Halloween

October 30th 2010.

Jay had been hanging out with the girls a lot more since Leah had giving him the riot act.

Right now they were at Em's house, arguing on the preparations.

"How many people are you guys planning on inviting to that party exactly?" Jay raised an eyebrow at the sheer amount of food Em had stocked in her garage.

"We're making it low key, only Needham High's finest." Em said before pausing. She eyed Jay and slowly added "Well, um… some guys from the football team too. I mean, I didn't invite them but then some of the cheerleaders have boyfriends who are on it so…"

Jay laughed, "Seriously? Am I that petty?"

"I wasn't sure how you'd feel." she admitted. "So, we're cool?"

Jay snatched one of the Doritos packages she was about to put away, and opened it. He took a mouthful of chips before nodding, "We are now."

"Hey! That's for tomorrow you ass!" she responded by laughing and punching his shoulder, but it didn't hurt. Jay though, thought she needed to be taught some manners.

He grinned at her before slowly approaching.

"Wha-what are you doing, don't come closer. Jay… JAY!!" she shrieked as he threw her above his shoulder and made for the indoor pool.

"JAY DON'T YOU DARE!!"

He stopped at the edge of it. Em's pool was heated, so there was no risk of catching a cold.

"I got one question for you. Your answer satisfies me, and you get to live." he said in a deep voice and Em stopped struggling. He could almost feel her rolling her eyes.

"Ok. Shoot." she sighed and gave up when she realized he was just teasing.

"What's the best way to scare the wits out of a kid for Halloween?"

"Ugh, I don't know? Disguise as a monster or something?"

"What kind of monster?"

"... Frankenstein? If it's well done I guess. What's with the questions?" Em asked, puzzled.

Jay put her down and smiled, "Still scared of Big Franky, huh?"

Em blushed at that, before mumbling, "It… it was pretty scary when we were kids, alright."

She tied her hair in a ponytail and looked at him, "Help me put the rest away?"

"Sure."

They went back inside and Leah shook her head in amusement, "Let's do this quickly so that we can put the movie on."

So they made haste, and when they were done, Em turned to Jay, "By the way, what was that about scaring someone?"

Jay dropped down on the living room's couch and laughed. "There's this kid called Tim in Lou's class, and he's been bothering her. I'm gonna teach him a lesson."

"Wow, that's so mature of you." Em rolled her eyes and dropped to his left while Leah took his right.

"Tim…" he heard Leah mutter and when he turned to face her, she had a frown on her face.

"What?" he asked.

"No… it's probably nothing." she shook her head before grabbing the TV remote and clicking play.

It was, according to the girls, the best movie of all time, and he felt himself smile when he saw Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams parade themselves on the screen. The Notebook wasn't exactly his definition of best movie, but it was probably a classic of its genre.

Midway, he went to make some more popcorn and left the girls glued to the screen. He debated with himself but still decided to add a little bit of caramel to the corn, and he was glad he did; it was awesome.

When he went back to the couch, he let out a soft smile. The girls were inclined inwards, sleeping on each other's shoulders.

"Miss Emily and Miss Leah very tired." he heard from behind him and whipped his head around to be faced with a woman well in her fifties.

"Is good seeing you; Mister Jay." she smiled at him warmly and spoke with that peculiar Russian accent he remembered her having.

"Kapitolina…" Jay whispered.

"Mister Jay remembers me, I glad." she added, "Mister Jay has become even more handsome." and her weathered face softened.

Her deep blue eyes still held the same wisdom as when he was a kid and he felt his throat become parched. He had actually forgotten her. Well, it was more accurate to say he hadn't remembered her, but still. He felt guilt wash over him for a second.

He slowly approached the woman, before hugging her, "Простите." he croaked.

"You good boy Mister Jay, no apologize. Not done anything wrong." she said as she patted his back.

When he got a hold of himself, his face heated up little. Sure, this woman had been important to Jay Aslan, but it wasn't just that. It had triggered memories of his past mother. The same Russian accent, the same warmth… and a similar weathered face.

"Sorry… I have no excuses. But I came by Bucky's house a few times, I never saw you?"

"I go to holidays, now come back." she said, pointing at the luggage behind her.

