A Deal With God

Chapter 12: Trick-or-Treat

"Come on, can we go now?" Mike groaned, getting frustrated by the second round of pictures today.

"Just one more and you can be on your way," Karen Wheeler said gleefully, snapping her Polaroid camera while Jonathon switched to the video camera, satisfied with the different stances the boys and Quinn had posed in.

The Ghostbusters' costumes had been pretty straightforward to put together. The boys' Moms each worked on a jumpsuit and the boys fashioned their proton packs and other accessories themselves. Quinn's costume request threw Joyce for such a loop, she actually went to the other Moms for help.

"You want to be the giant Marshmallow Man?" Claudia Henderson asked in surprise. Joyce had brought Quinn along to the tea Karen Wheeler had organised so the Moms could brainstorm the kids' Halloween plans back in July.

"How about Dana Barnett? She's the female lead and the damsel in distress," Karen suggested to Quinn who was seated in between Joyce and Erica Sinclair who looked bored out of her mind, given that she had no intention of joining in on this nerd spectacle.

"I would rather cause distress than be the one in it," Quinn replied politely, taking a sip of her tea, her eyes never wavering from Karen's. The Moms looked at each other, uncertain of what to say to that.

"The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man it is, then," Sue Sinclair declared, seeing her own daughter marvel at the older girl that was clearly going to grow up to be a strong, independent woman capable of saving herself if need be.

Together, the Moms adapted the costume so that it was recognisable but also still feminine. Using a white sweatshirt and white jeans as the base layers, Karen bunched up white tule to make the sleeves look like the character's big arms. Sue and Claudia figured out how to turn a white beret into a passing sailor's cap, and Joyce sewed the blue sailor's collar with the red neckerchief. Quinn was clearly very pleased with the result, emerging from her room with a visible smile on her face, not the usual shadow of a smile that was gone if you blinked.

"Alright, you kids have fun tonight," Karen waved to the group as she made her way back inside the house.

"Hey," Jonathon caught Quinn's attention as the boys ran around each other with their pillow cases. She looked up at him attentively.

"Do you think you could handle this on your own? If I went off...," Jonathon said softly.

"If you went off to get 'sheet-faced' at Tina's party?" Quinn finished for him, making quotation marks with her fingers when referring to the flyer for Tina's Halloween Bash. He looked down at his feet. He didn't want to put her in a difficult spot, this was her first Halloween after all, she was supposed to have fun too.

"I don't mind, but you should probably bring it up with Will more than me," she replied. Jonathon looked at her hopefully.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" He asked before he could stop himself. The inquisitive quirk of her brow spoke volumes. He dropped his face in his hands. "Of course you can handle it," he said more to himself than to her.

"Will?" She called the younger boy over. He jogged over, coming to a stop in front of the teens with a puzzled look on his face. Quinn turned to Jonathon, waiting expectantly for him to speak to his younger brother.

"Hey, listen. If I leave you on your own with Quinn, you promise to stay in the neighbourhood?" Jonathon asked tentatively, watching Will's face brighten with each word. The conversation they had on Movie Night made it abundantly clear to Jonathon that Will wasn't all that interested in spending every waking moment with his older brother.

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah, totally!" Will replied eagerly.

"And be back at Mike's by 9:00," Jonathon added.

"9:30?" Will pressed.