Chapter 11
Haddy
Halloween is on a Friday this year, which happens to land perfectly for our annual celebration. Usually, we have to adjust our date to accommodate Mav’s schedule, but they have a rare Friday night off.
They’ll be back on the road Saturday, but it’s for a game in Anaheim, so not too far.
We all love Halloween. When I was a little girl, my fall break always fell around this time, and Mom and Dad would pack us up to head south to Newhope to spend the holiday with all the Bradfords.
Besides Christmas, it’s the holiday I most associate with my cousins, and every year we go all out.
“What do you think?” Mav stomps into the kitchen, where Gina and I are stringing the Styrofoam balls we’ve covered in cheesecloth.
They’re cute little ghosts, and we’ll hang them everywhere, inside and outside the house.
Our cousin is dressed in what looks like a hairy ape-like costume with a pink ribbon in its hair and a pink belt tied in a bow around his waist.
“What are you?” Gina frowns. “Mrs. Chewbacca?"
“There’s no Mrs. Chewbacca,” he groans. “I’m Big Foot!”
Tilting my head to the side, I squint up at him. “Did Big Foot wear a pink ribbon in his hair?”
“He does on the clock app. Haven’t you seen the video of him walking with the purse?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know what that was supposed to be about.”
“You should just go as regular Chewbacca.” Gina stands, carrying four ghosts on her fingertips to hang on the front porch.
Mav pretends to snore, and I bump him with my hip as I pass, carrying more ghosts to hang outside. “I’m going as Princess Leia. We can be a pair, like they were in Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back.”
“Haddy!” Gigi whines from where she’s climbing the ladder at the front door. “You changed your costume?”
“I didn’t change it!” I walk over to where she’s stringing ghosts along the orange twinkle lights.
“But she wears that puffer vest in Empire! I thought you were wearing the white dress from the awards ceremony at the end of A New Hope.”
“You’re going as Princess Leia?” Gav walks up from where he just finished hanging bat silhouettes in the trees.
His cap is on backwards, and the short-sleeved black tee he’s wearing makes me wonder if any of his clothes can accommodate his muscular physique. It’s stretched so nicely over his pecs.
“It seemed like the obvious choice.” I shrug, and my stomach tingles when our eyes meet.
“Obviously, Princess.” He winks at me, and I blink down, fighting a goofy grin and wishing my cheeks didn’t flame red every time he did that.
We haven’t had a chance to talk for real since the day of the charity clinic, but I’ve thought a lot about what he said. I’ve thought about what Mav said about how people don’t change that much. Every time, it leaves me feeling uneasy.
I can’t believe Karen would lie to me, but I don’t know why Gavin would lie to me either. It was all so long ago, I’m not sure why he still cares about what I think today.
Except… I think I do know why, and the reason makes my insides all hot and zippy.
He was genuinely disgusted with Rob “the knob.” He gave me his sweater to wear to the games. I was ready to break up with her the day we met…
“What are you going as, Gav?” Gina climbs down the ladder and folds it.
“I hadn’t decided yet, but now I have an idea.”
“If Mav goes as Chewy, and Hads is Leia… What can I be?” she pouts.
“You could be Cruella Deville!” I suggest excitedly.
“Haddy! She was breeding dalmatian puppies to use for a dog-fur coat! That’s pure evil.”
“It’s Halloween,” I counter. “You’re supposed to be pure evil.”
“Princess Leia’s not pure evil. She’s good.”
It’s true. “You could be Rey from The Force Awakens.”
“Why doesn’t Star Wars have any strawberry-blonde characters?” My cousin frowns up at Mav, who is strutting around with his hand up like a prissy Big Foot.
“That is a good question, girl!” He sticks out his index finger and boops her nose.
“What the hell are you?” Gav frowns at his friend. “Lady Chewbacca?”
“There is no Lady Chewbacca!” Mav groans.
“If there were no lady Chewbaccas, how would they get the little Chewbaccas?” Gina bats her eyes at him as she lifts the wooden ladder and starts to carry it into the house.
Gavin steps forward quickly to take it from her. “Let me help you.”
“You can be Glinda the good witch,” Mav suggests.
“Do you know how many times I’ve been Glinda?”
“What about Pretty Woman? Or Danger-Prone Daphne?” I try.
She waves her hand, following Gav into the house. “I’ll figure it out.”
