Endless || Jonah Marais ✓

♪ THIRTY-NINE ♪

"Halloween is in two weeks," Aurora informs the group as she walks into the living room, purposefully dropping in between Carmen and Zach on the loveseat, much to the younger boy's dismay as he begrudgingly scoots over. "We need to start thinking about costumes."

"I love Halloween!" Carmen grins, having forgotten her favorite holiday is so close.

"I heard Halloween," Callie says, re-entering the living room with an armful of snacks.

"That's the topic," Aurora clarifies, jokingly resting her head on Zach's shoulder, who immediately pushes her back up. "I've had some damn good costumes over the years, and I don't plan on losing that legacy this year."

"Really?" Jonah chuckles, glancing up at her as he claims a spot on the floor in front of her legs. "What kind of costumes have you had?"

"Well, last year Mark and I went as the-"

She cuts herself off, a frown appearing on her crestfallen face as she thinks back. This is going to be her first Halloween without Mark. Carmen squeezes her hand reassuringly, as if reading her thoughts. With a huff, Aurora decides to change the subject, not wanting the environment to turn dreary.

"The point is we need badass costumes. Like the Joker and Harley Quinn."

Jonah gives her a worried look, but doesn't say anything about the sudden change in tone. He knows she'll talk to him about it when she's ready.

"Or Tris and Four," Carmen suggests, gesturing to the movie playing on the screen with her uninjured arm.

"Caramel could be Tris," Aurora muses. "But Heroin isn't sexy enough to be Four."

"Hey!" Zach cries out indignantly, causing the others to laugh.

"I don't know what the four of you are laughing about," Aurora says, referring to the boys. "None of you are either."

"Rude," Jonah mutters, crossing his arms.

"It's not rude if it's true, Marais," she teases. "Have you seen those abs? He is the definition of perfection."

"Look!" Callie yells excitedly. "It's his shirtless scene!"

"YAY!"

"NOPE," Jonah declares, lunging for the remote to turn the television off. "We are not watching that."

"Hey!" Carmen protests, her face falling instantly. Zach and Jonah, on the other hand, appear relieved. Smirking, Aurora pulls out her phone.

"Don't worry," she reassures Carmen and Callie. "I have pictures of him."

Jonah immediately snatches the phone from her hands. "That's where I draw the line."

Before Aurora could retort, Daniel decides to join the conversation. "Who plays Four?"

"Theo James," she replies steadily. "But his full name is Theo Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis, which is Greek, I believe."

"I'm not even surprised you know that," Corbyn admits from across the room.

"Okay, that's enough about him!" Zach chimes in. "Let's get back to Halloween costumes."

The couples begin to talk, leaving Daniel and Corbyn to themselves. As Carmen and Zach turn to each other, Aurora slides into the floor to sit next to Jonah.

"We need great costumes for our first Halloween together," she informs him. "Do you want to do a scary approach or a cute couple's thing?"

"Whatever you want to do," Jonah answers, smiling as she groans in frustration.

"You're no help at all." Aurora crosses her arms, brainstorming by herself since Jonah will only agree with anything she suggests. "We could go for a superhero theme. I'd make an amazing Captain America. Or Iron-"

Aurora cuts herself off with a gasp, smacking Jonah's arms excitedly as she gets a better idea.

"We could be McSteamy and Lexie! Or Alex and Izzy- no, scratch that one because Izzy is a bitch. Alex and Jo! Or-" Her ramble continues as she goes through the couple of Grey's Anatomy. Finally, her mind lands on the perfect one. "McDreamy and Mer! You do have the right hair for it, if we style it in the right way."

"I have no idea what that means," Jonah admits, chuckling as she runs a hand through his hair. "But I'll take that as a compliment."

××××

"CARAMEL!" Aurora yells from the kitchen, shutting the refrigerator door. "CARAMEL!"

Everyone in the house is asleep, due to the unofficial nap time. But Aurora knows her friend is the lightest sleeper out of the entire group.

"What?" Carmen exclaims, slowly entering the kitchen on her crutches. "You're going to wake everyone else up if you continue shouting like that."

"I wasn't screaming." She smirks, jumping onto the counter top. "THIS IS SCREAMING!"

"So, anyways," she redirects the topic as if she hadn't just burst Carmen's eardrums. "What costume did you decide on for Halloween this year? I know Callie wants to do something from Grease."

"I've decided on Minnie Mouse," Carmen says, cautiously leaning against the island. "Now, what do you really want?"

"Am I not allowed to have a conversation with my best friend without having anterior motives?" Aurora questions, pretending to be offended.

Carmen fixes her with a look, simply raising an eyebrow and not saying anything else.

"Fine," she grumbles. "We're taking a trip to Walmart while the others are sleeping."

"You do know that Zach will flip out if he wakes up and I'm not here, right?" Carmen asks, looking quite hesitant.

"The key word is if, Caramel," she informs her, taking a sip of her coffee. "Besides, we'll leave a note. And, if he still chooses to flip out, we both know I can handle him."

Carmen doesn't respond, appearing indecisive to Aurora.

"Please, Caramel," she pleads with the girl. "We haven't went anywhere together without having at least one of the guys around.

"Okay," Carmen finally agrees, a smile tugging at her lips.

"YAY!" Aurora squeals, grabbing a Post-It notepad and ink pen from the top of the microwave.

"Leave it somewhere they can find it," Carmen advises.

"Have some faith in me, Caramel," the girl teases, climbing down from the counter. "I'm sticking it on Heroin's forehead."