“Yes, of course! I’m not paying for his needs,” Milan laughs.
“Do you know you can get half of the purchase cost back from the insurance company?” the girl asks.
“Oh, no. I didn’t know that. Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Milan pays. I’m happy the cashier doesn’t try to make small talk with me as well, I’m really too embarrassed to say anything. I pay as well and leave the shop as fast as I can, putting the box of condoms safely away in my inner jacket pocket, away from any prying looks.
The boy is waiting for me, grinning. “Dude, you should’ve seen your face.”
“I know…”
“I tried my best not to make it obvious, but it’s like you wanted her to know there wasn’t any party!”
“Bro, everyone could hear you.” I swallow. “You think she knew?”
He laughs. “Of course. You made it reaaaally obvious.”
I glance over my shoulder. The cashier is looking at us with a smile. I feel another blush rising to my cheeks again. “Come, let’s go.” I sigh. “I can’t ever go back to that drugstore.” I walk away.
Milan is still looking at the cashier and doesn’t notice I’m walking again. It takes a few seconds before he realises. He runs towards me. “You’re overreacting.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re so kissable right now,” he snickers.
“Shut up.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just really cute you care so much.”
I quickly look around. “Milan,” I sneer at him. “Don’t call me cute out here. I mean it!”
He raises an eyebrow. “So I can call you cute once we’re inside?”
I sigh. “Whatever.”
He laughs.
Needless to say, our walk back is filled with much less laughter and chatting. I suddenly feel like I’m being watched. As if everyone around me knows what we’ve been doing. It embarrasses me to think they know everything. It makes me nauseous. Dizzy. My breathing becomes heavier and more frequent.
“Are you okay?” Milan asks.
“I… I want to sit down.”
“Of course. Here, give me the bag of groceries. There is a bench over there. Follow me.”
We walk towards the bench and I sit down. I close my eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Meh, nothing really. I just…” I hesitate. “Never mind. It’s okay.”
“Okay enough to walk home? Or do you want to stay here a little while.”
I smile. It’s nice to know someone cares for me. It’s weird at the same time, of course. I know he likes me in a way I can never like him back. It may seem selfish, but I think, in the end, it’s a good feeling. He likes me for who I am. It’s the highest level of acceptance. Or something like that. I’m no philosopher, of course.
“Hey smiley, I asked you something.”
I look up. “Oh, it’s okay. We can continue.”
He extends his hand to me and pulls me up. “What were you smiling about, by the way?” he asks when we’re on our way again.
“I thought it was sweet how sincere you acted when I started feeling dizzy,” I admit.
He smiles. “Of course I did. I thought you would collapse or something.”
I open the front door. “Well, thank you for caring.”
Milan puts the bag of groceries on the floor and closes the door behind him. He then leans towards me and kisses me softly. “You’re welcome…” He pauses for a few seconds. “Cutie.”
I sigh. I feel flattered, but I hide it. The boy picks up the groceries and walks towards the fridge as if he feels at home. After he put everything in the fridge, we sit down on the couch.
“What about we’re gonna watch a movie?” I ask.
“Great plan!” Milan snuggles up real close to me and puts his arm around my neck. He kisses me on the cheek while I start the Netflix app.
“I also have a good movie on my phone. Could cast it to your tv?” Milan asks
“What movie?”
“Call me by your name.”
“Never heard of it.”
Milan smiles. “It’s a beautiful movie about an arts professor who goes to Italy with his family every summer. And every year a PHD student joins them. So it’s about the family adapting to living with a stranger, while being on holiday themselves. It’s about a holiday love and about music. It’s really just the overall sentiment. It makes you wish you were there.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Yes. And the protagonist is cute as fuck.” He laughs.
I sigh. “I could’ve known that was the real reason you like it.”
“But since I can call you cute now, cutie, I don’t need that movie anymore. I’ve got my own Timothée. Anyway, what’s your wifi key?”
“BoneAppleTea. Every word starts upper case.”
He grins. “Okay?”
“It’s like the French bon appetit, but then in English.”
“Oh, wow…” He rolls with his eyes.
“Hey, I didn’t come up with that. My dad did.”
“Of course.” Milan starts the movie and soon we’re lying against each other, watching the weird movie unfold. It was indeed about a holiday love, but Milan forgot to mention it was about gay love. By the time I realised that, I was too far into the movie to stop it. And of course, the movie wasn’t solely for gay people, so there is nothing wrong with watching the movie. And liking it. And maybe even getting turned on a little bit by some of the hot scenes.