Trevon Carter

"I'm bored," Arthur said. We sat on his couch. It was early afternoon. He was watching shows on Netflix and I sat next to him reading. Finals were over and it wasn't quite time to go to his parents' house for Christmas. It was that weird limbo when school was out and the campus was mostly empty. Since we lived off campus and in luxury apartments, that emptiness didn't affect us too much. What did affect us was the lack of routine. No classes to go to, no waiting for Arthur to be done with his dance. We slept in that morning and then went to work out together. Now it was just passing the time.

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

"There are a lot of good movies out right now. We could go to a movie."

I remembered the first and only time we had gone to the movies together. It was an unforgettable experience. Why hadn't we gone to the movies since? I supposed school had just kept us both busy. But really we just wanted to stay in where it was easier to reach a bed anytime we wanted.

"A Christmas movie," I said. "Or there's that romantic comedy."

"There is also that thriller with the serial killer," he said with that mischievous glint in his eyes. I was doomed.

"I'm as afraid of serial killers as I am of ghosts," I pointed out.

"Perfect," he said as his smiled widened. "Let's go," he grabbed my hand and pulled me off the couch.

"We don't even know what time it's starting," I said. My heart beat faster both from fear of watching a scary movie and the excitement over what we did the last time we went and saw a scary movie together.

"There's got to be a show starting soon,," he said.

"What if I miss a call from an employer wanting a reference for Vincent."

Vincent was looking for a job and had asked that I be a reference for him. I was happy to do it. It hadn't been that long since he started and I already had a few calls. I hoped he found a job soon.

"Then you can call them back. It's only a few hours. Stop trying to get out of seeing this thriller."

"Wouldn't a romantic comedy be better?"

"Ugh. No."

We drove my car to the theater and left his at the apartment. He was right. There was a show starting soon. I didn't really want to watch a movie that was going to frighten me, but if Arthur did what he did last time, I wouldn't even be watching the movie.

I was expecting the theater to not be crowded. It was a weekday. People would be at work, high school students and younger would still be in school. Their winter break hadn't started yet. Only the university was out. It was more crowded than I thought it would be. It appeared a lot of college students were as bored as were.

We got the same seats we got last time - the back corner, but unlike last time there were other people on the back row. A young man and woman holding hands and three young men sitting a few seats on the other side of the couple. I sighed with disappointment. I was probably going to have to watch this scary movie I had no desire to watch.

I sat through the trailers distracted as I watched the various lights from the screen shift and dance over Arthur's handsome face. The little smirk at the corner of his mouth told me he knew I was watching him, but he didn't look at me. He was captivating, all encompassing. How could I not look at him?

The movie started and I finally shifted my attention to the screen. Halfway through the movie and I was terrified. The main detective was now being stalked by the serial killer, but she didn't realize it yet. She walked along the dark streets. A shadowed figure was behind her in the alley. She went on oblivious. A silver knife glinted under the street light. I held my breath. They wouldn't kill off the main character halfway through the movie would they? This wasn't a movie about the antagonist winning was it? The silver flashed and a lock of the detective's hair fell away. She took a few more steps forward before she looked behind her. There was no one there.

I didn't realize my leg was shaking until Arthur's warm hand wrapped around it and squeezed. I looked at him to see him staring at me. The light from the movie glinted over him. His hand squeezed my thigh. His beautiful eyes bore into me and I couldn't look away. He was the only thing that existed. The tip of his tongue darted out to lick his lips as his eyes grew heated. I couldn't resist him. My soul, heart and body all belonged to him.

I kissed his wet lips. His hand on my thigh tightened. His delicious lips moved with mine. I cupped the back of his head and pulled him even closer to me so we were mashed together. His wet tongue slithered into my mouth. Mine eagerly danced with his as his heat spread through me. His hand trailed up my thigh to cup my crotch. That was when I remembered we weren't alone. I didn't break the kiss, but my eyes darted behind him. Everyone on the back row was watching us. I grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away from me before I could grow hard.

He pulled away slightly from the kiss. His breath hit my lips as he whispered, "Why?"

I moved so my mouth was directly next to his ear. "People are watching," I whispered. He shuddered with my breath. I licked his earlobe and he grew weak in my grasp even as he leaned on me more.

