“Knowing movies is definitely a talent.” Right? “If you say a movie line from a reasonably popular movie, no matter how obscure the line is, I can tell you where it came from.”
That slowed Hex down. I caught my breath while I could, checked over my shoulder, and spotted Alvarez’s gaze planted directly on my behind. His face reddened when he looked back up at me, and the unguarded part of me heated, but I shook that sensation away. This position was about many things. Starting up something new with a man so soon after the breaking of my heart was not on my goals’ list.
“How obscure of a line can it be?” Hex stopped us right in front of a small structure done in the same stone as the castle, but barely the size of a two bedroom house. Huge glass windows flanked the front door. A brown sign hung on the center of the opening that read, “Only authorized personnel.”
“Well, the lines can’t be something so vague like ‘Hi.’ Almost every movie has that. The line should be more than seven words and actually be from a movie.”
He grinned. “And if I say a few lines, you can tell me the movie?”
“Most likely.”
“This is your talent?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Here’s the deal. I say five movie lines. You get at least three correct and I’ll pass you to the next round.”
This is so stupid, but what other choice do I have, but to play his childish games?
“Okay.” Hex rubbed his hands together. “Let’s begin. Alvarez, can you think of a movie line? Nothing’s coming to my head.”
“I’m not going to be a part of this silly interview process.” Alvarez crossed his big arms over his chest. The movement stretched the material of his shirt as his biceps bulged. “And as I said before, even if you do decide to hire her, we need—”
“We don’t need anything but my approval.” Hex lowered himself to the ground and folded his legs into the Indian style sitting pose. “Oh! I’ve got one. ‘With your blood, I’ll paint a clown.’”
Alvarez shifted his weight from side to side. I wasn’t sure if he was nervous about the game or my possible violation of the contract. Either way, he fidgeted with his fingers and dabbed at a tiny bead of sweat forming on his forehead.
“Did I stump you already?” Hex asked me.
Not even close.
What made a movie buff different from others was the amount of freakish details they chose to fill their heads with. The typical movie-goer remembered the big lines, the ones that you could find on the film’s shirts and posters, just a bunch of tag-lines used for promotion. A true movie buff memorized the odd ones that said more about the story’s theme or characters as well as reading up on the history and interesting tidbits in creating the film. From that line alone, I realized that Hex didn’t go to the movies much. He’d picked a classic gore film that had inspired almost all horror directors of our generation. Scary movies now either redid similar blood splatter scenes or attempted to revisit those with new concepts.
“No. You didn’t stump me. The line is from the horror movie The Bedtime Killer. The murderer said it each time he killed a child.” I should’ve left it there, but once I started with movies, I couldn’t stop. “The main actor actually quit The Bedtime Killer in the middle of the movie because his wife was pregnant and he couldn’t deal with all of the gory scenes with kids. Another actor finished the scenes in the last thirty minutes of the movie. In order to fix the fact that the actors playing the killer no longer looked the same, the director had the new actor wearing a ridiculous mask that’s supposed to be made out of his victims’ flesh, but really appeared like a bad kindergarten craft project.”
Alvarez raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.
“You’re good.” Hex nodded his head. “That movie did so badly I didn’t think more than fifty people throughout the US saw it.”
“I love bad horror and action films.”
“Don’t we all?” He grinned and then gestured to Alvarez. “Well, except my brother. He hates horror movies and is scared of clowns, so he wouldn’t have remembered the line.”
“I remembered and I’m not afraid of clowns. I just don’t appreciate them around me.” Alvarez ceased his fidgeting. “Get on with the rest of the questions.”
“Fine. You never like to have fun.” Hex brushed away a bug that landed on his leg. “Since you love horror and action, I’ll say a movie in another genre. ‘Your love is like a tower—’”
“‘Arching high above everyone around you and showering them in forgiveness.’ That’s Finley’s line in After One Goodbye. FYI, the actor who played Finley wrote and directed the film.” I exhausted all of my energy in maintaining a neutral expression. A mocking smile begged to burst from my face, but I remained calm. I still needed to get another quote correct. Now that he knew I was good with movies, he would make the lines more difficult.