CLACK CLACK CLACK.

I typed away at the dining room table on a small laptop that was already showing its age, with faded silver paint exposing the plasticine base and three chipped keys that were missing for who knows how long, writing up a paper for my biology class about the differences in mutations and evolution. Admittedly, it’s a little bit difficult when you’re on a basic plan with a crappy wi-fi router, but I’ve learned to make do with what I had for some time now.

I waited patiently for a page on finches in the Galapagos islands. I’m sure Darwin would have laughed at the irony of someone on the bottom rung of human evolution trying to use his materials. Thankfully for me he was dead, so at worst, it was muffled by his grave. Personally, I thought he would have been more fascinated by the woman who rested rather heavily on my head, a loud and exaggerated sigh emanating from her. As far as I was concerned, Veronica was the peak of human evolution who, for all her skill and strength, wasted the day hovering around me with no real motivation to do anything else.

I suppose it’s true that someone reaching the pinnacle of life puts a hard stop on desire. She let out another loud sigh as her body went limp.

“C’moooooon… I’m boooooored.”

“So am I, but I got shit to do, so my boredom has a purpose,” I replied calmly, muting my agitated expression as best I could.

Veronica slumped off of me and onto the table, emitting a guttural groan as she fell to her knees and stared straight ahead out the window. It was no less busy than the LES typically was. A fair share of people were going about their day, treating their weekend as just an extension of work to beat the rat race of surviving Manhattan. A finger poked my side, causing me to lightly flail in my chair as if I had been shocked. I gave Veronica a serious look.

“Veronica-“

Another poke, another flail. I let out an exasperated sigh as she continued to avoid eye contact. I will say her aim was impeccable. Both of our levels of patience, however, were not.

“There’s gotta be someone-“

“Nope.”

A third poke. I jolted.

“Will you cut that out?!” I said in a hushed voice.

“Nope.”

She readied her finger and I flinched, jumping to my feet as the chair I sat in screeched out. A smirk grew on her face as her eyes shifted towards me. That mischievous glint was shining through, which meant she wasn’t going to leave this alone. I sighed as I rubbed my eyes.

“Okay… let’s say we went out… what would we do?”

Veronica looked pensively to the side. Her eyes furrowed as she crossed her arms on the table.

“Maybe you decide? You’re the one getting dragged along with a bug up his arse.”

“I don’t… I have work. Work I couldn’t care less about, but work nonetheless.”

“And how much headway are you making?” she asked, giving me an odd look.

I opened my mouth, but I stopped myself. I looked at the laptop screen, staring at the flashing marker on the document program. I had just barely made the 2nd of five pages, and this was after buckling down for the past couple of days. Anxiety loves to make you second-guess and rewrite the same sentence several times before going on to the next.

Despite being a grown woman, Veronica had the maturity of a high school punk, and I made it my mission to keep her from getting on Jessie’s bad side (especially after the incident at the pier). I never thought having a third person in the apartment would be such a distraction… although that wasn’t always a bad thing. At the very least, I had a confidant and friend I could trust on those lower days.

“I guess stepping out for a couple of hours might break things up a bit,” I said after sitting back down.

I exhaled loudly as I tapped the table with my finger. Central Park was probably jam-packed (and besides, she’s been around there enough on the streets; I was sure it lost its luster to her). Coney Island? Forget about it. I didn’t want to even attempt getting through Brooklyn at this hour on foot.

“We could go for lunch,” I piped up.

“I said something fun,” she said with a small smile. “Besides, why go out when I get your grub for free?”

“… Thank you?” I responded quietly, unsure of how to take her comment.

“That would be the right response,” she replied, her smile widening. “On top of that… this is supposed to be your break too. So much as I love your cooking, think of something that’s a good time.”

“I like cooking.”

“Something mindless. Something where you can just… relax.”

“… You’re gonna suggest the birthday gift again, aren’t you-“

“Well, if you insist,” she responded in faux resignation.

My face blushed as I looked to the side, failing to hide it. Veronica simply laughed as she hopped up on the table and sat on it.

“As fun as that would be… don’t force yourself,” she said, her smile growing more genuine. “C’mon! Keep brainstorming.”

“Theme park,” I instinctively shouted. “Museum! Art museum! Uh… movie?”

