Under the Influence

Chapter Eight: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Crawford

   “You don’t have a costume yet?”

   “Well, do you?” I retorted.

   “No… But I wasn’t planning on doing anything special for Halloween,” he admitted.

   With a bright smile, I suggested, “Then why don’t you come to the party at Crawford Comics?”

   “Okay,” he agreed, shrugging. “I guess that means I’ll need a costume too, huh?”

   The ride to the store was filled with aimless chatter about possible costume ideas, a verbal checklist of everything we needed to get for the party, and constant reminders about the upcoming Halloween dance at school, which was happening right on Halloween—tomorrow.

   “So,” Hunter said absent-mindedly, his primary focus on trying to snag the first parking space he could find in the lot in front of the costume shop, “are you going to the Halloween dance tomorrow?”

   “The one being held at school?”

   “Yeah, that’s the one.”

   I hadn’t decided yet if I was going to the dance or not. Actually, I hadn’t given much thought to the matter at all, except when I was walking through the halls at school and saw some posters advertising the dance hanging on random classroom doors. And if I did go, hypothetically, I wouldn’t have anyone to go with. No date, no ragtag group of dateless friends, and I sure didn’t want to go by myself and look like a lonely loser.

   “I don’t know,” I answered after a moment of contemplation. I waited until the car was parked and we both got out before posing a question of my own. “Are you?”

   He shrugged noncommittally. “Not sure yet. I, uh, don’t have a date or anyone to go with.”

   “What about Aaron?”

   “Aaron as my date?” Hunter let out a low belly-laugh that I had never heard before. It was almost contagious. “Imagine what people would think of that. I mean, that’s a great suggestion and all, but I don’t swing that way.”

   I rolled my eyes. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant you could go as friends. Unless, of course, you’d rather go as more than friends,” I teased playfully.

   Hunter smirked and shook his head. “Oh, Charlie,” he said simply. I waited for him to elaborate, but he never did.

   When we arrived at the costume store, Hunter chivalrously held the door open for me. I stepped inside and widened my eyes slightly at the fabulous array of costumes for every occasion. There were costumes galore, and it looked like they had everything ranging from pirates to dinosaurs. It was like I died and went to costume Heaven.

   As we wandered around the store, Hunter said, “I don’t know. Maybe this Halloween I’ll just chill on my couch with a bag of candy in front of me, watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on TV.”

   A grin instantly lit up my face. “You like that movie too? My brother and I watch that at least once every Halloween. It’s sort of a tradition.” We used to watch it with Mom and Dad too, but that was before they died. “That, or the Halloween episode of Supernatural. Actually, now that I think about it, any episode of Supernatural would be suitable to watch on Halloween.”

   “You watch Supernatural?”

   “Yeah, it’s one of my favourite shows.”

   I didn’t think Hunter’s grin could get any broader, but apparently I was wrong. “Really? Mine too.” Wow, we had a lot in common.