Chapter Thirteen
Aliannah had a long shower before getting ready for the day. She was determined today would be better. Nothing would get her down. She set off for work with a spring in her step. “My name is Aliannah Stackton, and I can do anything I desire!” she said to herself. Put positive vibes into the world, and positivity will manifest itself. – Aliannah had read that in a fortune cookie once, and the mantra has stuck with her since. Bad vibes bring bad voodoo. It was a crisp October morning, and all of the storefronts she passed were heavily decorated for Halloween.
Ever since they were kids, Aliannah and Michelle would always dress up in matching costumes. They planned to meet later today to discuss the plan for this year. Michelle was the creative one, while Aliannah was the more practical one. They dressed up as Yin and Yang one year since they are the opposite yet the balance of each other. She looked through old photos on her phone of Halloween over the years. She felt such nostalgia and joy.
She got her pumpkin spice latte from the cart on the corner before heading in to work. Today was going to be a busy one. Some of the local schools were coming in for an art workshop hosted by the Freedom of Arts programme. The event hall where the gala was held was repurposed for this. There were stations everywhere for all the different crafts and projects that the children would be making, and Halloween-themed music was playing over the sound system. Thankfully, this room was soundproof, so the atmosphere of the museum itself was not disturbed by its patrons.
The children filtered in and out throughout the day as each school had their designated time slot to prevent overcrowding. She sent a silent prayer up above when the clean-up crew arrived. It was a sticky, gooey, glittery mess in there. Aliannah had popped her head in an hour before the event finished and could not believe the chaos.
“It’s totally worth it to see the joy on their faces,” the workshop coordinator said to her with such pride. She nodded in agreement but doubted the hall would ever be returned to its pristine condition.
Two hours later, the clean-up crew left with a truckload of absolutely everything. Aliannah gave the hall a check-over before she could officially dismiss the crew. She was gobsmacked. How had they erased every last piece of evidence that the workshop had ever happened?! “This was a piece of cake; you should see the crime scenes we have to deal with. As our motto says, ‘You make it, we clean it’ We have yet to fail at a job.” Aliannah signed off on their work, took the crew leader's business card as he left and made a mental note to keep it safe. She laughed to herself, she might need it sooner than she would like if Ivan didn’t stop. She checked her phone. Ivan had not replied, hopefully; this meant he got the hint.
Michelle met her outside as she locked up the museum for the night. “Ali!” she waved from the bench she was sitting on. “Let’s go to Ger’s! I’m starving!” Michelle shouted as she rubbed her belly. Aliannah laughed as she put away the keys in her bag and linked arms with Michelle. “What in the hell happened to your head?!”
By the time they got to Ger’s, Aliannah had filled in Michelle on all the details from last night. “Will you please pick your jaw up off the floor, Mich! You’re gonna catch flies like that,” she laughed. Michelle was speechless. Aliannah had never seen her friend so shaken.
Michelle slowly changed from shaken to a raging bull as she processed all the information. “Poor Ivan is no more!” She declared. “I can’t believe I ever felt sorry for the guy! What the actual fuck? Are you ok? What are you going to tell Jasper? You legit ran out on him” She shook her head in disbelief.
Aliannah picked at her dinner and debated what to do. “I don’t know what to do about Jasper; I don’t want him to get caught in the crossfire again. He was so nice and caring. I just can’t risk him getting hurt. It’s not fair. He didn’t sign on for ‘crazy obsessive ex’ baggage.” She took a big sip of her mojito before continuing, “I text Ivan.”
She avoided looking at Michelle for a few moments; she could hear the steam coming out of her ears. “YOU DID WHAT?!? WHY?!?” Michelle shouted. She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “Ali, why would you do that? That’s just going to feed into it.”
Aliannah dropped her shoulders in defeat. “I just told him to fuck off and leave me alone, that we're over and have been since that night on the Serenity.”
