Don't Go In Alone

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 22

Casey drives us all to my house after school lets out on Friday. The girls have their overnight bags packed and we are ready to hang out and do absolutely nothing all weekend. Next weekend is the Thanksgiving break so we plan on packing two weekends worth of vegging into this one. Kris was left in charge of picking the movie theme for tonight and I shouldn't be surprised that she went with horror movies.

Of course she would go with horror movies.

How could you expect anything else from Kris?

Zach is over at his friend's again, because I guess even kindergarteners have the same thought process as we do. He wanted to spend the night over there since next weekend is going to be a family-only one. Mom's working late, so we've got the house to ourselves.

Which means we can set up shop in the front room downstairs instead of using the rec space upstairs that's littered with Zach's toys and always smells funny since that's where he spends his time when his friend comes over here. I found a piece of lunch meat stuffed between the couch cushions up there once.

I make some popcorn and we start the marathon. The first movie isn't that bad. It's actually pretty funny since it was made in the 80s so all the effects are subpar and the acting is awful. I laugh way more than I'm scared. The next one is mostly the same, but there's a scene where it's too dark to really see what's going on and the blackness on the screen has my heart racing.

We make it fifteen minutes into the third one when the doorbell goes off.

"Expecting someone?" Casey asks, taking the popcorn bowl from me as I get up.

"No, but I'll give you one guess as to who it is."

"Ooh, invite him to join us. Horror movies and hot guys go so well together. You can use it as an excuse to cuddle up with him, Molly." Kris grins at me.

I flip her off as I leave the room to answer the door. I know it's going to be Carson, so I stand there, make him wait a little before opening the door. He's blowing into his hands, but stops when he sees the door open. "Hey, kitten."

"This is a girl's night," I tell him. "No boys allowed. Even Zach had to leave."

"Looks like I'm crashing the party then. Your mom called me."

I lean against the doorframe and shake my head. "Seriously?"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid of your mom so I said I'd come over. All the storms lately seem to have her in a tizzy." He gives me a small smile, his hands raising again so he can blow on them some more.

I haven't seen him since the power went out. Well, that's a lie. I've seen him in passing. Spoken with him the bare minimum. I haven't been alone with him since the power outage the other day. If he's here now, it shouldn't be so bad. Since my friends are here. He wouldn't try to pull something with other people in the room. "I suppose we can make an exception just this once and let you hang out here."

"I'd like to go on record and say that I was coerced into coming over here and in no way agreed to come just so I could see you." He smiles, dimples and teeth, and takes a step towards me. I move so he can come in and he makes sure to brush his entire body against mine as he passes me.

"Whatever you say, Carson."

He walks backwards to the archway of the front room and makes a face at me. Then he's turning around and greeting my friends. Kris' voice carries the loudest out of the three of them and I find myself dragging my feet on the way back. I can guarantee she's going to make tonight as awkward as possible for everyone.