“I’m not drinking.”
“Drink!”
“I’m not drinking.”
“I’m telling you to drink?”
“I don’t want to go to the bathroom during the movie. I’m not drinking.”
Joel spoke as if threatening, but I firmly shook my head. I don’t want to increase my debt. I don’t want to spend more time with Joel Gomez either. I hate it all.
“One large popcorn and one large Mountain Dew.”
Joel, raising one eyebrow, really only ordered his own. I don’t know what he’s dissatisfied with again. What’s the big deal about me not drinking? Why, was he trying to add a lot of interest to the debt? Does he think I don’t know about that greed?
Joel, who had a rotten temper and was also greedy, held the popcorn and drink cup under both arms, but finding it uncomfortable, passed everything to me.
“Just try eating it. Just try dropping it. I know exactly how many there are, you brat.”
Joel, standing in front of the ticket booth, threatened me before going to get the tickets. He was a funny bastard. Does he have superpowers or something? How would he know how many popcorns there are?
I secretly put five kernels in my mouth and melted them with saliva. But he didn’t notice, so this time I grabbed a handful and ate it. It was too much to melt with saliva, so I chewed—crunch, crunch—while watching out in case I got caught.
My throat was dry too, so I took a few sips of Mountain Dew and quickly wiped the end of the straw with my thumb. As expected, Joel wasn’t a psychic and didn’t notice I’d eaten the popcorn. All he checked was whether any popcorn had fallen on the floor.
“Let’s go.”
Joel, who only grabbed the two light tickets, annoyingly shoved his hands into his pants pockets and walked lazily to the theater. I waddled precariously, trying not to drop the popcorn in the large paper box.
Just when I was happy about successfully entering the theater without dropping a single kernel, popcorn fell down—patter, patter!—because Joel grabbed a handful and shoved it into his mouth.
“Did I tell you not to drop it or didn’t I?”
“I’m not the one who dropped it!”
“Who’s holding the popcorn, huh?”
“…Me.”
“Then it’s your doing, isn’t it?”
“…”
How annoying. System, do I really have to save a kid like that?
🙂
You’re annoying too.
Everything was annoying humans… no, things.
The seats Joel reserved were the very center seats. Both horizontally and vertically. Whether it was because of the awkward timing or because the movie wasn’t popular, the theater had only Joel and me, just the two of us.
The rotten Joel sat crookedly and crunched on the popcorn he’d grabbed. Crunch, crack! There was a rough, harsh sound of chewing unpopped corn kernels.
“Fuck, my teeth hurt like hell.”
Swipe, swipe! Joel roughly wiped his palm, covered with popcorn butter, on his T-shirt, then sucked on the very large Mountain Dew.
If he drinks all of that, he won’t be able to stand it without going to the bathroom during the screening. Plus, his sugar and fat intake will be enormous. He eats like someone who lives multiple lives. Always chewing on jelly too. That would definitely cause cavities. I, who knew the importance of dietary management from my doctor parents’ teachings, clicked my tongue—tsk!—inwardly.
“What are you staring at?”
“I wasn’t looking.”
So he wouldn’t catch me cursing inwardly, I shook my head with a smiling face. But Joel made a displeased expression, then grabbed my face with that large hand.
“You were looking. Like a pervert.”
“Ugh.”
Joel’s thumb pressed my left cheek, and his other four fingers pressed my right cheek. My cheeks were pressed so I had no choice but to stick out my lips like a beak. Joel’s hand smelled strongly of butter. At the same time, it was slippery. It was obvious my skin would be covered in grease, so I also frowned.
Though I blatantly showed my displeasure, Joel didn’t let me go and glared at me with a menacing face. Then suddenly he pulled up the left corner of his mouth and leaned toward me.
“What, you want to sleep with me?”
Warm breath mixed with the scent of butter tickled into my ear.
“What bullshit…”
My body stiffened and goosebumps rose—shiver—because of that breath. As if a reaction to that ticklish sensation, rough words came out in Korean. Joel, who still had his lips near my ear, laughed—pfft!
“I told you I understand Korean.”
Joel’s laughter seemed to poke my eardrum—prick!—like a needle. Unable to stand it anymore, I pushed him away.
“Stop…!”
“What, don’t you want to? I could do you a favor.”
“What favor!”
I scratched my ears frantically. Joel tilted his head crookedly, grinned, then placed his hand on his crotch.
“A mercy I’m bestowing because I pity some gay guy’s life who’ll be a virgin forever?”
“…”
“There are fucking tons of gay bastards dying to sleep with me once. Why are you playing so hard to get?”
Even at a glance, something hidden under his jeans seemed thick. But I absolutely didn’t need it!
“I’m not gay!”
