Chapter 6
Chapter Six
“You didn’t have to do that,” I say as Felix buckles himself back in. “But thank you. It’s very sweet.” The fact that they made an entire stop just to get me snacks, really is incredibly nice of them.
“The correct snacks are important for the full movie night experience,” explains Elliot as if it was a given that they’d go out of their way to get popcorn for me.
“You’re right. That’s very true,” I agree, smiling.
A small part of me wishes I were interested in dating them, because these four guys are so sweet.
But I know it probably wouldn’t last. If my mom’s love life is any indication, men are sweet at the beginning when they’re reeling you in, but it’s not long before you’re waiting on them hand and foot, putting your entire life on the back burner for their comfort, only for them to get bored and cheat behind your back.
Elliot pulls into the driveway of an old New England-style house, the type usually chopped up into a bunch of tiny little apartments and then shoved full of students.
Lukas opens the door and gets out of the car, then holds out his hand to help me out. It’s such an old school move, but I have to say, it’s cute.
This feels like magic. Taking a man’s warm, callused hand as he helps me from his car and guides me up the steps and into his house, like I’m a princess in a fairy tale.
Except I can’t think of a single fairy tale that has three other men waiting for the moment I step over the threshold and into their private space.
For a moment, I wonder how many other women they have done this same thing for, made to feel special and welcomed into their home. But as soon as I have the thought, I remind myself that I’m just here to watch a movie, so it doesn’t matter.
They lead me into the house, all of them stopping as soon as they step into the little hallway to toe off their shoes and line them up neatly on a little rack against the wall. I can tell these guys like things neat and orderly in their lives.
“You can have whichever of the empty spots you prefer,” Sebastian tells me, pointing to the shoe rack. “It can be your permanent spot.”
I don’t know that I’ll be here often enough to need a permanent spot, but I get a little thrill thinking about it. “Thanks.”
“Once you’ve taken off your shoes, we’ll give you the tour,” says Lukas.
I quickly take off my shoes and set them in the empty spot on the top of the shoe rack. The tile floor is chilly under my bare feet, and I wish I’d known this was how the night was going to end up. I’d have tossed socks into my purse.
At least my toenails are painted so they look cute.
“Okay, ready.” I stand up straight and put on my best smile. Inside I’m nervous, but I tell myself to knock it off. This is going to be fun. This isn’t a date, and there’s no pressure, and we’re going to watch a movie and have a good time and get to know each other and I’m in complete control.
Sure, Rebecca. You just keep telling yourself that.
Lukas leads the way through the small foyer and past a set of stairs, pointing out the half bath, then down the hall and into the kitchen, which is painted a soft sage green.
It looks nice against the white cabinets.
The kitchen is very clean, no dirty dishes in the sink or crumbs on the table, and I wonder if this is normal or if they clean three times a year and today just happened to be that day.
We turn right into a dining room, furnished with an entire table and chairs set that looks like it’s never been used as a beer pong table, then right again into the living room, which boasts a large sofa and larger television.
Lukas names each room as we pass through it, which I find oddly charming.
It’s cute that they want to show off their house.
It doesn’t look like any college dorm room or even share house I’ve ever seen, especially considering it’s inhabited by guys.
Everything is spotless and tidy, not just in the kitchen.
I peek back into the kitchen, something I’d half-noticed earlier snagging at the corner of my mind.
Sure enough, all of the countertop appliances have tiny little labels on them.
“Your house is really nice. Lucky you don’t have to stay in the dorms.” I would love to move from the dorms to an apartment at some point, especially if it meant having this much space.
Although living in a house this big would also mean having to share it with several other people, which would mean I’d have to find several other people to live with.
Although no doubt if and when we move off campus, Ronnie’ll have a whole list of potential roommates lined up.
“And all of the bedrooms are upstairs,” says Elliot, gesturing over to the foyer and the stairs I can just see through the archway.
Bedrooms feel like a dangerous topic, so I indicate the shelves against one wall. “Are these all of your trophies?”
Way to be Captain Obvious, Rebecca.
“Yes,” says Felix, taking my hand and leading me across the room. “Come look.”