"I see." Jay awkwardly let out. He hadn't heard her come in, and bristled at the thought, before dismissing his irrational fear. She had the security code for the house, she wouldn't have been able to enter otherwise. Em's house was a safe as could be.

She seemed to sense his unease and took off her coat before nodding at him, "You strong, yes? Help me bring them to room."

She went and carried Leah like she weighed nothing, and Jay's eyes bulged a little.

She laughed at his face, "I strong too."

"And cunning as well…" Jay mumbled when she was out of earshot. It was clear she had an agenda in taking Leah away and not the owner of the house.

He shook his head and gently lifted up Em before bringing her to her room, where Kapitolina had already laid Leah down on the king sized bed. He put the girl in his arms next to the one on the bed and backed away.

For how much they had pestered him about watching that movie, they sure seemed to lack enthusiasm. They were also very much unaware, and that worried him. If some other guy had been in his stead… He sighed ruefully; really, those girls had no awareness.

But this thought was immediately squashed by the Russian housekeeper's next words.

"They feel safe, so they sleep. Miss Emily has nightmares, fast sleeping is rare. Is good mister Jay is back." she added while taking a hold of his hand, "Is really good."

"Bucky has nightmares?" he asked the woman and she merely smiled.

"Is late, Mister Jay family is waiting. I take care of the girls, you go." she said before ushering him out of the house, reminding him to be careful on the way back.

Jay was amused, he had almost forgotten what a whirlwind Kapitolina was. He took a last look at the house before leaving.

***

"I'm home." Jay said as he crossed the threshold.

"JAY!" Lou exclaimed from the kitchen, before making a beeline for him.

"Hey sweetie, careful." he smiled at his sister.

"Daddy said you wouldn't come early! But you're here!" she giggled happily.

"Yep, I escaped from Morpheus' arms." he laughed before grabbing her hand and dragging her in.

"You're here, I put the plates and glasses on the table, help me set it up." his dad popped out from the kitchen and said.

Jay raised an eyebrow at that, "You cooked?"

"... Thanks for the vote of confidence. Yeah, I cooked. Got a problem with that?" he challenged.

Jay raised his hands as a sign of peace, "Nope. Just surprised."

"I'll have you know that the only reason I don't cook a lot is because your mom won't allow me anywhere near the kitchen. For… practical reasons." Lee said and coughed.

"And she relented… why?"

"Mommy isn't here!" Lou said.

"Where is she?" Jay asked.

"She went to the gallery. A water pipe broke in the bathroom and it was apparently a bigger deal than they could handle, so her assistant called." Lee stated.

Jay nodded and helped the man put everything in place. He burst out laughing when he saw what his father brought out and Lou giggled as well.

"Daddy you're silly!" she said as she eyed the KFC chicken buckets and onion rings he had put on the table.

Jay simply looked at his father who kept a straight face and replied, "What? I reheated them. It counts."

***

October 31st 2010.

His mom had come home late, and exhausted. The bathroom incident had been worse than she had thought, and it had taken longer to get it fixed.

Jay woke up as usual, and made breakfast after his morning routine. He added something to his mother's pancakes, as an encouragement boost.

When everyone was awake and seated, his mom beamed at him when she noticed the raisins in her dough.

"I thought you could use some extra sweetness." Jay smiled and said.

"Thank you, baby." Helen said, and started cutting her pancakes. "So, still haven't found a costume idea?"

"I did actually, Bucky suggested Frankenstein." Jay said after swallowing a mouthful of orange juice.

Lee put down his newspaper, "She's still scared of him?"

Jay laughed, "Don't tell her that." he turned to his mom again, "I was hoping you'd help me. Makeup is basically painting the face, think you could manage it?"

"If I can manage making you look horrendous? Oh baby, sometimes you're really silly." Helen laughed, "I'm more worried about your sister's pumpkin disguise."

Lou lit up at that, "I'll look scary too!"

"... How is a pumpkin supposed to look scary?" Lee mumbled and Helen kicked him under the table.

"Mmh mmh, you're gonna look great baby." she said to her daughter.

***

Jay went out of the house around 2pm, and went straight to Em's house.

Leah opened. She was dressed in a bloody doctor's outfit, with broken stethoscope and all.

