twenty-six
He takes a break during the second showing. Carolle asks him how he feels about his ex’s documentary premiering that night, and why didn’t he ask for the night off to see it (“You could heckle,” suggests the kid taking tickets, because apparently Carolle and/or Marcel and/or Jo filled him in on Owain’s former love life), and what if the documentary is actually good?
“If it’s good he’ll be insufferable,” Owain says, “and if it sucks he’ll be depressed, and then decide the critics just don’t appreciate what he was trying to do, and it’s not his fault that they’re stupid.”
“Jerry went to see it,” Carolle says, almost apologetically. “Because it’s local, kind of. I guess.” She shrugs. “Marcel told him it would be a waste of his time.”
“Where’d he go, anyway?” Because there’s no one behind the concessions counter, and Carolle is sitting in the ticket booth with the door open so she can talk to Owain.
“Bathroom break,” the kid taking tickets says, looking up from his phone. “Yeah, I know, I’m not supposed to have this, but what am I gonna do when it’s too early for the movie?”
“Sit and stare at nothing,” Owain tells him, deadpan. “That’s what I used to do.” He turns back to Carolle. “Marcel said the documentary would be a waste of time? Does he know something Jerry doesn’t, or was he standing up for me?”
“Little of column A, little of column B,” Carolle says. She shrugs again. “You know no one liked your ex by the time he was your ex, right?”
“You guys didn’t even know him.”
“We knew him enough. He wanted to make movies, right? What do we do for a living?”
“Watch movies?” the kid taking tickets suggests.
“Pfft.” Carolle waves a hand dismissively. “Ok, sometimes, we do do that. I mean we show them. We work in a movie theater. You know?” She looks at Owain. “We knew him enough to know he was kind of arrogant and could be kind of a dick.”
“No one liked him and no one told me,” Owain says. He might sound a little annoyed but he isn’t, really. It’s kind of gratifying - and a little validating - to learn that people you work with, who didn’t even know your ex that well, still recognized his assholishness. And if Carolle or Marcel had said anything, what difference would it have made? The ex still broke up with Owain first. At the time, Owain thought people were rallying around him because they cared about him, when in fact it was because they didn’t like the ex and were probably glad to see him go.
And if Owain is honest with himself, really completely honest, he recognizes that he was probably ready for the ex to go too. He was crushed by the breakup, but no one likes to be broken up with, even if they’re not all that happy with the other person any more. If the ex had waited a couple of months, maybe three, Owain would have reached the same conclusion about their relationship and the split would have been more agreeable. But no. Dude had to hurt him and piss off all his friends.
Why is he still thinking about the guy? The ex ambushed him last night and he spent all of maybe five minutes having a conversation before walking away. He was very calm, very chill, the entire time. Fortunately he hasn’t lost his zen.
“What if we had?” Carolle asks. “Would it have mattered?”
“No, probably not. Whatever.”
Marcel picks right then to return from the men’s room. “Jerry went to see your ex’s documentary,” he tells Owain.
“I told him,” Carolle says.
“I said it would be a waste of his time.”
“I told him that too.”
“Well what didn’t you tell him?”
“I don’t know. What else is important?”
“Did you take a water?” Marcel asks Owain, who shakes his head. “You want one?”
“Sure.”
Marcel hands it over. Owain cracks the cap and takes a long swallow.
“Are we hoping for a good review or a bad one?” Marcel asks.
“For the documentary? I don’t care. He’ll be insufferable about it either way. I should get back.” He raises the bottle of water in a goodbye and takes himself to the men’s room. It’s right next to the ladies, and standing in the hallway are two girls apparently having a conversation that just couldn’t wait.
“I just think if you keep saying you’re a safe person to talk to,” one of the girls is saying, “maybe you’re not so much, y’know?”
The other girl nods and Owain wonders briefly why this conversation had to happen now, and why was it more important than the romcom. He has been known to talk during a movie, but he’s always talking about the movie, and if he has something unrelated to say to someone, he waits until after the closing credits.
He has a text from Milena when he gets back to the projectionist’s booth - Do you want to come over tomorrow, late morning? Just to talk.
I was going to ask if you’d be around at 11, he texts back, and the response is an immediate Yes.
