Sister to Jonas

Halloween

Joe's POV

About 20 seconds after I'm finished getting the snacks and tv ready, there's a knock at the door. I'm making my way over to answer it when there's another, louder and ten times more obnoxious, knock at the door. I grin to myself; that'll be Kevin and Nick, ready to watch the horror movie Hush and eat a shit ton of candy with me. It is Halloween, after all, and you can't let this holiday go by without packing your face full of junk food and scaring yourself shitless, can you?

"Hey, man," Kevin says as I pull open the door.

"Hey, guys! Thanks for coming over! I've missed you guys too much," I tell them honestly, and they both grin.

"Missed you too, Joe," Nick says, and Kevin nods as they enter.

"What kinda candy selection do we have?" Kevin asks, and I laugh.

"Of course you're concerned about the food first," I say, rolling my eyes, but tell him anyway. "We've got Twix, Kit Kat, M&Ms, 3 Muskateers, and Butterfingers. You know the vibes," I say.

"What kind of M&Ms?" Nick asks me, giving me a questioning look.

"Regular and peanut butter, of course," I say, and he grins. "What, you think I forgot what kind of candy you like?"

"You never know," he responds, and I give him a cheeky smile back.

"I could never forget. Come on, give me a little more credit than that."

"Sorry," he says.

"So, Hush. That's the movie about the deaf girl and the creeper dude that stalks her at her house, right?" Kevin asks.

"Yeah. I guess it's supposed to be, like, super unsettling. It might actually be scary," I say.

"Awesome. We should watch it with lights off and windows cracked open," Kevin suggests, wiggling his eyebrows at Nick, who looks apprehensive.

"Not awesome, and how about we leave at least one light on?" Nick says, making Kevin and I crack up.

"Come on, if we leave the lights on it won't be scary. We can't do that," I tell him, siding with Kevin, and Nick groans.

"Fine. Whatever."

Kevin and I high five each other; usually Nick gets his way, but not when it comes to horror movies. That's where the two of us get to decide, and Brexley too--but Brexley isn't here; we're still not speaking because she hates me, so I have to put her out of my mind. And that's exactly what I do as I shut off the lights, Kevin opens the windows slightly, and Nick grabs the candy bowl before all three of us settle on the couch.

"I'm so not ready for this," Nick says as I press play on the movie.

"Come on, grow a pair," I say, opening up a 3 Muskateer bar and popping it into my mouth. Nick just rolls his eyes at my comment, taking a packet of peanut butter M&Ms as the movie begins.

It doesn't take long for Nick to start asking questions; he always does this when he's nervous, and Kevin and I always comply with the answers, so as not to freak him out more.

"So this chick lives by herself in the middle of the woods? And she's deaf? What kind of idiot does that?"

"I don't know, Nicky," I tell him, eyes never leaving the tv screen.

We watch as the girl's friend gets stabbed, and Nick flips out as the main character starts walking around the house trying to find the person who she has finally realized is stalking her. My little brother doesn't like jump scares a whole lot, and this part of the movie is sure to be full of them, so as to provide the effect that we are deaf just as the main character is.

"Guys, I don't like this," Nick says, covering his eyes for a brief moment as the stalker sneaks around the girl's house.

"Ssh. Watch the movie," Kevin says, intently focused.

The stalker guy continues to send the main character photos of herself, taken from inside the house, as the movie progresses. I'm not going to lie, this makes me feel a little bit anxious, especially since all the lights are off and if someone else was in here with us, we would have no way of knowing. That gives me a great idea, so I get up from the couch with the excuse that I'm going to the bathroom.

"You want us to pause it?" Kevin asks.

"Nah, I'm sure I can figure out what's going on when I get back. I won't be gone long," I say, heading off in the direction of the bathroom.

I know it's kind of a crude idea, but I think it would be really fun to scare the hell out of Kevin and Nick right now. Mostly Nick, I guess, because Kevin will probably just find it funny, but anyway. I want to prank them with a real life jump scare, one that makes them feel like the movie is happening to them. My apartment is set up perfectly for this; the bathroom is behind the living room and it will be easy for me to sneak up behind my brothers without them noticing I'm headed back, so I figure why not try it? Why not have some fun on Halloween?

They're still watching the movie as I creep back into the living room, and Nick is still asking questions, so I can tell he's already nervous. Gosh, am I horrible for doing this! I'm crouching right behind the couch now, and neither one of them have noticed me at all, meaning my whole plan will work exactly how I wanted it to. Carefully, I get to my feet and raise myself up to my full height, reaching both arms over the back of the couch slowly and grabbing my brothers' shoulders.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Nick screeches, flying to his feet and turning around to face me in a panic. Clearly, he didn't expect it to be me. "JOE! YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE!"

Though I initially freaked Kevin out too, he's laughing his ass off with me right now at Nick's reaction. That was even more intense than I thought it would be, and I only wish I could've recorded it. That would be great content for the fans, but maybe it's better for Nick that Kevin and I are the only ones who saw that.

"You suck!" Nick yells at me, chasing me around the living room after switching on the lights again. I can't stop cackling like a little kid; this is the most fun I've had in awhile, and it feels really good knowing things can be normal between the three of us again after they weren't for so long.

"Sorry, Nick. I had to," I say, clutching my stomach as I try to recover from laughing so hard.

"That's the thing. You didn't. You didn't have to," Nick says, trying to act mad but failing as a grin splits across his face. "But I'm not going to lie, that was a good one."

"Wasn't it?" I say cheekily.

"Yes. I'm done with that movie though. You ruined it," Nick jokes, and Kevin shrugs.

"We could just eat candy then," he says, and I nod.

"I'm down. We never just chill and talk, so that would be a good idea anyway," I say, and we head to the table with the candy bowl to do just that.

"Happy Halloween, guys. I love you," Kevin says as we sit down.

"Love you," Nick responds.

"Love you dudes. Thanks for coming over tonight. I'm glad I got to have some fun with you guys again, just like old times," I say. And I really mean that. Tonight felt like it did when we were little kids, and I loved every second of it. We felt like family again. We're back, baby. We're really, truly, back.