14 Let’s go watch a movie

Once they were back in the truck, Hank got the heater running to warm it back up. "Are you warm enough?" He asked. She looked over at him, "Yes, thank you. The hot cocoa really warmed me up nicely." He nodded while looking in her eyes. "Oh, you've got a little chocolate on your cheek there." Kiara looked surprised, "Oh? Where is it?" She lifted her hand to rub at her face, Hank caught her hand in his to stop her, he pressed his hand gently to her cheek as his thumb wiped it away, but instead of pulling away, he stared into her eyes then leaned in and to kiss her.

Kiara was definitely not expecting a kiss, and gasped in surprise as his lips touched hers. She decided to go with it and kissed him back, which turned into the worst kiss she had ever experienced, he slurped and drooled, his timing was off, and was just plain terrible at it.

He tried to continue the kiss, his eyes closed as he got into it, but she kept her eyes opened, a crease forming between her eyebrows as she tried to figure out what to do next, and how to escape from his relentless attack on her lips.

She gently but firmly pushed on his chest, he opened his eyes, looking a little upset she had already ended their kiss. "Sorry, I just.. I need to catch my breath." She tried to make an excuse while pretending to breathe hard between words as if out of breath.

He nodded, looking a little less upset as he turned towards the steering wheel, putting his hands on it and looking forward. "How about we go watch a movie at my place, then I'll take you out to dinner after?" He started the car. "Uh, sure, I guess we can watch one movie." She mentally sighed as she thought, 'this was going to be a full day date apparently, but maybe it would get better, as long as he didn't try to kiss her anymore, it couldn't get much worse, right?'

--

Hank had a small place to himself, a one bedroom, one bathroom bachelor pad. Kiara leaned back on the couch, she looked around while Hank clanked around in the kitchen getting her a glass of water. She was in a small living room, sat on a brown, worn looking couch. There was a flat screen tv in front of her sitting on a rectangular table against the wall with two doors and shelves in the middle, and two black, rickety looking folding tables on either side of the couch with permanent drink stains on them. Yup, there was no mistake, this was a single guy's place. She bet that if she opened the fridge in the tiny kitchen that she could partially see from where she sat, it would be fully stocked with a case of beer and not much else.

He put the drink on the side table then went to the table under the tv, opening one of the doors he began to rummage inside, pulling out several movies. Kiara knelt down on the floor next to him, looking at the movie selection her spirits fell, the selection was terrible, and none of the movies were something she would normally enjoy watching.

Hank put the last movie on the floor and looked at her expectantly, "Which one you in the mood for?" 'Ugh, I knew he was going to ask me to pick!' She mentally anguished. Instead she spoke sweetly as if nothing was wrong, "Oh, it's so hard to choose, I've never seen a lot of these.." She paused, pretending to be interested as she picked one up in each hand to look at. "Which one's your favorite?" He grinned as he grabbed one and handed it to her, "I like this one lots." She read the title, 'Daisyfield? Really. Of course he likes that one.' She thought to herself. "Oh, Daisyfield? I've seen this one before. Yeah, we can watch it." She said to Hank, disguising how much she really didn't want to.

The movie was really slow at the beginning and rather boring, especially if you already know what's going to happen, Kiara got up to go to the bathroom, "You need me to pause it for you?" Hank asked as he grabbed the remote, looking for the pause button, "Oh, no. That's ok, I won't be gone long, you enjoy it!" Kiara said hurriedly, not wanting the movie to last even longer.

It took her only a moment to find the bathroom which was between the bedroom and a closet sized office next to the kitchen. She closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief, then wondered how long she could hide in the bathroom before he would notice she was gone. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and browsed social media for about ten minutes, figuring any longer than that he might come looking for her.

When she got back she noticed his sad eyes looking sadder than usual, he almost seemed to be holding back tears. "Are you alright?" She asked softly. He slowly nodded, paused, then shook his head furiously as tears he had been holding back now slid down his cheek. Kiara became worried as she took his hand gently to comfort him, "Oh no! What's wrong? Is it the movie? Do you want to turn it off?" Hank choked back sobs, "It's.. It's Amy!" Kiara was now quite confused by his response. "Who's Amy?" Hank clutched at her sleeve, "T-the l-last time.. I watched this movie.. w-was with A-amy!" He wailed.

Kiara wondered what she had just gotten herself into, and who was Amy? Kiara patted his back gently to try to comfort him, "Why don't you take a deep breath, have a sip of your water, then tell me who Amy is, alright?" He nodded, gulping hard he took a deep breath as instructed, reached over and grabbed his water and held it near his mouth without sipping it. Kiara paused the movie while he sat there. "A-amy.. w-was my f-first girlfriend." He finally stated, then paused, taking a small sip of water. "Sh-she br-broke up with me about a month ago."

Kiara sat there dumbfounded, "You're crying because this movie reminded you of your ex?" He nodded, taking another small sip of water. Kiara put her free hand on her face, covering her eyes and sighing softly before running her hand down her face and putting it back down in her lap, giving her a moment to think of her next move.

"Ok, so.. would you like me to turn the movie off, or would you prefer to watch the rest of it?" Kiara asked, it was the only next step she could think of. Hank looked like he was stuck on an answer, "I-I like this movie, b-but because I last watched it with her, now I thought of her." Kiara suddenly had an idea, "Yes, but now you are watching it with me. Would you rather think of her, or enjoy the moment with me now?" That seemed to do the trick, he seemed taken back and stopped crying, he lowered his eyes, looking down at the hand he was tightly holding and lifted it up to his mouth to kiss it gently. He raised his eyes to meet hers and whispered, "thank you."

Still holding her hand, he turned to place the cup of water back on the table, then as soon as it was free of his grasp, twisted around to pull Kiara into him, embracing her against his chest. Her head pressed against his chest as his chin rested on top of her head, his strong arms locking her in place as they encircled her. She gave a half-hearted hug back then tried to speak, "Uh Hank, kind of hard to breathe, can you not hug me so tightly?" Hank instantly released her, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, did I hurt you?" He fretted over her, looking her over like he was looking for injuries. Kiara took a deep breath once she was free, then gave a waving gesture while telling him she was fine. He sighed in relief knowing she was ok.

"I'm sorry, I'm not very good at all this." He paused, taking a deep breath, "I should tell you, Amy was my only girlfriend." Kiara suddenly understood why his kissing was terrible, a lack of experience. "Let me make it up to you?" He said softly, as he tried again with kissing her. This time was almost as bad as the first. Kiara couldn't help but push him away, "stop. Stop. Stop. Time out." Hank looked very confused. Kiara took a deep breath, "Your kissing is.. well.." She paused, looking at those sad eyes. She sighed before continuing, "I'm sorry, but your kissing is just terrible." She dropped the bombshell, he looked mortified. She added quickly, "But it's just because you don't have much experience! That's not to say you can't get better with some help."

He looked defeated. Kiara breathed out loudly through her nose, then leaned in close to him, her face inches from his, looking into his eyes, she spoke softly "Let me show you, ok? Just let me lead this time." He gave a slight nod.

She leaned in and kissed his lips softly, before gently sucking on his bottom lip. She pulled her face just a few inches from his to speak, "now you give that a try."