A New Life

Pumpkin Picking

I decided to stop thinking about the wedding, unless I really had to. Eric invited me to go pumpkin picking with his family, and I agreed on one condition. He had to come with me to go apple picking with my family tomorrow, he agreed. 

It was a bit chilly today, so I got dressed in an orange sweatshirt, jeans, and my Tim's, of course. I put in contacts with little makeup, and and put my hair in double braids. If I were wearing overalls, people would mistake me as an employee. Eric picked me up at 10:00am and I got in the backseat of his car with him. His sister sat awkwardly on the edge of her seat. Eric's parents greeted me from the front seat.  It was never awkward around them, they loved me. We talked the whole way to the pumpkin patch. At one point, Mala (Eric's mom) brought up my birthday that was coming up.

"Well yea, my birthday is coming up this November." I told Mala. 

"What day dear?" She asked. 

"November 2nd." I say. 

"We'll have to throw ya a party!" Michael (Eric's dad) said excitedly. 

"Ehh no need for all that!" I assure them. 

"Oh c'mon Audge! It'd be so much fun!" Eric pleads. Never seen him this anxious before! 

"Alright fine!" I tell them. 

"Yes!" I heard Eric whisper. 

"How old are you turning dear?" Mala asked. 

"16 Mala." I said to her. 

"Oh geez! That's a big deal!! For Eric's 16th, since it's in January, we had this huge snow fight thing." She said. 

"Wow! We're gonna need to plan a very big party! And I'm thinking an all Fall theme." He said, as Mala pulled up to the pumpkin patch's parking lot. 

"Okay. Here we are!" Mala squealed. She seemed more excited than Eric's sister, who hadn't said a word the whole way. 

We got into the lobby, payed admission, and rented a wagon. I offered to pay them back, but they automatically denied. We headed out toward the patch, Michael pulling the wagon. Eric wanted to pick out an extra pumpkin for me and him to carve later on. I picked that pumpkin. A nice round fat one. So many tasty pumpkin seeds were going to come out of all these pumpkins. Eric's sister picked out a pretty small pumkin, and Eric and his parents picked out medium pumkins. Michael lugged all 5 pumpkins on the wagon. After we payed for them, we loaded them up into the car. Then we went to the snack stand near the pumpkin patch. There they sold apple cider, apple cider donuts, pumpkin coffees, pumpkin donuts, just pumpkin and apple everything. All in which I loved. I ordered an apple cider and an apple cider donut. I pulled out the money I had slipped in my back pocket earlier, and Eric's parents already payed for it. They assured me that I'm their guest so I don't have to pay for anything, but when they weren't looking I bought a pumpkin donut and some kettle corn with my own money. We sat down at the picnic table and indulged in our treats. Oh my goodness. I LOVE FALL. 

When we got back to town, me and Eric stopped into the hardware store to get some carving knives and scoopers for the guts. We arrived at their house, fully decked in Fall decor, and smelling of apple candles. Eric carved his pumpkin as I helped his sister Julia with hers. This could be my chance to finallly get close to her. She actually talked to me. I helped her carve a cat into her pumpkin after scooping it, and we put a candle inside. She took a picture and posted it on Skittler. Eric was done with his zombie pumpkin by then, and we began scooping out our pumpkin, guts in a bowl, seeds on a plate. We decided to carve a few leaves in it all around the pumpkin. It would look so cool on his balcony. When all of us were done with our pumpkins, we rinsed all of the seeds and put them on a pan, sprinkling them with salt and putting them in the oven. While waiting for them to cook, me and Eric went outside. We climbed the ladder to his old rickety tree house. It was cute. Eric had built it with his dad when he was 11, Julia's age. 

"Julia really isn't in to stuff like this, so this is just kinda my special personal place." He explained. 

"Then why'd you bring me up here?" I asked grinning. 

"Because your special to me." He said, wrapping his arms around me. I glared through one of the small makeshift windows, looking at the leaves. They were gorgeous. He turned my face towards his. "Audrey, you know I really really love you." 

"I think I love you more." I replied.

"I don't think that's possible." He said, leaning in to  kiss me. We sat there, in the old rickety tree house, on a cold Autumn day, kissing until his Mom called us in for pumpkin seeds.  Then we reluctantly went inside, him putting his arms around me. 

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