Never Say Never

Chapter 11

Wednesday is Halloween, which as far as Camila is concerned, marks the start of the holiday season, her favorite time of year.

Leo is so excited that he practically vibrates the whole day, and when she finally lets him put on his costume (which he's been asking for ever since Lauren had left for work that morning), she doesn't think she's ever seen a happier little boy.

One he's all dressed up, Camila sends Lauren a snap of him to get her through the rest of her workday, before she takes Leo back to her apartment building.

They pass dozens of kids already out trick-or-treating on the way, and Leo watches them with wide eyes, holding his own little pumpkin-shaped basket that Camila had gotten him for his candy tightly in his hands.

Camila's costume is relatively simple this year – she'd gone with a witch, opting for a black floaty dress and donning a pointy hat on her head, Halloween themed tights covering her bare legs.

When they get to her building she lets Leo loose on the first floor, and it isn't long before his basket is nearly overflowing with candy.

She suggests they eat some before knocking on a final few doors, and he's only too eager to share, and Camila takes another photo of his face smeared with chocolate and sends that to Lauren, too.

Once they're done she takes Leo back to her apartment to wait for Lauren to come and get him, and shows him her favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus , and tries to limit his intake of candy for the night so that he's not bouncing off the walls by the time Lauren arrives.

The knock on the door comes just after the movie ends, and Camila is quick to answer it and let Lauren inside.

"You have Halloween decorations?" Is the first thing Lauren says, eyes flickering around Camila's apartment.

"Are you really surprised?" Camila asks, and Lauren's smile is wry.

"No, I suppose not." She's nearly bowled over by an over enthusiastic astronaut a moment later. "Hi, Leo," she laughs, "have you had a good night?"

"The best ! I got so much candy! Come look!" He takes Lauren's hands and pulls her over to Camila's coffee table, where his basket awaits.

"I hope all those wrappers aren't yours, young man." There's a pile of them on the table, and Camila sheepishly sweeps them into her nearby bin.

"Most of those are definitely mine," she admits, "but you didn't mind sharing, did you, buddy?" Leo shakes his head, and Camila ruffles his hair. "I tried to keep him from eating too much," she tells Lauren, "I didn't want him to be too hyper for you."

"Thank you." She turns towards Leo. "Shall we get going, sweetheart? I'm sure Camila has plans."

"Only watching a stupidly scary movie at my sister's place." She makes a face. "Which I am not in any hurry for." Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Leo yawn. "Although the little guy probably needs his bed."

They leave not long after, but only after Leo, bless his heart, empties out half of his candy haul onto her coffee table to thank her for taking him trick-or-treating. She gives him a hug and waves goodbye to Lauren before changing out of her costume and making the short walk a couple of blocks over to Sofi and Maggie's place.

The three of them curl up on the couch, and Camila gets her pillow ready to hide her eyes. There's popcorn, but Maggie tells her sternly she's not allowed to hold it, because the last time Sofi had made her watch a scary movie, Camila had jumped so violently that Maggie had still found popcorn littered around the room three weeks after the event itself.