Chapter Eight #2
“You showed it to… Never mind.” I’ll deal with that thought another time.
“And to answer your question,” I turn back to Andrew, “I’m not thrilled about it, but since I’m already kind of a public figure anyway, I figure I should do what’s needed to make people more comfortable in this environment.
But if Caolan hates the idea, it’s not happening. ”
There’s a round of nods, and Andrew says to Alistair, “If I let go, are you going to be a normal person?”
Alistair glares but nods, then sucks in air as Andrew moves his hand.
“What was the other thing you need?” Gideon asks.
“A distraction for Caolan,” I say bluntly. “Tomorrow—”
“Say no more.” Alistair holds up a hand. “I’m on it.”
Oh no. Oh fucking no.
“A low-key distraction,” I rush to add. “No glitter. Or dildos.”
“You’re leaving too much off that list, David,” Sam admonishes, turning to Alistair. “No smoke, bubble, or laser light machines. No flash mobs. No fireworks or explosives of any kind.”
Sniffing, Alistair gives us an injured look. “I’m not a child, you know. I do know what’s appropriate in these circumstances.” The doubtful silence lasts a second too long, and he throws up his hands. “Fine! How about a movie night? Something engaging. Uhhh… The Rocky Horror Picture Show .”
“No throwing things,” Sam, Gideon, and I say at the same time.
“Why would he throw things?” Noah asks, and Andrew turns on him with wide eyes.
“You haven’t seen Rocky Horror in a theater?”
Noah shrugs. “I haven’t seen it ever.”
Andrew sits down. “Oh no.”
Alistair rubs his hands together. “This must be rectified. We can’t possibly neglect a virgin.”
“Oh no,” Sam echoes faintly.
Noah squints. “Yeah, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m not doing anything that involves Alistair de-virgining me. Not that he could. That ship sailed a long time ago.”
“Movie night,” Alistair declares. “I’ll see if it’s showing anywhere so we can see it in all its glory, but if not, I can refrain from throwing things at Gideon’s stupid big TV.”
I really want to tell him no, but Rocky Horror would definitely do the trick distracting Caolan—and he’ll probably love it, whether it’s the full experience or not.
“Why my TV?” Gideon demands. “You have a TV.”
“My place won’t fit us all,” Alistair replies reasonably. “I promise I won’t throw anything. I’ll organize dinner and snacks and even clean up after.” He looks around the group and sees all our doubtful faces. “Come on, it’ll be fun. And it’s a super tame distraction.”
He’s right, and we do all need a break from work and worry.
“No machines of any kind? Or party favors?” I check, and he crosses his heart.
“Just the movie and food,” he promises.
“Okay,” I concede. “If Sam and Gideon don’t mind.”
Sam agrees slowly, his brow furrowed as if he’s trying to remember something, and Gideon grunts his assent.
Alistair claps. “Great! I’ll get the costumes organized.”
“Damn it!” Sam shouts. “I knew I forgot to ban something.”
Laughing, Ellie shakes her head. “I can’t believe you didn’t remember the costumes.”
“Costumes?” Noah asks. “Are we watching it or performing it?”
“Do we really need costumes to watch it at home?” I ask reasonably.
“Not full costumes,” Alistair says solemnly. “We don’t have time to get a good makeup artist. But everyone has to wear one costume item.”
“I feel like I should be googling this,” Noah mutters, turning to his keyboard.
Please don’t let me regret this.
I don’t regret it.
How can I? Caolan’s face is alight with laughter. He’s been animated since we arrived and Alistair presented him with a Frank-N-Furter wig to wear. Alistair took over the job of explaining the movie to him, Noah, and Dustin, who tagged along, and they’re having a blast.
As the final credits roll, Alistair flips on the light and asks, “What did you think?”
Noah grabs a slice of now-cold pizza. “I think people were on a lot of drugs in the seventies. But it was fun.”
“That was wonderful!” Dustin declares. “I want to see it in a theater!” Alistair has been busy explaining the etiquette for group viewings.
“Are all movies like this?” Caolan wants to know. “What a wonderful type of entertainment.”
I mentally kick myself for not making more time to just chill out with him. We’ve watched random TV shows when we get some time free, but never a whole movie. “Nothing’s quite like Rocky Horror , but there are some great movies.”
“We’ll have more movie nights,” Alistair promises. “If Aidan’s still not back tomorrow, we can have another one tomorrow night. Lord of the Rings , maybe. Or the original Star Wars trilogy. Something epic and amazing.”
“You’d need a whole fucking weekend for those,” Andrew points out. “What about Spaceballs ? That’s funny like Rocky Horror and not too long.”
