Summer of ‘08

Jason stood in front of the small mirror on the break room wall and adjusted his new name tag. The gold surface stood out against his black uniform and he wiped it clean with the microfiber cloth he kept for his glasses.

Assistant Manager. It was like a dream. It was a lame dream, according to his little sister, but he had been coming to the Multiplex since he was a kid and it was the only place he wanted to work.

He'd proven his dedication to Darlene, the manager, when he ran the tickets and concession solo on Christmas Day for the double-feature premiere of The Bucket List and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. Admittedly, the busiest show that day had half a dozen people, but when Darlene came back the next day, every theatre was spotless.

"Admiring yourself, boss?" Iris came up behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder. She had jet black hair with a cyan streak through her bangs, a nose ring, a lip ring, and a string of piercings around both ears. She made Jason, with his tidy blonde hair and single ear stud, look like a mormon.

"You'll have to start respecting me now, right?" He said, adjusting his nametag one more time. "I could fire you if you step out of line."

She thought hard for a moment and then said, "Nope!" and ruffled his hair with one hand.

The break room door squeaked open and Darlene filled the doorway. She was in her late twenties but no one was brave enough to ask her how late. Behind her were the empty line of concession stand registers and the hum of the popcorn machines warming up. "Change of plans," she said to Jason, "I've got a meeting, so you're flying solo today. You think you can handle it?"

Fuck. It was the first Friday of the summer. Two of the evening shows for the Wall-E premiere were already sold out. Pixar films meant children, and children meant mess, and without Darlene it would be a skeleton crew. He'd have to run backup on the cleaning team so they didn't get behind. This was not going to be like working on Christmas, but he knew he couldn't let Darlene down on his first day as Assistant Manager, so even though he had trouble finding the words, he nodded enthusiastically.

"It'll be fine," she said, "just don't-"

Darlene was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder and she stepped aside to let Wesley enter. He had the loose hair of a 70s surfer bro, and the slim build of a rave party twink, but his attitude was usually 'rich asshole'. He was also shirtless for some reason.

"Mornin!" Said Wesley as he stepped past Jason and went to the row of staff lockers.

Darlene rolled her eyes and asked what they all wanted to know, "Where is your shirt, Wesley?"

He stopped midway through opening his locker and pointed at it, "In here."

"But why didn't you wear another shirt to come in?"

He shrugged and smiled, "It's hot out."

Darlene blinked and shook her head. She looked at Jason and said, "Good luck, kid," and walked out.

Jason looked at Iris and she smirked and saluted him and followed Darlene out to the concession.

The crackling sounds of popcorn muffled as the door shut behind them, leaving Jason alone with Wesley. He tried to keep his eyes busy as he tidied up his bag to put it in his locker, but he felt Wesley's eyes on his back. Jason tried to ignore him and finished putting his things away, shut the locker, and turned.

Wesley was standing right in front of him. They were around the same height, but Wesley always had the upper hand when they were alone, and he clearly enjoyed it. He tucked his hair behind his ears and put a hand on the locker over Jason's right shoulder as he asked, "So, how was the rest of the party?"

"Uh, it was good." Jason tried to keep his cool, but he always melted a bit around Wesley. The other staff he could handle with some friendly banter or some confident authority, but Wesley didn't care about either. Every time they were alone there was a switch flipped and he only had one thing on his mind.

"Did you fuck anyone?" Wesley asked.

Sex. Sex was the only thing on Wesley's mind: who had it, who didn't, when, where, who with, and how many times.

They had graduated at the same time, but while Jason took a year to work his way up to Assistant Manager, Wesley took his mommy's money and disappeared to Europe. There were rumours of a deportation order, but nothing was confirmed. All Jason knew for sure was that Wesley landed back in their small town like a meteorite at New Year's and took a job at the theatre to pay for some undisclosed debt to his parents.

Jason blushed and said, "I didn't stay late."

He moved to leave and Wesley put his other hand on the lockers on Jason's left to block his exit. He wanted to look anywhere other than at Wesley's naked chest, but there wasn't much else to look at on the break room's walls except a "hang in there" poster of a kitten with a cutout of the shark from Jaws taped below it. Even if he wasn't looking at Wesley, he could smell the light musk of his summer sweat.

"Man," said Wesley, "We really need to get you laid."

Jason's wandering eyes found his new name tag and he looked up into Wesley's eyes and said, "I'm your boss now, remember? That's not really an appropriate workplace conversation."

Wesley stood back and put his hands on his hips. He shot Jason a devilish look and said with a whispy voice, "Oh, daddy. Is the big boss man going to punish me?"

He turned his bare back to Jason and arched out his ass, glancing over his shoulders with fluttering eyelashes and a finger to his lips.

