On Friday, Jason came to my house and we rode our bikes to the movie theater. On the way, it felt like we were back to normal talking useless things, about how we couldn't remember the ending of the last Avengers movie, about which Spiderman actor was better, the new one or the old one. On how summer was too long this year and we were getting sick of the stickiness and the afternoon sun. Even though it seemed like summer didn't want to leave us, the nights started to have these cool breezes that felt good while riding our bikes.
At the movie theater we bought 2 big boxes of popcorn and 2 large sodas like we always do, and then we went to look for our seats. The lights went off and the screen went on with new movie trailers. A lot of movie trailers. The theater was quite crowded and when the movie started, every time Iron man appeared, all the little kids would make some noise which was followed by mothers making hush sounds.
Jason was sitting in my left side not minding all the noises from the other people, he looked concentrated in what was happening on the screen. In the middle of the movie, while I was drinking some of my soda, Jason put his hand on top of my left hand and I almost spilled out all the soda I had in my mouth. Jason giggled and covert his eyes with his other hand, like not wanting to see what he was doing or I was doing. If this was another one of his jokes like the "almost kiss" one, I wasn't going to forgive him. That would be too cruel of him. But then he tangled his fingers with mine and squeezed, and thanks to the little light that reflected from the screen, I got to see his red cheeks. We stayed that way until the movie ended and untangled our hands when the lights turned on. We followed the multitude out of the movie theater without speaking a thing. "Well, uhmm, what did you think about the movie?" I asked, attempting to end the awkwardness. "To be honest, I didn't pay attention" he said, and we laughed while we started walking with our bikes on the side. There was a question I wanted to ask since we were at the movie theater that lingered and repeated in my head but didn't exactly know how to formulate and what came out was "So, Jason, why did you hold my hand?” He paused, and said "So, Jack, why did you keep holding my hand?" and smiled at his unfair respond with another question. He took out his bike stand out with a kick, so I did the same. Then he took a deep breath and continued talking. "Actually, Jack, I wanted to say sorry for being distant lately. You know, that day at the pool I really wanted to kiss you, but well, that happened and I got scared and... I pretended it was a joke. And after that, I didn't know what to do, so... And there is this other important thing I have to tell..." In that moment I touched his face with my hands and brought him near me, his eyes closed just like that day at the pool but this time we did kiss. A popcorn flavored long-awaited kiss. My fingers played with his hair, while Jason's arms went up and around to hug me. I could feel his hands touching my back and slowly go down and land on my hips. I could sense that his hands wanted to keep going down and the thought of that made my knees wobble and accidentally knock down my bike. It made a big metallic noise, and our lips, our bodies and hands separated. It was like an alarm clock that woke us from our dream, making us realize that we were still outside and anyone could see us. I hoped that the darkness of the night would make us invisible, invisible like all of night's creatures and ghosts that were hiding in its darkness. Jason laughed and picked up my bike, then he said "Jack..." and started giggling again, but slowly his smiling face turned dark, like he wanted to cry. “What? What's wrong, Jason?" I asked, worried. "Well, my dad got a promotion at his job and... we are going to have to move in 2 days" he said, and his eyes went looking down to the pavement. "Since my dad gave us that news, the only one that I was worried about and wanted to be with was you, but I thought it would be selfish, because it would only cause you pain. If you felt the same way as me or... not. Either way, I thought all of this would make you sad or hate me... Gosh, I don't know what I'm saying or doing...". I hugged Jason tightly after he stopped talking and told him it was going to be alright, that I understand. I also understood that these were going to be the few last hugs and kisses I was going to be able to give him in a lot of time or in forever. I wasn't given the opportunity sooner. I punched him in the arm and yelled "Fuck, Jason! You should have told me sooner!" and then hugged him tighter.
I suggested going to a park that was nearby, because he owed me at least a little bit more of his time. There was a big jungle gym with slays, a long bridge that shake if you stepped on it, nets for climbing, a couple of swings and a high place that looked like a tower. Jason climbed the net like he was a little kid again. When he got on top, he turned around to look at me, and smile, realizing I was still at the bottom. "Jack, hurry and come up here!" he said, so I hurried up and climbed the net, then we stood there feeling the cool breeze. "Let me hug you and kiss you all I want, for all the time that is going to be lost between us" My thoughts just slipped through my mouth and hearing myself say it made me embarrassed, but Jason didn't mind, he just leaned over and kissed me. He had his hands on my hips again, but this time, his figures explored further down. And my hands, somehow got underneath his shirt, feeling the smooth skin of his back, his chest and stomach. Jason, then, took off his shirt and, for a moment I thought the wish I had made earlier was coming true, that the night was making us into one of its creatures because the light of the moon on Jason's skin made him glow and I was turning into one full of desire for it. His eyes made everything disappear in the dark and all there was him, me and the moonlight.
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Jason and his family left and I missed him even though we skyped almost every day. When he went out with his new friends, he would send me pictures or we would have a video conference so I could get to know them as well. Maybe it was his way of trying to make our two worlds be together, but it just felt distant. Distance and time just got in our way, life went on filling that gap between us with new friends, classes, college entrance exams, parties, girlfriends and boyfriends, and so on. Maybe if we meet again, we would discover that all our experiences had made us into complete strangers, or maybe if I saw his dark eyes he would make everything between us disappear again.
The End
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