Cinema Trips and Gobstopper Licks Hugh
CINEMA TRIPS AND GOBSTOPPER LICKS
Hugh
FEbrUARY 20, 1999
I DIDN’T EXPECT TO RUN INTO THE CRETIN SO SOON AFTER OUR PREVIOUS ALTERCA tion, but that’s what happened when I opened the door the following day and found him on my doorstep.
Like a bad smell the street couldn’t shake, Mark Allen stood in front of me. He had his arms resting on either side of the doorframe in his obvious attempt to make himself look as imposing as possible. If he was expecting me to cower in fear, then he hadn’t learned a damn thing. Because, like I’d say a thousand times, he could kick me up and down the street and I’d still come back swinging at the fucker.
The only reason I hadn’t returned the favor and slammed the door in his face was the fact that Gibs was there, too.
“What?” I asked in a flat tone.
“I was sent over to ask if you and your sister wanted to go to the cinema with us,” the cretin surprised me by saying.
“The cinema.” I arched a disbelieving brow. “With you ?”
“Do you want to go or not?” Mark snapped, sounding impatient.
“Do I want to go ?” My eyes bulged in their sockets. “Asshole, you must be off your rocker if you think or imagine I would ever willingly breathe the same air as—”
“Please come, Hugh,” Gibsie cut in, looking up at me with a pleading expression. “Please.”
“Come where?” Claire asked, slipping under my arm. “Oh, hi, Gerard.” The beaming smile she had for our friend quickly morphed into a scowl when her eyes landed on Mark. “Ew.”
“Caoimhe’s meeting us at the cinema,” Gibsie continued to say, eyes locked on mine. “The old one in town. It’s her present to me.” He shrugged helplessly. “You know, for my birthday.”
Dammit, Gibs!
He had to play the birthday card there.
“I’ll come.” Claire was quick to accept the invitation. “Hold on,” she added, quickly backpedaling through the hallway. “I’ll go ask Mam for money.”
Dammit, Claire!
Now I had to go because there was no way on God’s green earth that I would allow my baby sister to get in that asshole’s car without me.
My bad mood quickly lifted when I walked into the cinema foyer thirty minutes later and locked eyes on Lizzie, standing off to the side, while her sister paid for tickets at the counter. Claire and Gibs made a beeline for the refreshments, but I couldn’t move.
Momentarily struck dumb at the sight of her, I could do nothing but stare like a dope and soak the image of her into my mind.
Liz was wearing an oversized, green babydoll dress, an even bigger white cardigan, frilly white ankle socks, and black army boots. Her hair was loose and flowing over her shoulders, and she had a plaster on her knee. The clothes she was wearing swamped her and clearly belonged to Caoimhe, but somehow, Liz made it look so fucking cool. She oozed a lazy sort of confidence that wasn’t common in girls our age.
She was staring off blankly, but when I caught her attention, her eyes literally sparked to life, and then she was moving, weaving through the crowded foyer like a woman on a mission.
When Liz reached me, she didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around my neck, nor did she think twice about burying her face in my neck. “Good,” was all she said, inhaling deeply and displaying yet another strange quirk that I found adorable.
Not hi, hey, or hello.
Just good .
Somehow that was better than any other mundane greeting.
I could feel the tension leave her body when I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close. She grew even more pliant when I took her hand in mine.
I didn’t give a shit if any of our friends saw me holding her hand. I’d long since left the embarrassed-boy phase behind me.
All I felt when I held her hand these days was privilege and pride.
Because Liz picked me to hold her hand.
“Thank God you’re here,” I told her. “I thought I’d be stuck between Dumb and Dumber, and Barbie and Ken.”
“I thought the same thing,” she laughed, holding on to my hand with both of hers. “I’ve missed you.”
“You saw me two days ago, Liz.”
“I know.”
Not only did her response tug at my heart but it made all kinds of other things happen inside of me, but I managed to distract myself by asking, “So what film are we watching?”
“ Varsity Blues ,” she replied with a shrug. “At least I think that’s what Caoimhe said it was called.”
Liz looked about as interested in being here as I sounded on the front porch when the cretin suggested it. While I had little to no interest in being here, I was thoroughly invested in the company.
