Halloween
There were no trick-or-treaters at the Abramson house, in small part because all of the house lights were off, and in large part because there was a sign at the front gate reading, “No trick-or-treaters — God is Always Watching!"Ordinarily, it was a sore spot for Keith.However, that Halloween was different. He was standing outside of the Rutledge house several blocks away, waiting for a small crowd of children and teenagers to clear out of his way. A few parents stood nearby, and after what felt like too long, one of the dads finally noticed that Keith wasn't waiting for the candy."Kids, come on, move off to the side so this nice boy can get by, alright?"The trick-or-treaters moved to one side of the steps leading to the porch, and Keith slipped past them quietly, amused as he spotted the pumpkin-shaped bowl they were hovering around on the porch's wooden railing. The paper sign next to it read, "Help Yourself — If It's Empty, We're Out!"Keith briefly considered grabbing something from the bowl, but instead knocked on the door.From the other side of the door, he heard a loud, exaggerated howl, and then the door swung inward as Jack opened it."Awooooooooo! Happy Howloweeeeeen!"Jack wore a shredded pair of jeans and an equally shredded flannel shirt that was completely unbuttoned, revealing his hair-covered torso. He had furry, Halloween store wolf paws on his hands, and he raised them as though he was going to swipe at Keith.Despite himself, Keith laughed."What, not scared of me?" Jack said, pulling Keith into the house and closing the door behind them. "I'm a werewolf, you should be worried I'll bite you or somethin'.""You've bitten me before, I'll be fine," Keith shot back, getting a grin out of Jack in the process. "You look more like a lumberjack, anyway. Like, a sexy lumberjack, but a lumberjack.""A lumberjack with wolf paws?" Jack said. When Keith said nothing in response, Jack rolled his eyes and pulled off the wolf claw gloves. "Fine, whatever, sexy lumberjack it is.""You look good, Jack.""Thanks. Figured I should try to make it fun for ya, since you can't dress up yourself." Jack sat down on the living room sofa and spread out comfortably across two cushions before gesturing for Keith to sit as well."So what's the plan?" Keith asked as he sat down. "Just TV until your parents get home?""They won't be back until late," Jack said. "They keep the store open until 10 for Halloween since people like to drink during holidays, so it's just you an' me an' the pizzas that are gonna be here in about 15 minutes.""What kind?" Keith asked."Anchovy with pineapple." Keith mimed throwing up, which got a laugh from Jack as he added, "Just pepperoni, nothin' fancy. I got us some soda too, figured—"Jack stopped talking mid-sentence as the phone attached to the wall started ringing. "If that's my mom, I swear," Keith muttered."You know it's your mom," Jack said as he got up and crossed the room to answer it. “Nobody ever calls us but your mom.”"Rutledge residence, Jack speaking—hi, Mrs. Abramson." Jack's usually casual speech pattern vanished with practiced ease as he put on his speaking to parents voice, his normally low, grumbled baritone pitching up just slightly and getting notably clearer and easier to understand. "Yeah, Keith made it over just fine. Thanks for letting him come by, my parents are both working tonight, so—yeah, yeah. It's nice to have someone else here since there are so many people out. No, no trick-or-treating for us, just pizza, maybe a movie depending on what's on TV, that's all."Keith shook his head in disbelief as Jack ran through every detail he'd told his mom before he'd left to see Jack in the first place, but Jack just grinned at him as he spoke."No horror movies, got it. Yeah, I'll make sure he gets home safe. By 10, right? Right, got it. Will do. Okay, bye!"When Jack hung up the phone, he glanced over at Keith, an incredulous grin on his face. "No horror movies? Since when?""Satan might be behind them, I dunno," Keith replied with a sigh."'Kay, well, that's settled then, horror movie it is." Jack plopped himself back down on the sofa next to Keith a second later, sitting closer than he had been. "Because in the words of Michael Jackson, now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together…"He leaned in and wrapped his arms around Keith, who snorted and rolled his eyes before teasingly pushing Jack's face away. "Shut up."Jack started singing the rest of Thriller passionately and off-key as he continued to rest his body against Keith's, both of them settling into a comfortable position on the sofa even as Jack put on his bad rendition.When Jack stopped singing, Keith said, "So was that the trick part of Halloween?""It is, and now you get the treat," Jack murmured before gently pressing a kiss to Keith's cheek."I think I could get used to this Halloween thing, then," Keith said as he let his head rest against Jack's.
ikazon