Song of the chapter: This Is Halloween by Tim Burton
Emily's POV
"No, Austin, move it more to the left.... that's too much. Oh, come on, bats obviously don't hang sideways. Wait- a little- there! Leave it!"
Austin came down from the ladder and glared at me. "Only took you ten minutes to decide how you wanted it."
"You know me, I'm a perfectionist," I replied.
It was about a week before Halloween and since Austin had no rehearsal for his upcoming tour that day, we were hanging up decorations. Well, Austin was; I was barking orders like a drill sergeant. We were doing the outside ones at the moment.
He looked up at the string of black bats hanging across the front doorway. "Clearly. Now what?"
"The ghosts can go around the window, and when you're done that, the witch can go on the tree by the side of the house." I wheeled to the box of decorations and pulled out a couple of Styrofoam headstones. "I'll make the graveyard."
"Awe, come on, why can't I do that?" Austin whined.
"Because I can't reach the windows and tree in this thing," I snapped. "You can come help later. Lucy, can you bring mommy that box?"
"Me a big girl!" she said happily as she walked over and followed me to the garden, pushing the box in front of her.
"Thanks, sweetie," I said as I thought about how to set it up. I stuck one of the gravestones in and shuffled around in the box.
"Emily?"
I glanced up at the new voice and saw Jesse walking down the sidewalk in my direction with Blaze. Pancakes, who had been lying in the yard, jumped up and bounded over to Blaze. Jesse unhooked Blaze's leash and the two giant dogs played in the yard.
"Jesse? What are you doing here?" I asked. I glanced over at Austin and saw he was looking over at us from his spot up on the ladder. His expression was unreadable.
"I was just out for a walk with Blaze. I didn't know you lived here." He looked at my wheelchair. "Um, what exactly happened to you?"
"Tripped over one of Lucy's toys and broke my ankle," I said. "I've got a couple more weeks in this cast."
"Damn, that sucks." He glanced up at Austin and gave a hesitant wave. "You must be Austin," he called.
"And you must be Jesse," Austin replied somewhat coolly.
"Austin!" I snapped.
He sighed and came down from the ladder. "Sorry." He walked over to us and stuck out his hand to Jesse. "This was bound to happen sooner or later. I would've preferred later."
"Oh my god," I said, running my hands over my face. "I'm sorry, Jesse, Austin isn't usually like this. Right, Austin?" I added through gritted teeth.
Austin shrugged and I elbowed him hard enough to make him wheeze "Oomph!"
Jesse shook Austin's hand. "Nice to finally meet you. Look, Austin, about that whole situation with Emily and me-"
Austin cut him off. "Don't worry about it, dude. I was mad at first but- Actually, that's an understatement. I wanted to skewer you with a knife. But it's cool now."
"Are you sure?" Jesse asked nervously. "Because I honestly didn't mean to cause any grief between the two of you, I feel really awful."
"It's fine, Emily and I are great." I knew Austin was being sincere and wanted to be civil, but he still gave Jesse a look that said, don't even try and steal my girl because you'll never see sunlight again.
"Well!" I interrupted, eager to change the subject. "Now that that's out of the way, how have things been with Quinn?"
"We've only hung out a couple of times since I last saw you."
I stared at him. "That's it?"
"She's been busy all the other times I've asked her," Jesse shrugged.
"Huh. Well-" I caught Lucy moving out of the corner of my eye. "Luce, get out of the box!"
"I've got her," Austin sighed before jogging over. "And just what do you think you're doing, missy?" He asked, scooping Lucy out of the box, causing her to shriek with laughter. "Huh? What were you doing in there?" Austin teased, attacking her with kisses which made her laugh even more.
Jesse grinned at the sight. "Anybody can tell he's an amazing father."
"He is," I smiled as Austin came over carrying Lucy.
"Oh, right, you haven't met Lucy yet," I said to Jesse.
"Nope," he shook his head. "She's a cutie though."
"Lucy, can you say hi to Jesse?" I asked her nicely.
She stared at him with her big hazel eyes before turning and burying her head in Austin's neck, hands curled in his hair.
"She's shy," Austin explained, rubbing her back. "Complete opposite of Sheridan."
"Give her time," I said to Jesse. "But how have things been with you?"
"Pretty good. Just been busy with school and work."
"That's a nice dog you have," Austin spoke up. "Almost identical to Pancakes."
Jesse chuckled. "That's Blaze. He's a chocolate lab." Blaze trotted over. "Speak of the devil..." Jesse pat his back. "Hey bud, have fun with Pancakes?"
Lucy let out a frustrated squeak from Austin's arms, and I turned to see her reaching out towards Blaze. Austin bent down to the dog so Lucy could reach and she immediately started running her hands down Blaze's head. Austin scratched Blaze behind the ears.
I smiled as the two fawned over the lab. "These two loves dogs."
"I see that," Jesse laughed. "So Austin, how's work going for you?"
Austin seemed surprised that Jesse asked, pleasantly, of course, and stood up again, leaving Lucy with Blaze on the ground. "It's great. I've got a tour coming up."
"Oh, right, I heard about that. Big one, I assume?"
My boyfriend nodded. "North America."
Jesse whistled. "Jeez. Sounds amazing, but I don't know if I could do that."
"It's tiring, but I love it," Austin replied.