Stepping back, I survey our decorations, from the orange twinkle lights framing the front door to the large bowls of candy we’ll hand out to trick or treaters. The party will start after dark, after the kids are finished making the rounds, which looking up, I realize is about to begin.
“I’ve got to get dressed! Mav, are you ready if kids show up?”
“Ready with the full-sized Hershey bars.” His eyebrows waggle, and he rips the plastic off the packages. “Best house on the block.”
“Never grow up,” I tease, dashing up the stairs to get changed.
“Another Maverick Murphy!” I exclaim, handing the little boy a full-sized chocolate bar. “That makes ten.”
“Ten Mavs and only six Gavs.” My cousin tilts his Yeti head, pretending to be sympathetic. “Looks like I’m winning, bro.”
“Don’t get cocky.” The sound of boots clomping up behind us makes us turn, and I swallow air.
Gav walks up in tight brown pants and black boots, a long-sleeved white T-shirt, and a black thin-puffer vest. A belt with a silver buckle is slung low on his narrow waist, and on his leg is a band with a black water gun attached.
“I’ll be danged, it’s my ole buddy Han.” Mav reaches up to pull the pink bow out of his “hair,” and with the flick of his fingers, the pink belt is gone.
Then he emits a near-perfect Chewbacca roar.
“That’s more like it.” Gav steps up beside his friend, and they both look down at me standing there with my mouth open. “What do you think, Princess?”
I think I just ovulated.
Clearing my throat, I manage to get out, “You look really good.” Before we’re interrupted by loud voices yelling Trick or Treat!
The side of his lips curls up with a sly grin, and heat flashes from my stomach to my toes. Turning quickly, I grab more candy bars for the kids. It’s almost time for trick-or-treating to end, and cars are starting to arrive for the adult party.
“I’ve got the eyeball Jell-O shots all ready to go!” Mav heads to the kitchen to fetch a tray of red plastic cups with eyeballs suspended in them. “Don’t worry—there’s plenty more where these came from.”
“Did you make them?” My eyebrow arches.
“You know it!” He grins, handing me a cup. “And there’s purple drink in the Ninja.”
“You’ve been warned.” Gina whispers in my ear, and I turn to see she’s wearing a long greenish-black wrap-dress, and her hair is in thick spiral curls all around her head with little google eyes attached to the ends.
“Are you…?” I frown, unsure.
“Medusa, of course!” She holds up a platter with a tiny jack-o-lantern on it.
The mouth is open, and a massive amount of guacamole is pouring out like vomit. She has a big bowl of blue-corn tortilla chips in her other hand.
“If I didn’t know that was delicious, I’d barf,” I laugh.
“Let’s do this!” She puts the appetizers on the table laden with food and scoops up two Jell-o shots.
We do them together, and I realize the eyeball is made of chewing gum. “It burns!”
“Purple drink for the princess and one for the Gorgon.” Mav puts two insulated cups in our hands, and continues to greet the gang pouring through the front door.
Halloween music blasts through the speakers, and I laugh, scanning the room for Han Solo. He’s near the entrance to the kitchen, and of course his blue eyes are locked on me.
My stomach tingles, and I make my way through the crowd of hockey players, neighbors, and friends to where he’s standing with his arm propped on the door jamb.
“Hey.” He leans down to me.
“How are you liking your first Halloween party in LA?”
“Not bad.” He grins, arching an eyebrow and giving the room a quick sweep before returning his attention to me. “How about you?”
“It’s my favorite party of the year.” I hold up my cup of purple drink. “Have some.”
“I think I will.” He takes the metal cup from my hand.
Snapping my gum, I’m feeling sassy from the shots and the purple drink and the music. I’m feeling like it’s Halloween, the holiday where anything goes. Where you’re supposed to be naughty.
“You take that one, and I’ll get another.”
I slide past him into the kitchen, and he places his back against the wall, watching me as I pass.
“One for you.” Maverick hands me a solo cup this time filled with purple drink. “I expect to see you making out with somebody before the night’s over.”
He elbows me in the side, grinning as he not so subtly tilts his head in the direction of his friend behind me.
Without missing a beat, I take a sip of my drink. “I’d just as soon kiss a Wookie.”
“Or Han Solo.” My cousin points a finger at me. “I can arrange that.”