Page 27 of Rot

“Yeah, you know, off. Like I wouldn’t be surprised if he tortures and kills animals in his spare time.”

I managed a laugh. Elias might be off, as Jordan said, but he was a far cry from doing something like that. Trust me. “Come on.”

“No, I mean it. He’s weird. Something’s definitely wrong with him. You’re still living with him, right? You have to see it.”

It grew increasingly harder to wear a smile and pretend his words weren’t aggravating me. I didn’t take kindly to what he was insinuating about Elias—and even if Elias did have a thing for torturing and killing animals, it was no one’s business but his own.

“I don’t,” I said. “He seems fine to me.”

Jordan let out a sound that told me he wasn’t convinced. “Maybe you’re right. You probably have a better radar for those things than me. Not to change the subject off Elias, but I am glad you’re here. Blackrain was so boring before you got here.”

“Don’t worry. In a month you’ll be bored again.”

That got him to laugh, but his laugh didn’t really do anything for me. I didn’t like hearing it. It did make me wonder, though, what Elias’s laugh sounded like.

When he was finished laughing, he said, “I doubt that. There are only a few months until graduation. Where you going to school?” Trying to steer the topic away from Elias and onto such boring things.

I wanted this date to be over with already, but I knew I had to make it last longer, otherwise Elias would know it was a failed date. “I don’t know. I haven’t actually applied anywhere.” The truth, for once.

It wasn’t because I didn’t want to go to school. It was actually because I didn’t expect myself to last this long. I thought the rot would take me, choke me out, and kill me, bring me to an untimely death before my natural time.

“Really? Well, damn. If you need help applying, I can—”

“I don’t know if I want to go to school,” I cut in. “School is kind of boring.”

“Then what are you going to do? Most jobs want some kind of degree.”

I looked at him. I was a Karnagy. Soon enough I’d inherit the family fortune. I didn’t have to go to school. I didn’t have to do anything. I could move to the middle of nowhere and exist however nature intended me to.

Although, Blackrain was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and it was awfully boring.

In the end, I settled for saying, “I’ll figure something out.” And I would. I always did.

We got up and walked out of the mall. The world had descended into dusk, the sky full of pretty pinks and purples and reds, the waning sunlight dancing on the bottom of the clouds in the sky. When we got in the car and drove off, Jordan reached for my hand, and I let him take it, let him run his thumb over my knuckles again and again as he drove us to our next destination.

Our next destination was the movie theater he’d mentioned in Crocker, another city. He’d pre-bought the tickets to some comedy that was out, and he bought the biggest tub of popcorn they sold. We went into our theater and chose a seat in the back, in the highest row.

Previews of other movies were playing on the screen, and I leaned over to Jordan to whisper, “I’ve never been to the movies before.”

That got him to do a double-take in my direction. “What? Really?”

I nodded, taking a weird kind of glee in seeing his utter shock. Movie theaters weren’t high on my list of things to do back home. And as for my grandparents, well, they’d never be seen at a movie theater, not when the house had a theater room. They hated being in public with me.

“Well, hopefully it’s everything you thought it would be and more,” Jordan spoke with a smile, offering me the tub of popcorn for my first official taste.

I dug my hand in it, got a good handful of the buttery, high-salted popcorn. I popped a piece into my mouth, and it practically melted. Oh, it was good. It was more than good. It was basically buttered air. Shit. I could eat that whole tub and not blink.

Jordan talked during most of the previews. The theater filled up somewhat; not completely, but other people did sit in the same row as us, a few seats away. Before the movie came on, the lights grew dimmer and the screen got wider. It was the weirdest thing. Why not have it dim the whole time? Why not have the screen the appropriate size the entire time? I didn’t get it.

The movie was a little funny. Jordan laughed more than me, as did the rest of the audience. I, myself, would rather be back home with Elias than here with Jordan. Only time would tell if this date was a success.

He didn’t try anything during the movie. Whether that was because of how full the room was or because of another reason, I didn’t know. I also didn’t care. I had the feeling kissing him, doing anything with him, wouldn’t be enjoyable. Not to me. I was curious about what it felt like, yes, but I didn’t want to kissJordan.

Didn’t want to kiss him. Didn’t want to feel his hands all over me. Didn’t want to know what his dick felt like. The important part there was theJordanbit.

Of course, I was willing to suffer through it if it meant getting a rise out of Elias.

When the movie was over and the credits rolled, almost everyone else in the theater stood up and started to leave, filing down the steps to get out. Jordan and I remained seated, the bucket of popcorn half-eaten. His amber eyes were on me, almost unblinking, as he asked, “So? What’d you think of your first movie theater experience?”

---