Always The Better Option

[Hollyquin†]

[[Hayley Kelly- continued from A Quiet Time]]

Hayley opened the door to Sunset Cinema, yawning and reeking of cigarette smoke. This had been an easy choice for her to make. Option 1: go to Chemistry, be bored to tears, probably fall asleep and probably be yelled at for one thing or another. Option 2: go to the movies. The choice had been easy to make when it had been made- the day before, when she made the plans and bought her ticket in advance. She fished said ticket out of her pocket and presented it to the man standing by the interest. He gave her an odd look- that oh-so-obvious you are most definitely underage and most definitely should be in school right now look. She responded with a wink and walked right in. The man, presumably deciding that she wasn't worth his time, ignored her.

Hayley strode up to the counter of the snack bar and ordered a large popcorn and a cherry slushie, occasionally checking the time as she waited for her food. She'd made good time from school- Chemistry class would be about over now, and she'd be missing Gym, which she almost never went to anyway. But the movie would be starting in fifteen minutes, and Kyle hadn't shown up yet. She made a face even as she paid the girl- who couldn't have been much older than Hayley- for her snacks. She took them from the counter and put the popcorn down on the table carrying straws and extra butter, sipping on her slushie as she paced. She'd be fine with watching a movie alone, but only if she had no choice.

[armeggedonCounselor†]

((Glorious introduction of Kyle Portman.))

Kyle stepped from the hot daylight outside to the cool interior of the theater. He adjusted his glasses slightly as he looked around, spying Hayley immediately. The ticket taker had given him the old suspicious glance when he walked in, but was soon preoccupied with a young mother and her three young children coming up to ask about a movie. The school day was still going strong, but Kyle was nearly finished with it. His current class, Calculus, had a substitute teacher who was showing a silly movie about... something boring. The rest of the class had been, by the numbers, kissing boyfriends or girlfriends, chewing gum, talking loudly, carving rude words into the desktops and leaving. He himself left with permission from the teacher. Next period was free, the much lauded time when teenagers drove around town to find the release from the time of school. Of course, many of them left to go smoke sweet Mary Jane or to partake in a small taste of illicit liquor. Those were usually the ones who failed to return to school before the end of the day, or who purposely took a period at the end of the day for freedom.

Kyle approached Hayley quietly, going through her blind spot. He stepped in behind her, covered her eyes and leaned in. "Hey. Guess who?"

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley jumped at the sudden contact- miraculously not dropping her slushie- but quickly relaxed, knowing full well who it was. She knew those hands, after all. She whirled around to look at Kyle at immediately rapped him playfully on the head with a tiny fist.

"You're late!"

But she was grinning, obviously just happy to see him. And she was- her school day had been a dreary mess of calculus, European history, and Charles Dickens, and with the exception of her conversation with Sarah during lunch, she'd been miserable through it all. She knew that it was a big deal for Kyle to actually be at the movies during school hours- he wasn't the cutting type, so she had to make a big production out of finding a time that he'd be able to school without missing anything. And she knew he probably wouldn't have done it at all...at least not for anyone else. She was a lucky girl.

"I already got popcorn. A large is big enough for both of us, right? You know I don't eat much. And you can have some of my slushie if you want. Come on, we should go get good seats..."

Hayley picked up the popcorn with the hand not occupied by the slushie, raising an eyebrow to go along with her grin- they both knew full well that Sunset Cinema was pretty much deserted at this time of day. Hayley also knew full well that her definition of 'good seats' and Kyle's definition weren't likely to mesh. Not that she minded, really.

[armeggedonCounselor†]

Kyle smiled, taking the popcorn from Hayley and sliding his arm over her shoulders. "Good seats.... Those would be the ones in the back, way to the left side above the entry. Where the ushers never bother to check and outside of the spillover light from the projector. Those are the ones, right?"

He stuck his tongue out at her, subconsciously touching the wall near the entrance of the auditorium they were entering. It was a slight manifestation of his OCD. Of course, sometimes the OCD fought dirty, but it was mostly ignorable at this point. Still, he touched the inside wall twice more just to assuage the obsession, then gave Hayley a quick peck on the cheek. Although he was bound to his compulsions, he still wanted Hayley to know she was foremost in his mind.

((Sorry for the slight GM- I figured they would probably be on their way into the theater, so I filled space accordingly.))
((I just edited a small detail. It didn't taste right when I thought about it.))

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley smiled slyly. She'd assumed the same disagreement they'd had at their last trip to the movies would come up again, but he'd perfectly memorized her preferences, not to mention obviously knew what was on her mind- not that it was hard to guess, Hayley being Hayley. She took a long sip from her slushie- which was huge, and so was unlikely to run dry any time soon- and winced, visibly. Major brain freeze. She shook it off, brushing against him as they entered the theater.

