You and I will be alright

Chapter Fourteen

Parker

I enjoyed Halloween for many reasons. When I was a young girl I was obsessed with dressing up to go trick or treating, as well as for school if the holiday happened to fall on a weekday. My go-to costume was a vampire since it was easy and probably was and still is my favorite monster. When I got older I fell in love with horror movies. So when I got too old for trick or treating, my brothers and I would buy candy and watch movies all night, regardless if we had school the next day. Those may be some of my most fond memories. All throughout October I felt excited for the holiday, even if I didn't hold those same traditions anymore. I had dug up my favorite horror DVDs and I decorated the apartment a little over the last week or so. Maverick had come home one day and had laughed at the little bats I hung on the wall.

Today was Friday, and Halloween itself, and I was walking from my car to the apartment complex, trying to juggle my school bag and two pumpkins in my hands. I think I'd feel a bit empty tomorrow if I hadn't carved a pumpkin this season. As I dug my keys from my pocket, I almost dropped one on the ground but was able to save it. I was feeling much more like myself as this month passed on. I was slowly forgetting about that bullshit that happened with Aidan, and I made more of an effort to chat more with my brothers. Michael the most, as per usual. I had kinda been ghosting them a bit after that shit went down on my mom's birthday. But every free minute I had I was playing games online with Michael or just chatting with him on the phone. I was looking forward to Thanksgiving this year, it was at my dad's house and it would give me time to see him and all three brothers. Maybe even Will's girlfriend Samantha- I don't even remember the last time when I saw her. The amount of times I've seen her was minimal but I remember how kind she is. I assume my grandparents would also be there. They were getting older, as grandparents did.

When I made it inside the apartment I placed the pumpkins on the kitchen counter and went to my room to change into some comfortable clothes and put my school bag away. I grabbed the bags of candy I had shoved in there from my grocery store trip and threw them on my bed. I was a little bit sad that this year I wasn't home for halloween, cause then I couldn't hand out candy to trick or treaters, which was something I had only started doing the last few years, since my dad got too tired to entertain the idea. I didn't mind taking over. I guess I could have planned to go over tonight but I like the idea of staying here and eating candy and watching scary movies with Maverick. He seemed cool with it when I brought it up during the week, not having too much care. I sometimes forget people didn't care for Halloween the older they got. I know some people consider it a children's holiday. I changed into some sweatpants, a long sleeve with a t-shirt overtop that had some ghosts on it. It was festive but also kept it casual. I opened my door and sat at my PC, turning it on and googling some pumpkin carving ideas. As much as I liked carving pumpkins I was pretty bad at it, and even worse with coming up with my own original ideas. I listened to some music and time flew by. Suddenly, I heard the apartment door open and heard Maverick call out 'hey'.

"Hey!" I called back from my room, my eyes seeing it was nearing 4:30. I got off my chair and walked to my doorway, leaning on the frame. "Happy Halloween!" I chime. Maverick was leaning against the wall, untying his work boots and dropping them onto the boot mat. He was wearing jeans, a long sleeve with a hoodie on top and of course, it was all smeared in paint. His long locks hung in front of his face, his hands looked pretty cold. When he stood upright I noticed the tip of his nose and the apples of his cheeks were pink. I found myself taking him in a lot this last little while. As I said before, it wasn't wrong to notice attractiveness. You know in those shows or movies when women say 'I love a man in uniform'? I think I understood where they were coming from. When Maverick came home covered in paint and dirt and he looked a little disheveled, I found it to be a good look. There was just something alluring behind it. I was getting a bit concerned though with the amount I was thinking of him, looks wise, but I tried to pass it off as I was just being my observant self. I didn't want to overthink it and weird myself out, or uncover things in myself that I didn't want to.