Jason rolled his eyes and turned to the door. He kept his cool even though he was starting to feel warm under his dress shirt and said, "Just get dressed, dude."

"Oh, about that!" Wesley jumped ahead of Jason to block the door. "You want to know what actually happened to my shirt?" Before Jason could answer, he continued, "So I was walking through Aciman park, right? And I always head out early in case I get lucky, and when I came around the dark spot behind the bridge I saw this buff guy in a vest. His whole right arm was this awesome dragon tattoo and I saw him looking at me. I was wearing this cute orange tank top, and I didn't even have to say anything! He just followed me into the trees and slipped his hand under my shirt."

Jason knew he should cut him off and leave, but he was hypnotized.

Wesley's fingers danced absentmindedly over his bare abs as he continued his story, "I got his pants open, and he had, you would not believe it, the longest cock I have ever seen. It was like a footlong, but skinny, like a big pepperoni. I couldn't get more than half of it in my mouth it was so fucking long."

"I should get to work," Jason managed to say, and he tried to reach past Wesley for the door, but Wesley's hand caught his arm. The contact made Jason falter.

Wesley smiled and let his hand slide up Jason's arm as he stepped forward, driving Jason back towards the lockers as he continued, "I swallowed that cock so well I think he came before my knees hit the dirt."

Jason's back hit the lockers. He knew he was blushing. He felt his heart racing at the idea of Wesley's story as much as from seeing his bare chest. The story was probably a lie, but that was always the problem with Wesley. You never knew what was true.

"And he came so much it spilled out over my shirt. I knew I couldn't come in with a big cum stain across my front so I hid it behind a tree."

Jason swallowed and nodded, "Very interesting. I'm sure you made a homeless person very happy. Now, if you'll excuse me." Jason put his hands on Wesley's shoulders and moved him aside as he said, "I'm the manager today, and I have to go."

It was intimate and authoritative. Jason's heart raced, but he kept a calm face. Wesley seemed impressed, and he mimicked Iris's salute as he let Jason walk by.

Outside the break room, Jason paused, his back against the door. He let the sounds and smells of popcorn and disinfectant clear his head and he got to work.

The first matinee started in half an hour, and right on queue, Reggie was waiting outside. He was a balding man with a wide mouth and active eyes.

Jason waved at him through the glass before he reached for the deadbolt and checked his watch. The seconds ticked down and the moment it hit twelve noon Jason turned the lock and pushed the door open.

Reggie stepped inside wearing his usual brown windbreaker over a Christmas-themed t-shirt.

"How did I do today, Reggie?"

"Sixteen seconds late," he said, his eyes bouncing between the cardboard displays of Wall-E and Mark Wahlberg.

"Oh shoot," said Jason, "My watch must be slow."

"That's ok, you can try again tomorrow."

Reggie walked past him with purpose to grab his six issues of Salute, the in-theatre magazine, before he walked over to the concession to buy his ticket from Iris.

After Reggie, it was a slow drip of regulars and irregulars coming for the first matinees and the National Theatre Live show running from London. Jason checked in with Iris at the concession and found Wesley hiding in an empty theatre scrolling on his new smartphone. He ranted about how great it was for movies, but Jason had trouble seeing the point of watching a movie on a screen the size of his hand when they were literally in a theatre.

Mid-afternoon, when the first shows let out, there was a solid lineup at the concession for tickets, and Jason jumped on a till to give Iris some relief. It was popcorn and tickets and candy and popcorn and more tickets. The odor of the orange coconut oil they used on the popcorn had numbed Jason's sense of smell, so when a woman came over with an apologetic look and a little girl holding her stomach, Jason didn't really mind. He'd cleaned up every kind of human liquid the past year.

Every kind.

Cleaning up a kid's vomit in the 3D theatre was just an opportunity to catch the end of Kung Fu Panda.

Jason stowed the mop and bucket back in the janitor closet and looked over at the concession stand. Iris was helping a pair of kids with their grandmother pick candy, and a young couple waited in line behind them.

But standing at the end of the counter, near the employee access, was a boy wearing a green dress shirt with a dark green tie. He looked to be around Jason's age, but he'd never seen him before. Jason was sure of it. If he had seen this boy before he would remember. He had the sharp chin and bright eyes of young James Dean, and a clean haircut that left just enough length to move as he looked up at Jason.

Jason felt his heart skip a beat.

The boy waved.

Jason waved back, and then he realized the boy must be waving at someone else and he turned to look behind him, embarrassed, but no one was there.

He looked back and the boy was walking towards him. Jason tried to put on his manager-face and told himself to stay cool.

"Hi," said the boy. His eyes were so green he looked like he was half-elf. He held out his hand for Jason to shake and said, "I'm Griffin."