So he’ll go to Milena’s and she’ll ask about the ex and the documentary and he can tell her in more detail about being ambushed in the Oriental lobby and that the ex texted him to say “I’ve been thinking about you” and that Owain told him the action wasn’t mutual. She’ll probably ask about Justin, but he isn’t sure what to say about that, other than all they do is eat lunch at Justin’s place and fuck twice in an hour. The sex is good but Owain doesn’t know how he feels about the whole arrangement. It’s much too early to feel like Justin is just using him for sex, and if Owain isn’t sure he wants a relationship with someone, he also can’t say this is much of one to begin with.
Milena will be good to talk to, though. She’s clearheaded about things and she’ll let him ramble as much as he needs to, and she won’t judge him for whatever his final decision about Justin is, even if he doesn’t make a decision. It’s probably too early for that, too.
Owain doesn’t take a break during 61*, mostly because he doesn’t want to. He’s only seen the movie once, because biopics aren’t his favorite, but he should watch it again. There’s a good crowd for it, probably because it’s Friday night, but it’s also a good movie with good acting, and the baseball series generally goes over well. There should be an equally good crowd tomorrow for Bull Durham, and then it’s on to the next thing.
Jo is the only person in the lobby when he finishes locking up the projectionist’s booth at the end of his shift. She’s counting out the ticket booth register on the concessions counter, making notes on a pad of paper and making neat stacks of the bills and the charge card receipts. She wishes him a goodnight, says she’ll see him tomorrow, warns him to drive safe. He says she sounds like his mom, and he will.
He discovers a string of texts from Justin after he gets in his car -
karaokes so much fun
im a little drunk and i wanna fuck you
i know we just saw each other
if i left the door unlocked would you come over
Owain glances at his watch, although he knows what time it is. It’s late. He shoots back a quick text - It’s late and I’m going to bed but we’ll talk tomorrow - and drives home.
By the time he gets home there’s another text, this one from the ex, who is apparently incapable of taking a hint - Great audience for the doc, wish you were there. I really am sorry I was such an asshole when we were together.
“Yeah, you’re so sorry that you’re just going to keep talking to me,” Owain says to his phone, “even after I said I was done with you.”
So neither the ex nor Justin will leave him alone. The only difference is he likes spending time with Justin and doesn’t mind hearing from him.
“I’m not surprised he still doesn’t understand ‘no’,” Milena says the next morning, meaning the ex. “I wouldn’t have thought he’d grown up that much.”
She’s already been to the gym and eaten breakfast, and all Owain has accomplished is a nice shower to wake himself up. She made him coffee but he waved off her offer to make him breakfast. For one thing, it reminds him too much of Justin’s “come over and I’ll feed you and then we’ll fuck”, and for another, she offered to make eggs and toast and he doesn’t like the bread she keeps in the house. It’s too dense. But her coffee is good.
“I’m not surprised either,” Owain says. “I’m impressed he managed to focus on someone else long enough to make a full-length documentary.”
“You assume he didn’t spend the entire movie making it all about him.”
“I think it’s a reasonable assumption. He was a self-centered asshole around me but he took his movie-making very seriously.”
“One of Teddy’s colleagues wanted to see it. He worked with prison populations before he worked with Teddy.”
“He’s not in it, is he?” Although Owain really has no idea who’s in the documentary, aside from inmates who were willing to come out of the closet on film. And it seems a safe bet that Teddy’s colleague who used to work with prisoners isn’t a formerly incarcerated individual himself.
“Not that I know of. Teddy said he worked in the Oregon prison system, so he probably just wanted to know if he knew anyone in the movie, or if any of the prisons where he worked were featured. She hasn’t talked to him about it yet, so I can’t tell you what he thought.”
“That’s ok. I don’t need a review. Jerry went to see it but I don’t know if I’ll see him today. If I do, I can head him off before he gives me his opinion. Oh, I just learned yesterday that no one at the Oriental liked him.”
“Your boss?”
“I mean my ex. No one liked him, and they didn’t really know him. That’s how strongly he was an asshole. And now he won’t leave me alone about it.”
“Have you considered blocking his number?”
This has legitimately not occurred to Owain and now he’s a little embarrassed that it hasn’t.
“Uh, no,” he says, “I haven’t. In point of fact.”