"Hey, stranger." she smiled at his Frankenstein disguise and let him in.

"Hey sleepy." he retorted and she coughed awkwardly.

"That… sorry… After how many times we asked you to watch that movie with us, we ended up falling asleep, ugh." she apologized.

Jay smiled, "It's fine, let's start hanging the decorations. Little warning, I might puke at their sight. I just did my house with my parents and Lou, it was hell."

Leah laughed, "It's okay, we're actually done inside. We just need to put a few of them out and that'll do." she looked at her watch, "The guests will come in an hour anyways."

"You don't think it's weird to have a Halloween party in the middle of the afternoon?" he said, tickled.

"Nope. That way we can avoid incidents." she seriously answered. "Peter Vaughn… He was a senior. He threw a party last year, and the entire high school went. It started at 9pm. Em was sick so I stayed with her at home, and thank God I did. I'll spare you the ghoulish details, but date rape drugs were involved. Needham was unrestful for a while afterwards. Anyways, daytime feels... safer for some of the girls and that's what we decided to do. It's not for the whole high school, so who cares what others think."

Jay nodded, it made sense. "Well I'm happy with that, since I need to go trick and treating with Lou later."

Leah smiled, "Uh-uh, we figured. That might have been part of our decision."

"What decision?" said Em, who had suddenly appeared. She was wearing a Chewbacca outfit and Jay almost choked at the sight.

"About him taking Lou trick or treating." Leah answered while Em started putting candies in a giant size bowl, a visual that was too much for Jay to take.

He couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. "Puhahahahahahhaha! Oh my god, puhahahhaha! Why… hahahahaha that's… your disguise… hahahaha, I can't breathe…"

He was clutching his belly and his laughing fit triggered the girls who followed right up.

"I'm supposed to be scary!" Em tried growling but wasn't very convincing.

"How is Chewbacca supposed to be scary?" Jay asked, trying to control his laughter.

Em took off her head disguise. "He is to kids who don't know who he is. I tried it on a neighboring kid, he cried." she added and Jay just laughed louder.

"You went out like that?"

"No one will know it's me anyways, my reputation is safe."

"Is it? What about when the guests come?" Jay asked in amusement.

"... Who cares, it's Halloween!" she rolled her eyes at him, and paused before adding, "By the way, you're not thinking of really scaring that kid you talked about yesterday, right?"

"Of course not. I was kidding with you, I found a better way to deal with that problem." he grinned.

It was Halloween after all, what if a few vomit or moldy cheese flavored jelly beans made their way into an unsuspecting six year old's candy bag? He had gotten the idea a while back, and had looked up the Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans, but they hadn't been invented yet.

It wasn't a problem though, because he had found out that Jelly Belly had made something else called "BeanBoozled" before that. It was the Russian roulette of jelly beans; some looked the same but tasted different. He had tried the product upon arrival, and he was never, ever touching it again. It was disgusting. He was sure little Tim would appreciate the gesture.

"... Why do I get a feeling that what you've thought of is even worse?" Em wondered out loud.

"Because you're smart." he smiled and started helping her with the candies.

When they were done they started putting up a few more decorations. Jay got the ladder to spray some of the trees with fake spiderwebs, and they went back inside to wait for the guests.

"So, you're going to act with Julianne Moore?" Leah opened after a while.

"I'll have more lines with Emma Stone, but yeah, I've got a few with her. Why?"

"My mom loves her." she admitted.

"Really? I'll try and get an autograph for her." he smiled.

"Sorry about that, she's been pestering me to ask you ever since your parents told her. I felt awkward about it." she fidgeted a little. Then she looked up and grinned at him before jumping on his back, "I'm soooo proud of you! You've finally found something you want to do. Look at Em, she'll probably be old and wrinkly by the time she figures something out."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I represent the majority of teenage Americans. I still have plenty of time." she indignantly let out before turning to Jay, and beaming "By the way, I'm also super proud. You gotta show those Hollywood celebrities what you've got, don't let them walk all over you."

They chatted a little more and the front door rang. The guests had arrived.

***

"Blue, right hand!" Leah declared and the others groaned.