The others follow, clustering around me as I let my gaze wander over the shelves, which are organized largest to smallest, left to right.
Felix drops my hand now that we’ve reached our destination, and I tamp down the disappointment that pings in the back of my brain, refusing to examine why I felt it.
“Which one is your first trophy?” I ask as I peruse the display. “How far back do these go?”
“This shelf is mine, and this one was my first.” Felix points out a small bronze cube about the size of my palm on the top shelf. “I was eight.”
“That’s very young to start competing.” I don’t remember what I was interested in at that age, but competing and winning at anything wasn’t even on my radar.
“Not really,” says Felix, nodding his head towards Elliot. “Elliot started competing when he was six.”
“Really?” Who discovers their passion in life that young and then sticks with it? Most people can’t commit to anything, yet here these guys are, still working towards one of the first goals they’ve ever had in life: to win the world speedcubing competition.
“Yes,” says Elliot, stepping up to the shelves and reaching a hand out toward them. “Let me show you my first trophy.”
Elliot systematically names each event each trophy came from, moving right to left. I’m calculating how many years he’s been competing, and there don’t seem to be enough trophies. And hasn’t named any event twice.
“Are you only going to each event once?” I ask.
“No, we keep all of the extra trophies in our rooms,” he explains, straightening one of his trophies on the shelf.
“We only keep the highest trophy from each event on the communal display shelves,” adds Lukas.
He and Sebastian show me their shelves, and I really am impressed with the number of awards they’ve all gotten.
And knowing that they have more in their rooms?
I guess that happens when you’ve been competing since elementary school, but it’s still cool to know that they have all this to prove how good they are.
“Okay, movie time,” says Lukas, pointing to a different set of shelves, this one lined with movies. “Sebastian and Elliot can help you pick something, Rebecca, and Felix and I will go prepare the snacks.”
Sebastian pulls out a few movies and sets the cases face out on the shelf.
I’d thought they were going to have me pick a superhero movie, so I was expecting something with Batman or Superman or another character I’d know, but none of these options appear to be superhero movies.
In fact, they all look more like sci-fi than anything.
I shake my head and shrug helplessly at Elliot and Sebastian. “These are all new to me. Which would you recommend?”
“You’ve never seen any of these?” Sebastian looks downright shocked. It’s kind of amusing that me not having seen a couple of movies is the thing that shakes him to his core.
Even Elliot turns slightly to stare down at me in surprise.
I feel like I owe them an explanation. “Ronnie and I tend to mostly watch rom-coms, and I don’t watch a ton of movies on my own.”
“Well.” Elliot pauses and I’m not sure if he’s trying to assess how he feels about my ignorance or make a game plan for dealing with it.
“Then I say we go with one of these two. They’re TV series, not movies, but we could watch an episode and see how you like it.
This one is a classic, it’s set in space and has great phaser shootouts, and this one takes place on Earth and involves paranormal antiques. ”
“And since they’re both series, we’ll be able to watch more episodes at future movie nights,” adds Sebastian. His optimism about the likelihood of a repeat of tonight is cute.
“Let’s do whichever series is longer, then.
” I don’t know what more movie nights will look like in terms of interacting with them.
Given my body’s response to Lukas’s leg touching mine in the car, there’s a good chance I’ll have to tap out of future hangouts just to keep myself from doing something embarrassing like kissing one of them just to see what it feels like.
Especially with them having mentioned wanting to date me, allowing myself to explore my physical attraction to them feels like a terrible idea.
Both Elliot and Sebastian smile brightly as if I’ve just made their entire day.
Lukas and Felix return, carrying bowls of freshly popped popcorn and pretzels and a towering tray of nachos.
“You don’t have a movie queued yet?” asks Lukas, setting the popcorn on the coffee table.
“Are you still trying to decide on one?” Felix deposits the nachos next to the popcorn and begins to pull bottles of water out of the pockets of his hoodie.
I realize I’m still wearing Lukas’s sweatshirt. I should probably give it back, but it’s so comfortable I decide to keep it until it’s time to go home or he asks for it back, whichever comes first.
