Mean Wolves - Chpt. 6

“What do you mean, you can’t come? I’m already on my way”
“Chandley, I’m so sorry” Hollie’s voice was husky and there was no doubt that she was telling the truth. She had, indeed, caught a pretty bad cold. It was a pity, because she had been looking forward to go see this movie with Chandley and Matt for weeks. And now she was apparently the one who couldn’t come.

Chandley adjusted the strap of his shoulder bag that was heavy from the weight of a bunch of books he had just picked up from the library to work for an upcoming presentation in one of his classes. Having spent all morning in the library, he hadn’t seen Hollie all day. She had informed him early enough that she wasn’t feeling very well, but now she was calling to back out of their date completely which would’ve been fine if it hadn’t been for Matt. They were supposed to meet him in roughly 15 minutes in front of the theatre and he was probably already on his way. It was too late to call the whole thing off.

“Look, it’ll be fine. You’ve known him now for…what? Two weeks at least. And he likes you more than most of my friends” She coughed. “I’m sorry, again. You two go and have fun. You gotta tell me if the movie is worth watching”

Chandley agreed, because there was really nothing else he could do and hung up the phone just as he caught the next subway that would take him to the cinema. He felt his hands getting sweaty as he grabbed for a pole, nearly causing him to slip off and fall. Hollie was right. He had spent a fair amount of time with Matt during the past two weeks. Primarily, because he generally spent a lot of time with Hollie…and Matt seemed to be an unquestioned part of her life. So he became an unquestioned part of his own life too. Yet, he hadn’t found himself in a situation where he had been alone with him for longer than five minutes. And now he had to sit through a two hour chick flick movie with him, because they had already bought tickets for it.

Ten more minutes until Chandley had reached his destination. He was a couple of minutes late, but was secrelty glad that he didn’t have to wait awkwardly in front of the cinema, constantly looking out for Matt to arrive. Instead, Matt was already standing there, leaning against a pillar right next to the door and briefly glancing at his phone as Chandley approached him. There was no reason to be nervous, he told himself, but couldn’t quite listen to the voice inside his head.

“Hey…”
Matt looked up, giving him only a brief smile, before his eyes tried to see around Chandley, only to notice that Hollie was – in fact – nowhere to be seen.
“Hollie got sick this morning…she didn’t tell me she couldn’t come until just now…”
“Well…” Matt shrugged. “Now we’re here” He pushed the door open, holding it briefly, so that Chandley could rush inside straight after him.

“You sure, you still wanna see this movie? Hollie made me watch the trailer the other day…it’s a chick flick” He didn’t mention that he had actually quite enjoyed the trailer and – most importantly – he didn’t mention that he had thought the male lead of the movie was kind of cute. Cute enough to make the movie worth while. He hadn’t even mentioned that last one to Hollie.
“So what? I’ve already collected our tickets and paid for them” Matt had made a good point.

“You’re right…Hollie wants me to tell her all about the movie later anyway” Chandley stopped so abruptly that he nearly caused Matt to bump into him. “Do you want some popcorn?” He said, frowning as he pointed at the terribly long lines in front of the food stands.
Matt shook his head. “I don’t need to…What about you?”
Chandley was going to agree until his growling stomach betrayed him. “To be honest, I haven’t eaten anything since this morning…but it’s totally fine. We can grab something later…”
Without noticing it, Matt had already urged him towards the two lines. “Look, if we split up to stand in separate lines, we can see who’s going to be faster”

Chandley was a little embarrassed by his urging hunger, but took the practical offer gladly. Even though he had been standing in the longer line, he ended up being the first one to reach his destination. Just as he was about to choose his kind of drink after he had ordered two medium meals for Matt and himself – since Matt had already paid for the tickets – the cashier interrupted him. “Today’s couple’s day. If you order our Movie Date Meal, you’ll save 3$ for the same amount of food and drinks and get a free rose for your girl on top of that” He winked and smiled when Chandley’s cheeks turned pink.

“This isn’t…” He was frantically searching the crowded room for Matt, hoping he wouldn’t be close enough to hear any of that. “I’m not on a date” His voice was hushed anyway. All he wanted was to get that damn popcorn and maybe a drink and then walk out of this situation as fast as possible.

“Ooooh” The cashier chanted knowingly while still grinning widely. “But you’re not alone either”
“Maybe I’m just really hungry…” Chandley only recognized how stupid of an excuse this was as the words had long left his mouth and the cashier was smiling brighter than ever. Chandley took a nervous glance at the clock behind the counter and he knew that he didn’t want to waste any more time. Also, 3$ off was a pretty good deal for a student who didn’t work for his own money yet. The cashier was still patently waiting for an answer, but the costumers behind Chandley were already getting annoyed, passive-aggressively urging him to make a decision.

