CHAPTER 5 MOVIES #3
I glance back again. They’re both stocky and about my dad’s age.
One of them has bright blue eyes and blond hair.
He looks familiar, but I can’t place him.
The other guy is wearing a beanie and keeps his gaze focused downward.
You’d think they’d know how to act in a movie theater at their big ages, but I guess not.
The two men stay quiet for the rest of the movie but when the lights come up they don’t stand. They mean mug us as we move toward the exit. Noah puts his arm around me and ushers Cipriana forward, away from the men, who just stare at us.
“Why the hell are old men so creepy?” Cipriana asks. She says it loud enough for them to hear but we’re out the door before they can respond.
“You’re not allowed to pick the movies anymore, Caleb,” Noah says.
Caleb nods in agreement. “I’m taking that privilege away from my damn self because what the actual hell was that?”
“I liked the part where the two zombies fell in love,” Cipriana says. “It’s romantic.”
“Romantic?” I ask. “Skin falling off. Breath probably funky as hell. But they’re in love. That’s the part you liked?”
“I don’t even get why that was in there,” Noah says, kissing me gently on the side of my face and gripping my hand in his. “It was random.”
“Some of us need love too,” Cipriana says. “Y’all two got it. Maybe leave some for the rest of us.”
“I got love,” Caleb says. “I’m about to make Jeremy from the basketball team my husband.”
Cipriana whips her head around. “Do you even know him? Does he even know you?”
“No, but he will,” Caleb says. “We’re gonna get to know each other real well, real soon.”
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I take it out to see a message from my dad.
DAD: Everything okay?
ME: Yup. Just got done at the movies. Some guys here were being rude.
DAD: Really?
ME: Yeah. No big deal. Omw home now.
Three little dots pop up on the screen like he’s texting something else. My dad isn’t big on texting and I’m actually a little surprised it’s him on the phone and not my mom.
The dots disappear.
“Your dad?” Noah asks.
I nod. “We’re expecting some new guests so he’s probably just making sure I’ll be back soon to help out.”
“I don’t know how you do it, Meka,” Caleb says. “I really don’t.”
“I wanna know when you’re gonna get over it,” Noah asks. “Meka’s been doing the same thing her whole life. It’s not new.”
“I’m never gonna get over it, actually,” Caleb says in a snarky tone that gets under my skin a little.
“You should,” I say.
We pile into the car and sit in awkward silence for a minute.
“Can I tell y’all something?” Caleb asks.
Silence again. Caleb isn’t the ask-permission type. It’s in his head and out his mouth, always.
“You’re scaring me a little,” Cipriana says. “You sound serious.”
“I am,” Caleb says. “You know my grandma died three years ago.”
I do. Me and my family did the body. It was heartbreaking but my mom made sure Mrs. Henrietta Milley went out looking as gorgeous as she did in life.
Caleb, however, didn’t get a chance to see her because he was too afraid to look into her casket or come to the viewing.
I reach up and put my hand on his shoulder.
“I know I give you a hard time about it, Meka,” Caleb says. “I think it’s my way of keeping it at a distance, you know? Like if I don’t see it, or hear about it, then I don’t have to think about the fact that people just up and die and that’s it. It’s all over.”
Cipriana looks down into her lap and bites at her bottom lip. “You said you were serious and you weren’t joking, huh? I’m so sorry, Caleb. I know you loved her a lot.”
“It’s okay, though,” I cut in. “I get it. I promise I do.”
Caleb twists around in the seat and stares at me with tears in his eyes. “You got to see her and I didn’t because I was scared. Maybe a little part of me is mad about that.”
I try to think of what to say to him. I can see the hurt in his face and I can hear it in his voice. I gently touch the side of his face.
“All the things me and my family do are for the living, Caleb,” I say.
“The dead don’t care about hair and makeup or fancy coffins.
All we’re trying to do is make the goodbye as easy as possible for the people who get left behind because we have to keep going even when it feels like the whole world should just stop. ”
Cipriana dabs at her eyes and over my shoulder Noah sniffles.
“But it doesn’t stop,” Caleb says.
“It doesn’t,” I say. “So we keep going. We try to be happy and we go to the movies and we let our friends drive us around in a car that smells like you got a dead body in the back.”
Caleb smiles even though his eyes are glassy.
“For real,” Noah says. “If that’s your gym bag smelling like that I think you need to go to the doctor or something. Are you using the deodorant with the chemicals?”
“I use the one made from a crystal that you gotta run under the tap,” Caleb says.
Noah shakes his head. “Absolutely not. You need the aluminum, the bleach, all that because damn .”
“Not too much on stinky-Caleb,” Cipriana says.
“Love you guys,” Caleb says.
“We love you too,” I say. “You wanna help me move some bodies later? I think that’s what my dad was texting me for.”
Caleb’s eyes grow wide.
“I’m joking,” I say, squeezing his shoulder. “It’s just jokes.”
“Oh, I know,” Caleb says, turning around and starting the car. “Because the day you catch me pushing bodies around is the day hell has officially frozen over.”
We all laugh, breaking up some of the intensity of the very serious conversation we just had.
Some part of me feels lighter. Noah covers my hand with his and kisses me on the cheek again.
Caleb steers us out of the parking lot and around the back side of the mall.
As we bump along the road, another car pulls behind us. Caleb glances in the rearview mirror.
“Damn,” he says. “This guy is right on me.”
I turn around and look into the car behind us. The blond man is behind the wheel. He revs his engine and his car comes perilously close to Caleb’s rear bumper.
“Pull over and let him pass,” I say.
Caleb brings the car to a crawl as he pushes it as far to the right as he can. The car behind us zooms around and flies past in a hail of dust.
“Annoying,” says Cip.
I glance out and see if I can get the license plate but the car doesn’t have one.