Page 46 of Logan

It had been surprisingly easy. The next time I’d been at the halfway house, and I’d ended up speaking with Kenneth, all I had to do was wait for him to start hinting again and agree. From there, we decided on a day and time to meet, and that was that.

I’d had “meetings” with clients that were harder to arrange.

My first moment of real doubt came as I waited outside the movie theater by myself, peering through the heavy rain for a hint of Kenneth approaching.

What if he changed his mind and didn’t show up?

Was there an established etiquette for dates that didn’t happen?

How would it affect my time at the halfway house?

Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this with someone I saw on a regular basis. If things went poorly, there would be no getting away from my failure.

It wasn’t too late to call it off. I had Kenneth’s number. I could call him right now and tell him I wasn’t able to make it.

“Clay?”

Too late.

I turned to greet Kenneth with a smile. “Hey. There you are. I didn’t see you arrive in this rain.”

He was a little wet but had managed to avoid getting too soaked by darting immediately under the theater awning like I had. His short dark bangs were stuck to his forehead with water, and he ran his fingers through them to try and put his hair back into place.

“I was hoping the weather would hold out a little longer, but I’m never that lucky.” There wasn’t much he could do while his hair was still wet, so he gave up after a moment with a nervous chuckle. “I’m glad you’re here. I was half convinced that you weren’t going to show up or would bail on me last minute.”

“What? No, we agreed to meet, so of course I’m going to show,” I lied, keeping the fact that I’d nearly done exactly as he feared firmly locked behind my teeth.

The rushing sound of the rain made it hard to talk, so we stepped inside the movie kiosk to take shelter behind the safety of closed doors.

As we both silently considered the movies currently playing, I couldn’t help looking around at the other people present. More than half of them were couples. It was easy to tell from the way they stood next to each other, often with their arms around each other. Even the ones who weren’t blatantly holding onto each other at least stood close enough to touch in some way.

I eyed the space between Kenneth and myself. Like this, we looked no different than friends.

Other than physical intimacy, what was the difference between a date and just hanging out with a friend?

Nothing really. Take sex out of the equation, and I saw no difference between romance and friendship.

I already knew how to handle friendship, so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

One of the movies on the list caught my eye and I pointed it out. It was an adaptation of a book I’d recently read. I’d liked the book and was curious to see if the movie would be equally as enjoyable.

“What? That?” Kenneth said when I pointed it out. “It’s a kid’s movie. It’ll be boring.”

Oh, right.

The books I read were all middle school or high school books. That meant the movies made from them would be targeted toward the same audience. I’d grown so used to my reading choices being treated as normal, that I’d forgotten that most adults aren’t interested in “kid stuff”.

I was about to argue that we could still enjoy the movie even if it was meant for a young audience, when I noticed Kenneth searching though his wallet. He was counting the bills inside, trying not to draw attention to himself as he grimaced over the number.

I didn’t know what Kenneth’s financial situation was, but the fact that he was living in a halfway house meant it probably wasn’t good. I had a job, and a brother who supported me. While I wasn’t rich, I wasn’t struggling anymore either.

Between the two of us, it was more important for him to enjoy the movie because it was going to cost him more.

“You’re right,” I said, plastering a smile on my face that I hoped seemed genuine. “I haven’t actually watched many movies, so I don’t know what’s out right now. Why don’t you pick one out for us.”

“Really?” Kenneth flashed me a genuine smile. “Thanks!”

We ended up buying tickets for some random action movie I’d never heard of. As we headed for the theater, we passed the snack stand without a word, both of us pretending it didn’t exist.

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