“I’ve always wanted to learn how to surf,” Tripp admitted. “Not that I’ve lived anywhere close to the ocean ever, but, when Winter and I were kids, I was addicted to surfer movies. ‘North Shore’. ‘A Brokedown Melody’, ‘Big Wednesday’, ‘Point Break’, and especially ‘The Endless Summer’. I loved the idea of traveling around the world looking for the perfect wave. Before you ask, yes, ‘Surf’s Up’ happens to be my favorite animated movie.”
“I kinda guessed that, with as many times as it’s been playin’ in the background when we were on the phone.”
“What can I say, it’s my go to whenever I want something amusing. I’ll watch both movies back-to-back and I’m dying to see if they really will complete a ‘Surf’s Up 3’.”
“We’ll have to watch them together sometime. I’ve never seen either one.”
“Seriously?”
Zakk turned his palms up to the sky, shrugged, and snagged one of the crab stuffed lobster bites. “Aside from ‘Shrek’ and classic looney tunes, I’m more of a ‘Fire and Ice’, ‘Heavy Metal’, ‘Metalpocalypse’, kind of guy. I loved the animation in ‘The Wall’ and wish there had been more of it. I’ve made it my personal mission to track down as many of that style movie as I can.”
“Hell I love ‘Metalpocalypse’ and ‘Heavy Metal’, never seen ‘Fire and Ice’ but it sounds to me like we need to do an animation night.”
“Hell yeah.”
“Of course, no movie night would be complete without snacks, especially popcorn and not just the buttered kind either.”
“Oh hell no, buttered is too basic. I want strawberry shortcake and cinnamon toast.”
“Yum, but don’t forget the cheeses, jalapeno cheddar is the bomb.”
“Okay, I have to ask. What’s with you and jalapenos?”
“I love ‘em. Especially stuffed, breaded, and fried. I’ve had shrimp stuffed jalapeno poppers that were the most amazing thing in this world, and oh my god, we were in Seattle and I got this decadently buttery calamari with roasted onions and jalapenos, holy shit, if I’d never put anything else in my mouth afterwards I’d have been perfectly content with that as a last meal.”
Chuckling, Tripp raised an eyebrow at him. “Personally, I can think of something else you could put in your mouth that has nothing to do with food but would certainly leave one of us feeling very content by the end of the night.”
“Oh really.”
“Absolutely. In fact, I can guarantee it.”
“Does that mean I get my money back if I’m not satisfied?”
“Trust me, baby, when I get through with you, you’ll be satisfied.”
Chapter 27
Storms and cute, fuzzy monsters
“Okay, seriously, best what the fuck is it,” Riley announced. He was leaning against Dez, who had one arm around him as they reclined on one of the couches in the rec room. With the storms raging outside, they’d elected to spend the day watching everything from old Looney Tunes to Muppets, which had clearly spawned the question. Zakk couldn’t be sure if they were just comfortable that way, or if they were back on again.
“Shouldn’t we first determine what awhat the fuckactually is?” Damien suggested.
“Isn’t the whole point of it being a what the fuck that we don’t know what it is?” Riley replied.
“Thank you.”
“Huh?”
“It’s all good, you just defined the parameters,” Zakk explained.
“O-kay,” Riley replied as Dez ruffled his hair. “So…”
“Animal,” Tripp and Dez said at the same time.
“How does that count!” Riley declared. “Animal is an animal.”
“But no one knows what kind of animal.” Tripp supplied.