It was silly, but I was looking forward to tonight. It had been too long since my older brother and I had spent any time together since he'd gone to off to college, and I honestly missed him. Plus, any time our parents left us to our own devices, there was a good time to be had. Junk food, horrible B-movies, and just fun in general.
We bid our parents goodbye, waving to the car as it disappeared out of sight. Josh's arm slung over my shoulders, squeezing me tight for a moment before he completely trapped me and rubbed his knuckles against my head. "Got ya!" he cried, my laughter mixing with his before I finally ducked out of his hold and shoved him playfully.
"Come on, we've got pizza to order and movies to ruin our brains with!" I told him, grinning wide as I pulled him eagerly back into the house.
I had meticulously chosen the best-of-the-worst in horror flicks, carefully timing things out so that we maximized our viewing time. The casino that our parents frequented was about forty-five minutes away, and we figured they'd stay about two or three hours, as they normally did. It gave us just enough time for the selection I'd laid out, plus lots of buffer time for conversation and stuffing our faces. I was thrilled, and I didn't care how much of a dork it made me look like.
And so the night began, as ordinarily as any other night. We ordered our pizza and settled in for the first movie, laughing and cracking jokes at all of the worst parts. Our food arrived, we ate entirely too much, and then went right into the second flick. Near the end, we were undoubtedly growing a little bored and our occasional conversation grew more and more steady. Josh talked about college, filling me in for how things would be when I finally started in the fall. I told him about my last few weeks of high school, updated him on his friends that had remained local. On and on we went, bonding more deeply now than we ever had when we were younger and seemingly fought at all times.
When the movie ended, we laughed and I disentangled myself from the large blanket we'd been sharing -- he on one end of the sofa and I on the other -- to change discs. I was unaware of the way his eyes roamed over my backside, and even if I'd caught him I'd have rolled my own eyes in response. I was used to attention, but I certainly didn't flaunt myself purposefully. I would have just seen him as another annoying, hormone-fueled idiot.
"Hey, press eject with the remote?" I asked, glancing back questioningly. He frowned, then reached for it and tried to no avail.
"What's wrong?"
"I think it's stuck." I banged on the top of the player, then gave a huff as it made an angry sound back at me. The disc inside was spinning quickly, an almost grinding noise emanating from the player. "Not good."
"It's cool, c'mon. We'll channel surf," he urged me, gesturing for me to join him back on the couch. I frowned, clearly disappointed about this wrench being tossed in my plans, but traipsed back to the sofa nonetheless. I buried myself back under the blanket, eager for its warmth. The flimsy t-shirt and gym shorts I wore did little to keep the chill out, after all.
The TV flickered as the channels changed; infomercial, cartoon, news, sports. The same thing over and over and over again, until one flash landed on a rather erotic scene and an accompanying moan. I felt my cheeks warm, and I pushed my foot out to Josh with a squeak of disapproval. "Turn it!"