"Who cares," he said. He went for my crotch again but I lifted his hand over his head. We paused a moment as we stared at each other in that position. His chest rose and fell with his needy gasps. While I still held his hand over his head, I connected our lips for another desperate kiss. I completely forgot the movie or even the fact that we were in the theater. I couldn't tell you how the movie ended. I had no idea if the detective finally caught the serial killer or if he killed her. We continued making out through the rest of the movie and didn't know it was over until the credits started rolling and people started filing out of the theater.

"Hey," someone said behind us as he walked out of the theater towards the parking lot. I wasn't sure if we were the ones being addressed, but we turned around automatically.

It was the three men that had been sitting in the back row on the other side of the couple.

"You should refund us the money we spent to watch that movie," one of them said with a scowl on his face. The other two looked slightly embarrassed and uncomfortable, but they didn't say anything.

"Why?" I asked. I could guess, but didn't want to give him validation.

"Because we were too distracted by your making out to watch the movie," the man said.

"Oh," Arthur said lightly. "Then you should pay us for entertaining you."

The other two men tried to hide smiles. The first man's expression turned into confusion. "What? No. That's not what I meant. I didn't watch you like that."

"Then you don't have to pay us," Arthur said easily. He took my hand in his and started to pull me to the car.

"But," the man started.

Then the couple walked passed them. The young woman said, "We should make out like that next time too."

"Agreed," the young man with her said. "You did put on a good show," he said to Arthur. "I'd be willing to pay for watching it."

"Maybe next time," Arthur said easily. "This one was a freebie." The couple laughed.

I opened the car door for Arthur and he slid into the passenger seat. When I got into the driver's seat I said, "I love you."

Arthur smiled wide at this and said, "I love you too."

When we got back to his apartment, I went to unmute my phone and noticed I had a message from an unknown number.

"Hi, Trevon, it's Aiden," Vincent's brother's voice sounded through my phone. "I realize this might be a little awkward. I'm sure you know my parents kicked Vinny out. I want to help him. Could you give me a call back please?"

"Who called you?" Arthur asked. He sat next to me on the couch.

"Vincent's brother."

"Why? That's weird. Wait, he's dating your cousin, right? Maybe that's why."

"He says he wants to help Vincent. I'm not sure how he can though and I'm not sure that I trust him. Maybe I'll call Jasmine first and find out what she thinks."

"Good idea," Arthur said.

Jasmine answered after the second ring. "Hey, Trevy, what's up?"

"Are you with Aiden right now?" I asked because I didn't want to talk about him if he was right there.

"No. He should be at work. Why?"

"He left me a message saying that he wants me to call him because he wants to help Vincent."

"Yeah. He did tell me his parents kicked Vincent out for having a boyfriend. I don't understand his parents. Aiden is really worried about his brother."

"So you think his concerns are genuine? Because he and Vincent don't exactly have a good relationship."

"Aiden has his faults. I won't pretend he doesn't. He doesn't know how to act around Vincent. His parents have him so confused. He does truly care about Vincent though. I think he genuinely wants to help him however he can. It might not be much though, because I don't think he is ready to go against his dad."

"Alright," I said. "I'll give him a call."

I hung up with her and called Aiden.

"Hello," he said.

"It's Trevon," I said. "I'm returning your call."

"Hold on. Let me get into my office." There was a pause. I could hear the background noise of the plastic factory. A door shut and the noise was greatly muted. "Alright," he said. "I'm alone."

"How do you want to help Vincent?"

"I heard he is looking for a job and put your name as a reference."

"Yes," I said. I was still wary, but overall I trusted Jasmine's judgment. She knew Aiden better than I did.

"I can't offer him much, but I can help with his job search. I'm hoping when employers call you for a reference, you'll call me and let me know. I'd like to call the employers and give them a reference too. I did work with him at the factory for those two summers so I can give a good work reference. I can't offer him a place to stay or money because if my dad finds out, there will be consequences, but I can at least do this for him."

"Alright," I said because if his brother truly wanted to help - and Jasmine made it sound like he did, and he sounded sincere - then I should give him the opportunity to help. Maybe someday Vincent and Aiden could actually have a true brother relationship.

"Don't tell Vinny," he said. "He doesn't trust me and I haven't given him reason to. I just want to do this silently behind the scenes."

"Okay," I said.

"Thank you," he said.