She made her way to the seats of her choice, climbing into one of the seats and pouting irritably when she realized that her slushie didn't fit in the cup holder. She watched the pre-movie trivia game/advertisement slideshow with feigned interest. The theater was nearly empty. There were a few other teenagers- a group of girls, obviously class cutters like themselves- sitting in the middle, giggling. An older couple sat a bit behind them, whispering to each other with disgusted expressions on their faces- about the girls, Hayley assumed, though she had no way of knowing. That seemed to be it, though there was still five minutes before the movie started.

Hayley yawned again, still exhausted from the day, and leaned on Kyle's shoulder. After a moment she made a face and, thanking god for moveable cupholders, pulled the arm of the seat separating them up and away. She returned to Kyle's shoulder, offering him some of her slushie. "Try some. It's really good. Just, you know, pretend I didn't drink, like, half the slushie an idiot and get brain freeze. Never happened."

[armeggedonCounselor†]

Kyle smiled, rubbing Hayley's shoulder when she leaned against him. "Tired? Looking forward to the end of High School?" he asked, kissing her on top of the head.

He took the proffered slushie and took a smaller drink than Hayley had. "Of course you didn't take that big of a drink. You would never do anything as silly as that," he said, smiling again. The lights were beginning the progressive dimming which lead up to the start of the movie. The silly ads were still showing, with a behind the scenes look at another movie out this week. Kyle took no notice; he was playing the dutiful boyfriend and paying attention to Hayley.

[Hollyquin†]

"Undoubtedly," Hayley answered, stretching her arms dramatically above her head. "We're going to college! It's a whole other reality. I keep thinking of it as this wonderland of intelligent conversation half the time and, like, shitloads of vodka the other half. Aka my version of paradise. Of course, I have a feeling that college kids are just as stupid as high school kids, as a whole." She sighed and then, thinking of something, kissed his cheek suddenly. "Hopefully I'll find some people who don't suck. Like you." She laughed lightly, turning back to the screen.

It was getting dark now, and darker, and suddenly it was near pitch black at the theater as the previews flickered on the screen. The first preview was for some chick flick that Hayley had absolutely zero interest in. She'd chosen a zombie horror film as their entertainment for the afternoon, as she absolutely adored zombies. Other girls chose scary movies because they were a good excuse for a girl to bury her face in a boy's arm for a while. Maybe cry a little, scream a couple of times, make the boy feel like he was protecting her. Hayley'd used those techniques herself in the past- though while most girls pretended they were truly scared and just needed a shoulder to cry on, Hayley was more than willing to admit that she was just plain being manipulative. She'd tried to be less of a bitch to boys as of late, though. Particularly when they were as sweet as Kyle was. Perhaps he was a keeper.

She maneuvered her mouth over to the straw of the slushie that Kyle was still holding, taking another sip and not breaking eye contact with him as she did so.

Well, perhaps she was not entirely through with being manipulative.

[armeggedonCounselor†]

"Oh, you'll never find someone like me. I'm one in a million... which technically means there are six thousand of me, but whatever. But yes, I fear college will hold a similar proportion of stupid people. I mean, the really stupid ones won't be there, as they will probably go to trade schools or something similar. Maybe even enter the work force. Unfortunately, the dumb people who are... blessed with rich parents will almost certainly be going to college," Kyle said, doggedly ignoring Hayley's attempts at manipulating him.

It worked for about four seconds. After he let down the resistance and let in the manipulation. "You're trying to manipulate me with sexiness, aren't you?" It was a bit of rhetorical question, but feigning ignorance was the male's card to play in the relationship tango. And Kyle was good at it. He smiled and kissed Hayley on the forehead.

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley could only laugh- thankfully remembering to move her mouth away from the slushie straw first. She'd temporarily forgotten how perceptive the smart ones could be- unsurprising, considering what a rare commodity intelligent boys were at Bayview, and in life, really. She raised her head, resting it back on Kyle's shoulder, and returned to concentrating on the previews. Now it was an action movie- something about war. Seemed almost interesting, but she was really only watching it to extend that wonderfully pregnant silence.

Eventually, Hayley smiled a small smile without turning from the screen. "Maybe just a tiny bit." she said. She reached up with one hand to tousle Kyle's curly hair and reached her body in front of his to give him a small kiss on the lips. "You mean to say it's not working?" she said, with an affected pout.

[armeggedonCounselor†]

Kyle wrapped his arms around Hayley, smiling against her kiss. "I didn't say that. I'd imagine I'd have to suffer some unimaginable trauma for it to stop working," he said, once she had pulled away. The previews were trying their hardest to get his attention. A commercial for an upcoming action movie blared loudly, with stock Hollywood explosions and other loud sound effects. He feigned interest in the commercial, working the pauses to their maximum length.

