I looked around at the group I was hanging out and waited to see if Brooke or Ryan were willing to go in a haunted house with Ben since I wasn't willing to do that. Kate was the only one I knew for sure that would go into a haunted house with her brother. I think Ryan liked going into haunted houses, but I hadn't hung out with him at the Halloween Festival in a while so I wasn't exactly sure if he would go.
He had preferred to hang out with his friends or his girlfriend of the time after Mom and Dad had allowed him to go off on his own without their supervision than with his family. This had been the first time since I was twelve or thirteen that I had hung out with Ryan, so I didn't exactly remember whether or not he liked going into haunted houses.
"I'll go into a haunted house with you, but I know Brooke won't go in with us since she usually stands outside when I go inside them," Ryan said looking over at his girlfriend. She nodded her head in agreement but didn't add to what Ryan had said. At least I would have someone to hang out with while Ben, Ryan, and Kate went into a haunted house together. Since Kate loved going into haunted houses, I usually waited outside for her and people watched while she went inside by herself. I just couldn't do scary things.
"I'm so going in with you guys. I'm not that easily scared," Kate said looking over at me and smiling mischievously. Knowing that look she was giving me means she was thinking about all the times she liked to sneak up behind me just to make me jump. I definitely didn't like being scared so I guess that meant that I was easily scared. I rolled my eyes at her as she laughed and then I said, "Shut up. Not everyone likes being scared."
"I'm glad I won't be the only one standing outside of the haunted house. Sometimes people who are going inside the haunted houses like to rudely tease me as I'm waiting for Ryan and Ben," Brooke said smiling at me. I looked over at her, smiled back and said, "I know what you mean."
"Alright then, let's go check out the new haunted house before we go into the one that they always have every year," Ben said. Ryan nodded his head in agreement and then we were off to go to the new haunted house. I had heard that it was supposed to be even scarier than the one they had last year, which definitely didn't make me want to go inside. For as long as I could remember, scary things had never been my thing. I just didn't see the fun in wanting to be scared.
When we reached the new haunted house, Brooke and I stopped before the entrance. I looked around to see if there was someplace else we that could stand besides near the exit of the haunted house, which wasn't too far away from the entrance, but there were a lot of other rides and booths around the new haunted house. There was no place that we could stand except near the exit of the haunted house. We would probably be hard to find once the three who were going into the haunted house came out of it since there were a lot of people around. The place still looked just as crowded as it had been when the festival had opened up.
I was surprised to see that there were still some young kids around since it was past nine now. Even though it was a Friday night, there usually only was adults and teens still here at this time of night. Usually, all the kids were gone by now, but maybe since it was the first night everyone was staying longer or their parents just wanted to tire them out as much as they could so the kids would be easy to put to bed. I'm sure there were less kids here now then there had been when the festival had opened up.
And eventually all the younger kids would be gone, along with their parents. This place would start to look a little less crowded once families with young children decided to go home.
"Okay, so you two will be by the exit when we come out?" Ryan asked as I saw Kate and Ben get into line, most likely to save a spot for themselves before the line gathered more people into it. It was pretty long already so we would be waiting awhile for them. I wasn't sure how big the haunted house was or how many people were let in at a time so I didn't know how long it would take them to get through it.
"Yeah, we'll be easier to find if we just stand there. Everywhere else is crowded," Brooke said before I could reply back to Ryan. He nodded his head and then joined Kate and Ben in line as Brooke and I turned to walk over to the exit, which we had to walk through the crowd to get to.
When Brooke and I reached the exit, we stood off to the side of the doorway so we wouldn't be in the way of anyone coming out. I'm sure we would have gotten bumped into quite a few times standing there, which is why we chose to stand off to the side. I turned to face Brooke so we could talk to each other and pass the time until the others were finished in the haunted house. She did the same and moved a little closer so we could both hear each other better since the noise around us would make it hard to have a conversation.
"So, is it a little weird that Ben wants to hang out with you? He said you guys found each other while he was searching for one of his other friends and hung out with you until Tyler found the both of you. Then he went off with you to get some food after the whole thing with Tyler. I'm sure he had already eaten today, but he still went with you," Brooke said watching me. I wonder if she had been waiting to ask me about Ben wanting to hang out with me.
