Page 43 of Oh No! There's an Incubus in my Hot Spring
He glances at the building, then Apollo and me before taking the money.
“Sure thing.”
Apollo slings his arm around my shoulder as they depart. I feel like I should stop him, but I also want the camaraderie that fixing this place has brought us. I want to have a confidant. I want a friend.
“What now?” he asks.
“Now, we order pizza and watch a movie,” I say, steering us toward the apartment.
The local joint delivers so I get a Hawaiian. Fuck the haters. Pineapple can be on pizza.
Apollo hasneverseen a movie before, so of course, I have to show him a masterpiece.
The Lion King.
His eyes are glued to the screen as we devour slice after slice.
“The musical element was a surprising delight,” he says at the end. “Do all your films have this?”
“No, not all…Wanna watch something else?” I ask, feeling the impish streak to stay up late flare in me. It’s Saturday, after all. I can sleep in tomorrow.
“Yes, please, another,” Apollo begs, his eyes glowing.
Gods, I want to kiss him.
I shake my head.
“All right. This one iscompletelydifferent,” I say, loading upThe Fifth Element.
I grab a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and plop down beside him on my bed, then pull the laptop half onto my leg to share the burden.
“I hope this has amusing music,” Apollo says, and I grin.
“It’s not a musical, but it does have good music,” I say.
“Aziz, light!” makes him laugh, and I do, too.
Then he gets serious, his jaw stopping mid-crunch as the alien mech walks into the temple and Billy holds out a gun. Then, when everything jumps to the far future, Apollo gasps, a Dorito fragment tumbling from his lips.
“The apps,” he says, taking in all the grandeur of 90’s-style science-fiction. Mostly tinfoil. “Is this real?”
I laugh. He’s so old and so young at the same time. A paradox. Then again, teenagers can be as jaded and cynical as any crotchety senior citizen. Apollo isn’t young at all, he’s just experiencing the modern world with fresh eyes, and it makes me feel like I can do the same.
“No, we don’t have any of that yet,” I say “But maybe we will one day.”
If magic is real, why not flying cars?
He munches more chips as we watch, humming absently to himself. Why is that so cute?
“I hate this man,” he says as Zorg appears.
“It’s a good thing he’s the bad guy,” I say, knocking his shoulder.
“Mhmm, good thing.”
I watch Apollo more than I watch the movie. I’ve seen it enough times to know every line, every scene. Watching himwatch it is better. His reactions, the surprise, the wonder. It’s sort of the best feeling ever.
Finally, Bruce Willis kisses Milla Jovovich senseless, and the song plays out to the credits.
