Archive of Our Own ^beta

After their last attempted movie night ended in disaster, with Anita receiving news that her father had gone missing in action, the girls were hesitant to have another movie night. The idea felt risky, like something terrible would undoubtedly happen the moment they sat down together.

Still, Cissie wanted an excuse to spend the night with her friends, so she rented a DVD from Blockbuster, made some popcorn, and gathered everyone for a movie night. Her mom had offered to look after Oshi and Don for Anita — though Cissie was certain she simply wanted an excuse to spend the night with Anita's Uncle Ish — so the girls had the house to themselves, and Bonnie had even left them some money to order pizza. 

"What'd you rent?" Anita asked.

Cissie showed off the DVD she'd picked out. "Legally Blonde!"

"I bet the guy at Blockbuster gave you that one on purpose," Cassie teased.

"Hey! I'll have you know I picked this out myself!" Cissie said, taking out the DVD to put it into the DVD player. "Also, pot, meet kettle."

"Are there going to be any dogs that die?" Traya asked. She was sitting on a pillow in front of the couch, a blanket over her knees. 

"Nope! I checked with the guy at the counter," Cissie replied, looking pointedly at Anita.

"You guys are not going to let me live that one down, are you?" Anita grumbled.

"Who picks Old Yeller for a movie night?" Cassie said, looking up at Anita from where her head was resting on her lap. "You gotta admit: it was a bad idea."

"Greta liked it," Anita insisted, hand idly playing with Cassie’s hair. 

"She only watched half of it!" Cissie exclaimed. 

"I liked the half I did watch," Greta mumbled, she was cuddled up next to Anita, her head on her shoulder. “I’ve always loved dogs.” 

“... now I’m glad she didn’t watch the ending,” Cassie grumbled. Anita rolled her eyes fondly.

Once the movie was in, Cissie hit pause during the opening credits to grab the popcorn from the kitchen – two bowls, one with salt added for Cassie and Anita, and one with sugar added for Cissie, Traya and Greta – and settled onto the couch next to Greta, passing the bowl of salty popcorn to Anita. They’d already ordered the pizza, which would be arriving in around twenty five minutes.

Cissie couldn’t resist leaning down to kiss Cassie, and Anita looked jealous enough that Cissie decided to press a kiss to her cheek, and once she’d done, she figured it was only fair to kiss Greta too. 

“Ewwwwwwww,” Traya said, covering her eyes. “You guys are so gross!” 

Cassie laughed. “You’re such a little kid, Tray.” 

“I’m not a little kid!” Traya protested. “I’m twelve! I’m gonna tell Daddy you’re bullying me!”

“We’re only teasing, Traya,” Greta said, offering out the bowl of sugary popcorn. 

Traya was still pouting, but she did take a handful of popcorn, so her feelings probably weren’t too hurt.

About twenty minutes after Cissie started the movie, the doorbell rang. Everyone was apprehensive, for the briefest of moments, but when Traya got a closer look at the silhouette outside, she let out a cheer.

“Pizza’s here!”

Traya raced over to the counter to grab the cash and excitedly opened the door, taking the pizza boxes from a mildly bewildered woman. Everyone helped themselves to a slice of pizza, and settled back in for their movie night. 

“This is nice,” Greta said, head resting on Cissie's shoulder. “Being here with you all.” 

“We should do this more often,” Anita said. 

“Easy for you guys to say,” Cassie grumbled. “You don’t live on the other side of the country.”

“Cassie, you can fly,” Anita said. “You could come and visit any time you wanted.”

“Yeah, my mom doesn't like it. She’s always worried I’ll get hit by a plane or something.”

“Like that would stop you,” Cissie laughed.

“I mean, I could probably survive it,” Cassie admitted, “but it would still suck.” 

Greta started giggling, and once she started, she couldn’t stop. 

They really had to do this again some time…