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This was the last thing that Mare wanted to be doing and it was all, in her opinion, Kilorn’s fault. If she had a choice to do anything else, she would be doing it. However, it was a tradition. Halloween without horror films was pointless, right? Despite not minding scary films, Mare would rather be doing something more productive with her life. At least it wasn’t only the two of them, the whole ‘gang’ as Kilorn liked to call them, were there. As they all arrived, the lights were already off and blankets were out everywhere; on the sofas and floor.
“Thanks for having us all around,” Evangeline nodded at Kilorn as she entered.
“Sure you can cope with the films?” Kilorn smirked back, flopping down on one of his sofas as everyone was now seated. Evangeline scoffed in response and sat down by Elane, arm around her shoulders. Mare was sat, against her will, next to Cal. ‘I guess this is what I get for turning up late’ she sulked. Recently, things had been complicated between them. Both of them had been showing more feelings to the other, yet neither of them acknowledged it.
The movie was already a few minutes in when Mare looked over to Cal, he was already looking uncomfortable. It wasn’t common knowledge that Cal wasn’t the best with horror films. Once you got past his hard exterior, he acted like a lost puppy. Due to the film being rather loud, Mare assumed that people wouldn’t mind a small bit of background noise.
“Cal?” She whispered, keeping her voice low. “Are you sure you’ll be alright watching this?”
“I’ll be fine Mare,” Cal gave her an unconvincing smile and patted her leg. Cal’s hand was never removed from Mare’s leg.
As the film progressed, his grip on Mare’s leg tightened. Whenever she looked over at him, in the dim lighting, Cal seemed to have stopped blinking. Mare placed her hand over his and squeezed, trying to get any sort of response from him. Yet, Cal was completely locked to the screen. At that moment Gisa screamed for the umpteenth time and yet Cal hardly even flinched. Mare did anything that she could think of to snap him out of it. He looked too pale and his face was so blank Mare started to get worried. She whispered his name, poked him, and even snapped her fingers in front of his dull eyes. Still nothing. After a few attempts Cal finally snapped out of it when the film was at least an hour in. Cal looked down at his hand clamped over Mare’s leg and removed it, underneath crescent moon bruises were starting to form along with cuts from where his nails dug into the skin on her leg.
“Shit Mare, I’m so sorry,” Cal whispered frantically, his wide eyes darting between her leg and face.
“I didn’t even realise what I was doing.” “Cal, really it’s fine, are you okay?” Mare asked, her eyebrows knitting together.
“Stop acting like my father! I said it once and I’ll say it again, I’m fine,” Cal replied, putting on an obvious act that even a blind person could see through.
“Well sorry for asking,” Mare huffed, turning her head back to the movie. If he was going to be difficult then she wasn’t even going to try and comfort him. It was his fault for being so goddamn stubborn.
“Hey, don’t be mad,” Cal’s voice was soft as his warm fingers grazed Mare’s cheek, turning her head back to face him.
“Too scared to continue watching the film? Why did you agree to it in the first place? That was some Shade-level stupidity, let me tell you.”
“Don’t kick a man when he’s down, Barrow.” Cal pouted. Mare could feel his breath wash over her face, reminding her of how close they were sat on the very full sofa. She noticed the nerves bubbling inside of her had nothing to do with the movie anymore.
“Are you still scared?” Mare asked.
“No,” Cal whispered, inching his head slowly closer to hers. “You?” He asked unsure, seeing as he hadn’t exactly been paying attention to Mare throughout the film. Their legs were touching and even though she could not see clearly in the darkness, Mare was sure that he was looking straight at her. Before she could over think what she was doing, Mare placed a tentative hand on his neck, her thumb tracing his jaw line.
“No,” She breathed out. She leant her head in, not worrying about the people around them as they had the sofa against the wall, out of sight to most. All Mare could think about was Cal’s warm breath drawing closer and closer. Her heart raced, a mix between the screams on screen and the current situation at hand. Cal’s hand nestled into the crook of Mare’s waist. His lips softly grazed hers right before Gisa screamed once again, along with a few others in the room. The sudden outburst caused Cal and Mare to flinch away from each other, a light blush spreading across their cheeks. Mare grabbed a cushion from behind her back and hit Gisa across the head with it.
“Christ Gees, could you calm it down a bit?” Cal chuckled, quickly regaining his composure.
“Oh wow, you’re one to talk Calore. Have you managed to forget the ‘event’ from last scary movie night?” Gisa replied, flicking a bit of popcorn at his forehead.
“I forgot how much you two argue,” Shade shook his head at both of them.
“Shut up,” Both of the sisters scoffed at their older brother. And back to reality they went. No more stolen glances in the dark, just light-hearted squabbling between everyone. Ho-hum, at least everyone is getting along. For a few short minutes Cal and Mare whispered between themselves, but realised they should probably get back to watching the film. Once Gisa was absorbed in the film once more, Cal reached for Mare’s hand intertwined their fingers. Mare laid her head against his shoulder, pulled one of the blankets around them, and for the remainder of the film he didn’t seem as scared as before.