Movies & Boundaries
Qiang’s POV
After grabbing a quick dinner, Tristan’s and Qi’s friends all head over to the built-in movie theater Marcus has at his house.
The room is designed after an actual cinema theater, with a huge screen dominating the front wall, a projector in the back, and rows of seats arranged on a floor that slopes from the back to the front.
However, the seats are comfortable recliners and love seats, rather than the uncomfortable chairs at public theaters.
There’s a row of lights that runs up the floor towards the exit, along with several movie posters hung on the walls that feature what I assume are some of their favorite movies.
Marcus’s house is a white-stone-and-grey-brick estate in a gated community on the outskirts of the city.
It’s massive and every bit as intimidating as Tristan’s house is.
Not necessarily because they are intimidating, but more because I sometimes forget how wealthy they are until I see it laid out in front of me like this.
I know from several conversations Qi and I have had about it that he gets randomly overwhelmed by it sometimes, too.
We aren’t from this kind of wealth. Our parents struggled hard to afford the education we got and continue to receive, by helping with whatever tuition the scholarships and my makeup channel don’t cover.
They probably would have had a lot more wiggle room in our finances if Qi and I had just gone to public school, but education is huge for my parents, and it was a higher priority than fancy houses and cars.
It’s a gift that I never took lightly, and one that I nearly destroyed during my senior year of high school.
I’ve worked hard since then to prove to them that I care, and I’ll continue to put everything I’ve got into the opportunities given to me so they know I don’t take the sacrifices they’ve made, and continue to make for me, for granted.
It’s something I need to keep in mind when Marcus’s deep eyes penetrate my skin, because the last time I got drawn in this deep was when I nearly ruined everything. My future and my parents’ sacrifices would have been wasted if it weren’t for the blackmail that I still keep tight to my chest.
“If we’re going with romance, then I vote for Sausage Party,” Owen says, pulling me out of my thoughts before they can spiral too deep into ugly memories.
“In what universe is Sausage Party a romance?” Darryl asks.
“Dude, they’re literally building up to fuck through that whole movie. How is that not romance?” Owen points out enthusiastically.
“How are you friends with these guys?” I ask Qi for what is probably the seven-billionth time in the years he’s been friends with them.
Qi just shoots me a wide-eyed grin, and I already know the answer.
They made him feel accepted when he was struggling to make friends.
They’ve always seamlessly included him in everything, and while their personalities are massively different and they’ve definitely had their struggles, their bond runs deeper than just having shit in common.
That’s really just the nice way of saying, even though they take things too far sometimes, they usually just amuse the shit out of Qi.
Their antics help him not take life as seriously as he’d probably take it without them distracting him from his tendency to overthink.
It’s an opposites attract kind of thing.
He’s probably the biggest reason they can think critically at all, even if it is in small doses, and they keep him from overthinking until he makes himself sick.
“That movie is literally a cartoon about a food orgy,” Darryl points out.
“Sounds like it’s right up their alley then,” Tristan murmurs in Qi’s ear, and Qi throws his head back and laughs.
Paxton is completely undeterred as he rushes to Owen’s defense. “Exactly! It’s the perfect recipe for romance!” he says before he looks at Qi. “See what I did there? Recipe because it’s a food orgy romance,” he points out excitedly, always happy to show off any inkling of intelligence to Qi.
“Preach it, man,” Owen says, reaching his hand up to bump knuckles with Paxton.
“Jesus Christ,” I huff under my breath, massaging the ache in my temples that feels chronic whenever I’m around these two.
“They’re a breed all on their own,” Marcus says far too close to my ear with amusement.
I roll my eyes at his statement while trying to hide the shiver from his breath against my ear. “Tell me about it.”
Marcus snorts out a laugh. “I’m surprised you put up with it so well,” he observes.
I shrug my shoulders. The others are still engaged in a debate over what movie to watch, and it sounds as though Sausage Party is being heartily discarded as an option, thank fuck for that.