"It is, but he said he had fun hanging out with me before Tyler came along so I guess that's why he came with me to get food. He wants to hang out again, which I'm not sure is even going to happen," I replied shrugging my shoulders. I had tried to figure out why Ben wanted to hang out with me again, but I hadn't really come up with anything. I still couldn't tell if he was actually telling the truth when he said he had fun hanging out with me and wanted to do it again or if he was just being nice by saying those things to me.
It was only a little weird to have Ben want to hang out with me because we've never hung out before even though there's been plenty of chances over the years. He's been to my house many times and I've been to his many times as well. It was weird how all of the sudden he was okay with hanging out with me. I was starting to feel like he was just being nice since I'm his best friend's little sister and he didn't want me to be alone or get lost.
There had been times when he had been protective of me like Ryan was. Although it wasn't as much as Ryan usually was, I had always thought he was being protective of me for Ryan.
I'm sure Ben didn't want to lose his best friend by not protecting his best friend's little sister. I also thought that he was being protective of me because he saw me as a little sister since we had grown up together. I had to have been obnoxious as a little girl since I always was trying to get someone to play with me if I couldn't play with Kate. Being the only girl in the family had been hard sometimes when no one was there to play Barbies with you. I couldn't always convince Hayden to play with me and I could never convince Ryan to play with me.
"Why are you sure you two aren't going to hang out again? Do you not want to hang out with him again? Ben's pretty fun to hang out with," Brooke asked glancing at these guys who were passing by us and being obnoxiously loud at the same time. They were getting several annoyed looks from parents as well as Brooke.
I looked over at them just in time to see that there were five of them and they looked younger than me. I couldn't tell if they were in middle school or in high school though. They looked like they could be freshman, but they also still looked like they could be in the 8th grade.
"I'm just not sure if he actually wants to hang out with me or if he's just saying all those things to be nice to me because I'm Ryan's little sister and he didn't want me hanging out by myself just in case Ryan decided to blame it on him if something happened to me. And I won't believe we're actually going to be hanging out again until it happens or maybe until I actually get to know him. We've known each other for all our lives and today is the first day we've ever really hung out so it's a little weird that my brother's best friend wants to hang out with me all of the sudden. I'm sure he's got better things to do," I said after she had looked back over at me.
"Oh okay, I can understand that. Ryan didn't really say anything about it, but maybe he doesn't know that Ben wants to hang out with you more, which I'm sure Ben does. Ben doesn't really say something he doesn't mean," Brooke said smiling at me.
"I'm sure you know Ben better than I do since you've hung out with him a lot more than I have, but I always thought that Ben wasn't the kind of guy to say he wanted to do something with someone and then not go through it. You just never know though. Especially when you don't know them personally," I replied shrugging my shoulders. Brooke nodded her head and then said, "That's true. I know Ben well enough to know he's a good guy and you can always count on what he says to be true, but I probably don't know him like Ryan does."
That was what I had thought about Ben. He had never done anything, that I knew of, to make me believe that he was a jerk. Ben had always been a gentleman to a girl, even if they had hurt him. That much I knew about him, thanks to my own mother. Mom had always taken an interest in what was going in not only her children's love lives, but also Ben and his siblings' love lives. So, she was always asking Ryan if Ben was interested in anyone or how his relationship was going if he was in one.
I was usually there to hear those conversations since Mom seemed to always ask Ryan when I was around. I knew she, as well as Ben's mom, wanted Ben and I to eventually end up together. I hadn't agreed with that until recently.
"Do you think Ryan would be okay with Ben and I hanging out?" I asked Brooke after we had been quiet for some time. She had been looking around the park, but she looked back at me when I had started my question.
"Why do you ask that?" she said looking confused. Maybe she thought that Ryan would be okay with me hanging out with his best friend.
"Because he doesn't like me hanging out with boys. And Ben is one of them. I know Ben's his best friend, but that doesn't mean Ryan wants me to hang out with him," I replied.
