Logan

33. Halloween, Part 1

It was a foggy morning, and it had been a few days since Logan and I shared intimacy, but I still woke up with the same 'no talk until coffee' attitude. I didn't see Logan in my bed, so I figured he'd gone to the kitchen. I came out of my room in a daze, the curtains were still drawn and the house was still dark, the time read 6:45 am. The only light was a small glow from the streetlight outside. I wrapped my arms around Logan's shadow, with him slightly moving at my touch.

"Sorry I scared you," I slightly whispered. I could smell his shampoo, that slight hint of pine. It was heavenly, and as I slid my hands down his shirt, he didn't protest. So I moved my hand up under his shirt, gently feeling him against my skin. He only let out a slight groan before he moved my hand away.

"Wrong brother, Tali." It was Damien. I couldn't move for a moment, I was purely in shock. He sighed, stepping out of my space. "I would be lying if I said I didn't want you to touch me, but...you know." He shrugged his shoulders before reaching up to the shelf for a cup.

"Shit, I'm so sorry," I immediately stepped to the sink to wash my hands, "I didn't know you cut your hair." I turned off the water and faced him. He poured some coffee into the cup and passed it onto me.

He ruffled a bang out of his face, before giving a small grin. "I needed my hair to match the changes in my life." He looked at the big bucket on the counter, "What's this?"

"Oh, my mom usually puts together teal pumpkin bags together for the kids that have allergies. Alex is actually allergic to peanuts, which makes festivities pretty difficult for a kid like him. It's something dear to our hearts. She makes other bags for the kids who can have candy, but she puts them in boxes instead so dad can tell the difference." I loved the way Halloween brought our family together, we made it fun.

"So what do you even do for Halloween?" Damien asked. My ears perked up at his weird question.

"Halloween stuff, you know."

Damien shook his head. "Actually, I don't."

"What do you mean?"

Damien looked away for a moment, took a sip of his coffee, and then back at me. "I mean, I know what Halloween is, but I never really got to do the whole trick-or-treat thing. My dad was always working on Halloween, so I mostly got the leftover candy from his work. I never dressed up, even when I was in Cali, and even if I did, I just looked like myself."

I sped over to the living room, and scavenged for the album. Mom had made a Halloween album every year since we were kids, even now she still does it.

They are all in one book, we don't take enough pictures since we got out of high school. I turned on a small light, and opened the book. There were even a few photos of Scarlet and Logan, the first few years that they moved in, right up until Logan went away for a few years to travel. Then it was just me, Alex and Scarlet.

"Wow, you guys all did Halloween together?" Damien said sadly, "I wish I had been there." His finger lightly traced over a photo of me, as a cowgirl.

"I had some pretty cringe-worthy costume choices in my formative years." I laughed, "this year we're still having the party on Halloween day. We're only three days away so we're going to be watching scary movies for the next few days right up until the party. On the 30th, we're planning on making Halloween cookies and treats. Allergy friendly, of course."

Damien just nodded, "Cool. So no gigs until it's over?"

I nodded, "We like to spend the holidays together, no matter which holiday comes along. It's dorky, and sometimes lame, but-

"It's your family. I wish I'd had that." Damien kept turning the pages on the album slowly.

"You're coming to the festivities too, you know that right? You're one of us now, there's no going back." I felt terrible for even bringing these things up, in all honesty. It looked like it was really bumming him out.

"But I don't have a costume," he groaned, "I don't even know what I would be." He looked at me, "What are you going to be for Halloween?"

I grinned, "You're just going to have to wait, it's a surprise. But as for you, who do you want to be?"

Damien's eyes lit up, as he finished up the last sip of his coffee. "Um, let's see. Alice Cooper, Dracula, any evil character in the cartoons, Edward Cullen," we both burst into laughter at the last one, but he recovered with a long sigh "Goth Gatsby, Mr. Hyde, I don't know, something where I can wear black."

'I've got it." I said, rummaging for the measuring tape. "How about, evil queen from Snow White, but Evil King."

"Ooh, do I get to wear a crown?"

"Yes!" I felt suddenly inspired, "We're going to have to go to the fabric store, I'd go to the one here in town, but it's crap this time of year. Slim pickings for the princesses and tulle fabric that's out of stock. We're going to go to Boise."

"That's like four hours away, I can't let you." I rolled my eyes, measuring him and typing the measurements into my phone. "Of course you can, the wedding we just did is more than enough to cover the costume, plus you're going to be able to use it for future gigs if I do this right! Plus, I am in charge of getting snacks and a few more movies for tonight. There's a video store there that has a lot of choices, including vhs and dvd versions. Trust me, it's going to be amazing. All I have to do is message Logan to tell him where we're going today."

Damien just grinned, "Why don't we invite him along?"

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I was so excited to see Logan and Damien talking, they spent most of the trip talking about their instruments, amps, typical musician talk. I managed to find most of my fabric, as well as some extra embellishments for the cape and scepter. I kept searching for a purple that would match his skin tone, but the purples were too vibrant. So I decided to go with gold, finding an amazing bolt of gold fabric that also had the gatsby vibe, but would look plenty evil with the black fabric.

"I can't find stuff for a crown, so we're going to have to go to the mall. They have a halloween costume place there, and they usually have props. We can get lunch there too, and wherever else you guys want to go." Both of them mentioned Darcy Music Shop, almost in unison. It actually felt like they were getting along, no one was fighting.

Once we found what I needed, we all sat down for lunch.

I settled on Sammy's, a sandwich shop that I rarely had the chance to eat from, they had the most amazing sandwiches and cheese fries. Damien was slurping a noodle from one of the six Chinese places, and Logan chowed down on a slice of pizza.

"So, Damien, are you excited for Halloween?" Logan asked, taking a bite of his slice.

Damien nodded, finishing a noodle. "I mean, Dad never took me trick-or-treating, and I didn't feel comfortable going to Halloween parties at bars or with friends, I'm intensely excited. It's the first real holiday I get to spend with all of you."

"Plus, he's going to make it onto at least four pages of Mom's Halloween scrapbook," I laughed, "We're should go to Michael's, so I can pick up some Halloween stuff for her album."

Logan smiled, and Damien surprised me when he said, "You always go out of your way for people, Tali, I really love that about you."

Logan's smile faltered a bit, "Tali?"

I looked from Damien to Logan, "Yeah, he said everyone calls me either Natalie or Nat, so he just started calling me Tali, just to be different, you know."

Logan quieted, "Right. That's cool." His hand drifted to my knee, softly rubbing it before lacing my fingers with his.

Damien crossed the awkward silence, "So, Logan, what did you say you wanted from Darcy's?"

Logan looked up from his pizza, "Actually, it's kind of a surprise, you'll have to wait and see."

"Surprise?" I asked, "Are you buying another guitar?"

"You'll have to wait and see, sweetheart." He squeezed my hand softly, bringing it up to his lips and kissing the back of my hand.