Chapter 16 #2
“He did,” I answer, grabbing my own pizza as my stomach growls with the smell. I would have thought I would have grown immune after the drive here, but I’ve only gotten hungrier. “We can pick up an extra pumpkin if you’re free too.”
Berlyn blushes as she trades looks with Summer and they communicate silently. “Yeah, we’d like that,” she answers. “Summer and I normally always do it together Halloween Eve.”
Jude pokes fun at her for calling it that, but Summer and her are so adamant about their Halloween Eve traditions, he can’t even continue to argue with them. He should have known from the start he was going to be no match for them.
“Okay, okay,” he concedes, putting his hands up in surrender. “If we’re watching horror movies, I’m in.” West looks at me horrified, he hates scary movies. Can’t understand why people would subject themselves to being scared in the first place.
I pat his knee. “I’ll protect you.”
He gives me an unsure look and I can’t help but laugh.
“It won’t be as bad as the haunted house,” I assure him, reading the question in his gaze.
Any other circumstances I would also have had my fill of Halloween horrors for the years with that damn house, but we knew Berlyn has always loved this stuff.
Berlyn giggles. “Don’t worry, West. Nothing like the haunted house.”
Summer nods her agreement. “We have to keep it pretty tame for scaredy cat over here.” She gestures to Berlyn who gives a little shrug. “It’s still fun. We watch a lot of classics.”
West is still hesitant but eventually nods his agreement and just like that, we have plans to hang out like this again. It’s almost unreal how easily we’ve been able to slip into her life as ourselves. Maybe we should have tried a little more over the years.
Everything happens the way it’s meant to though.
Summer studies West for a moment, tilting her head to the side as she takes another sip of wine. “You don’t talk a lot,” she says casually. It’s not said with malice or judgement, but all three of us react anyway.
Weston stills, curling slightly in on himself, while Jude and I both get ready to go on the defensive.
“I like it,” Summer finishes, saluting him with her nearly empty wine glass.
There’s a moment where no one knows how to react, but West breaks the sudden tension with a low chuckle and terse, “Thanks.” He nods at her. I think my brain just short-circuited.
Or maybe I’m drunk.
No, there’s still a half-drunk beer in my hand.
Jude has the same perplexed expression across the way from me, looking at his own beer as if it’s betrayed him.
We shouldn’t make a big deal of this. No, we can’t make a big deal of this.
I clear my throat, grappling with the pride I feel and trying to bury it and appear normal.
It’s not the first time he’s spoken in Summer’s presence, but it’s definitely the first time he has addressed anyone other than us directly when he hasn’t had to.
Berlyn picks up on our momentary loss of words and is quick to fill the silence in the way only she can. Immediately everything feels back to normal as she brings up the Halloween party they’re going to this weekend and runs us through each of her outfit options and the pros and cons of each.
By the time she finally finishes, she’s nearly gasping for breath and she’s the center of everyone’s attention. We all wear similar dumb-ass grins and her face heats, but she rolls with it. “I like Halloween,” she admits a bit shyly.
Summer shakes her head and faux-whispers to us, “I’ll be putting together our costumes for the party.”
Jude gets up and grabs the wine we brought and refills both of the girls’ glasses. “Should we start some of the Halloween festivities early?” he suggests, waggling his eyebrows.
Summer sits up straighter. “We should watch Hocus Pocus,” she exclaims, and the way Berlyn’s eyes brighten, I know this is the exact excuse we need.
“A marathon,” Summer adds, giving us a feral grin. God bless this woman. She’s truly a saint.
Berlyn shakes her head, laughing. “We never make it through a marathon,” she argues. "You always fall asleep.”
Summer gives her a look and Berlyn corrects, “We always fall asleep. But this is my house. I can fall asleep here.”
“Su casa es mi casa,” Summer argues.
“Found it,” Jude says, and I realize he already has the movie pulled up on Berlyn’s television. I hadn’t even noticed him doing it. Damn, he really wasn’t taking any chances.
Berlyn smiles, already looking tired as she gets more comfortable on the couch. “Wait, we have an early class in the morning,” she reminds Summer, who is scrolling on her phone. I check the time and grin, the timing could not be better.
Summer shoots up from where she was sitting.
“No, we don’t,” she says, looking at her phone intently.
Berlyn cocks her head to the side, sending her a questioning glance.
“We just got an email,” she explains, showing Berlyn her screen.
