Rising Shards

Kalei looked pretty shaken when she and Nikki got off the bus. Luckily, Nikki didn’t seem to notice or care.

“Sup dudes,” Nikki said.

“Hi!” Kalei said with more energy than I’ve heard from her. She looked like she was being emotionally pulled in a lot of directions at once.

“I have not met this friend yet,” Stella said.

“Stella, go away.” I said. “Sorry Nikki, it’s just my sister. She’s clingy after I got attacked by Ovie and stuff.”

“S’cool,” Nikki said. “I’m Nikki.”

Stella gave Nikki a firm handshake, which looked like she was trying to decide if Nikki was going to poison us or something.

“Alright then,” Stella said after Nikki passed whatever weird test she had.

We left for the movie theater, with Oka still standing close to me, Stella close behind us, and Nikki and Kalei leading the front. There were a lot of people on the street in Dentist Haircut shirts and hats, excitedly talking about Dentist Haircut. Some people came up to Kalei to talk to her about her Hado Diconius shirt, and a few of them were actually at the convention with her too.

“I’ve actually only recently seen a new movie in theaters for the first time,” Oka said. “Berin brought me to this one about this like magic puppeteer guy, it looked pretty advanced!”

“That movie is super old,” I said. “Was it like a legacy showing or something?”

Oka stopped for a second to process that. “What, no way? The effects were so good!”

“…they weren’t.” I giggled. “That movie is super old.”

“Are you saying I’m about to have my mind blown by the special effects in Dentist Haircut?”

“I don’t know how much CG Dentist Haircut is going to have.” I said.

“Did you guys not see the trailer with the little alien dude?” Stella asked. “That guy is all CG.”

“The little…what?” I said.

When we were finally past the long line inside the theater (I had to force myself not to think about how a majority of the actual hang out time of the night was spent waiting in a line for a movie I didn't care about), Nikki scanned her phone at the ticket counter and gave us each our tickets once they printed.

“Oh dang, does your sister need a ticket?” Nikki asked.

“She’s gonna see Versus instead,” I said.

“You sure, dude?” Nikki asked. “Ask the guy if there are still seats.”

“But the other theater was sold out,” I said.

“The sucky theater,” Nikki said. “This is the good one, it has way more seats.”

“Yeah, Zeta,” Kalei said. I shot her a look of “I could really embarrass you in front of Nikki right now” that made her back off from her usual snarkiness.

As Kalei bought us all snacks, Stella asked the people at the counter about Dentist Haircut tickets.

“There are still a few seats available for that showing,” the ticket guy said.

“Great,” Oka muttered.

“What’s up?” I asked quietly.

“Your sister’s awesome," Oka responded just as quietly. "But I don’t want her staring at us in the theater while the movie’s going, you know?”

“Well, it’s pretty dark in there, right? We could probably do anything in there and she wouldn’t notice.”

Oka’s face was suddenly bright red.

“What did I say?”

“Oh! I mean, I just…a-anything? Like…anything?”

I playfully shoved Oka's shoulder. “Stop,” I said, giggling.

“How can I stop?” Oka asked. She locked eyes with me, looking completely serious. “I mean it.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Kalei said, patting me on the back, breaking whatever moment that was about to be.

Once we got seated, I had to give Oka an apologetic look as Stella sat right by me. She took the seat on the other side of me, and Kalei and Nikki got the ones past her. We were front and center for this movie, which everyone sitting down was buzzing about.

None of the trailers really grabbed me, save for a horror movie about Exa Cani that looked cool and a period piece about medieval Cani that had Raina Starlight in a supporting role, which had me practically up and pointing at the screen when she showed up for .02 seconds. There was one about a superhero that turned all murder-y that looked awful that had most of the crowd screaming in joy at that I decided I really did not want to see. It was apparently called Project: Flyswatter too, which was a really weird name that sounded vaguely familiar. Oka shot me a similar look of disgust.

Finally, the movie started to actual straight up applause at the opening credits, which I did not get because this wasn’t a Versus Wars or Infinites type thing. And the movie rolled on, it was a pretty standard romcom with some weird elements (a dream sequence with an alien and a really dark subplot) about a dentist who has to get a haircut from his wife’s ex-husband.

I was experiencing something more tense than the movie, though. Oka had her hand on the armrest, and I suddenly really wanted to just hold her hand. But that would be weird to just do out of the blue. And with Stella right by me, she’d definitely tease me at the very least about it. Making matters worse, my power blocker wristband was bumping against the little footrest button thing while I kept my arm off the armrest, making a grinding noise as the footrest whirred up and down. This was also the first movie I saw post tail having, and the movie seat felt especially not suitable for those cursed with tails. Eventually I gave up out of frustration, and set my arm down right on the rest, bumping forearms with Oka. Now normally this wouldn’t be a big thing, but this was a night with a lot of charged emotions. Oka jolted in a manner more befitting of my jumpiness.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

Oka shook her head. “It’s…not your…” she mumbled and trailed off. She was watching the movie, but she also looked unsatisfied, which I assumed wasn’t just from the paint by numbers romantic comedy. It could have possibly been the Big Boy from Ultra Taco giving her an upset stomach too, but I hoped it hadn’t hit her that fast or the rest of the night was gonna be a real bummer.

My mind drifting away from the movie, and my panic preventing any real reaction, I lost myself in a daydream. I imagined that Oka's sad look literally forced my hand. While my hand remained still, petrified, in my mind I reached over to her side and grabbed her hand, managing to stay out of sight from Stella.

“You read my mind,” the Oka in my daydream said, and leaned her head against my shoulder as she gripped my hand tightly.

My heart was pounding for the rest of the movie and I felt very warm, but it wasn’t entirely from my usual reaction to blaring lights and blasting sounds mixed with sugar and caffeine snacks. It was entirely from a mental image. I couldn't stand to look over as I wished that Oka would nuzzle against me as she held my hand. I felt a chill down my spine.

Even if I was too much of a coward to really reach over and grab her hand, it was a nice thought, at least. A nice thought that brought a bittersweet feeling cloud over the night as we continued to watch the movie.