my salvation (chris evans)

chapter twenty two - happy halloween

Halloween is almost here. Tomorrow. Chris and I are currently at his mum's, carving pumpkins with his niece and nephews. I'm trying to carve Harry Potter into my pumpkin, but it's a lot harder than it looks. It's my first ever go at pumpkin carving, so I don't think I'm doing too bad all things considered.

"What on earth are you doing to that poor pumpkin?" Chris asks me, making me smile and roll my eyes, nudging him.

"It's Harry Potter!" He raises his eyebrows.

"On crack?" I gasp dramatically, making him burst out laughing.

"What's crack, uncle Chris?" Stella asks curiously.

"Yeah, Chris, what is crack, hm?" I add, giving him sass. He smiles and shakes his head, before looking over at Stella.

"Nothing, sweetie. Just some bad magic Harry Potter was on." I nudge him again, making him laugh.

"What are you carving, Stella?" I ask her, trying to change the subject.

"Minnie Mouse!" She beams, spinning her pumpkin around so I can see her progress.

"Ah, it's coming along n-nicely! What about you, guys?" I ask Ethan and Miles, sickness in my stomach, worrying if I'm saying the right thing, saying it the right way, wondering if they like me.

"I'm trying to do Darth Vader." Ethan answers, turning his pumpkin to me. "Harder than I thought."

"Well, it's looking g-great. Much b-better than my... I'm not sure I can even call th-this Harry Potter." Chris laughs and the kids giggle, and I end up laughing too.

"I'm doing Dodger." Miles tells us, showing us. Both Chris and I smile.

"That's great, buddy. Dodger will love it." Miles smiles proudly.

"What about you th-then? What are you carving?" I ask Chris, trying to take a sneak peak.

"Hey, no peaking! It's a surprise."

"Awww, no. Show us." I pout, before starting to smile and chant 'show us'. The kids join in too.

"Okay, okay, fine! I'm doing Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas." He says, spinning his pumpkin round to show us his progress. And already it's so good. I dread to think how it's going to look when he's done. He's so good at everything. How is that possible? And a character from one of my absolute favourite Halloween films? Ugh, dreamy.

"That's really good, uncle Chris." Ethan says and he smiles proudly.

"Ugh, you're so t-talented." I mumble, making him laugh again. "How the heck do you carve that into a p-pumpkin!?" He shrugs easily.

"The real question is, how do you screw up glasses and a scar that much?" He jokes and I laugh, rolling my eyes.

"Hey, cut m-me some slack! Th-This is the first time I've ever done this!" Miles and Stella gasp.

"You've never carved pumpkins before?" Stella asks in shock and I shake my head.

"What did you do instead?" Miles questions.

"Um, well, n-nothing. We didn't r-really celebrate Halloween in m-my house."

"Oh my gahd, what kind of childhood did you have?" Chris says dramatically, flicking pumpkin guts at me.

"Oi!" I say, throwing it back at him. "My mum hates it."

"Your mom hates Halloween!? I don't believe it. Your mom is cool." I laugh and roll my eyes, as he flicks more pumpkin at me.

"Oooooiiiii!" He grins boyishly. "Behave!"

"Outrageous suggestion. I shall not." He states, flicking again. I flick them back at him, and then the kids join in, to which we all start laughing. Chris picks Stella up, using her as a block.