“Why are all the movies you’re choosing made over a decade ago?” Noah asks, which begins an argument about whether there have been any classic-level movies made recently.
I snuggle beside Caolan and pass him my half-empty bucket of popcorn.
Alistair went all out in planning for tonight, and seeing the delight on Caolan’s and Dustin’s faces when they tried popcorn for the first time was worth it.
Of course, being Alistair, he provided an assortment of flavored popcorns and made us all do a tasting first. Mint chocolate chip popcorn is just wrong.
“This is delicious,” Caolan asserts, digging in. “Caramel makes everything better.”
“Can’t argue with that. Did you have fun tonight?” I sneak a few pieces of popcorn, and he smacks my hand away. “Hey! That’s mine—I’m sharing with you.”
“It stopped being yours when you gave it to me.” He crams more in his mouth.
“What happened to your love for me being so powerful it knows no bounds?”
Shaking his head, he finishes chewing. “I didn’t know about popcorn then.” He leans over to kiss my cheek as I laugh. “Really, this is the same food as the vegetable I had the other day?”
“Not exactly the same. They’re both varieties of corn, but the one you had with dinner doesn’t pop like this.”
“What do you mean, ‘pop’?”
I reach for the bucket, but he yanks it away.
“Relax, I’m not going to eat any. I just want to show you something.
” I dig to the bottom and manage to find a kernel that’s only partially popped.
“Okay, see this hard part? That’s a corn kernel, what popcorn starts out as.
When heat is applied, it pops open and this fluffy part develops. Or something like that, anyway.”
Caolan takes the kernel from me and stares at it, fascinated. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” I make a split-second decision to stop at the store on the way home. “I’ll show you later.” We’ll probably be up half the night while he masters the art of popping popcorn, but hey, I wanted a distraction for him, right?
He grins at me, and my heart melts. How was I ever able to resist him?
Alistair plants himself on the other side of Caolan. Dustin is with him. “Hey! So, this is probably a good time to practice selfies.”
Caolan blinks. “Practice what?”
Oh crap. With all the chaos of leaving work and rushing over here before Alistair’s “screening time,” I forgot to mention my meeting with Rabhya. I give him a quick rundown.
He nods slowly. “So people put pictures of themselves on this Instant Gram—”
“Instagram,” Dustin corrects. “I have two hundred followers already!”
“—and other people look at them?”
“That’s basically it, although I think it’s a bit more complicated. If you want to try it, Noah will show you how.”
“We can do it together!” Alistair announces. “It’s really remiss of me not to be on social media. I’m depriving the world of all my awesomeness.”
“Uh-oh,” Ellie mutters.
“If I don’t like it, can I turn it off?” Caolan asks.
“Yes,” Noah calls across the room. “We can delete your account. Or you can just stop using it.”
“And Rabhya thinks this will be good for people?”
I nod.
“It really will,” Dustin says earnestly.
“People ask me about you and David all the time.” He’s gone above and beyond in his role as civilian liaison, to the point that the king and Brandt have begun making noises about giving him more responsibilities.
His self-esteem, which was pretty robust to begin with, has bloomed too.
“I’ll try,” Caolan says. “I very much want to learn selfies, and I’ll try Insta-gram.”
“You’re saying it wrong,” Dustin corrects with the arrogant impatience of youth. “It’s all one word. Instagram.”
“Oh my god,” Noah mutters.
Caolan produces his phone, and Alistair shows him how to flip the camera function and take selfies while I sneak some more popcorn. Caolan practices a few times, his face solemn, then tries a cheesy grin, followed by a scary glare. He’s having way too much fun with it. I may have created a monster.
Then Noah takes over. They download Instagram and set up a profile in both our names.
“You’re now officially known as DavidandCaolan,” Noah says.
“I still think you should have gone with Dalan,” Alistair insists, pouting.
Noah ignores him. “You need a profile pic. Caolan, why don’t you take a selfie of you and David?”
Instantly, Caolan leans in and snuggles up beside me, holding his phone out in front of him.
“Smile, David,” Noah prompts sadistically. I flip him the bird and make myself smile. This was so a mistake.
But Caolan exclaims happily over the picture, excited by all the filter-choosing and other stuff Noah is showing him, so I guess it’s worth it.
“And… profile is done. I linked the video from the livestream in too, so people will make the connection.”
“So I just take pictures and put them in there?” Caolan asks.
Noah shrugs. “Basically. Here, I’ll follow a few people to get you started and you can see what they post. And you should post your first picture.”
“The selfie?” He seems to love that word.