Girls vs. Boys

Girls vs. Boys (23) - Halloween

October 31st, 2008

“No, no, no,” Austin began, shaking his head as he placed his hands on my shoulders. “You are not going out in that costume no matter how much it cost. You are going back upstairs and changing into that cute bunny costume that you wore last year.”

I gave my brother a flat look. “Austin, I wore that costume in fourth grade.”

My brother didn’t look fazed at all. “So? You could still fit in it.”

“I have a party to go to,” I informed him now, rolling my eyes and heading toward the door. “Dad’s already in the car. He doesn’t have a problem with the costume.”

Austin looked like he could have flipped the coffee table over. “He knows nothing; he’s old!”

I didn’t even turned toward my brother as I slammed the front door with me outside. I didn’t even think the costume I was wearing was that bad; I was sure Aimee was going to wear something even worse than mine. I was going as a witch, and she said that she was going to go as a devil.

We were going to go to Bruce Wilkins party for a little while before going out trick-or-treating. Since Lexi had a huge crush on him, we decided we would go even though it was something we normally wouldn’t have even done. I was honestly only leaving my house for the candy we were going to get afterwards.

The pointy hat on my head was already annoying me. I wanted to take it off, but there was no way anyone would ever get what I was without it.

I expected to see my dad in the car, ready to drive me to the party. But what I saw was my father looking under the hood, as if he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

This wasn’t going to end well, I was sure.

“You know that auto shop a few blocks away, Jordan?” my father asked once I walked up to him, not even looking away from his car.

“Yeah,” I nodded slowly, waiting to see where this went.

“I want you to go there and buy some oil,” my father now said, reaching in his pocket and pulling out a few bills. I didn’t even check how much he had given me, I just took it. “That’s why the car isn’t running.”

I stared at my father for a second, as if he had spoken another language. He actually wanted me to walk, in the dark, all the way to an auto shop? Sure, it was a few blocks away, and I had to pass my grandma’s house on the way there, but… it was still dark!

But I did as I was told anyway, knowing that this was the only way I could get to the party. As much as I didn’t want to, I went anyway just so I could leave.

The shop wasn’t the biggest place I had ever seen, but I knew that they were going to have what I needed, and that was all that mattered. The sooner I got in and out of there, the better.