the boy next door • jenzie

7 | I Forgot

Kenzie crinkles her nose as Johnny explains the plan for tonight, Halloween. "A barn party?" she questions.

He nods. "The whole senior class is going to be there. There's food, music, and beer. What else do you want?"

"For it not to be in a barn!" she exclaims. "Aren't there like pigs or cows or something in barns?"

Johnny gives her a look that says shut up and sighs. "Just put on a costume, and I'll be outside your window to pick you up at eight."

He backs away from the windowsill he was standing at, and Kenzie pulls it back down.

Forty minutes later, at eight o'clock on the dot, Johnny knocks on the window, one hand over his eyes in case she's not already dressed. She takes one last Snapchat selfie to send to Ashton before she hops off her bed and makes her way over to the window, slipping her phone into the back pocket of her black jeans.

"Aw, you're a cat," Johnny states as she slides out the window, flicking the black cat ears attached to her headband.

She looks at him and scrunches her eyebrows together. "What are you?"

He shrugs. "I dunno. It ain't actually a costume party."

"Why did you tell me it was?" she screeches.

"I thought it'd be funny," he explains.

She crosses her arms and turns back towards her house.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"To take off my fucking cat ears!" she screams.

"Oh no you ain't," he says, marching up behind her and dragging her back.

"I'm going to look like an idiot!" she exclaims, flailing around to try to escape.

He releases her, and she stumbles forward. "No you won't. You look cute."

She gives him her best death glare and begins towards her bedroom window once again, forcing Johnny to scoop her up in his arms bridal style.

"Put me down!" she hisses.

He carries her into her own backyard and walks over to the fence the divides the grassy area from the pigs' area. He finds an area on the perimeter that is absolutely filthy and hangs Kenzie over it.

"You keep the ears on, or you go in with the pigs," he threatens.

"Put me down!" she repeats.

He lowers her down a little more, and she finally surrenders.

"Okay, okay! I'll wear the ears. Just stop this," she begs.

A victorious smile on his face, he brings her back over to the grassy side of the fence and puts her on her feet. She immediately begins to slap him and tell him that she hates him.

"You love me, and you know it," he teases.

~ ~ ~

They make the ten-minute walk to the barn and enter it. Kenzie is surprised at how wrong her assumptions had been about the place. There were no animals or really any farm equipment in the barn at all. The middle had a shiny wooden dance floor set up, the DJ stand in the front. Tables covered with food and drinks lined one of the walls while couches lined the others, couples making out in a way that would get them removed from the town if they did it in public. All the girls are dressed slightly more scandalously than usual. It may not be what she's used to on Halloween, but it certainly exceeds her expectations.

Brynn comes running over to the two, dragging Hayden along with her. "You Haydene! Johnny had me all worried that you were going to bail."

"He may or may not have dragged me part of the way here," Kenzie says.

Brynn takes Kenzie's hand and starts pulling her away from the two boys. "I need to talk to you about something."

~ ~ ~

"Stop staring at her," Hayden says. "It's creepy."

"I'm not," Johnny grumbles.

"Yes you are," he repeats.

"So what?" Johnny asks. "You stare at Brynn constantly."

Hayden shakes his head. "Yeah 'cause I've been dating her for almost six months. Just tell Kenzie that you love her already."

"I don't love her," he mumbles, not believing it himself.

Hayden cocks his eyebrow. "C'mon man. We all know you do. It ain't a bad thing."

"Hayden, she has a boyfriend. She's in love with him. Nothing good will come out of me telling her that I love her."

"I see the way she looks at you. There's no way she still loves her boyfriend if she's looking at you the way she does," Hayden explains.

Johnny shakes his head. "She talks about him all the time. She does love him, and I ain't about to tell a guy's girlfriend that I love her. That's wrong. How would you feel if someone told Brynn that he loves her?"

Hayden frowns and walks away from Johnny, quickly making his way across the barn to where Brynn and Kenzie are standing.

He wraps his arms around Brynn from behind and kisses her shoulder. "You're going to love me forever and only love me, right? You're not ever gonna love someone else, right?"

Brynn giggles. "Hayden, what's going on?"

"Johnny is over there talking all kinds of crazy, and I just want to make sure," he explains.

"Yes, baby, I will love you forever," she tells him.

Kenzie looks over at Johnny and walks over to him.

"What were you guys talking about?" Johnny asks.

Kenzie laughs. "She was asking me for advice about some anniversary thing. What about you guys?"

He replies, "Oh, nothing really."

"Sounds real exciting," she jokes.

"Actually," he says, "I, uh, I need to tell you something."

She nods her head, indicating for him to go on. In his own mind, he's reciting silent prayers for him not to make a total fool out of himself by what he's going to do.

Kenzie's phone rings, and she pulls it out of her pocket to check the caller ID. "Oh, shoot, can you hold that thought?"

Johnny nods his head.

"Hey, baby," she says, walking away from Johnny.

By the time she returns from her call with Ashton, Johnny's moment of bravery has passed.

"What did you want to tell me?" she asks.

He shrugs. "I forgot."