"That's the best part then. I better get going, though, I've got somebody coming to the house to look over renovation plans." He hooked Blaze back up to his leash.
I nodded. "It was nice seeing you again, Jesse."
"You, too, Emily. Hope your ankle gets better quick. And it was nice meeting you, Austin. Again, I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry about it, we're cool, man." Austin held out his hand and Jesse shook it.
"Alright, I'll see you guys around."
"Bye!" Lucy piped from the ground.
Jessie smiled and waved down at her. "Bye, Lucy!" He gave us one last wave and continued on his way.
When he turned the corner of the street, I turned to Austin. "Well?"
He sighed and picked Lucy back up, setting her on my lap before wheeling me back up the driveway. "He seems like a good guy."
"And?"
"And I'm sorry for being rude to him earlier."
"And?"
Austin looked confused. "And I'm sorry I ate the rest of the pickles this morning?"
"You what?" I shrieked.
"Nevermind," Austin said quickly.
I glared at him. "That's wasn't the 'and' I was looking for."
"And I'm sorry I doubted you."
"Thank you," I smiled.
He moved in front of me and bent to kiss me. "No problem. Maybe we'll be BFF's!"
"Oh my god, never say that again. You sound like Alex."
Austin chuckled and grabbed the rest of the decorations before heading back over to the ladder. We spent another half hour hanging up decorations before heading back in to do the inside ones. Pancakes went to sleep in her kennel. The sun always tired her out.
"Alright, here are the banners." I handed them to Austin. "Can you put Lucy in her jumper?"
He took Lucy from my lap and set her in her jumper before taking the banners again. "Where do you want them?"
"Surprise me."
"Wow, you're letting me put them wherever I want?" Austin asked excitedly.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, go crazy."
"Woo!" Austin exclaimed as he ran out of the room, banners flying behind him. I just shook my head and started placing things around the kitchen and dining room. As I rummaged through the box for more, I felt a picture frame. Confused, I pulled it out. When I saw what it was, I smiled.
It was a picture of Austin, Alex, Taylor and I on Halloween back when we were sixteen."
"I thought we lost this picture," I said to myself. "Hey, Austin!"
He came into the kitchen a minute later. "What?"
I held up the picture. "Look what I just found in the bottom of the box."
He came closer so he could see it better and grinned. "Awe man, that's an old picture."
"I can't believe this was from a year ago," I commented as we looked at it. "It feels like yesterday."
"We've come a long way," Austin said. He tilted his head. "I think I've grown at least six inches since then."
"I don't think I've grown at all."
"Maybe an inch or two," Austin smirked.
"Oh, shut up, I'm a tiny person!" I exclaimed.
"I'm just teasing you, Ems. Here, I'm hanging that up." I handed it to him and he found a place on the wall before replacing a cheesy painting with the picture.
"Looks awesome," I smiled. "Hey, where did you put the banners?"
"Places," Austin muttered.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Austin. Where did you put the banners?"
"Well, I put one in our room because, I mean, it's got zombies on it."
"And you want zombies to stare down at you when you sleep?" I exclaimed.
"Um, yeah. Zombies are cool."
I just shook my head. "Don't bother telling me where the other ones are. I'm sure I'll find them in random places."
"Ha, yeah." Austin handed Lucy her toy monkey. "When you become a teenager, you're going to love zombies as much as your dad, right?"
Lucy smiled and nodded. "Perfect. Better than you loving boys."
"Oh, I can't wait until that day comes," I said happily. "You'll be entertaining."
"Don't count on it," Austin said. "I'll cut them." He lifted Lucy out of her jumper so she could crawl around.
"Austin! My mom wasn't even bad when I started becoming interested in boys."
"Yeah, well, the only guys you were ever interested in were Dallas and I. And it didn't go anywhere with Dallas, and let's be honest, your mom loves me."
"I-" I stopped. "Yeah, that's true, she does love you."
"Exactly."
"You know it's going to happen eventually, Austin, so I would get used to it. It's practically inevitable," I said.
My boyfriend slapped his hands over his ears. "If I don't hear it, it's not true! If I don't hear it, it's not true! If I don't hear it, it's not true!" he yelled and I immediately remembered him doing that when he thought I liked him; I almost started laughing.
I grabbed my crutches from where they were leaning on the wall and pushed myself out of the chair. I crutched up to him. "Are we really going to repeat that?" I smirked.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
I reached up and pecked his cheek. "No worries." I crutched over to the fridge and pulled out an apple. "Besides, that's really all you have to be majorly focused on. I'll have to deal with makeup, piercings, clothes, hair, boys, and-"
"Don't!" he cut me off. "Don't say the P-word!"
"Okay, fine. Feminine issues," I emphasized. "Better?"
"Much."
I shook my head. "Can you just finish hanging up the decorations I can't reach?"
"Yeah," Austin said as he grabbed the box. "Oh, by the way, I totally ate all the pickles this morning."
"I'm gonna kill you!" I shouted.
"Good luck catching me!" He laughed as he ran out of the room. Lucy followed him.
"That guy, I swear," I muttered angrily as I crutched after him. "I'll get him eventually." Louder, so he could hear, I yelled, "You can run, but you can't hide, Austin! Who's the queen at hide and seek?"
I heard him yell, "Damn it!"
"Exactly!"