, and quickly pecks me on the lips. I’m too shocked to even say anything, so I don’t. Matt taps the top of the car, and then says, “Talk to you later.”

          “Alrighty.” I say perkily, and watch Matt as he walks off.

I start the car up, and back out of the parking space. I check the time, and see that it’s already 3:30. Apparently that movie was longer than I’d imagined. I decide to stop and get actual food, because I didn’t really eat much of the popcorn. I drive towards a McDonald’s and go through the drive thru. I’m not really too great at multitasking, therefore, I tend to refrain from eating and driving.

I get on the highway, and drive towards Vernon while attempting to eat my French fries. I know I said I don’t like to eat and drive, but the stupid fries were tempting to me. After about eight minutes, give or take a few minutes, I arrive back at the house. I park Ryder’s car in the driveway, and then get out with my bag. I go up to the door, and unlock it.

I walk into the house, but I don’t hear anyone. Granted there was only one car in the driveway apart from when I parked Ryder’s car and that was Hailey’s. I assume everyone else is gone; either to work or whatever it is they do in their free time. I go up to my room and sit down on my bed. The paint smell is still sweltering around the room, and I’m immediately hit with a headache. You know, now that I think about it; I could just let the window open, and the smell should go away. Hey, I’m not stupid or anything, I just didn’t think about it.

I pull the window open, which is hard because it’s kinda stuck. I go to the bathroom and look through the closer, where they keep everything. I locate the bottle of Advil pills, and pop the cap open. I take out two and then swallow them, hoping to extinguish the headache. When I’m done with that, I replace the bottle in its spot, go back in my room and pick up my sack of food.

I leave my room, then go across the hall where Ryder’s room is. I open the door a little and push it open. I see Ryder sitting up in the bed with a box of Kleenex. I guess the cold is going away. “Hi there.” I say, going in and sitting on the bed next to him.

          “Hey Mickey.” He replies, and I notice how his voice is only slightly deeper, probably due to the cold.

          “How are you feeling?” I ask him, as I offer him the rest of my fries. There’s a chance he’ll throw them up later, but he still takes them.

          “Pretty good actually.”

          “It’s the medicine.” I inform him.

          “You mean the medicine you shoved down my throat?” He asks sarcastically.

          “That’s the one.” I tell him. “You left me no choice.”

          “Yeah, sure.” He replies.

          “So you haven’t thrown up since I left?”

          “Once and where’d you go?”

I hesitate before saying, “I went to the movies.”

          “Yeah? What’d you see?”

          “The amazing Spider-Man.” I reply.

          “How mature.”

I nod, “Yes I know.” I’m a bit surprised that Ryder didn’t ask me who I went to the movies with. Not like in a bad way, I’m just shocked that he didn’t ask. He’s not the nosy type, so I guess that makes sense. “I’ll be back in little while. I’m going downstairs.” I tell him.

Ryder nods, lying back down. “Okay.”

I leave the bag of food in Ryder’s room, and then go downstairs. I’m actually not all that hungry now. Why not? I don’t know. I take the stairs two at a time and then plop down on the middle of the couch. Not long after that, the front door opens, and Jacob walks in, jabbering on his phone. He hangs up without saying goodbye to the person, and then sits beside me.

          “Well hello there.” He says.

          “Hi.” I reply.

          “How’s your day been going?”

I look at him suspiciously before saying, “Fine. Why do you ask?”

          “Can’t I be charitable?”

          “I think you mean chivalrous.” I correct him.  

Jacob snaps his fingers, “Yup that’s the word. So I heard something about you.”

          “Yeah? And what might that be?”

          “According to my sources, well the place I heard this from, you went on a date with Matt.”

          “And you know this how?” I ask.

          “It’s Vernon, people talk.” Jacob says nonchalantly

          “We were in L.A. and it wasn’t a date.”

          “Sure it wasn’t. You should figure out who you wanna be with, McKenna.”

          “Jacob, do you honestly believe that I’m dating Ryder O’Connor? Number one guy who made it his life’s mission to ruin my life?”

Jacob chuckles, “You’re so dramatic. He didn’t try to ruin your life.”

I roll my eyes, “Lies! And you helped!”

          “Hey, I did not.”

          “Yes, you did.”

Jacob shakes his head, “And anyway, Ryder had his reasons for ‘torturing you’.”

          “Yeah, I know: He wanted to ruin my life.”

