Chapter 2 – Leon #3
The night before, they hadn’t been able to decide what they were going to do tonight.
The social at the Rainbow Bean was low-key, mostly focused on unveiling a new line of tea and food featuring pumpkin and fall spices.
Leon was sort of itching to go out and do something, like a pop-up bar or maybe a Rocky Horror screening.
Because of that, he’d dressed in something easy and versatile.
He’d left his hair down around his shoulders, put on wrist cuffs, and chose his most distressed t-shirt with holes that occasionally flashed his nipple piercing and ribcage tattoo.
His pants were red and black plaid, with chains and buckles all up and down the sides, and he’d shoved an old pair of drumsticks into one of the side pockets.
In other words, he was dressed punk, as always, but with a bit of added flair.
He’d never claimed to be creative. That was James’ hangup, not his.
Leon opened the fridge door and reached in to grab a pumpkin beer. “I was gonna have a beer while we decide what the plan is for tonight. You want one?”
“I probably shouldn’t,” James said. “I stopped needing to pregame my nights out in my mid-twenties.”
Leon shut the door and turned to look at James. “I forget you’re such a lightweight. You wanna split it?”
James glanced at the bottle. “Is it one of the precious six pumpkin beers you drink a year?”
Leon told James the night before that he only ever bought one pack of the seasonal ale, liking the flavor only enough to get through at most six per year.
“I wouldn’t say precious, but yeah,” Leon said, with an eye roll for good measure.
“Wow, I didn’t know I was special enough to make the cut. Sure, I guess I can have a little bit.”
There were a lot of ways Leon could respond to that, but he chose to lower the bottle to his groin, grab his belt buckle, and use it to flip the cap off the beer.
James gawked at him, but before he could say or do anything, Yarmen yowled, clearly not getting enough attention.
He began to claw his way up onto James’ shoulder, and Leon laughed as he grabbed them both a glass.
He was pretty sure he heard James mumble something that sounded like “crotch beer,” but he ignored it.
“So, where do you want to go tonight?” James asked as he settled onto one of the seats at the kitchen island.
Leon poured their beers, and they went back and forth, finally deciding to hit up a bar or two.
James suggested they walk there and maybe take a rideshare back so they could drink as many candy corn flavored shots as they wanted and not have to figure out what to do with one of their cars.
Leon agreed, even though he would probably leave the candy corn shots to James.
There was no way Leon would be participating in that. Sounded like a walking hangover to him.
They only made it halfway into their beers before someone pounded on Leon’s door.
James, who was still cradling Yarmen in his arms, this time like a baby, flinched in his seat. “Overeager trick-or-treaters?”
Leon sighed and went to answer the door. “Doubtful. I told you, we don’t usually get any in the building. If I had to take a guess—” He yanked the door open and was greeted by an impressive looking Harley Quinn. “I’d say it’s my annoying next-door neighbor.”
Hailey, said next-door neighbor, immediately put both hands on her hips, somehow making the costume look even more realistic. “Happy Halloween to you, too, Leon.”
“Hi, Hailey,” James called, his voice way too sweet and understanding.
“Hi, James!” she said, dropping her teenage angst-filled stance and waving happily to James.
Why didn’t James get the attitude?!
“Goodbye, Hailey,” Leon said, and he tried to close the door, only to have Hailey press her shoulder into it, stopping it from closing.
“I wanted to see what you two are doing for Halloween,” she said, flashing Leon a smile that was probably supposed to look casual but definitely looked like she was up to something.
For fuck’s sake, not this again. “Why?”
“We don’t have any set plans yet,” James volunteered.
Leon turned to glare meaningfully at him over his shoulder. James’ eyes widened, and he lifted Yarmen up and buried his face in his fur. Leon sighed and turned back to Hailey. She now had a shit-eating grin on her face, and Leon was already too tired for this.
“No—”
“I was wondering if you were heading out anywhere,” she said, “because I’m supposed to be meeting some friends for this trick-or-treat thing. Mom was going to drive me, but she got called in for an emergency, so now I have no way to get there.” She pouted her lipstick-coated lips.
“Oh, is that the trunk-or-treat event the community center is hosting?” James asked, and Leon had to press his lips together, so he didn’t sigh again.
Hailey grinned. “Yeah, that’s it! It’s only a twenty-minute walk, but Mom doesn’t want me walking alone at night. I thought maybe if you were already going somewhere, I could hitch a ride or walk with you!”
“Why can’t you call a ride share?” Leon asked, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that reminded him a little too much of his two current house guests, though in different ways.
“Mom read some news article recently about this guy who would drive women out into the woods, and?—”
“Okay,” Leon said, not needing to add more fodder to his already superfluous nightmares.
Hailey’s mom was an ER doctor who was exposed to more horrors in a day than anyone should experience in a lifetime. To top it off, she tended to listen to local news on her way to and from work, as well as read some of the more sensational headlines, and she worried about her only daughter a lot.
To be fair, Leon found himself waking up at night worrying about Hailey, too.
He’d known the two of them for over seven years, back when Hailey was a bright-eyed fifth-grader who hid behind her mom when Leon introduced himself.