Jason shook his hand and managed to say his own name back.

Griffin pointed at his name tag and said, "So you're the assistant manager now?"

Jason looked down as if he had to re-read the tag to confirm, but he nodded.

Griffin continued, "I've seen you around before, but that looks new."

"I don't remember seeing you before."

"Do you remember everybody that comes through here?" Griffin smiled again.

Jason was shocked he'd never noticed him before and couldn't think of anything witty to say.

Luckily Griffin continued, handing over a piece of paper "So I should probably give this to you then? I'm hoping to apply for a summer job if you have any availability."

Jason took the page from him. It was a cleanly-formatted resume on nice paper.

"I can work any time, even the really late shifts. And I've got food safe certification. And I can speak some French, but I wouldn't say I'm fluent."

Griffin's hands started fumbling with his tie, and Jason realized he was nervous. It helped settle Jason's own nerves a bit and he smiled in the way he thought a reassuring authority figure should.

"Sorry," said Griffin, "I shouldn't ramble so much. It's all on my resume."

"Thanks, this looks good."

Griffin smiled and Jason's heart skipped another beat. If Darlene hired him they would get to spend a lot of time together and for his own health and safety he would have to get his heart rate under control. He flushed at the idea.

"There's an application form you can fill out, and when Darlene gets back I'll make sure she sees it."

"Really?" Griffin beamed, "That would be amazing, thank you!"

"Follow me," said Jason. He led the way back to the employees-only gate at the end of the concession and he held it open for Griffin, who hesitated. Jason smiled and said, "If you end up working here you'll have to come into the back room sometime."

Griffin stepped over the line and smiled again, "I don't know why that feels so weird."

Jason opened the break room door for him and said, "You get used to it."

"Griffin?" Wesley looked up at them from his phone. He was lounging in Darlene's chair with his feet up on a filing box and the top buttons of his uniform shirt undone. He stood and put his phone away as he walked towards them with a cheshire smile, "Well, well, well, little Griffin grew up."

"Uh, hi Wes."

Jason looked between them, "You know each other?"

Wesley threw an arm around Griffin's shoulders and pulled him closer, "Griffin's friends with my little sister. He comes over to our place all the time. Though I usually don't see you much since you always run away when I come into the room."

Griffin's cheeks blushed and he looked around for something to save him, "Uh, yeah, well, I don't like bothering you."

Wesley's arm was still around Griffin's shoulders and it was starting to annoy Jason, so he asked him, "What are you doing in here, Wesley?"

"I'm on my break."

"You were on your break earlier."

"That was my earlier break."

Jason grit his teeth, but then he remembered what he was. Whether Wesley wanted to admit it or not, Jason was his boss now. "I have to give Darlene a full run down on the day, you know? I'd hate to have to tell her anything that reflects poorly on you."

Wesley's smile faded a bit, but then he glanced at Griffin and back at Jason and dropped his arm with a wink, "I see how it is. Ok, bossman." He saluted and stepped between them to get to the door.

"And button up, please."

Wesley walked out the door backwards as he started buttoning up his shirt and said, "Yes," and he added as the door swung shut, "Daddy."

Jason shook his head and looked back at Griffin, who had turned away to examine the 'hang in there' Jaws poster.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

Griffin turned and smiled, "Oh yeah! I'm great!"

"You still want that application?" Jason glanced at the door Wesley had just left through as he said it.

Griffin followed Jason's gaze to the door and said, "Oh, yeah, don't worry about that. We've known each other a long time, so he's kinda like an older brother or something."

"Oh, ok that's good." Why was that good? Jason shook his head at his own stupidity and turned to the manager's desk. From the top drawer he pulled out an application form and handed it over to Griffin.

"Could I fill it out now? I'd love to get it in as soon as possible."

"Oh, sure, yeah. There should be a pen on the desk. I'll have to get back to work though."

"Yeah, of course, no worries."

"It was nice to meet you, Griffin."

"You too, Jason."

They both smiled. It was a nice moment.

And then Jason realized he still hadn't moved and it was getting awkward, so he said, "You can leave it on the desk when you're done," and scrambled to leave with as much dignity as he could manage.

Outside the break room he tried to sort his thoughts out. Griffin was very cute, and ticked all the boxes Jason had ever thought of for boyfriend material. He hadn't come out until after graduation and didn't have a social life outside of working at the theatre, so admittedly that list of boxes was pretty short. But there was something about Griffin's elven eyes and quick smile that made Jason want to get to know him better.

Suddenly Wesley's hand was on his shoulder and Jason looked over. Wesley flashed his lazy, confident smirk and asked, "So are you going to make a move, or is it ok if I fuck him first?"