October to October

{Chapter Five}

  "... Do you have room for a passenger?" Lauren asked him.

   He smiled; looking surprised. "I might. Do you mind Wren?"

  "Go right ahead," Wren smiled. "My Mom and I can drop your car off at your house later."

  "Do you want to skip the movie?" Lauren asked as they got into the car.

  He gaped at her; laughing. "You aren't serious."

  "I am," she smiled at him. "My house is empty at the moment."

  "... That sounds way more interesting than a movie," he said as he started the car.

  "We need some bright red lipstick," Hope said as the girls "cruised" the mall for the finishing touches for their costumes a few days before Halloween. They got their costumes at The Antique Button, and they ordered wigs and costume jewelry online so now they just needed the perfect makeup. After they found the lipstick the girls decided to stop at the food court, and Lauren was surprised to see Joan's roommate Henry behind the counter at the Hamburger Palace.

  "The very beautiful Lauren," he commented as they reached the front of the line. "That is some super lipstick you girls are wearing. Are you guys going as prostitutes for Halloween? I'm seeing Pretty Woman. I like it."

  "No," Lauren said; laughing at how offended Hope and Wren looked. "He's just kidding guys. We're going as flappers."

  "That's awesome," Henry said, and his eyes strayed over to Hope who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. "Hey Hope, remember me?"

  "How could I not?" Hope asked as she surveyed him wearing his Hamburger Palace uniform under his paint splattered overalls. "Hey Henry."

  Lauren tried not to smirk at Hope's monotone greeting. "Oh and Henry this is our friend Wren."

  "Lovely to meet you," Henry bowed slightly. "What will you have ladies? And I apologize again for the Pretty Woman joke. I might go as her though."

  "I would like to see that," Lauren said with a laugh; the other looked at each other as if they weren't sure what to say. "And we'll have three medium diet cokes and three orders of small fries please."

  "Coming right up," Henry said as he punched their order in. "It'll just be a minute. So are you guys going to the Halloween bash on campus?"

  "Yeah, we are. Are you and Joan going?" Lauren asked. "Maybe we can meet up."

  "We're thinking about it," Henry said as he started getting them their sodas. "Joan needs some convincing. She loves Halloween, but she's not so much for parties. Well, you know how she is, Hope."

  Hope looked uncomfortable and kept looking away.

  "Well, you should talk her into it," Lauren said as she leaned on the counter as they waited. "She can spend some quality time with her cousin."

  "I will try my best," Henry grinned. "That will be eight dollars even."

  "I got it," Hope said as she searched through her purse for her wallet for her debit card.  "So... how is Joan?"

  "She's fine," Henry said quietly; his eyes looked strange as he looked at Hope. "You should call her sometime."

  "Yeah..." Hope looked guilty as she handed him the money.

  "You should," Henry said. "Family is important."

  "You really should," Lauren said after they said goodbye to Henry and walked towards the exit. "It'd be fun to hang out with her again. She's really funny and nice. You'd like her, Wren. We should go see her and try to talk her into it."

  Hope didn't say anything.

  "What?" Lauren asked as she saw the strange look on Hope's voice.

  "I actually went to see her a few weeks ago," Hope said after a moment; looking embarrassed.

  "You did?" Lauren was surprised. "Why didn't you say something?"

  "I didn't want to bring it up because you keep saying how much you like her," Hope admitted. "She and I had a bit of a disagreement about something, and I don't think we're going to be friends like you hoped."

  "What was it about?" Lauren asked.

  Hope looked as if she didn't want to say.

  "It's family stuff Lauren," Wren said after a moment. "You don't have to tell us, Hope."

  "Yeah... I'm sorry," Lauren said awkwardly; feeling her face flush. "I'm not trying to be pushy or anything. I just thought she was kind of cool, and we could all be friends"

  "I don't think we should hang out with Joan," Hope said finally. "She's nice and everything, but..."

  "Okay," Lauren said after a moment. "I just thought since she was your cousin you'd like us to be friends with her, but it's up to you."

  "Let's not talk about it anymore," Hope said cheerfully; forced cheerfulness Lauren thought. "Let's go back to my house and try out our costumes now that we have everything. We're going to look awesome."

  Wren and Hope continued chatting in between bites of their fries, but Lauren wished she could ask more questions. She wondered what on earth Joan could have said to sweet Hope to make her angry. Maybe it was the other way around? Family was complicated. Lauren decided to stay out of it. She had enough trouble dealing with her own life without nosing into other people's problems.