She seemed to need to think about it now that I had brought it up because Brooke didn't answer me back right away. I'm sure just like Hayden had, Ryan had told his friends that I was off limits when it came to dating girls. But Ryan could have also told them that he didn't want them to be friends with me because sometimes friendship ending up becoming more than just a friendship. I only liked Ben so Ryan didn't have to worry about me dating any of his other friends, but even if I hadn't liked Ben, then I don't think I would have dated any of his other friends. I wasn't attracted to them in any way.
"I don't know for sure if Ryan would be okay with you hanging out with Ben, but I think he would be since he trusts Ben. And Ben is around you more than any of his other friends so you can't really avoid him even if Ryan wanted you to," Brooke finally replied.
"So, you don't know if Ryan told his friends that they couldn't hang out with me because Ryan didn't want anything more to come out of it?" I asked her.
"I think he told them that dating you was off limits, but I'm not sure. He probably wouldn't be happy if one of his friends dated you, but he'd have to get over it because it's not his choice," Brooke said shrugging her shoulders.
"I figured he would have told his friends that dating me was off limits because that's what Hayden did when I started high school. Although I don't think any of his friends wanted to date a fourteen-year-old, but that could have changed as I grew older, so he wanted to lay down that ground rule before I did get older," I replied.
Brooke nodded her head but didn't say anything. I guess she wouldn't really have known whether or not Ryan had said something to his friends about not dating me or being friends with me because she had only been with Ryan for a year. And I'm sure if Ryan had laid down that rule, it had been when I had started high school since I was going to be at the same school as my brother and his friends again.
"Do you like one of Ryan's friends?" Brooke asked me out of the blue. I looked over at her since I had been watching people as they passed by us and then shook my head, hoping that my face wasn't going to give away that I was lying. I didn't think Brooke would tell Ryan if she found out that I liked Ben, but I would prefer if she didn't find out at all about my crush on Ben.
"You're just curious to find out how Ryan's going to react to Ben wanting to hang out with you more often?" Brooke asked me. I nodded my head and then said, "Ben brought the subject up earlier when it had just been me and him. So, I was curious about what Ryan's answer would be since it's sometimes hard to tell how Ryan feels about certain things."
"That's definitely true," Brooke said nodding her head in agreement.
"And you're right anyways, it's not Ryan's choice who I date or who I hang out. I wouldn't let him tell me what to do, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious about how he feels about the subject," I replied. Brooke nodded her head and then said, "I knew you wouldn't let Ryan tell you want to do. But I understand why you're curious because you've made me curious now. Do you want me to ask him and find out?"
"No, don't worry about. I may be curious about his answer, but I don't want to start a fight if he has a problem with me hanging out with his best friend. When Ryan finds out, then I'll deal with it then. For now, it's not going to be a problem," I replied.
"That's fine with me," Brooke said nodding her head again and smiling at me. I smiled back.
Brooke and I were silent after that since for now it seemed like we didn't have anything more to say on the subject. I wasn't sure if Brooke was going to ask Ryan if he would mind if Ben and I hung out more just to find out the answer for herself. And I didn't really care if she didn't ask Ryan even though I did want to know the answer. But no matter what Ryan's answer was, it wasn't going to keep me from hanging out with Ben if Ryan didn't want us to hang out. I wasn't going to ever let one of my brothers tell me who I can and can't hang out with. Or who I can and can't date.
They didn't know what was going to make me happy. Only I knew that. And since I wanted to hang out with Ben because it made me happy, then I was going to hang out with him whether or not Ryan liked it.
"Callie, do you know him?" Brooke said pointing at someone behind me. I looked at her before I turned around and saw a man standing on the other side of the exit. It was the same man who had come up to me when I had first arrived at the festival. He had already been looking over at us when I had turned around, so he smiled and waved. I turned back to Brooke and shook my head as I said, "No, I don't know who he is, but he seems to think he knows me. He came up to me while I was waiting in front of the main entrance for Tyler."
"I swear I've seen him somewhere before," Brooke said as she continued to stare at the man like she hoped it would help her recognize him. I didn't want to turn around and look at him again because it might give him a reason to come over and talk to us. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what he wanted with me.
"Today's the first day I've ever seen him. I figured he was from another town since I didn't recognize him," I said as she continued to stare at him. I'm sure he had noticed by now that Brooke was staring at him.