“I’ll take the deal”
The cashier’s excitement over Chandley’s change of mind seemed a little over the top.
“But please keep the rose for yourself” He felt his pockets for his purse to get away as quickly as possible, once the drinks and the popcorn would be served, but the cashier wouldn’t let him go just yet. “But it’s free!” he insisted. Chandley was already grabbing the two drinks and the big bucket of popcorn. He couldn’t stand the disappointed look on the cashier’s face and finally gave in one more time. “Fine” He sighed and let the cashier stick the rose somewhere between the drinks, the popcorn and Chandley’s tangled arms before he rushed off.

Unfortunately, communication between Matt and Chandley prior to their purchase hadn’t worked quite as well as they had imagined it to be. It turned out that Matt had reached the end of his line at roughly the same time as Chandley did, but neither of them had actually seen the other. It also turned out that the cashier serving Matt had been just as persistent as Chandley’s and Matt had liked the idea of saving 3$ just as much. Now they were standing there, two boys, two giant buckets of popcorn, four drinks and two roses. All awkwardness aside, Chandley was the first one to break the silence as he started giggling. Matt joined in soon after. The situation was ridiculous and there was really nothing else they could do.

“So much for saving 3$” Chandley remarked.
“That should be enough for your hunger, though”
Chandley chuckled once again as they both made their way upstairs, carefully balancing the ridiculous amount of snacks they had been given. “And Hollie is going to love the roses” He concluded.

It was a little troublesome, fumbling their pockets for the tickets to check out what seats they were supposed to take. When they finally got to the right theatre, the lights were already turned off and the trailers before the movie had already started. They had to shove their way through occupied seats. Chandley went first, because he was the one constantly apologizing for being late and having to bother the other visitors. They were about to violently express their annoyance by throwing insults at Chandley’s face until they saw Matt following after and the possibility that they were here together as more than just friends kept them quiet, feeling intimidated by his size alone and probably wishing that he wasn’t going to sit right in front of them.

Eventually, they were seated somewhere in the centre of the theatre, enjoying a perfect view at the screen to watch a movie that neither of them had initiated to watch in the first place. It took them a little while to figure out where to put all the snacks and the roses, but once they had gotten around that, the movie started and they received a fair share of mad glares by the other visitors.

The movie turned out to be only half as bad as the trailer had made it seem. There were actually funny jokes that hadn’t been spoiled in the trailer and Chandley made sure that Matt enjoyed them as much as he did. Whenever there was a silly or sappy cliché scene, they’d completely ruin the mood by making snarky comments about it and making each other laugh. Two hours flew by like it was nothing and Chandley was somewhat glad that he hadn’t pulled out and ditched Matt. Even if they would’ve saved a good deal of money that way.

They were the last ones to get up, because they had probably already raised enough anger before the movie had started. The lights were already turned back on, happy music playing from the credits as they finally decided to make their way out. Chandley felt bad leaving the empty cups and buckets behind and insisted on carrying them all the way back outside to throw them away themselves.

“Hollie will be sad to have missed that” Chandley concluded, stating his opinion on the movie. “Maybe I’ll buy the DVD for her for Christmas…” He thought out aloud as they left the cinema. “Which subway do you have to take?” He asked Matt, quickly throwing his jacket over his shoulder, because it had gotten quite chilly this afternoon.
Matt smiled. “A different one” He knew where Hollie lived and he knew that Chandley was living with her.

“Oh” Chandley wiped his hands on his jacket for no particular reason at all. “That’s okay…I’m sorry Hollie couldn’t come”
Matt frowned, probably not sure why Chandley felt the need to apologize for that circumstance. “It’s fine. We had fun anyway, didn’t we?”
Yes, yes they did. Chandley didn’t dare to express this as strongly as he would’ve wanted to, but he was incredibly relieved that at no point he had gotten on Matt’s nerves, since the older one seemed genuinely happy. “I’ll see you in school on Monday?”
Matt nodded and for just a second Chandley considered going for a hug, because this was the way he usually said goodbye to a friend. He already had his arms slightly spread, but changed his mind just when Matt offered him his hand which didn’t turn out any less awkward than a hug would’ve been.

And as Chandley ran off to catch the next subway, so he wouldn’t have to wait 10 unnecessary minutes he just couldn’t shake that one thought off: In a different world…maybe, just maybe, this could’ve been a date. It would’ve been his very first date. He bit his lip. He should really stop thinking that way about Hollie’s best friend. It was ridiculous and would only end in pain and heartbreak. And yet…he just couldn’t help himself.