Michelle put her arm around Aliannah “It's ok, doll. I’m not angry with you. I’m angry with him for being such an asshole.” Aliannah’s eyes filled with tears. She hiccupped, and the dam broke. She was grateful their table was in the back corner, away from prying eyes. She cried and cried until she had no more tears left. “Hush doll, it's ok,” Michelle rubbed her friend's back soothingly. “Let’s talk about something else instead if you want,” Aliannah nodded.
She wiped her tears and took a moment to compose herself. “Right, Halloween is a week away. What are we doing?” Aliannah said with a waver in her voice. She had been nervous that Michelle might want to do costumes with Gavin instead of her this year, which she would have been okay with, but she would rather stick to their tradition.
As if sensing her doubts, Michelle pulled up Pinterest on her phone and began scrolling for inspiration. “I’ve got it!” Michelle said with triumph. Since we have effectively switched roles,” Aliannah bunched her brows. “I have settled down per se while you have become Madame one-night stand possibly.” Aliannah laughed hard and nearly spat out her drink.
Michelle was right, though. It was like they had swapped personalities since summer ended. “Let’s do angel and devil costumes,” Aliannah rolled her eyes and groaned. They had done that plenty of times before. Michelle held her hand up. “However, this time, I will be the angel, and you the devil!” The girls fell into a fit of laughter. Michelle had always been the devil in previous times since she was the wild one, but being with Gavin had calmed her right down; it’s almost scary how different she has become. Different, but in a good way, Aliannah had become wild in that stepping out of her comfort zone to meet Jasper was completely not her thing. Usually, she meets guys at a bar or through Michelle.
They scrolled through Pinterest for outfit ideas, makeup looks and hairstyles, all to fit their theme. Michelle froze “Oh... my… god… I have the best idea for you,” Aliannah looked at her funny. “You should totally wear that dress Ivan sent you!” It was Aliannah’s turn to drop her jaw on the floor. She could not believe that Michelle had dared to suggest this. “Oh, come on. It would be perfect. When else are you going to wear it?!”
Aliannah debated this in her head. The dress was perfect for the occasion. It was daring, it was short, and it was red. She had the long black boots to go with the devil vibe, and she could borrow Michelle’s devil horns and devil mask, too. Michelle would borrow Aliannah’s costume from the last time she was an angel. It gave Victoria's Secret angel vibes with the wings too. They were sorted!
“Ok, costumes are sorted… Where are we going?” Aliannah giggled. They had a habit of planning their outfits before deciding where to go.
“Zino’s obviously; where else are we going to be treated as royalty?” Michelle stated. This was true. Gavin’s boss always had a VIP booth for them, and with Gavin working the door, they always got in without waiting. Michelle started bouncing in her seat. “Gavin has the night off too! So he can party with us!” She was schoolgirl-giddy at this.
“We can go elsewhere if Gavin going to his place of work on his day off is weird for him. I don’t mind where we end up as long as we can dance.” Aliannah finished her fries.
“Nonsense,” Michelle sipped her drink. “It was Gavin’s idea to go to Zino’s. He likes knowing the blueprints of the place. It helps him relax off duty knowing every way out should shit hit the fan,” she shrugged.
Aliannah bobbed her head side to side as if weighing up the pros and cons and agreed that was a valid enough reason to go there. She could not wait for next week. *RING* Both girls checked their phones; it was Aliannah’s phone that was ringing.
*JASPER CALLING*
Aliannah let it ring out. She did not want to talk to him just yet. She had not figured out how to explain to him that they would not work out. Jasper rang again. She sent it to voicemail. Michelle looked at her. “What will you do about lover boy so?”
*PING*
Are you dead? You never let me know you got home?
“Shit!” Aliannah swore. She had been so distracted by Mr Motorbike and Ivan’s last note that she had forgotten to text Jasper that she was home. “I forgot to let Jasper know I got home earlier,” she groaned and threw her head back on her seat.
Sorry mad day – Alive and well, With Mich now. Chat later.
She fired back that quick response and put her phone in her bag. She was in no mood for doubling her man drama. The girls finished up their drinks and decided to head home. Michelle walked Aliannah to their building before hopping in a cab to Gavin’s.