“Come on, guys!” Claire called out, waving like a blinged-up unicorn at the other end of the foyer. That wasn’t an exaggeration, either. My sister was literally wearing her My Little Pony hairband—the one with sparkles and a pink, glittery horn. Claire pointed to where the others were heading into screen one before adding, “I’m going to lick your gobstopper if you don’t hurry up, Hugh.”
Liz grinned. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” I grumbled, guiding her toward the door labeled screen one. “It means the curly-haired demon has already licked my gobstopper.”
“Yep.” My best friend threw her head back and laughed. “Exactly.”
Everything seemed to be going fine until about three-quarters of the way into the movie when Lizzie started to twitch uncontrollably in her chair. With her knees and shoulders bopping restless, Liz pulled at every thread on the sleeve of her cardigan until it started to unravel. She then proceeded to remove every one of the many bracelets and bangles on her wrists before putting them back on, only to remove them right away.
Leaning over, I placed my hand on hers and whispered, “Are you okay?”
Nodding, she readjusted her cardigan when it slipped off her shoulder. “Yeah, I’m just…” She looked around before retraining her attention on the screen in front of us. “I think I need to use the bathroom.”
“Do you want me to walk you…” I started to say, but she was already out of her seat and bolting off in the direction of the exit.
Beyond confused by her sudden shift in mood, I looked to Gibsie and Claire to see if they had noticed what I had, but they were engrossed in the movie. I glanced over at Mark and Caoimhe, only to instantly regret it when I spotted them eating the faces off each other.
Fucking disgusting .
When ten minutes passed and Liz still hadn’t returned, I slid out of my seat and handed Gibs my popcorn before heading outside to search for her.
Checking all the toilet cubicles and coming up empty, a nervous energy started to rise up inside of me. My Spidey-Senses were on high alert.
Where’d she go?
Something was off.
Something wasn’t right.
Wandering through the foyer, I checked out front before making my way back through the corridor, checking behind every unlocked door as I went.
It wasn’t until I pushed through the exit doors at the back of the building and locked eyes on the back of her blond head that I felt any ounce of relief, and even then, it was thwarted by the sight of her tearstained face.
“What happened?” I demanded, feeling my heart rate spike. “Liz.”
Sniffling, she turned around and looked at me, giving me a front-row view to the heartbreak in her eyes.
She didn’t even try to conceal it.
Not from me.
No, I was given a private audience to her devastation as it played out in her stormy, blue eyes.
“I don’t know,” she finally strangled out, walking right into my arms. “I think I might be going a bit mad again, Hugh.”
“Everyone’s a bit mad,” I replied, wrapping my arms around her. “Look at my dad, Liz. He’s a lot more than a bit mad.”
“Yeah, but at least your dad knows the difference between real life and his imagination,” she whispered, clinging onto me for dear life. “I don’t.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re mad, Liz,” I reassured her, pulling her close. “It’s okay. It’s just how you think sometimes.”
“But it’s all wrong, Hugh,” she cried harder now. “I don’t want to think this way.”
I knew that, and I wanted to have the answer to all her problems, but I was only eleven and trying to learn on the job. I had never encountered these problems with Claire. Her biggest concern was the safest method to capture butterflies and ladybirds.
But this girl?
This girl felt sadness in her bones .
Liz felt things deeper than other people our age and she always had. Some days were better than others, and some days were worse. Today was one of her harder ones but telling her that wouldn’t help.
“Today is a good day,” I told her instead, giving her the words she needed to hear. “You are having a good day, Lizzie Young.” I pulled her closer to me, wanting to envelope her body with mine and protect her from the world. “You’re happy and safe because you’re with me, and you know I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“I am?”
“Yes, you are,” I coaxed, being the reassurance she needed when her mind played tricks on her. “You are right here with me, happy and smiling, and having the best day.”
“With you.”
“With me,” I promised. “And you’re healthy, and brave, and smart. Just like me.”
“Just like you?”
I nodded in confirmation. “And you know what else you are?”
“What?”
“You’re my best friend.”
Her breath hitched. “What about Patrick?”
“What about him?” I replied, keeping my eyes on hers. “You’re the only one who really knows me, Liz.”
“Same,” she replied, looking up at me with lonesome, blue eyes. “Nobody gets me like you do.”
“I’m going to keep you safe,” I promised, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Always.”
“No matter what?”
“Yeah, Liz,” I confirmed, not truly comprehending the vow I had taken upon my young shoulders. “No matter what.”