“What are you doing?” Deen asked in a whisper, shifting her leg away from my hand. “We’re supposed to watch a movie.”

  “Huh? But I thought—? Okay, okay.” I chuckled, realizing that Deen was playing a bit. “You got me there.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Deen. She reached for my bag of popcorn lodged in my other armrest. She relocated the popcorn bag to my lap. “Here. Taste it.” She started to feed me a piece of popcorn.

  “When you say, ‘taste it’, it sounds so— Hmmm… I’m not going to finish that sentence.” I wrapped my lips around the popcorn and Deen’s fingers holding it. I made sure to give Deen’s finger a lick as I took the popcorn.

  Kernel of popcorn? Or just ‘popcorn’? Was ‘popcorn’ a collective noun? I had never heard anyone say ‘popcorns’ before.

  “Why aren’t you chewing?” Deen asked. “Did you have a random thought?”

  “Uh, yeah…” I said, starting to chew. The sweetness of the caramel, rather than the usual slight saltiness of mall popcorn, was a welcome new experience.

  “Let me guess.”

  “You’ll never guess what—”

  “You were wondering what the plural form of popcorn is.”

  I chuckled. “Something like that. It’s kind of scary that you guessed that. Are you reading my mind or something?”

  “A badge of our closeness. Anyway, ‘popcorn’ is probably an uncountable noun, like water and rice. You say a popcorn kernel or a piece of popcorn for its singular form. Does that address your concern?”

  “Sure does. Here—a kernel of popcorn,” I said, popping one into Deen’s mouth.

  We fell into a sort of a rhythm, alternating feeding each other while watching the movie. And it was a good movie, despite my preference for more horroresque type of horror movies, instead of the psychological ones. It was fascinating to watch the descent into madness of the main character—the human—as his recently-seeded brother changes his personality, but also doesn’t.

  A cool twist, actually. The one going mad was the human character instead of the Adumbrae. We didn’t even have an actual confirmation that the brother was seeded.

  Minutes ticked by, and the level of the popcorn in the bag gradually lowered. Surprisingly, no complaints came from Deen as we shared the popcorn.

  Was she getting into the spirit of a movie date? She even drank from my obviously calorie-filled and super sugary orange soda.

  “What do you think of the movie?” Deen asked in a low voice. She was still snuggled up to me, her head on my shoulder. It was probably an uncomfortable position, given our difference in height. But she was committed to being supposedly ‘lovey-dovey’.

  On my part, I was slightly concerned that my arm trapped between her breasts would get sweaty from the heat and stuffiness. I assumed it was hot for Deen as well, but she wouldn’t let go of my arm. Oddly enough, I wasn’t bothered by the two of us sticking to each other for several minutes now. Not too surprising, after what we’d been up to for the past few days. Kudos to Deen for successfully training my body to get used to her.

  “I’m liking it so far,” I said, not wanting to make Deen feel bad that I was hoping for more horror. “I bet that the twist ending is that the main character is the one who’s actually seeded.”

  “Oh, it’s great that you like it. I was worried that I might have been insensitive in choosing this movie with an Adumbrae seeding. To be candid, I… I wasn’t thinking about the effect of this movie on you when I chose it. I just wanted, um—”

  “A dark, sort of public place where we could do stuff to each other?”

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  “Well, that,” Deen said, sitting straight on her chair. My arm was finally able to breathe, basking in the coolness of the air-conditioning. She craned her neck to check our surroundings. “There are some people near us,” she added in a whisper. “Mostly couples, I think.”

  “Isn’t this what you wanted?” I asked. “A low-risk thrill in public?”

  “Erm, yes…”

  “No denial?”

  “I-I feel guilty about my movie choice,” Deen said. “It’s been weighing on my mind since the movie started. I can’t… Um, what’s the female equivalent of ‘getting up’ for guys?”

  “Getting wet?” The movie switched to a daytime scene, and Deen and I could better see each other. Our eyes met, and we snickered like immature boys.

  “That is the term I’m looking for,” Deen said while chuckling. “But I’m serious. I can’t get in the mood for things because—”

  “Deen,” I said, holding her hand. “Relax. I’m not bothered by the movie. Don’t ruin our date with made-up problems.”

  “Date?” Deen entwined her fingers with mine. Her soft skin brushed against the rough crystals on my palm. “Are you finally admitting that this is a date?”

  “Yep. And so, you should enjoy yourself. We should enjoy ourselves.” I took a deep breath, preparing my whole being to do the unthinkable. I hugged Deen’s arm and rested my head on her shoulder. For a moment, my body trembled as my instincts told me to break off. But I resisted. Think of all the sugary treats that Deen can provide.

  Deen was literally my sugar mommy.

  Ewww. That sounded so gross. But also, hot.

  “Thank you, Erind,” Deen lovingly said, tilting her head to touch the top of mine.

  Soon enough, we finished the bag of popcorn. The shenanigans could start, right? I decided to be extra nice to Deen because she paid for the movie tickets and drinks. I had to keep my sugar mommy happy.

  “Aren’t you worried about all the calories we’ve eaten?” I asked Deen, finally untangling myself from her.

  “We’re on a date,” she replied. “This is an exception.”

  “We should go on more dates to have more exceptions. But the popcorn we ate is kind of messy. We have crumbs all over us.” I made a show of dusting myself. Then I looked over at Deen. “You have some on your chest, too.”

  Deen had worn a yellow blouse with buttons and puffed sleeves. The U-shaped neckline was low enough to show a hint of her cleavage. Classy, but not immodest. I dusted Deen’s chest. To be fair, there really were crumbs on it. But that wasn’t my real goal.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “Some of it got inside your clothes.”

  “It did? You’re right. It’s itchy.” Her voice became a pitch higher. She knew that I was preparing some kind of setup for our next play.

  “I’m going to unbutton your blouse. Is that okay?” I looked around.

  There were people at the other end of our row—a guy and a girl who seemed to be busy with themselves. On the row behind us, eight seats to our left sat someone. He could see that we were doing something, but not exactly what. We were far enough for him to probably not care. Another guy was sitting in the row in front of us, five seats to my left. He’d see Deen’s bare chest if he looked around.

  “It’s okay…” Deen said breathlessly, probably thinking the same thing. This was her riskiest exhibitionist act so far.

  I unbuttoned her blouse halfway from the top, exposing her milky breasts cupped by a lacy white bra to the world. I felt Deen’s heart race as I brushed bits of popcorn off her skin. Despite myself, my heart started beating faster as well. And I could also feel saliva pooling inside my mouth. I wanted to lick Deen.

  The hell was wrong with me? Sexual desires overcoming my composed self?

  I slid my hand between Deen’s breasts, vigorously brushing to remove the pesky crumbs. Then I followed the curve of her left marshmallow globe, sliding my fingers into the cup of her bra. Deen whimpered, covering her mouth with one hand.

  “What’s wrong?” I whispered up to her. My fingers found her nipple that was starting to harden. It was proof of my control over her body. I tweaked the lengthening tip, giving it a pinch before removing my hand.

  Deen gasped. “Wa-wait…”

  “What?”

  “I think… I think there are some more crumbs left… inside my bra.”

  It was equal parts fascinating and amusing that Deen knew the contents of the script that I wrote. “Really? No choice. You have to remove your bra.”

  “Re-remove?”

  “Yup. You can cover yourself if the guy in front turns around,” I told Deen, reminding her that she could be seen.

  I could hear her gulp. She then said, “You remove it.”

  “What do you mean? Eh? It’s the front hook bra.” I poked Deen’s cheek. “You came prepared, you Girl Scout, you.”