"He looks like he's around Hayden's age," she said pausing for a second before continuing, "Oh he's coming over here now."
"You were probably staring too much at him," I replied.
"Yeah, I probably was," she said looking apologetic.
"Yeah, you definitely were," I said.
"Sorry, I'm guessing you didn't want him to come over here?" she asked. I nodded my head.
We became silent as we waited for the man to approach us. I still didn't want him to come over and talk to us, but I couldn't really stop him from doing that. I wasn't totally creeped out by him as of right now, but it was definitely a little creepy to have him staring at me and showing up near me again. I had to wonder if he had been following me around the festival since we had first met. I looked to my left when I felt the presence of someone near me. The man was now standing off to my side. He smiled at both Brooke and I as he looked at both of us. I wanted to get this over with soon so he could go away and leave me alone.
"Did you figure out if there's anything familiar about me?" he asked me as Brooke and I both smiled politely back at him.
"You look familiar to me," Brooke said. The man turned his attention over to Brooke since he had been looking over at me when he had asked his question. I looked over at her and saw her smiling. She didn't seem creeped out by the man or if she was, she just wasn't showing it.
I wasn't going to show that I felt a little uneasy that this man felt like he was familiar to me in him in some way because I didn't want him to know that and then use it to his advantage so I kept small smile on my face whenever he looked over at me. While he was looking at Brooke, I took the chance to really look at him. Again, I felt like he looked familiar, but I still couldn't remember a name. He just must have me confused with someone else and hopefully this time I would be able to convince him that we've never met. Then he would never bother me again. At least I hoped he would never bother me again.
I didn't hear what he said to Brooke since I was trying to figure out what to say to him and it seemed like it was going to be hard to convince him that I didn't know him or find anything familiar about him at the moment. For some reason he was so sure that we had met before. I wanted to know why he thought he would be familiar to me, but I didn't want him to think I actually did find something familiar about him when I couldn't even place what was that was. So, I wasn't even going to bother and ask him why he thought he would be familiar to me.
"Callie, did you hear him?" Brooke said bringing me out of my thoughts. I focused on Brooke and shook my head no. She giggled and turned to the man to say, "You might want to repeat your question even though I'm sure she heard you the first time you asked it."
"It doesn't matter now that I know your name. You're definitely the girl I've been looking for," he said smiling at me. He definitely had a charming smile, but it wasn't going to charm me into telling him something I didn't want him to know. That last sentence he had spoken had put a frown on my face. Why was he looking for me?
We had never met before so I couldn't possibly have anything he wanted. But then again since he seemed so sure that we knew each other, then there must be a reason that he had been looking for me. I still think he must have seen me on the news and then for some reason thought he recognized me. But maybe I should just let him explain why the hell he thought that I was so familiar to him. And why he thought he knew me. And also, why he had been looking for me.
I was starting to become really curious to know who the guy was and what he wanted even though I still just wanted him to go away.
"What do you mean I'm the girl you've been looking for? I'm quite sure I'm too young for you," I replied sounding confused. He laughed and said, "No, no, that's not what I meant. My mother knew your father a long time ago and I was hoping you could help me get in touch with your father. You were the easiest of Jonathan Dylan's children to find. You seem to be in the paper more than your brothers. Especially your oldest brother. I've only found younger pictures of him, so it was easier to find you because of all the recent photos of you that are made public."
"What do you want to talk to my father about? And why would I find something familiar about you? And what's your name? I think I deserve to know why you were staring at me. As you know I have two older brothers and I'm sure they would be very unhappy to know there's an older dude staring at me," I replied, getting a little annoyed with him.
"I hope I didn't scare you, but I was just trying to make sure I got the right girl. Like I said, I've seen pictures of you before, but I wanted to make sure before I told you what I wanted. And I thought you might find something familiar about me because my mother was good friends with your father. I figured he might have talked about me and my mom so you might have seen a picture of us. I'm Nick by the way," he said smiling at me. I definitely don't remember my father ever talking about being friends with a woman who had a son named Nick. It made me wonder if Nick was even telling the truth about his mother knowing my father.