“Maybe do that now.”
Owain gets out his phone and blocks his ex. He doesn’t think it will stop the guy, but it does make him feel a little better.
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“If it’s good he’ll be insufferable,” Owain says, “and if it sucks he’ll be depressed, and then decide the critics just don’t appreciate what he was trying to do, and it’s not his fault that they’re stupid.”
“Jerry went to see it,” Carolle says, almost apologetically. “Because it’s local, kind of. I guess.” She shrugs. “Marcel told him it would be a waste of his time.”
“Where’d he go, anyway?” Because there’s no one behind the concessions counter, and Carolle is sitting in the ticket booth with the door open so she can talk to Owain.
“Bathroom break,” the kid taking tickets says, looking up from his phone. “Yeah, I know, I’m not supposed to have this, but what am I gonna do when it’s too early for the movie?”
“Sit and stare at nothing,” Owain tells him, deadpan. “That’s what I used to do.” He turns back to Carolle. “Marcel said the documentary would be a waste of time? Does he know something Jerry doesn’t, or was he standing up for me?”
“Little of column A, little of column B,” Carolle says. She shrugs again. “You know no one liked your ex by the time he was your ex, right?”
“You guys didn’t even know him.”
“We knew him enough. He wanted to make movies, right? What do we do for a living?”
“Watch movies?” the kid taking tickets suggests.
“Pfft.” Carolle waves a hand dismissively. “Ok, sometimes, we do do that. I mean we show them. We work in a movie theater. You know?” She looks at Owain. “We knew him enough to know he was kind of arrogant and could be kind of a dick.”
“No one liked him and no one told me,” Owain says. He might sound a little annoyed but he isn’t, really. It’s kind of gratifying - and a little validating - to learn that people you work with, who didn’t even know your ex that well, still recognized his assholishness. And if Carolle or Marcel had said anything, what difference would it have made? The ex still broke up with Owain first. At the time, Owain thought people were rallying around him because they cared about him, when in fact it was because they didn’t like the ex and were probably glad to see him go.
And if Owain is honest with himself, really completely honest, he recognizes that he was probably ready for the ex to go too. He was crushed by the breakup, but no one likes to be broken up with, even if they’re not all that happy with the other person any more. If the ex had waited a couple of months, maybe three, Owain would have reached the same conclusion about their relationship and the split would have been more agreeable. But no. Dude had to hurt him and piss off all his friends.
Why is he still thinking about the guy? The ex ambushed him last night and he spent all of maybe five minutes having a conversation before walking away. He was very calm, very chill, the entire time. Fortunately he hasn’t lost his zen.
“What if we had?” Carolle asks. “Would it have mattered?”
“No, probably not. Whatever.”
Marcel picks right then to return from the men’s room. “Jerry went to see your ex’s documentary,” he tells Owain.
“I told him,” Carolle says.
“I said it would be a waste of his time.”
“I told him that too.”
“Well what didn’t you tell him?”
“I don’t know. What else is important?”
“Did you take a water?” Marcel asks Owain, who shakes his head. “You want one?”
“Sure.”
Marcel hands it over. Owain cracks the cap and takes a long swallow.
“Are we hoping for a good review or a bad one?” Marcel asks.
“For the documentary? I don’t care. He’ll be insufferable about it either way. I should get back.” He raises the bottle of water in a goodbye and takes himself to the men’s room. It’s right next to the ladies, and standing in the hallway are two girls apparently having a conversation that just couldn’t wait.
“I just think if you keep saying you’re a safe person to talk to,” one of the girls is saying, “maybe you’re not so much, y’know?”
The other girl nods and Owain wonders briefly why this conversation had to happen now, and why was it more important than the romcom. He has been known to talk during a movie, but he’s always talking about the movie, and if he has something unrelated to say to someone, he waits until after the closing credits.
He has a text from Milena when he gets back to the projectionist’s booth - Do you want to come over tomorrow, late morning? Just to talk.
I was going to ask if you’d be around at 11, he texts back, and the response is an immediate Yes.