((Short one. The writers dropped a block on me.))

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley snuggled against Kyle's shoulder, falling silent as she watched the preview come to an end. The movie was about to start, and she took the slushie back from Kyle in preparation, taking another, smaller sip from it before putting it on the ground by her feet. The movie began as zombie movies often do, on an innocent family scene at night, with the little girl and boy watching TV while the mother made dinner and the father read a newspaper. Lulling the viewer into a false sense of security, as they say. Hayley began picking out where the zombies would come from and who would get out alive. Five minutes later her predictions were proven correct. The zombies had burst in through the window behind the TV and immediately started on the father. Little kids always get a lucky break in these movies, Hayley thought.

The teenage girls in the theater erupted in high-pitched shrieks, and the older couple looked as irritated as Hayley felt. "So obnoxious," she muttered, really only to herself. She buried her face into Kyle's arm, not bothering to watch as the mother tried to beat the zombies off with a frying pan. She loved zombie movies, but this was so...cheesy, really. Had she been on her own she probably would've walked out. Instead, she swung her legs around- managing not to kick the slushie over- so that her legs were draped across Kyle's. She turned her face back to the screen, but pressed closer against him, holding his arm with hers.

[[No problem. Scenes in the movie theater are tricky to write. We can skip through it.]]

[armeggedonCounselor†]

Kyle's interest in the movie rapidly evaporated. The final straw was around the beginning of the second scene, wherein a military complex was overrun by a horde of zombies. He turned to Hayley. "Do you really want to watch this movie, or do you want to find something else to do with the next hour and a half?" he asked, patting her on the knee.

It occurred to him that Hayley being who she was, she would take that as an invitation for... fun times. He considered it for a second, and decided against clarification. Perhaps it was the anticipation of the summer, but he felt like being a little more daring in life. Besides, he could always just say no.

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley sighed, turning to face Kyle. "I don't want to watch this movie particularly, no. Especially not with the Teen Girl Squad here shrieking every five seconds. Christ I hate teenagers..." She shook her head. "Such a sad waste of ten bucks. I wish I had something better to do, but..." She trailed off, mouth still open. Her eyes widened, and suddenly she grinned a Grinch grin, a "Hayley got a wonderful, awful idea" sort of grin. She'd remembered her bag, and the promises of better times it held inside.

She swung her legs back off of Kyle and stood, picking up her bag and her slushie as she did so, leaving the popcorn for Kyle to take if he wanted it. "Remember how I wished I had something better to do? You know, twenty seconds ago? I totally do. The question is, where to go?" She frowned, looking around as though it would help. "The Promenade, maybe? Anyway. Anywhere is better than here, so let's go. Trust me. I have a plan."

Hayley was not the type one should trust with plans. Ever. But hey, what could go wrong?

[armeggedonCounselor†]

Okay. So her plan had something to do with a public place, so it certainly wasn't... that. Kyle pretended to think about it for a second, before standing up. The popcorn was left behind. Not only was it really crappy popcorn, due almost certainly to the rookie on duty, but the tub was too large to fit in a normal trashcan. "You have a plan? Should I have gotten a shiver of fear when you said that? Because I definitely did. Should the mall be fearing your wrath?"

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her on the back of the neck, right in what he liked to call "the retard zone." It was that one spot which, when stimulated, made your knees weak, your brain fuzzy, and caused you to make a sound similar to guhhhh. He found that it worked spottily on Hayley. His last girlfriend, may god smite her cheating ass, had been exceptionally susceptible to it.

((Kyle Portman continued at Pour Me a Drink.))

[Hollyquin†]

"Sweetheart, you should always be afraid when Hayley Kelly has a plan. Everyone else is, anyway," Hayley said, giggling and referring to herself in the third person for no reason that made sense to her.

She was taking a sip of her slushie when she felt Kyle's lips touch the back of her neck. She felt woozy, suddenly, but damn her if she was going to allow Kyle the satisfaction of getting a sound out of her. Unfortunately, her hands didn't get the not-letting-this-affect-me memo, and her slushie fell straight out of her hands, breaking open on the ground. Thankfully she'd already picked up her bag, and the splattering slushie managed to not hit her expensive sheepskin boots. The only real casualty was the popcorn, which was now cherry-flavored. Oh, and the seat. Oh well. Too bad for the janitors. Not my problem.

"We're going to pretend that I'm not a spaz. Come on, let's free ourselves from this wicked place." She took him by the hand and dragged him from the theater. There were good times ahead, indeed.

[[Hayley Kelly continued in Pour Me a Drink]]