Crying Laughing by Lance Rubin

Author:Lance Rubin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2019-11-18T16:00:00+00:00

18

“So you’ll text when you’re ready for a ride home, right?” Evan’s mom asks into the rearview mirror.

“I already told you,” Evan says, “Winnie’s parents are picking us up.”

“Oh, right, right, sorry,” she says, her brown bob cut gently undulating as she shakes her head. “I keep forgetting. Hard to keep all you kids’ plans straight.”

It’s Friday night, and Evan and I are sitting in the first row of his mom’s tan minivan on the way to the movie theater. It’s a little weird since no one’s in the passenger seat, like she’s our chauffeur, but Evan doesn’t seem to care.

I’m very nervous. When he suggested we hang out, I didn’t think he meant something as official as this. I’ve never gone on a movie date in my life. I always thought of it as something only our parents’ generation did.

But that’s part of what makes it charming, too. We’re, like, going on a proper date. I’m wearing an outfit approved via text by Leili and Azadeh. (Classy but hot, Azadeh wrote. Clot, Leili added.) I’m even wearing some light pink lipstick, given to me by my aunt last Hanukkah, and Mom’s eyeliner.

“All right, have fun, you two,” Evan’s mom says as we pull up to the multiplex.

“Thanks, Mom,” Evan says, having already slid open the door and gotten one foot outside it.

“Thanks so much, Mrs. Miller,” I say.

“Sure! Have fun,” she says for the second time. She’s so routine about the whole thing, it makes me wonder how many girls Evan has done this with before. At the very least, he had to have come here with Jess. Probably others. Or maybe she’s just been through it with Evan’s three siblings.

We walk into the lobby, stepping around popcorn crushed into the carpet, and stop at a ticket machine. Evan pushes a series of buttons and swipes a credit card. He takes the first ticket that comes out, and when the second drops into the slot, I grab it.

“Oh,” he says. “No, that’s— That’s just a receipt.”

I look at it and immediately feel foolish, realizing he’s only purchased a ticket for himself.

“I didn’t know if…,” Evan says. “Shoot, sorry. I didn’t want to assume.”

“Oh, of course,” I say. Honestly, I’m fine with it. Glad, even. The idea that a guy is supposed to pay for his date is antiquated and, frankly, pretty sexist.

I punch through the same screens Evan just did until I find the comedy we’re seeing, a new one starring Will Ferrell and Tiffany Haddish that I’m really excited about. They’re two of my all-time favorite people, mainly because of, respectively, Elf and Girls Trip, both of which Dad and I are obsessed with.

“Ohmigod, I won!” I say as my ticket comes out of the machine. “I won!”

“Wait, seriously?” Evan asks excitedly. “Did they give you a free gift card or something?”

“Oh, uh, no,” I say, deflating. “It’s…It’s actually just my ticket. That’s a joke my dad and I do sometimes.”

“Ah, I get it now,” Evan says.

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