So he’ll go to Milena’s and she’ll ask about the ex and the documentary and he can tell her in more detail about being ambushed in the Oriental lobby and that the ex texted him to say “I’ve been thinking about you” and that Owain told him the action wasn’t mutual. She’ll probably ask about Justin, but he isn’t sure what to say about that, other than all they do is eat lunch at Justin’s place and fuck twice in an hour. The sex is good but Owain doesn’t know how he feels about the whole arrangement. It’s much too early to feel like Justin is just using him for sex, and if Owain isn’t sure he wants a relationship with someone, he also can’t say this is much of one to begin with.
Milena will be good to talk to, though. She’s clearheaded about things and she’ll let him ramble as much as he needs to, and she won’t judge him for whatever his final decision about Justin is, even if he doesn’t make a decision. It’s probably too early for that, too.
Owain doesn’t take a break during 61*, mostly because he doesn’t want to. He’s only seen the movie once, because biopics aren’t his favorite, but he should watch it again. There’s a good crowd for it, probably because it’s Friday night, but it’s also a good movie with good acting, and the baseball series generally goes over well. There should be an equally good crowd tomorrow for Bull Durham, and then it’s on to the next thing.
Jo is the only person in the lobby when he finishes locking up the projectionist’s booth at the end of his shift. She’s counting out the ticket booth register on the concessions counter, making notes on a pad of paper and making neat stacks of the bills and the charge card receipts. She wishes him a goodnight, says she’ll see him tomorrow, warns him to drive safe. He says she sounds like his mom, and he will.
He discovers a string of texts from Justin after he gets in his car -
karaokes so much fun
im a little drunk and i wanna fuck you
i know we just saw each other
if i left the door unlocked would you come over
Owain glances at his watch, although he knows what time it is. It’s late. He shoots back a quick text - It’s late and I’m going to bed but we’ll talk tomorrow - and drives home.
By the time he gets home there’s another text, this one from the ex, who is apparently incapable of taking a hint - Great audience for the doc, wish you were there. I really am sorry I was such an asshole when we were together.
“Yeah, you’re so sorry that you’re just going to keep talking to me,” Owain says to his phone, “even after I said I was done with you.”
So neither the ex nor Justin will leave him alone. The only difference is he likes spending time with Justin and doesn’t mind hearing from him.
“I’m not surprised he still doesn’t understand ‘no’,” Milena says the next morning, meaning the ex. “I wouldn’t have thought he’d grown up that much.”
She’s already been to the gym and eaten breakfast, and all Owain has accomplished is a nice shower to wake himself up. She made him coffee but he waved off her offer to make him breakfast. For one thing, it reminds him too much of Justin’s “come over and I’ll feed you and then we’ll fuck”, and for another, she offered to make eggs and toast and he doesn’t like the bread she keeps in the house. It’s too dense. But her coffee is good.
“I’m not surprised either,” Owain says. “I’m impressed he managed to focus on someone else long enough to make a full-length documentary.”
“You assume he didn’t spend the entire movie making it all about him.”
“I think it’s a reasonable assumption. He was a self-centered asshole around me but he took his movie-making very seriously.”
“One of Teddy’s colleagues wanted to see it. He worked with prison populations before he worked with Teddy.”
“He’s not in it, is he?” Although Owain really has no idea who’s in the documentary, aside from inmates who were willing to come out of the closet on film. And it seems a safe bet that Teddy’s colleague who used to work with prisoners isn’t a formerly incarcerated individual himself.
“Not that I know of. Teddy said he worked in the Oregon prison system, so he probably just wanted to know if he knew anyone in the movie, or if any of the prisons where he worked were featured. She hasn’t talked to him about it yet, so I can’t tell you what he thought.”
“That’s ok. I don’t need a review. Jerry went to see it but I don’t know if I’ll see him today. If I do, I can head him off before he gives me his opinion. Oh, I just learned yesterday that no one at the Oriental liked him.”
“Your boss?”
“I mean my ex. No one liked him, and they didn’t really know him. That’s how strongly he was an asshole. And now he won’t leave me alone about it.”
“Have you considered blocking his number?”
This has legitimately not occurred to Owain and now he’s a little embarrassed that it hasn’t.
“Uh, no,” he says, “I haven’t. In point of fact.”
“Maybe do that now.”
Owain gets out his phone and blocks his ex. He doesn’t think it will stop the guy, but it does make him feel a little better.
words: 1724
total words: 45,202