“Most of the time they’re harmless, just ridiculous and toxically crass at times,” I answer Marcus’s curiosity, knowing we’re talking too quietly to be overheard with the debate the rest of them are engaged in.
“Most of the time?” Marcus breathes, and I can hear the question in it, the nudge for details.
I sigh a bit. The last couple of months with them have been unusually difficult, and honestly, I was solidly on the hope that Qi would just write the two fuckers off.
I mean, I get the years of friendship, but I’d always felt it was so one-sided.
But after everything that happened a few months ago and watching them all reevaluate themselves and their friendship, I think I’m finally seeing how important it is to all of them, which has me very grudgingly appreciating what they have a bit more.
“Sometimes they take it too far. Several months ago, there was a huge blowout because they had ignored Qi’s repeated statements that he wasn’t interested in a girl they were trying to hook him up with.
Next thing he knows, he’s standing on a stage, being auctioned off like a prize cow, and if Tristan hadn’t stepped in, he would’ve been sold to the girl Qi had adamantly said he wanted nothing to do with.
“Obviously, everything worked out okay, but that was still a careless thing to do, not to mention completely invalidating, because they ignored everything he’d been telling them by doing the auction.
When I pointed it out to scold them, Qi decided to use the moment to come out, which floored them, since he’d known for almost a year before he finally told them.
“It turned into this huge thing that led to a timeout in their friendship, and they all did a little soul-seeking. And they’re making more of an effort than I ever credited them with bothering to make.
But Qi must have known all along they had the potential.
It’s the only reason I can fathom for him putting up with them for this long,” I explain a bit.
Marcus is quiet for a moment as though he’s taking it in before he looks at me.
“I remember Tristan talking about how angry he was when it happened, and how pissed he was at how obvious Qi’s discomfort was through that whole thing.
It must have been hard for them all to set aside their biases long enough to learn from it.
It’s amazing the potential people can show when we give them a chance,” he points out, and with the way he’s looking at me, I have a feeling he’s not just talking about them anymore.
I don’t really know how to respond to that, so I just give him an upnod in response before Darryl distracts us by announcing the final movie choices of the night.
Everyone quickly settles in to watch the first one, and it’s one of those iconic movie scenes where the lights go down, and there’s an immediate electric charge that amps up in the air.
I don’t even know what’s on. I’m not paying a damn bit of attention to it. I’m too busy running a constant conversation between my head and my heart, and feeling Marcus’s eyes on me more than the movie is not helping.
He’s close enough to touch, close enough to where I can feel him breathe.
It has the hair on my arms rising, my heart pumping, and my throat dry.
The urge to reach out and touch him is overwhelming.
I don’t think I’ve ever welcomed the end of a movie and the lights being turned back on more than I do right now, because the chances of making a mistake were increasing exponentially with every passing minute. This is going to be a long night.
“I volunteer Marcus and Qiang as tribute,” Darryl says, and it jars me back to everyone else in the room.
Before I can ask what they’re talking about, Marcus is getting up. “Are you gonna help or leave me to fend for myself?” he asks with amusement when he notices I haven’t moved yet.
I look around at everyone, trying to figure out what conversation I missed while I was busy processing the effect Marcus has on me. This is becoming a problem. One that needs to be addressed and figured out. There must be an antidote out there to cure oneself of a completely ridiculous crush.
Qi frowns and leans in towards me. “Do you want me to go instead?” he asks with a tone laced with concern.
I huff out a breath, because no, I’m fine. Whatever it is, I’m sure I can manage it. I stand up, and Marcus shoots me a smirk before heading out of the room. I follow Marcus up to the kitchen and realize we were volunteered to restock the snacks.
Marcus throws a bag of popcorn in the microwave and points towards the fridge. “Flavored water and soda are in there,” he says, and I turn towards it and start pulling drinks out haphazardly.
Silence takes over again once I get the drinks piled on the counter while we wait for the popcorn to finish.
There’s a sense of nervousness because I think this is the first time we’ve ever really been alone, even though we aren’t actually all that alone.
And I really want to kick myself because I still can’t seem to get him tucked into that firm corner of no.