“Apparently a family emergency.” She says it with so much disdain and disbelief, if we didn’t already know something was going on, we’d be picking up on it right about now.
“Our lucky day,” Jude teases, nodding to the television as if asking for permission to hit play.
The girls trade silent looks and Summer gives Berlyn puppy dog eyes complete with a pouting lip and praying hands. There’s no way she’s going to deny her now. It’s almost annoying how well Summer knows her, except she seems firmly on our side.
“Yes!” she cheers, jumping off the couch as her phone clatters to the ground. She doesn’t even stop to pick it up as she runs out of the room.
Berlyn looks at me in question, but I only shrug. “Where are you going?” Berlyn calls after her friend.
Summer is already out of the room and somewhere down the hall. “You’ll see,” she calls back. I’m fairly sure she’s near the cabinets of extra linens. When she walks back into the room her arms are laden with blankets and pillows stacked higher than she can see with more dragging behind her.
Weston rushes to his feet to help her before she trips while Berlyn stares at her slack-jawed. “What are you doing?” she asks.
Summer’s head peeks out from the massive bundle as West grabs some of the stuff from her. “Getting comfortable.”
Jude and I also get to our feet and let Berlyn’s friend direct us as we clear out the space in front of the television, moving the coffee table to the side, and pushing the couch back.
It gives us plenty of space to lay the blankets and pillows down, making a soft place for us all to lay back and watch the movie.
My brothers and I trade several looks as the girls take over making sure everything is perfect and actually going to be comfortable. We’ve never done anything like this. Sure, we watch movies together, but we’ve never made it a whole thing. Not even as kids. We never really had the chance.
“I’ve always wanted to make a pillow fort,” Berlyn giggles, fluffing a pillow and putting it up against the couch.
Summer cocks her head, messing with her own set of pillows. “You never have?” Before Berlyn can answer though she’s shaking her head. “Of course, you haven’t. Otherwise you would know this isn’t a fort.”
“Then what is it?” Berlyn deadpans, gesturing to all the pillows. The two of them quibble over the smallest of details. They almost feel like real sisters.
Summer hums, tapping her lip in thought. “It’s a bed. A fort has to have some type of covering.”
“That’s boring,” Berlyn argues.
Jude’s head bobs back and forth, following the conversation like a tennis match. “Want us to make a covering?”
“Oo,” Summer exclaims but Berlyn throws a pillow at her.
“We’re not doing that. This can be our version of a pillow fort. I’m crossing it off my bucket list now.”
Jude crosses his arms over his chest and makes a sound of disagreement. “I mean, this is cool but is it really bucket-list cool? I think we can do better.”
Oh my brother, who can never let a challenge go.
Under normal circumstances, this would be entertaining.
I would even go as far as to encourage it, but how long would turning this pillow bed into a pillow fort take?
Cause we need the girls to fall asleep so we can continue on with our night by a certain time.
“I like it,” West says with a shrug, pointing to the pillows. “Looks soft.”
“West is right,” Berlyn laughs, looking around at how many pillows are taking up her living room now. “I don’t think I have any other pillows or blankets left anyways.”
Summer nods sagely. “You don’t. Unrelated, but you’re going to have to make your bed again.” She turns to Jude, ignoring Berlyn’s incredulous expression. She definitely had already noticed the familiar comforter and pillows being dragged out. “We’ll game plan for next time,” Summer says.
“A pillow fortress,” he agrees and holds his fist out for her to bump. He went from refusing to learn her name to her new best friend over some pillows.
“A pillow castle,” she echoes.
Berlyn slides to my side and bumps my shoulder with hers. “We’ve created a monster,” she whispers, gesturing to the two of them.
I pat her on the shoulder. “Don’t be surprised when we’re back next week with even more pillows, blankets, PVC pipes and Jude whips out a blueprint of how to build the best pillow castle of all time.”
She laughs, but I’m not really joking. There’s a light in Jude’s eyes that only burns brighter every time Berlyn smiles or laughs at this chaos.
We’ve never allowed ourselves to enjoy something as small and meaningless as this.
Even tonight has a larger purpose for us.
It’ll serve as an ironclad alibi, not only for us, but Berlyn as well.
Finding out, she also has never really enjoyed something like this? It almost makes me want to cancel the plans for tonight. If it were for any other job, I would. We’d stay here and make this the most magical night for her. For all of us. But this is to protect her.