"Argh, I can't! I give up, dammit Emily, your furry arm was almost up my ass!" Nina Primo, one of the cheerleaders let out, and her boyfriend Jason Mitchell laughed.

"A loss is a loss, don't try to blame it on others." he said. Nina was dressed in a giant sized pizza, and Jason was wearing a zombie soldier outfit. Jay thought they made a cute couple.

The guy was also from the football team, but he was very chill.

Jay laughed, "Em, tell the truth, you chose that disguise because you knew what an advantage it'd give you, huh?"

Leah giggled and Em rolled her eyes from her awkward position. "What advantage? Why am I not aware of it?" she grunted and the others burst out laughing.

There was no helping it, seeing Chewbacca playing Twister was a really funny sight. Not to mention he was untangled with a bloody nurse, a zombie Peter Pan, a vampire and a ghost.

Nina and her boyfriend hugged Emily and Leah goodbye before approaching Jay. Nina hugged him too, while Jason fist-bumped him.

"Hey man, this was nice. See you around!" he let out before they both left.

The other guests lingered a while longer before they also decided to leave. When they were all gone, Jay took a look at his watch. It was already 7:30pm. They had spent the entire afternoon playing different kind of games, and had finished it with Twister. Everyone had behaved and no one had tried to sneak in alcohol, a revelation that had Jay sighing in relief.

Leah put her head on his shoulder and smiled, "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Just glad it went without a hitch." he replied with a smile of his own.

"Same here." Em groaned, "I'll probably be sore for a while though."

Jay and Leah both guffawed at that.

"Alright, let's go." Leah said and made for the garage with her friends in tow.

They got into her car, it was a nice 2002 Audi TT Quattro red convertible, and Jay eyed it enviously.

Em caught him staring and laughed, "You have to wait until your birthday, January isn't that far away."

Jay chuckled at that, it was true. Chewbacca and the bloody doctor dropped it home, and left. He knew they were headed to Leah's, Em would sleep there too and help her friend distribute candies to children.

He went inside his house and smiled brightly when he saw Lou disguised as a pumpkin. There was nothing scary about it at all, she was plain adorable.

The little girl saw him and her eyes lit up, she jumped in front of him, raised her pumpkin-clad hands and growled at him.

Jay laughed and picked her up before kissing her cheeks.

His mother gasped, "No! Jay you're gonna ruin the makeup!"

Lou giggled and poked the protruding bolts from his neck, "Jay is scary!"

"That's so not true, I'm the cutest Frankenstein in town tonight!" he said and grinned at her.

His mom shook her head, "Alright Franky, take your sister out and be careful. Don't come back too late." she said before handing Lou her candy bag.

Jay told her he needed to go to the toilet, and took the opportunity to retrieve the BeanBoozled candies from his hidden room. He stashed them in his pocket and went back down.

Lou took his hand and they started trick or treating from his street. People were generally nice. Those who weren't already had their houses marked with rotten eggs and toilet paper, and so Jay wisely chose to avoid them.

They'd been at it for almost two hours when he decided they would do one last house before calling it quits. He hadn't bumped into the Tim kid though, and that left him regretful.

He knocked on the last door and wouldn't you know it, Mark Dawson was the one who opened.

The guy frowned when he saw Jay but then seemed to understand when his sight shifted to Lou.

"Trick or treat!!" yelled the little girl.

Mark chuckled and put some candies in her bag. He was about to close the door when his little brother popped out from behind him.

"OOOOOH! It's crybaby Lou! Ugly pumpkin!!" let out the all too familiar annoying voice.

Lou puffed up her cheeks but ignored him, just like her brother had taught her.

Jay, however, smiled mischievously. God was obviously helping him.

"Hey, Pippi Longstockings, we meet again." he said before grabbing a handful of jelly beans from his pocket and putting them in the kid's hand. He was disguised as a pirate, which Jay thought was a perfect fit for his bully behavior.

Having done that, he took Lou with him and left. He hadn't gone too far when he heard two horrified cries.

"EW, EW MOMMY!!"

"DAMN IT ASLAN!!"

Jay grinned and yelled back, "Happy Halloween guys!"

He was sure the kid wouldn't mess with Lou again. That taste was pretty unforgettable.