Upon hearing the word “movie,” Veronica’s ears perked up. A small grin grew on her face, which, knowing her, could have meant anything. She gave the side of my arm a light pat as she stood on her feet.

“See? Not that hard. I think I got a theater in mind. C’mon, mate.”

Veronica motioned for me to follow her as she headed to the door and pulled her coat over her shoulders. I eyed her curiously.

“Were you waiting for me to say that?” I asked.

“It may have been in the back of my mind,” she responded as she opened the door.

I should have figured. Still, if it got her off my back (literally) so I could focus on my paper afterwards, it was probably a win. Besides, it had been a while since I’d been to a theater. I hadn’t really gone since Dad died. It didn’t really feel the same without him. It felt… hollow.

We took a bus downtown. It wasn’t exactly glamorous, or even safe looking. It was hard to feel in danger knowing what Veronica was capable of… at least in hand-to-hand combat. I wasn’t sure how she’d handle a gun, and quite frankly I wasn’t keen on finding out. Regardless, she walked the streets with a care-free confidence as if the rest of the world was scared of her.

It wasn’t long before the venue in her mind appeared before us. It looked like low-rent revival house. An empty marquee sign waited above the entrance and ticket booth. The exterior walls were stained with layers of faded beige paint, yet somehow it still looked like it needed more. My assumption was that it was more of a “last resort” sort of situation.

Veronica sauntered up to the cashier with a pep in her step and a smirk that widened on her lips. She raised a finger at me, beckoning me to wait. She shifted her attention back to the man in the ticket booth, speaking just enough out of earshot that I couldn’t make out what was being said. She flashed a “two” sign. The cashier, a stocky man with a thick scraggly beard and a green button up flannel shirt, shifted to the side and gave me an odd look for reasons I couldn’t fathom. He stared at me, as if sizing me up, before looking back at Veronica. She waved to the side and nodded emphatically. He shrugged his shoulders before printing out a receipt. Veronica snatched the receipt before waving me over. I eyed her cautiously as she led me in.

“You haven’t told me what we’re watching,” I said with quiet suspicion.

“You’ll love it!” she responded with reassuring enthusiasm. “It’s a classic!”

She flashed the receipt at me. On the receipt it said “Up x2.” I cocked an eyebrow up as I took the receipt from her. I glanced at her incredulously.

“I didn’t take you for a fan.”

“Big fan,” she replied with a wide smile.

I could feel my face tug to the side. I looked around as we entered the dimly lit theater. The main hall had décor and a vibe that told me this hadn’t received any major renovations since at least the seventies. Although I had to admit, it had sort of a kitschy retro charm to it in spite of its small size. The entryway split into a hall that only led to two double-sided doorways with the numbers “1” and “2” above them, guided by the patterned orange and brown carpet that nearly blended with the walls (or they would have if it wasn’t for the slat wall paneling). I presumed they were the auditoriums.

Veronica grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the first auditorium. The interior was about what I expected, given the exterior’s first impression. The auditorium has a relatively small ten-foot screen with just a few rows of seats. They looked like the kind you would find at a school auditorium, predominantly made of wood with some red padding. Only a few others were already seated in them, middle-aged men who I also wouldn’t have taken as people interested in this particular film.

Veronica led us down the center row, where I noticed our footsteps were oddly loud. I hadn’t even noticed that the floor inside wasn’t carpeted. I guessed it was just for making it easier to keep things clean. Although I couldn’t figure out what they would need to maintain. There wasn’t even a snack bar for customers to make a mess with. I pushed the thoughts away as we took our seats.

I waited patiently for the movie to start. Veronica hiked her boots up on top of the seat in front of us, crossing her arms and getting cozy. She flashed a smile at me as she glanced over. While we hadn’t spent too much time together, I already knew one thing about her. Veronica was only capable of two smiles around me. Occasionally, you’d see one of genuine warmth, one that made you feel safe in a cold world with a dying sun. When she gave that smile, it felt like nothing could go wrong.

On the flip side, and more often than not, her other smile was one that made you feel as if you were about to be swallowed into a black hole, one that came with her signature cackle of chaos when that moment came. There was no warmth in this smile. There was only a cold oblivion. Unfortunately for me, being the naïve fool that I was, I pushed back against every red flag I was seeing and stayed seated. I squirmed and fidgeted in my seat, trying to get those thoughts out of my mind.

