“Who’s the kid?” Uncle Drew nods in the little boy’s direction.
“This is my little cousin, Josh. Josh, say hi to everyone,” Tyler tells him.
“This is stupid. I hate costumes,” Josh complains as he tugs on the neck of his Batman cape.
“Tyler, your cousin’s a dick, dude,” Uncle Drew replies.
“I know. But my aunt and uncle are out of town and I got stuck babysitting him so-OWWW! SON OF A BITCH!” Tyler screams as Josh kicks him in the shin.
“You’re a dick,” Josh tells him.
“Never mind,” Uncle Drew says. “Your cousin is awesome.”
Gavin walks into the kitchen then and we both stare at each other with wide eyes. Word hasn’t seemed to have spread through the family yet that we’re sort of together so for right now, we decided to just try and act normal when we’re with everyone. That’s going to be impossible with the costume he’s wearing right now and the way he’s staring at mine.
“Is everyone ready to go? We should probably leave soon so we can get a good parking space,” Gavin finally says, tearing his gaze away from me.
“Dude, what the fuck are you wearing?” Uncle Drew asks, getting up from his chair and walking over to Gavin.
“What?” Gavin asks in confusion, looking down at his costume and then back up at Uncle Drew.
“Seriously, that’s what you’re wearing? That’s embarrassing.”
“What’s wrong with what he’s wearing? He’s a cowboy and I think he looks very handsome,” Aunt Claire replies.
“He looks like that homo from Brokeback Mountain. I JUST CAN’T QUIT YOU! That movie was like ten years ago, Muppet fucker,” Uncle Drew says with disappointment.
Gavin is wearing a barn coat with sheepskin lining over a button-down blue jean shirt, dark jeans, and cowboy boots. On his head is a black cowboy hat.
I want to shove him to the floor and fuck his brains out. Jesus, he looks good enough to eat.
“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” Gavin asks, pointing to Uncle Drew and his T-shirt that says: Don’t scare me, I poop easily.
Uncle Drew reaches over to the kitchen table and grabs a mask, sliding it over his face. “I’m Michael Myers, bitch!”
“I don’t think Michael Myers would wear a shirt like that,” Uncle Carter tells him.
“Fuck all your mothers. Everybody poops, even Michael Myers. Is it later now? Can we finally go?”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”
The scream echoes through the forest and makes us all wince at the ear-piercing sound as we walk along the dark trail through the trees.
We’ve been listening to these screams for the past twenty minutes as we make our way through the Halloween Walk. There are jack-o-lanterns with candles in them lining the walkway and helping us see where we were going, but other than that, it’s pitch dark until we come up on another Halloween display every hundred yards or so.
Since it’s dark, Gavin and I have been able to steal a few hand-holding moments here and there, and while everyone was occupied with one of the haunted houses, he pulled me around the side of the house, pressed me up against it, and kissed me in the dark. My legs are still a little bit shaky from that kiss.
We pass the tree of skeletons. Over two hundred glow-in-the-dark skeletons hang down from a tree that has black lights shining on it to make them seem even more eerie. A man dressed in all black with glow-in-the-dark bones on his clothes jumps out and yells, “Boo,” which is the most recent cause for the ear-piercing scream.
“I swear to God if he screams one more time, I’m leaving his ass in the woods,” Tyler complains.
“Be nice. This walk is a little more scary this year,” I tell him.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”
I cringe as another shriek fills the night air and our small group trudges farther down the path.
“Seriously? You could see the mechanical arms on that thing,” Tyler says with a roll of his eyes. “What a *.”
I feel a tug on my hand and looked down at Josh, clutching tightly onto both Gavin and I as he walks between us.
“Hey, Charlotte. What the heck is wrong with the guy with the poop shirt? Why does he keep screaming so much?”
I laugh and shake my head at him.
“His name is Drew and he’s a big baby, that’s what’s wrong with him,” Gavin answers for me.
“Hey! I heard that,” Uncle Drew yells from a few feet in front of us.
“You were supposed to hear that, dumbass,” Gavin replies.
“Awwww, you said ass,” Josh scolds.
“Yeah, so did you. So there!” Gavin sticks his tongue out at Josh.
We stop to look at a tombstone display while the others continue walking ahead.
“Are you ready to talk to me yet?” Gavin asks.
No! