The Boy Who Broke My Leg

Chapter 11

"Be careful you're getting dye everywhere."

Alistair sighs as he leans  back against the bathroom wall. "I'm pretty sure your tub is screwed anyways."

I frown as I look at the pinkish stains all over the tile. "At least the costume looks fire."

Alistair had convinced me to go to a Halloween party tonight, despite my insistent abstinence of parties all year. "It's Halloween. Are you really going to spend it holed up in your room with your cat?"

I hadn't really taken much convincing to relent, which concerned me. Kayla pointed out that she had been trying to get me to go to a party all year but as soon as Alistair had asked me, I'd agreed. I'd mumbled some lame excuse about how Halloween was basically a national holiday or something but she'd just raised her eyebrows and shot me a look. A look that said don't give me bs sis. Something is cooking between you two.

It hadn't really helped my case when she'd found out about our coordinated costumes. Since today was the last day I'd have to wear my cast, we'd decided to take advantage. We wrapped bandages dipped in red dye all over my cast, the ends hanging messily off. I'd ordered myself a custom tank top that had 'Shark Attack' written across the front and Alistair a Lifeguard hoodie. We also ordered a blow up shark for one of us to carry but I forgot to check the sizing and it ended up being a giant pool float that was taller than me. It hadn't gone to waste though, since Mufasa had adopted the Shark as his best friend and refused to sleep at night in my bed without the floatie beside him. He's somehow managed to drag it around without piercing through it with his sharp teeth for the past week. I on the other hand was waiting for the sad puncture and demise of Sharkbait, as Alistair had to fondly named him, since sharing my bed with a cat and a 6 foot pool float wasn't really my favorite night situation. 

"No human male would willingly consent to a matching costume unless he likes you", Kayla had pointed out. "And even that's gotta be strong feelings of affection."

"It isn't like that", I protested. "We dressed as Pennywise and George in Freshman year remember?"

"That's different", Kayla disagrees. "This is couple-y."

There was nothing couple-y about this. It was just a funny friend costume. I don't know why I'm thinking about what Kayla said while I quickly throw on some makeup. Nothing is couple-y between Alistair and me. He's never done anything to suggest he likes me. Sure, we flirt sometimes but it's more of a who can come up with a better line than anything meaningful. 

Alistair is sitting on the couch watching Mufasa gently prod Sharkbait with his paw. "Do you think your cat is normal?"

"I really am not sure anymore."

"One of these days he's going to stab through the cheap plastic with his paw and it'll all be over", Alistair observes.

"Can't wait for that cat meltdown", I mutter.

He finally diverts his eyes from the cat-shark situation to me. "Are you honestly going to wear flip flops? You'll freeze to death."

"It's supposed to be a beachy kind of outfit. I can't wear sweatpants and sneakers", I point out.

"It's 50 degrees outside."

"We'll just stay indoors then." I grab my phone and keys. "C'mon let's go."

Alistair just shakes his head and follows me out the door.

As soon as I step outside, I know I'm stupid. It's freezing. Alistair gives me a smug look and raises his eyebrows as if challenging me to accept my mistake. I purse my lips and walk on.

"You're honestly like a six year old who's mother is forcing him to wear a jacket", Alistair calls from behind me. I make a mental note to tell Kayla he referred to me as a six year old and himself as my mother. He likes me, huh yeah right.

I climb into the passenger seat of his car, knowing full well that I should run back upstairs and grab a jacket or something, or even changing into sweat pants and sneakers now doesn't seem like a bad option. But Alistair sits down next to me and says "Anything else you need to do or can we leave?" and I glare at him and say "Let's go."

..//..//..//..//

Alistair parks in front of the guy's house whose party it is. Does his name start from P? Parker? Pierre? Ugh. 

I open the door a crack and a blast of cold air hits me. I immediately slam the door closed again.

"Something wrong?" Alistair asks innocently. 

I scowl at him. "No. I was just...unsure if you were ready to go inside yet." Inside isn't even inside. I can see from here that the front door is open as well as the garage and I'm willing to bet that every window and the back door is open in that house too. I internally kick myself.

I hear Alistair sigh and he leans back to grab something from the back seat and tosses a pile of soft cloth at me. "As soon as you sent me a picture of that tank top I told you it'd be too cold to wear it and you said you didn't care. So I threw this in the backseat today. It has a zipper on the front so you can see your shirt."

I just stare at him, wide-eyed? He'd brought me a jacket because he knew I'd be cold and stubborn.

When I don't move he averts his eyes to stare at the floor. "It's no big deal my grandma gave it to me for Christmas last year and I don't wear it cuz jackets with zips down the front aren't my thing. I prefer hoodies actually-"

"Thank you", I tell him softly and pull it on.

"Okay cool let's go inside", he says and quickly hops out of the car. I follow before I can overthink what all this means.

"And his name is Hunter Hollis", he whispers in my ear as we walk to the door and I send him a gratefully sheepish smile.

It's almost like he can read my mind.