#she's like soooo chill about money i think she's trying to compensate for my parents she's always like broooo I'll buy u clothes airdopes

[delicatetaysversion]

i was scanning the qr code from my sister's phone to pay for dinner and i entered the pin by myself and then i was teasing her ki hawww mujhe aapka gpay ka pin pata hai suna nahi rbi kehta hai apna pin kisi ko nahi batana chahiye and she said 'aise kya hi le legi jo tere hak ka nahi hai' and im 😭

[saphyrenights]

confession...

i’ve never told anyone this, but it was weighing on my heart and mind, so here you go. a confession.

in early 1999 when i was 14 years old, a movie came out that i really, really wanted to see, but none of my friends would go with me to see it, even though i dropped hints for weeks leading up to its release and even begged and pleaded for at least one of them to come with me. they had no desire to see this movie, and they were surprised that i did. because of the nature of this movie, there was no way i felt confident enough to go see it by myself. that wasn’t even an option for me. i continued pestering my friends about it, and they kept telling me no, but i was determined to see this movie.

the problem was that none of us were in the target demographic for this film. like, at all. it was aimed at really young children and their families, not teenagers who were on the cusp of getting learner’s permits, entering high school, and trying to establish their coolness prior to starting a new phase in life. me, i didn’t care about any of that. i just wanted to watch a movie.

enter my 6-year-old cousin. her sister was a senior in high school and hardly ever wanted to spend one-on-one time with her. it wasn’t like her sister was trying to neglect her or anything. it’s just that college was looming on the horizon and she needed to do all she could to secure her spot as class valedictorian and participate in tons of extracurriculars for her college applications. i completely understood. which is why i graciously offered to babysit my little cousin one saturday while their parents had some quality time and the older sister could chill and not stress so much for a little bit. i did it out of the goodness of my heart with no ulterior motives whatsoever.

i called over to their house and had my aunt tell my bb cousin that we were going to the movies. the kid was excited. she asked what movie we were going to see. my aunt told her. i didn’t hear anything on their end of the line for a few long seconds. this 6-year-old was like, “i don’t want to see that.” apparently, she’d seen the trailers on tv and decided the movie was stupid. so, i was faced with the realization that not only did my too-cool-for-school friends think the movie was stupid (we were all huge nerds, so idk why they were clowning ME so hard), but a 1st grader told me the same thing. was there really something wrong with this movie? how was i the only person i knew who wanted to see this? and what was it going to take to get someone to see this with me?

turns out you can very easily bribe tf out of kids. all it took was me offering to pay for the ice cream scoop of her choice from the knockoff coldstone creamery next door after the movie. it was a deal. her mom agreed to take us there and pick us up. she thanked me for volunteering to spend quality time with my sweet lil cousin. i was like, “haha, don’t mention it.”

when we got to the theater, i walked my cousin and myself up to the ticket counter and loudly asked her, “are you sure you want to see this?” she looked at me like i’d lost my mind, so i just shook my head and sighed. “two for baby geniuses,” i told the girl behind the plexiglass. she took the money and handed us two tickets. i thanked her and then rolled my eyes like i was SOOOO embarrassed. but i wasn’t, really. i was faking. i had to cover my excitement, and that was the best way i knew how to do it.

my cousin hated the movie. i could tell she was trying to give it a chance, but she kept glancing at me during particularly dumb parts and asking questions. i tried to explain things to her as best i could, but i was mostly there to absorb everything i could about the film. the groundbreaking technology, the unnecessarily complicated plot, the ridiculous action, i needed to soak in and experience all of it. the movie was terrible but it still almost felt like a religious experience. i don’t regret using a child as a cover to see it, and all my friends who refused to see it with me missed out.

that’s what i told myself when i was flexing on my friends about it the next week at school, anyway. i never admitted to anyone that i’d bribed my bb cousin, my own flesh and blood, to act as a cover for me in case anyone happened to see me in the theatre. she got ice cream out of the deal, so i felt she received proper compensation.

so, that’s my confession. it’s been 21 long years. feels good to get that off my chest. would i do it again? nah. we can just stream stuff now lol