“Rebecca picked Star Trek and said we can watch more episodes in the future, so we’ll have to arrange our movie night schedules to coincide,” says Sebastian as he puts the disc into the player.
He sounds … almost proud? Like my agreeing to future movie nights is a huge win for them. And actually, it probably is.
Sebastian glances over his shoulder at me as the DVD player drawer closes. “We may have to pause the list we were working on on our own, but I’m fine with it if it means we get to do more movie nights with you.”
Well, that’s incredibly sweet, not least because I get the feeling that breaking routine is not something Sebastian typically enjoys.
The guys all hover around the coffee table, arranging the snacks and drinks, then stand back and stare at me expectantly.
“Have a seat,” says Lukas, waving to the sofa.
I sit on the end, but they all look at each other and I fear I’ve done something wrong. “Should I move? Is this where one of you usually sits?”
“No, but …” Felix’s fingers twitch at his sides even though he’s not holding a cube. “Would you mind sitting in the middle? That way two of us can sit by you instead of just one.”
“It’s more fair that way,” says Sebastian, nodding.
“Oh. Sure. Sorry.” They all watch as I scootch over to sit as much in the middle as possible.
I’m sitting right on the crack between two of the cushions, it’s the only way I think we’ll all fit.
This is a decent size sofa for four people, but five will be a bit tight.
There will be no way to avoid touching each other.
That pulsing thrill between my legs begins to beat again at the thought.
Elliot and Sebastian slide in to sit next to me. I realize that they’re taking turns. Lukas and Felix already got to sit next to me in the car, so now it’s Lukas and Felix’s turn. Is this how they all date the same girl? By making it all a rotating schedule? They do like fairness, after all.
Lukas starts handing out plates. “Help yourself, Rebecca.”
They’re digging in and the popcorn smells incredible, so I scoop up some popcorn and pretzels.
It’d be rude not to since they went to the store specifically to get it for me.
I just hope I don’t get any kernels stuck in my teeth.
Having to ask them for dental floss is a level of embarrassment I’m not sure I can handle tonight.
“All right, we’re all set,” says Elliot, clicking through on the DVD so the episode starts. “This is a utopian futurism science fiction about space explorers boldly going where no one has gone before.”
“Hey, no spoilers,” says Sebastian, cutting him off. “You’re going to ruin the episode for her.”
“I can’t believe you haven’t seen it before,” says Lukas, dishing some nachos onto his plate. “We feel lucky that we get to experience your first time with you.”
As soon as he says it, I nearly choke on my popcorn.
I can’t believe Lukas just said that. None of them seem to realize the probably unintentional innuendo, though.
They are only showing concern about me and the bit of popcorn trying to take up residence in my lungs.
This is so embarrassing. This is now the second time tonight that I’ve choked in front of them.
Is my body just determined to give up on breathing around these guys?
“Are you okay?” asks Felix, patting my back.
Elliot uncaps a bottle of water and hands it to me.
“Thank you.” I take a cautious sip after coughing the popcorn back out of my airway. “I’m okay. Really.”
“Do you want anything other than water?” asks Elliot. “We don’t have any alcohol, but there’s juice in the fridge. Or energy drinks or tea?”
“Water is fine. Thanks.” I take another sip to show my appreciation and then set down the bottle on the coaster Felix immediately slides in front of me.
“Are you sure you’re good?” asks Lukas.
“Yeah, let’s start the show. I’m excited for my first time.” I use Lukas’s words because I want to test their reactions, see if me saying the same thing registers for them the way him saying it did for me. But they all just settle in around me to munch their snacks and turn their focus to the TV.
“You won’t regret it. This show is awesome,” says Felix.
“Life-changing,” agrees Elliot.
I’m sure they’re hyping up the show way more than it deserves, but as I lean back against the sofa cushions, Elliot and Sebastian’s arms brushing mine, I let myself imagine for just a moment what it would be like if I did try to date them.
Every weekend could be like this—popcorn and movie nights, cuddled up on the sofa with them, being introduced to all sorts of new things … now that would be life-changing.