THE BAD BOY OF MANHATTAN
Chapter 40. The Outdoor Movie Theater.

"You live in an apartment with Emma Lopez?" Ryan rounded his eyes at the information Elric had just conveyed. Michael who was opening his beer can was no less surprised. Elric smiled meaningfully.

"Isn't she a scary girl? How did you get the idea to stay with him? So, how are your parents? They let you out of the house?" lick Michael.

Elric smoked the rest of his cigarette and slammed his butt into the floor and stepped on it. "Emma is in need of a partner to share the cost of the apartment. It just so happened that I did have the intention to get out of my parents' house, so .. yeah .. I'm living with Emma now."

"Why do you know Emma's looking for a partner?" ryan asked as he offered a can of beer he had opened to Elric.

Elric just grimaced and did not want to answer Ryan's question. However, with Elric's strange facial expression, the red-haired youth instantly knew the reason. "You've met Emma a lot, haven't you?" accusation later. Elric lifted up his hands.

"You're dating him" Michael said, hitting Elric's shoulder slowly.

"No. I mean, not yet."

Ryan and Michael chuckled at Elric's misbehavior. "Look at you, El .. You rejected the beautiful and popular girls in school. You'd rather go after that fierce Emma Lopez. But I admit Emma is beautiful. Noah once chased him. But rejected outright," Ryan explained on the sidelines of his laughter.

Elric scratched his curly hair that was starting to get long. "I just want to be close to him. For dating it seems I'm not ready."

"Why? Are you afraid of rejection?" mocked Michael.

"You're Nathan Bradley's son. Which girl can resist you?"

Elric. "Emma doesn't care about that." He glanced at the clock on his wrist. "Hey, time to work (time to work)" he said, throwing a beer can into a large garbage can at the end of the alley.

***

Emma kneaded her waist that felt sore all day serving restaurant visitors non-stop. Alice, her co-worker did not enter today, so only Emma and her two friends had to spend extra energy to serve visitors. Precisely just Emma who was shaken off the table one to the other because one colleague is a cook, and another as a cashier.

"McKenzie, see you." Emma waved at her friend who was sitting at the cashier table. He stepped out of the restaurant and walked down the crowded sidewalk to his apartment which only took ten minutes.

The shadow of his soft mattress was already dancing in his eye peluk. Cowering inside his blanket was the thing he craved the most right now. However, when he entered his apartment, he saw Elric had just come out of his room in neat clothes. His tall body was clad in a dark blue checkered shirt, black denim pants and casual shoes. Long hair curly brown even he comb neatly.

"Em .. quickly change clothes. I'm gonna take you to see a movie." Elric pushed Emma's back inside the room and closed the door from the outside.

"But ...." Emma opened the door and was about to protest.

"Hurry up," cut Elric while pushing Emma back in. "No need to shower. No need to dress up. You're beautiful," she said. Emma's voice came from her room. Hearing that, Elric just smiled thinly while dropping on the sofa, waiting for Emma to finish changing clothes.

"You know? I'm so sleepy, El!" pickle Emma as soon as the girl comes out of her room. He was wearing makeshift clothes. Only knee-high trousers are wrapped in sweaters and boots.

"It's still too late to sleep." Elric who had gotten out of his seat immediately grabbed Emma's hand and took the girl out.

Apparently, it is not watching a movie inside the cozy and luxurious cinema hall that is meant by Elric, but it is an open-air cinema in the heart of East Harlem with the drive-in-cinema concept popular in the sixties, which is watching movies from inside vehicles. In East Harlem, the screen is in the courtyard of a large self-service building with long wooden chairs planted randomly.

"People's consolation" kekeh Elric while inviting Emma to sit in an empty chair.

"I'm the same" said Elric. "Wait a minute, I forgot something." He rushed to leave Emma somewhere. While Emma sat staring at the big screen plastered in front of her, who was serving an advertisement.

The girl tightened her sweater to ward off the cold air. He gave a look around him. Almost all the seats are fully filled. The average is a happy-looking couple enjoying a date on Friday night. It was not the young lovers he saw, but the middle-aged couple. Among them, it seemed like Emma was the only youngster sitting there.

Emma yawned a few times. He's so sleepy. But, he felt sorry for Elric who was so excited to invite him to this place. He had to obey the will of the child.

"You haven't eaten, have you?" Elric came with a pack of burgers and a cup of hot coffee and thrust it at Emma.

"Well, you're so nice, Lil Bro," Emma said with sparkling eyes. I haven't eaten anything since noon. That layer of bread, meat and warm cheese made his saliva drip.

Elric was shaking his lips. Lil Bro's call made him upset. "But it's not free" he said.

"How much is everything?" ask Emma while biting her burger.

"This ...." Elric pointed at his own cheek.

"Huh?"

"The baby's one cheek kiss."

"Hey, you're not being so polite, El!"

"The burger line is long, Emma. I deserve one kiss on the cheek."

Emma rolled her eyes. What does this kid mean asking for that kind of weird thing. She might kiss Elric on the cheek. Emma nodded slowly.

"Yes if you don't want to. Let me just." Without warning, Elric landed his lips on Emma's cheek without the girl dodging.

"Elric! You are ...."

"Look, Em ... The movie's starting, don't be noisy!" elric shouted while pointing at the big screen in front of them.

Emma was still glaring at Elric who behaved like nothing had happened. Her annoying face was as sinless. Emma uncovers her intention to nag the boy because the movie has started and everyone around her is no longer making a sound.

After finishing her burger, Emma tries to focus on the film, though she is still upset by Elric's behavior. When glimpsed by the young man, he was throwing a ignorant smile at him, making the girl want to grab Elric's hair so anxious.

Emma tries to focus back on the screen. Which movie Elric chose to watch. Not the latest movie at all. It is precisely the obsolete film of the twenties that is dominated by singing. Despite the romantic scenes, the film tends to be boring for Emma. So that the drowsiness attacked him again. Especially when he closed his eyes, opera songs that sounded as if to mengbuunya towards dreamland. The longer the more makes his drowsiness can not be held again. Unconsciously his head fell on Elric's shoulders. And Elric, who was focusing on following the story, was shocked. But then shortly afterwards he smiled. Carefully she shifted her seat closer to Emma so that the girl felt comfortable resting on her shoulders.

***