          “Is that really what you think?”

When I don’t reply, Jacob stands up and says, “Wow. No offense, but you’re still just as dense as you were seven years ago. If you don’t know by now, you’ll never know.” Then he walks away, going towards his bedroom.

          “Oh no, that wasn’t offensive at all!” I call back sarcastically.

          “If it isn’t my favorite Bryant.” Will’s voice comes in through the living room. He sits next to me, putting his shoes up on the coffee table.

          “I think Mason wouldn’t be too happy if he heard you say that.”

          “This is true. So what’s up?”

I gesture towards the TV, “This.”

          “Why are you watching it down here?”

          “My room smells like paint still.” I explain, and then add, “Well it did about an hour ago. I’m airing it out.”

          “Smart choice indeed.” Will says, as his phone rings. He looks at the Caller I.D. and rolls his eyes, before sitting his phone down.

          “Aren’t you gonna answer that?”

          “Nope.”

          “Why not.”

          “I don’t feel like talking to the person who’s calling.”

I look down at the name and see that it says, ‘Talia’. “Who’s Talia?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.

Will sighs, and throws his head back onto the couch cushion. “Just this girl with whom I had supposedly had a mutual attraction with.”

I smile at his over complicatedness. “You mean your girlfriend?”

          “My EX-girlfriend.” He says, putting emphasis on the ‘ex’.

          “What happened?” I wonder.

          “We broke up.”

I roll my eyes, but he doesn’t see me because he’s looking up at the ceiling. “Well duh, but why?”

          “Because, well nothing.”

          “Tell me!” I demand.

          “No, I’d rather not.”

I raise my eyebrows, and hit Will in his shoulder, “You can’t do that to me! You know I hate that!” I hate when someone brings something up, and then completely changes the subject, or refuses to talk about it anymore. It’s like number three on my list of pet peeves. Right under ‘When boys sag’, and ‘When people chew their bubblegum annoying loud’. And Will knows that. I know he does.

          “Mean.” I say, folding my arms.

Will flicks my nose with his finger and says, “Is little McKenna getting upset?” He asks in a very childlike voice.

I swat his hand away, “Shut up.”

Will’s phone rings and I see that it’s this Talia girl again. Will picks up the phone and says, “Dammit.” Then he hits the answer button, and walks out of the room shouting about how, ‘she betrayed, humiliated, and desecrated him.’ Something tells me that he’s just being overdramatic. I mean, because I’m pretty sure that the term desecrated means to like violate the sacredness of something. And I don’t understand how Talia could have done that, unless of course she raped Will, which I seriously doubt. I mean cause he’s so…well he’s….ya know, built, I guess. I shrug it off and put my feet under me. Then soon after that, I go upstairs, then take a quick shower before coming back downstairs.

I suddenly feel the couch being lifted from under me. Well I being lifted from the couch is probably more likely. I open my eyes, and see that I’m casually thrown across Todd’s back. He’s carrying me away from the safe haven that is the couch, and up the stairs. I don’t like being carried, it feels weird. Well this way anyway. “Where are you taking me?” I wonder, my voice a little hoarse.

          “Your boyfriend’s room.”

          “Shut up Todd.” I say, as he pushes open the door to Ryder’s room.

          “I brought your girlfriend.” Todd announces, as he drops me down-hard-onto the bed.      

I roll my eyes, and look over at Ryder who looks like he’s already half asleep. I get under the covers and as Todd’s about to walk out, I grab his wrist; stopping him.

          “Todd?”

          “Yes little Mickers?”

          “Mickers?” I repeat, “That’s a new one. Anyway, I wanna ask you something.”

          “What?”

          “I was talking to Jacob earlier, and he said that if I didn’t know now, I’d never know. Or something like that. Do you know what he was talking about?”

Todd studies my face for a minute, and he seems to be going over answers in his head. Then finally he says, “Did he also call you dense?”

          “Yeah, but I don’t see what that has to do wi-“

          “Think about Mickey. Think really long and hard. You’ll figure it out.” Then with those final words, Todd leaves the room, turning the lights out as he goes.

I lie on side, facing away from Ryder, who’s snoring lightly.

You’re still just as dense as you were seven years ago

If you don’t know by now, you’ll never know

Think really long and hard.

Oh my God. Does, does Ryder like me?

Author's Note: Jacob over there! ------->