“Sure, sure. Denial gay.”
“…”
How does he act like he knows so well about my sexual orientation that even I’m not sure about? But frustratingly… he was right. Fuck, yeah. I wasn’t interested in women and liked men. Shittily enough, I was gay. But admitting it hurt my pride.
“Even so, I don’t need you.”
“Oh, so you’re admitting you’re gay. Why? This is big, I’m tall, my hands are big, my body is big. Everything that’s good when big is big!”
Joel said without removing his hand covering his crotch. Whether that’s big, whether he’s tall, whether his hands are big! It was all irrelevant to me.
“Plus, I’m handsome.”
Joel’s face got even closer, so I pulled back. As if he couldn’t see my grimacing face, Joel propped his elbow on the armrest, rested his chin on it, and grinned. I really hate to admit it, but Joel was on the handsome side. However, that was also completely unrelated to me.
“And what else was it… Ah, they said my voice is sexy and they like it.”
Tap, tap, tap. Joel, tapping his chin with his index finger while thinking for a moment, said this. What’s so good about his voice…! Ugh, damn. I hate to admit it, but his voice was good too. That gentle and soft voice, unsuited to his personality and appearance, sounded quite affectionate and warm. Though the content of his words was completely not like that.
“Still, I won’t sleep with you.”
“Really? Then never mind. I was trying to do some charity work in this life, but if the receiving party says no, well. I’m not particularly into sleeping with guys either. Why would you sleep with someone with the same thing attached? Ugh.”
“Oomph!”
Joel, who shrugged his shoulders, leaned back lazily against the backrest. Then he forcibly shoved a handful of popcorn into my mouth.
“Ugh, disgusting.”
Looking at the popcorn between my mouth that couldn’t close and the crumbs that fell on my thigh, Joel clicked his tongue—tsk. His expression said I was pathetic.
…Do I really have to save this kid? Should we just both die? I thought while chewing the popcorn I couldn’t spit out. Then—crunch!—I ended up chewing an unpopped corn kernel. My molar hurt terribly, so I bent over, grabbed my cheek, and groaned. That annoying bastard slapped his thigh with his palm and laughed at me.
“Puhahaha! You’re so stupid anyway! You’re so fucking funny to watch! Puhahaha!”
Seriously annoying. Ugh, but my molar hurts too much… It didn’t break, right? I felt around with my tongue. Fortunately, it seemed fine.
“Hey, stupid gay.”
“…”
“Stupid.”
“Ah, what!”
I jumped up and shouted. Being with Joel Gomez kept making me angry. Even though I knew that bastard was dangerous, I couldn’t hold back and yelled. After shouting, I thought—oops! I made a mistake—but it was already too late. Fortunately, Joel’s face looked like he didn’t really care either.
“I warned you before. Don’t get involved with that bastard David. You’re gay and stupid, so I think you’ll fall head over heels for that slick-faced bastard.”
“Why bring up Dave suddenly?”
I don’t know why Dave’s story is coming up here all of a sudden. …Don’t tell me he found out about the kiss? I slyly watched Joel’s reaction. He was frowning. Did he really notice? But fortunately, it seemed not.
“‘Dave’? ‘Daave’?”
Joel nitpicked pointlessly.
“…Why David?”
“If you see that bastard, spit and run away.”
…I couldn’t spit, but I did exchange some saliva. I ate some of his saliva too… Having needlessly recalled things I shouldn’t say, I blushed bright red from embarrassment.
“What are you thinking about? …Are you a pervert?”
“No.”
I brushed away Joel’s finger poking my heated cheek. Then I turned my head, pretending to look around.
“But why isn’t it starting? What movie is this?”
“Groundhog Day.”
While staring at me with narrowed eyes, Joel dutifully gave an answer. Groundhog Day? It was a term I’d heard for the first time.
“What kind of day is that?”
“Candlemas.”
Joel said before putting a fistful of popcorn in his mouth. Then—crunch, crunch—he chewed the popcorn while puffing out both cheeks. The corners of his mouth glistened with butter grease.
“Candlemas?”
“It’s a day to predict spring, you idiot. An animal called a ‘groundhog’ comes out of its burrow, and if it sees its shadow and gets scared and goes back in, winter lasts six more weeks, and if not, spring comes.”
“Ah.”
It reminded me of Gyeongchip, when frogs wake from hibernation to announce spring. Anyway, I don’t know why he suddenly came to see a movie, and with me of all people.
“But why a movie?”
“To commemorate my birthday.”
“…It’s your birthday?”
Ah, was it his birthday? Just as I felt a bit sorry for being too irritable with someone on their birthday, Joel grinned.
“Yeah, February 2nd is my birthday.”
“…”
It was now fall, September.
