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On a rainy and cold Saturday afternoon, Louis entered an art-house cinema theater in SoHo that managed to stay open and popular despite the fact that they routinely showed old movies and hosted retro-tribute showings of things only die hard fans would even consider attending. Louis figures that the place stays in business appealing to all of the ironic hipsters that live in the neighborhood going to see day-long retrospectives of Whit Stillman films.
Today, Louis is here for the double feature Grease and Grease 2 marathon/sing-along. They are unapologetically his two favorite movies. No amount of teasing or horrified expressions on his family’s or significant other’s faces has ever been able to dissuade him from his love of the films. He knows their flaws and loves them unconditionally anyway. Louis knows every single song, and every single dialog line in both films, and if he has to sit in a totally empty theater by himself singing and quoting along, so be it.
He buys his ticket and ignores the smirk and the eyeroll that the ticket seller girl gives him. These movies made him happy, and Louis had been in short supply of happiness lately, so nothing, not even the disdain from a hipstery teen working at an old movie theater, was going to mar his enjoyment this afternoon.
Louis entered the theater just as the lights dimmed to show the previews for other old movies and special events that the theater would be hosting in the coming weeks. He was pleasantly surprised that there were more than a handful of people in the audience; he counted twelve in his immediate sight line. Sure, some of them may just be taking advantage of the warm, dry theater to get out of the rain, but he's more than happy to share this experience with these total strangers. He quickly and quietly found an aisle seat towards the back center section of the theater.
Grease started and as soon as that groovy Bee Gees-penned tune started talking about how “Grease is the word” Louis let himself get lost in the music and the cheesy improbability that a 30 year old Australian Olivia Newton John was playing a high school student from 1959; also how hot John Travolta was back in 1978; and that Louis secretly thought that while Sandy was pretty, the ladies that really did it for him were Rizzo and Cha Cha DeGrigorio. He happily sang along to all of the songs, internally chuckling over the fact that the other patrons around him seemed to be just as into the sing-along as he was.
The theater had a fifteen minute intermission between the movies, so Louis took the opportunity to step outside and check his Twitter and smoke the one cigarette that he was allowing himself that week. He was trying his hardest to quit, and considering how depressed he'd been over the past few months, he was proud that he hadn't succumbed to falling back into the filthy and expensive habit of smoking a pack a day when he was stressed. He figured that as long as he could keep it to this one "lung snack" (as his ex Eleanor had called them) per week, he was making tremendous progress.
When Louis had stepped outside, most of the theater had followed. He wasn’t actually sure if anyone would be coming back; the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing, and seriously he’d never met anyone who liked Grease 2. Hell, he’d barely met three people who had even seen it.
About five minutes into his smoke, as he casually leaned against the tiled wall of the building’s entrance, Louis looked up from his phone as a person exited the theater. He was shocked and sort of appalled to find that it was that guy Harry, Niall’s cousin, that he’d met at that party a few weeks ago. Gah! Louis still flushed with embarrassment thinking about how hard he’d flirted with Harry, only to find that he already had a boyfriend; that he lived with in a fancy row house; that Niall had later informed him was someone who Harry had been dating for over five years! Louis quickly looked back down to his phone and prayed that Harry hadn’t noticed him. Had he been inside watching Grease? That seemed unlikely, and yet…
“Uh, Louis? It’s Louis isn’t it?”
Fuck. Damn it, Louis gave a frustrated sigh and briefly closed his eyes before opening them again with what he hoped was a pleasant expression and watched as Harry approached him all smiles and dimples. He looked amazing in skin tight black jeans and a bright green cashmere sweater with a black short trench thrown casually over them.
“Hi. Yeah. Harry, right? Cousin of Niall?” Louis tried to smile but knew that it was probably coming across more as a grimace.
“Yep, that’s me ‘cousin of Niall’.” Harry popped the ‘p’ of that first word and seemed to be teasing Louis.
“Um, were you in there for Grease?” Louis tried to casually ask.
“Yes! It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. I’m a true fan. I saw you in there too singing along loudly.” Harry said pointedly.
