#limpblotter

“Dude, Mom isn’t home, you don’t have to do that.”

Evan felt his heartbeat slow down again. “Connor, don’t do that!” He put his hands on his knees, comically exaggerating needing to catch his breath. “Cynthia Murphy is a very powerful woman, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows everything happening in her house even when she’s not around.”

Connor facial shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Zoe walked out of the kitchen with two big plastic bowls of peanut butter popcorn. “Connor, stop being mean to my boyfriend, he’s delicate,” she said casually.

Simultaneously, Connor and Evan said “I’m not being mean!” and “I’m not that delicate!”

Zoe chuckled, passing Evan one of the bowls. “Do you have any movie ideas?”

He shrugged. “Nah.”

“Shoot, neither do I.” She looked up at her brother, still chilling on the staircase. “Do you have any recs?”

Connor smiled, which, looking back on it, should have clued Evan in that he was about to say something he thought to be evil. “Have you ever heard of Signs?”

“No,” she replied.

“Sci-fi, aliens, all that shit. I think we have a DVD.”

Zoe looked at Evan, and he nodded. “Okay, thanks bro.”

The couple descended to the basement to watch in privacy. Connor remained on the stairs for another moment before retreating to his room. He’d never been happier that the vents in the house meant he could hear every word spoken in the house.

Evan huddled into Zoe’s side, and she rested her head on top of his. This was a creepy movie. The protagonist guy was attacked by an alien hand in a cupboard, and Evan nearly jumped out of his skin. Quietly, Zoe whispered “You wanna switch to something else?”

“No!” he said quickly, “No, I’m fine. This is cool, I’m just jittery.” He paused, and then added, much softer. “Thanks for asking though.”

Instead of responding verbally, Zoe booped Evan’s nose.

“Ugh you SAPS!” said a voice from somewhere in the room. Faster than lightning, Zoe paused the movie, turned on the lights, identified Connor’s location in the room, and threw a pillow directly at his face. Evan blinked and he nearly missed all of it.

“What the fuck, Connor?” shrieked Zoe.

“I second that,” said Evan, sitting up properly.

Connor was folded up in a wooden chair at the back of the room. “I’ve been here for the past hour. I needed you guys to notice me before you got too sappy.”

“No, why are you down here at all?” Zoe clarified, seething.

“I was going to wait for the tensest moment and then scream, but you both seemed to be handling this really coolly and I was not running the risk of being in the room while you guys kissed.”

Evan could only imagine what his expression looked like, because Connor took one look at him and dissolved into laughter. Zoe threw another pillow.

“Hey, that was uncalled for!”

“You’re uncalled for! Now get out.”

Connor got up from his seat and mosied around the room but made no move toward the staircase.

“Connor, please,” added Evan. The other boy merely inspected his nail polish like he didn’t hear a word.

“Well what if I just,” Zoe put her hand on Evan’s cheek and turned his face her her direction, keeping her eyes on Connor. He moved a few feet towards the exit. “No, no, don’t you dare Zoe.”

She turned her gaze back to her boyfriend and inched her head forward slowly and heard Connor scuttle up the stairs and the door slam shut.

“That worked,” Evan breathed, about an inch-and-a-half from Zoe’s face.

“It did,” she responded, closing the small gap. The kiss broke apart after a few seconds, and Evan leaned his forehead against hers for a moment, their noses touching.

“Now, what were those aliens doing?” he asked.