She’d grown a lot and was now almost eighteen, but to him, she would always be the neighbor kid he babysat when her mom got called into work.
“‘Okay,’ like, you’ll take me?” she asked, rocking forward onto her toes so she could bounce up and down, her red and blue pigtails bouncing with her.
Leon turned to face James. “Fine. You okay going to the bar in City Center?”
“Of course,” James said, standing up with Yarmen still cradled in his arms. The cat looked completely blissed out, not used to this level of cuddling from Leon.
“Fine,” Leon grumbled again, walking back over to the island to grab his beer glass. He chugged it, much to James’ evident disgust. “You gonna drink yours?”
James awkwardly shifted Yarmen into one arm so he could take two big swigs before putting the glass back down. “I think that’s all I can manage.”
Leon picked up the glass and finished the rest for him before grabbing Yarmen one-handed and tossing him onto the couch. He landed with a soft thud, his tail twitching in the air as he walked over to his preferred corner and sat down.
“Do you need to call your mom and let her know we’re walking with you?”
“Oh, I already told her that was the plan,” Hailey said brightly.
James failed at stifling a laugh, and Leon glared at him and then at Hailey, and finally at his boots, which he shoved his feet into with a little more force than necessary.
“You know, I used to get paid for putting up with your shit,” Leon said as he grabbed his leather jacket and stuffed his wallet, phone, and keys into his pockets.
Hailey was still holding the door open, and she’d already pulled out her phone to text or tweet or snap or whatever it was the kids did these days. “You’re such a liar. You stopped taking payment from my mom after the second time you babysat me.”
James made another noise that sounded dangerously close to an “aww.”
Ignoring that, Leon asked, “Are you going to be warm enough to walk in that?”
Hailey nodded her head absently as she stepped into the hallway, and James and Leon followed her out of the apartment.
Leon turned to look at James, who was only wearing a thin blazer. “Are you going to be warm enough? Do you need to borrow a jacket or something?”
James screwed up his face. “I’m fine, Dad , thank you.”
Well, fuck Leon for caring, then. He yanked the door shut and turned the key in the lock.
“Oh my god, I know, right? He’s such a dad,” Hailey said, putting her phone in a pocket of the skater skirt she was wearing before pulling out a pack of gum. “Although, for you guys, is that more like he’s such a daddy ?”
James spluttered, and Leon cursed himself for ever having answered the door. He should have just pretended they weren’t home.
“Don’t ever say that again.”
“What? I don’t yuck anyone else’s yum,” Hailey said, folding the piece of gum into her mouth and immediately attempting to blow a bubble. It snapped before it was fully formed, and she pulled it back into her mouth to try again.
“We do like to be sex positive,” James mumbled, more to himself. “At least the youth aren’t kink shaming.”
“No,” Leon said, stalking down the hallway and away from the two biggest sources of headaches in his life.
He made James hold most of the conversation with Hailey as they walked towards the community center.
He did a pretty good job of it, asking about school and where she was applying to college.
She’d been taking cosmetology classes at the local community center for almost a year, but she thought she might want to do that more as a side hustle and was planning to study sociology.
The walk took longer than it usually would have due to the crowds of people out and about, dressed in all sorts of costumes on their way to and from events.
They passed through a part of the city that used to be industrial but was rapidly being filled with high-rise apartment buildings and coffee shops.
Leon began to notice signs for some sort of haunted house, and as they turned a corner, he was shocked to see that what was usually an abandoned warehouse had been turned into a fully decked out haunted house.
People were milling about on the sidewalk and in a small courtyard in front of the haunted house. Strobe lights cast eerie orange and purple light onto the building, and smoke machines poured smoke onto the ground.
As they passed by, Hailey let out a gasp and darted into the courtyard.
“What the—” Leon muttered, quickly hustling after her like she was Yarmen chasing a piece of food that had fallen off the table.
“Oh my god, you guys!” Hailey squealed as she ran up to a group of five other teenagers, all dressed in varying costumes.
Two of them were holding hands, wearing purple and green M&M costumes. One of them was dressed as Catwoman, one of them as the Joker, and the other as Batman. The Joker immediately hugged Hailey tightly, and Leon scowled.
“Hailey,” he said, doing his best to keep his tone even.
The group of teens looked over at them, all except for Hailey.
“I thought we were going to the trick-or-treat event!” Hailey said, in a voice that was nearly falsetto. She pulled back from her hug and cast Leon a glance before looking back at her friends. “Did you change your mind last second?”
The Joker gave her a confused look, but Catwoman seemed to catch on much faster. “Oh, uh, yeah, they were…out of candy?”
The Joker looked between the two of them and then at Leon. “Yeah, we…saw signs for the haunted house and thought we might as well try it out?”
James made a noise, and Leon turned to see him covering his mouth, his eyes dancing with the orange and purple flickering lights.
“Wow. What a happy accident that we just so happened to stumble upon your friends,” James said, and Leon narrowed his eyes at him.
“Oh my god, right? How lucky!” Hailey said, snapping her gum before grinning widely at Leon. “Well, thanks for walking me into town! Now you guys can go do whatever old people do for fun.”
For. Fuck’s. Sake.