Page 66 of Between the Boards
“This is really cute, Colton,”Kairi says, staring at the pillows and blankets arranged in my trunk. “It feels like something straight out of a book.”
That’s because it is—kind of. One of the authors Kairi loves wrote a drive-in movie scene in their most recent book where the characters sat in the trunk of a van with blankets just like this. I thought my pickup truck would be much more romantic than a van though, since we’ll have the perfect view of the stars too.
“Hop in,” I say, holding out a hand to help her up.
Once she’s picked a side and settled under the blankets, I go back to the driver’s side and turn on my truck stereo, tuning it to the movie channel and grabbing our bag of snacks before shutting the door and heading back to the trunk.
She takes the snack bag from me and watches as I jump in after her, kicking my shoes off on the way up. I throw the blanket over myself and pretend not to notice our legs gently touching as I reach back and slide the rear window open so that we can hear the movie audio.
“I forgot to ask you what movie you picked,” she whispers as she opens a pop can and hands it to me before doing the same for herself.
“It’s a classic,” I say, a smirk curling on my lips.
She turns to look at me with a raised brow. “I love a good classic but please tell me it’s not Romeo and Juliet or something.”
“What’s wrong with Romeo and Juliet?”
She lifts a brow. “A tragic love story is just wrong on so many levels. I’m a happy ending type of girl.”
“Yikes.” I laugh. “I’m sorry to say we’re watching Titanic, and that’s very much a tragic love story. But at least the second movie after this is supposed to be some action movie I’ve never heard of.”
“The Titanic?” she whispers, as the lamp posts around us begin to dim and the screen lights up. “Are you trying to make me cry?”
”Just watch the movie, Kai,” I say with a chuckle.
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t argue as she opens her bag of cheddar popcorn and focuses on the ads currently projecting onto the screen.
“My sister used to make me and my brothers watch Titanic with her every month, when she was on her period and hormonal as hell,” I mutter, staring at the screen even as I feel her gaze land on me.
I’m trying to open up to her, even if it leaves a hollow ache in my chest. I don’t like talking about my family, but Kairi wants to know more about me, so I’ll bear through the pain for her.
“Every month for how long?” She asks, eyes returning to the screen.
“Somewhere between three to four years,” I shrug with a half smile. “She ended up getting a boyfriend at some point and that became his torturous routine instead.”
She giggles beside me, the sound causing my heart to trip over itself.
“And here you are, self-inflicting that same torturous movie on yourself all these years later.”
“Yeah,” I say, chuckling as I fold my legs at the ankle. “It’s kind of a comfort movie for me now though. Reminds me of the good ol’ days with them.”
I feel her eyes return to me, but I don’t trust myself to mask the hurt I’m feeling enough to look her way. Thankfully the ads end, and the movie starts to play, forcing her to look back at the screen.
Halfway through, I sneak a look at her and notice how invested she looks, eyes glued to the screen. By the end of the movie, she has tears streaming down her cheeks that she tries to wipe away before I notice.
”I’ll never understand why he didn’t just climb onto the floating door with her,” she says, her voice higher pitched than normal as she quickly wipes at her cheeks. “There was plenty of space.”
“The door would’ve probably sunk if they both got on it,” I laugh, pulling her into my chest and wiping her tears away with my thumb.
”There were plenty of other things he could’ve climbed onto,” she says, voice shaking.
I almost feel bad for picking this movie, until she sniffles again and grabs onto my shirt as the credits begin rolling. “But, it was a really good movie,” she mumbles.
I smile to myself. “Yeah,” I nod. “It was.”
We both jump at the sounds of engines turning on, and we raise our heads to watch as every single car in the lot drives off before the second movie starts.
“Why aren’t they staying for the second movie?” she asks.