“Well it’s a sing-along isn’t it? You’re SUPPOSED to sing. And I didn’t think I was that loud.” Louis felt petulant. He wasn’t sure why Harry seemed to bring out his insecurities.
“Oh no. I wasn’t criticizing. Of course you were supposed to sing. And you have a lovely voice from what I heard. I…it was just that most of the rest of the people in there weren’t singing except during “Summer Nights”. But you sang during every single song.” Harry rambled these words out in a slow cadence in his deep voice that Louis found maddening yet more than a little sexy.
“Are you going back in then for round two? You’re not a true fan of the movie Grease if you don’t have at least some appreciation for Grease 2.” Louis said this to Harry like a challenge, raising his left eyebrow as he did so.
“Well, I was going to head into work…but I don’t really have to. I technically have the day free.” Harry hesitated.
“Aha! That settles it then. You’re coming in with me and I’m going to make sure that you see just how great a movie musical experience can be.” Louis threw down what was left of his cigarette and ground it out, and then wrapped his hand around Harry’s left wrist, his thumb resting on the warm skin where an anchor tattoo peeked out from the sleeve of his sweater, and pulled Harry back inside the theater.
They made it back inside just as the opening saxophone notes of “Back To School” begin. Louis is surprised, but then again not, to discover that he and Harry have the entire theater to themselves for this. Still holding Harry by the wrist, he led them down to a middle row, only then letting go of Harry before taking a seat in the middle of the row. Louis hummed along to the music as he took his jean jacket off and settled into his seat. Harry placed his coat on the empty seat beside him and sat next to Louis knocking his left knee into Louis’ as he spread his legs wide and scooted down in the seat, resting his head on the back of it.
“I confess that I’ve only seen this movie once. My sister had a slumber party and she and her friends had rented it. I think I was like 14. I don’t remember much about the story except the lead guy has a motorcycle?” Harry whispered despite the fact that they were the only two people in the theater.
“I’m going to make sure that you remember it this time. I’ll make you love it by the time we’re done.” Louis turned to Harry and smiled, surprised to find Harry looking intensely back at him. Jesus, even in a dark movie theater his eyes were the clearest green. Louis found it hard to turn away from their gaze and back to the film. “Okay, so this guy? The hot piece is the sweater vest and blazer? He’s Michael. In the canon of these dumb yet fantastic movies, Michael is the cousin of Sandy from the first ‘Grease’. And he’s come to California from jolly old England a couple of years after Sandy’s supposedly graduated to experience the life of an American teenager…”
What transpired over the next ninety minutes was the beginning of a friendship that Harry and Louis didn’t even know either of them needed. As Louis animatedly explained various scenes of the movie, offered up made-up back stories to the on screen characters, provided gossipy behind-the-scenes trivia about the actors and the making of the film, and most importantly, sang his heart out to every single song in the movie, often standing up and dancing around, Harry felt the grin on his face grow bigger and bigger. He didn’t think he had ever met anyone like Louis. On the one hand, Louis was the most pessimistic and morose person he’d ever encountered, and yet, when he was talking about something that interested him or that he loved, he became an animated, energetic goofball. The contrast was amazing, and Harry couldn’t keep the fondness off of his face.
“...If you fall in the Fall, you’ll see. September can be heavenly. If you fall say you’ll fall for me, when autumn leaves are falling from the trees…”
Louis sang, standing with his left arm outstretched while his other hand clutched at his heart. Harry cackled and couldn’t help himself from standing up and belting out the last part of the song with him.
“I’ll be yours in Winter, when the snow is on the ground. I’ll warm you through December and I’ll always be around. We’ll kiss beneath the mistletoe when Santa comes to town.”
Louis and Harry both fell back in their seats as Michelle Pfeiffer’s character went into her “motorcycle heaven fugue state”, as Louis described it, still laughing and smiling at each other. Louis couldn’t remember the last time he had ever had so much fun. He looked over at Harry and was once again met with a big dimply smile and dancing green eyes. Louis smiled back; maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe Harry Styles wouldn’t be so bad to have as a friend after all.