The lights began to dim. After a few seconds, a scratchy, filmic image popped up onto the screen. I was caught completely off guard by the fact that I was greeted by an old, vintage soundtrack, before the cast and crew names popped up, followed by the title “Up!” The copyright date below it was 1976.

Huh… maybe this is the original? I didn’t think “Up” was a remake…

It wasn’t long after that we were soon introduced to a Greek chorus. But that’s when it suddenly kicked in what was happening, because the chorus were more like the kind of a Greek chorus you’d see in ancient artwork… in that they wore next to nothing, save for boots. I was so gobsmacked by what just walked on screen that I couldn’t even process what I was watching. I could hear them talking, but somehow even louder was a restrained snicker next to my ear.

I looked at Veronica with a dead, wide-eyed stare, as she covered her mouth, her eyes clenched shut, as if trying to stop herself from bursting into tears. My head snapped around, looking between the viewers and the screen. It wasn’t long before I saw a man named Adolf (who looked a LOT like another person who shared that name) coming together with several women and a man in a lavish castle. After overcoming the initial shock, I instantly knew where Veronica dragged me.

I was in a God damn porn theater.

That was the moment the characters began to get intimate. Despite the utter embarrassment, my face somehow went paler than Veronica’s. Without even saying a word, I instantly shot up to my feet and shuffled to the door. Veronica burst into laughter. She leaned back in her seat with her feet flailing. One of the other audience members shouted something obscene at her before she responded in kind.

I didn’t say a word. I quickly made my way out of the theater and pulled my hood over my head, hiding away the only way I could. It wasn’t long before I could hear Veronica’s laughter approaching like a siren zooming by. She wrangled me in with her arm as she tried in vain to calm herself down. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she was choking on her own tongue.

“Oh, God… Oh, God, I’m sorry, mate, I couldn’t help myself!” Veronica said in between laughs. “Hoo! Made my day there!”

She jostled me, continuing to laugh. I didn’t respond. I simply picked up my pace. Veronica’s laughter began to subside.

“C’mon, that was a good one!” she said loudly. “It’s not like I pushed you off a bridge or somethin’, yeah?”

I just kept walking, not acknowledging her response.

“Jack? Hey… hey, c’mon! You’re not… this isn’t worse than the urn, right?”

Suddenly things felt cold. I could tell she noticed, too. Suddenly her steps picked up as her boots clacked behind me.

“Look, it was just a joke! Jack? JACK! C’mon, mate! C’moooooooon!”

She followed for a good several blocks. I didn’t say a single word. I just kept my hands shoved into my jacket pockets, huddled with my hood up as I hurried down the street. Veronica, on the other hand, wouldn’t stop shouting platitudes as she tried to get me to stop. The entire time she pleaded with me to stop or just to look at her. There was sincerity in her tone. If anything, it almost sounded… afraid.

No matter what she said, I kept my path. At some point, after her futile attempts to get me to acknowledge her, she let out a frustrated growl. Her steps suddenly grew distant, fading away, before stopping. She let out a loud huff.

“Alright! I’m… I’m sorry, Jack. Okay? I’m sorry.”

I froze in my tracks. I kept facing ahead, despite hearing her footsteps pick up again. I could hear them stop right behind me. Veronica took in a deep breath and let out a sigh.

“I just wanted some shits and giggles,” she said. “Clearly that wasn’t your kind of humor, so… I’m sorry.”

The words struggled to come out of her… but she wasn’t spouting bull. Her words weren’t laced with her typical sarcasm or dry wit. It was something I hadn’t heard often from her… regret. I stood there silently, trying to process what I had heard.

“Can you just say something?” She asked. “Anything?”

I stood there for a moment before I sighed quietly.

“Sorry…”

Veronica looked taken aback for a moment. She stammered quietly before I turned to face her. She was greeted by the biggest shit-eating grin on my face. I imagine the shocked look on her face was a pretty close approximation of how I looked in the theater. We’d practically switched places, with the same expressions to boot. I shrugged my shoulders.

“I couldn’t help myself,” I said jokingly.