Chapter Two: We Could Live Like Jack and Sally
Around noon things were starting to get in a good-terrible balance for Rod and Nicky. They have succeeded on getting Mark to stop his fussing about his mom and dad, but when the duo would give Mark more of his toys to play with while they sat with him, he would throw the objects at them.
They were at least thankful that the dolls were just soft.
Next was trying to feed Mark, which was a hassle as well. He didn't want to eat his snacks or the foods that his parents packed for him, so the duo had to rely on their own food.
Since they don't have a high chair for Mark, they had to give him a pillow to sit on when they all sat at the small table their apartment's kitchen. Rod and Nicky watched as Mark, thankfully, gobbled up the ham and cheese sandwich that Rod prepared for him, then Mark drank up the warm glass of milk.
Rod and Nicky looked at each other and sighed, pleased that they gave the child something that he'd actually eat. They felt that they were going to do just fine with just the two of them and the five-year-old.
At least, Rodney and Nicholas had the idea that they did. They still had the rest of today, tomorrow, and Sunday.
"Mo-vie!", Mark said. "Mo-vie!"
"You want to watch a movie?", Rod asked, pretending that the boy didn't say it before to test Mark.
"Ya ya! Mo-vie!" Mark clapped his little hands and jumped in his seat, cracking a smile. Rod and Nicky started to giggle at the adorable sight. Mark literally hopped off the large-for-him chair and scurried to the bag that had his own movies, finding one he would like to watch at the moment. He got the DVD and waddled back to his babysitters.
"JackSally! JackSally!", Mark blurted out as he showed them the DVD case for The Nightmare Before Christmas.
It actually shocked Rod and Nicky that this five-year-old requested to watch such a film, and it had actually been so long ago that they've seen the film. Taking it as a way to not only do something else with Mark but to go back to Nostalgia Lane. They were only fifteen-years-old when both first saw the movie.
Watching the movie resulted in Mark just coloring and scribbling on blank pieces of paper and Rod and Nicky really paying attention. The two sat on that old beat up couch, feeling so young again as their hearts warmed up as they watched the soft moments of Jack Skellington and Sally.
Rod, all of a sudden, now remembered why he had loved this movie when he was a Sophomore in high school, more than Nicky could say that he, himself, liked it. Rod was quick to see Sally's yearning to be with Jack, but Jack wouldn't see her desire for him at first.
Rod more than understood Sally's conflict, he lives a replica of it to this very day, as he keeps his hidden feelings for Nicky so on the low. As he observes how Sally shows hints of anything more than friendship to Jack, Rod feels like it's his life put in a stop motion film with a rag doll portraying him.
No. Sally isn't Rod. Rod is Sally.
As the scene where Sally sings her song after Jack takes off into the night disguised as "Sandy Claws" begins, after she bid her secret sweetheart a sorrowful goodbye, Rod began to get teary eyed, relating to every word in Sally's song, mentally joining her in a duet.
And does he notice my feelings for him.
And will he see, how much he means to me?
I think it's not to be.
...and will we ever end up...together?
Me and Nicky?
...no, I think not. It's never to become...for I am not the one.
Rod soon felt a tear fall on his cheek and he knew at once that he had to get out of the room. He got up and excused himself to the bathroom, where he closed the door and stood in front of the mirror, crying.
You fucking pussy, he told himself, you're crying because of a freaking kids movie. Get a fucking grip on yourself! You're not that confused 15 year old anymore. You're a grown ass man!
Soon minutes went past him and he knew he had to get out and face reality. Rod returned just as the movie was at its final scene, where Jack finally sees Sally more as a friend.
"Oh I remember this part.", Nicky declared. "He goes up the hill and they sing together, right? Yeah, that's it. They end up together."
Rod's heart did summersaults. That's right! Jack and Sally sing together on the hill and...they...
Rod watched as Jack and Sally finished their duet, and the hero and heroine of the film end it with a kiss so distant from the audiences' eyes. When Rod saw this he felt sparks ignite through his body.
It's possible! It could happen!
"Wow. That was a cute little movie.", Nicky said. "I remember why you liked it better than me, Rod."
Rod didn't say a word. He was still enthusiastic inside.
"Rod, buddy? You hear me?"
"O-oh yeah.", Rod said as he came back from his daydreaming. "I remember exactly."
"Boy, those were the good ol' days, huh?", Nicky said. "This movie came out when we were Sophomores in high school! Damn, we're old!"
"Well, we're not exactly much of Spring chickens anymore, Nicky, but we're not Grandfather Clock either."
Nicky let out a laugh, and he was led to wonder something. "I wonder what it'll be like to grow old with you."
That made Rod's heart flip again, and he blushed. "Well, it could be like the present time, I suppose, except we'll be all old and wrinkly and...bleh."
"Of course you'd be the one to worry about how grotesque we'll look, but just think. We'd be together 'till the end, like Bonnie and Clyde!"
Rod fixed him a disconcerted glare. "Nicky, Bonnie and Clyde were fugitives, and they were killed together."
"But they died together, though.", Nicky pointed out, smiling a usual smile that Rod also listed in his Features That Make Nicky Irresistible list.
Rod thought about that statement, and he realized that it's a fact, and he smiled too, feeling butterflies in his abdomen.
Yeah, he thought, they did.