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woozy and—
    “Hey, are you awake or what?” Ruth wants to know.
    “ ’Course I am.”
    “Then take your stupid head off my shoulder.”
    “Okay, okay.”
    “Slobbermouth.”
    You wipe your chin. No dribble, what a bitch! You narrow your eyes to get a better view of the screen. Stupid cinema. Stupid seat. Stupid movie. Come on, who wants to sit at the back? You can hardly see a thing. Stupid eyes and stupid half-price Tuesdays. Next time you’ll pay two euros and watch a DVD. More fun anyway. If you have to pee you don’t miss the whole story.
    “Stupid movie,” you mumble.
    Schnappi jabs you with her elbow.
    “Bitch!”
    Nessi sits next to Ruth and bends over and hands you her Coke. At least there is one person thinking about you. You drink and clink the ice cubes. Again Eric turns around and gives you the Look. Zombie.
    “You a Nazi or what?” you ask.
    “Dyke,” he hisses back and turns away.
    “Could you shut the fuck up,” Schnappi whispers, drumming her feet on the floor so people can feel it four rows down. Every time things get exciting Schnappi turns into Speedy Gonzales.
An Asian girl on speed
, you think, and it makes you laugh and you say, “Speedfreak.”
    “Are you having fun?”
    “Shut up, Ruth.”
    “Come on, if all you want to do is get on our nerves, just go to the can and talk to the toilet,” Ruth tells you without looking at you.
    “Or the soap dispenser,” says Schnappi, and they giggle together like two little girls on the way to the candy store.
    You look at them. They don’t look like sixteen.
    “I’m leaving,” you tell them, mature and grown-up as you are, and then you leave.
    The door shuts behind you, and you inhale with relief. The air in there was horrible. As if everyone had farted at the same time and then fanned it around. You fumble your cigarettes out of your jacket, a new pack, fresh out of the machine, you’ve never liked bumming from the others. You take off the cellophane and pull out the silver paper, tap one out and stick it between your lips.
    “Oh, come on.”
    You hammer your lighter on the palm of your hand. The flint crunches, there’s no spark. Great. Now what? You can’t just go back in there and ask for a light, they’ll lynch you. Go to the counter, they’re bound to have a light.
    You’re half the way there when this guy comes from the bottomof the stairs. He was probably in the john, hasn’t missed anything anyway.
    “Got a light?”
    He takes out this enormous golden flamethrower.
    “It’s my dad’s,” he tells you, as if he’d inherited it, as if he had to explain it, as if you’d asked. He probably swiped the lighter when his dad was looking the other way, wanna bet? Guy as tall as a basketball player, much older than you. Mid-twenties. Gives you a light and smiles. Nice.
    “Thanks.”
    “You don’t like the movie?”
    “Boring.”
    “That’s the word.”
    That smile again; you smile back. It’s better than standing around on your own anyway.
    “How about an ice cream?”
    You tell him you’re waiting for your friends. You’re not that easy. He looks around, probably checking that he’s not dreaming and he really has met you. Hot mama that you are. Then he winks at you. He really winks. Maybe he’s gay or something.
    “We could wait outside and eat our ice cream. My treat. But only if you want to,” he adds, with a big fat question mark at the end. He’s actually really friendly, but let him twitch for a minute or two. Friendly’s only half the battle. You’re not naïve.
Don’t trust strangers who offer you candy
, Aunt Sissi drummed into you, and if you’ve grown up without parents you listen to your aunt.
    “Hm,” you say and pull in your stomach and check the guy out—black T-shirt, jeans, Doc Martens, leather bracelet, ponytail. No, he’s not gay, you’ve never seen a long-haired gay; and if your nose doesn’t deceive you he’s got just as much perfume behind his ears as you do. Smells good.