She made an exasperated sound. “So? I assume if we rule out all violent movies, that’s going to really shorten the list.”
“And rated R,” he added.
“Um, hi,” she said with a little wave. “I’m nineteen.”
“Yeah, Aud,” Lennox chimed in. “She passed R-rated legal age years ago.”
Auden sent Lennox a quelling look. “That’s not the point.You knowthat’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?” Lennox asked, apoke the beartone in his voice.
O’Neal looked back and forth between them, confused by the tension.
Auden’s jaw twitched. “Thepointis I’m not inviting my baby sister’s friend over to watch a movie and then make her sit with two older guys while we watch what is basically an erotic thriller.” He turned to O’Neal, tense expression softening. “Pick another number.”
Erotic thriller.O’Neal swallowed hard. “Is it a good movie?”
Auden frowned. “There’s sex on-screen with nudity. It will make you uncomfortable.”
“That’s not what I asked,” she said, feeling bold.
“It got a pile of Oscar nominations and is considered a classic eighties thriller,” he said, a frustrated note in his voice. “But that’s also not the point.”
“Whatisthe point?” She shifted her body toward him, fully annoyed now. “To protect me?”
“Yes,” he said like it was the most obvious answer in the world. “You’re not ready for this kind of movie. You’re…”
“What?” she challenged. “What am I, Auden?”
He raked a hand through his hair, frustration all over his face. “A babe in the goddamned woods, okay? A girl who doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. A virgin with a purity ring who doesn’t realize that watching people fuck on-screen while hanging out with two guy friends is going to be really, really uncomfortable.”
She gasped at the harsh words.
The chair squeaked as Lennox shifted in his seat. “Hey, let’s take it down a notch, all right? Aud, you didn’t need to go there. O’Neal…”
She turned to face Lennox, her heartbeat quickening from a combination of anger and embarrassment.
His expression was sympathetic. “Look, Aud clearly feels protective over you. I think his concern is coming from a good place even though he’s beinga major dickabout it,” he said, sending a pointed look at Auden and then focusing back on her. “But I believe in letting people make their own decisions. You’re an adult who can make up her own mind. He’s right. This movie will probably make you feel things. There’s sex and it’s not the sweet kind.”
Sweating. She was sweating.
“But,” he went on, “if you want to try out that kind of movie, you’re safe here with us. To feel awkward. Or embarrassed. Or turned on.”
“Len,” Auden said, his voice sharp with warning. “What the hell?”
O’Neal couldn’t speak. Her mouth had gone dry.
“To tell us to stop the movie if it’s too much,” Lennox continued, ignoring Auden. “To ask questions. I have literally zero shame about any of this stuff. I’m an open book. So if you want to watch it, knowing you don’t have to be cool about it, that’s your decision. If you don’t, that’s fine too, and we can pick another movie.”
She nodded and tried to swallow as she turned to look at Auden. He was staring at the TV screen, his jaw set, his skin a little flushed. She wet her parched lips. “If I don’t know what I don’t know, how will I ever learn anything if I don’t do something different than what I’ve always done? Someone has to be willing to show me the things I don’t know about.”
Auden closed his eyes like he was pained.
“I want to watch the movie,” she declared.
There was a long moment of silence, a standoff.
She won.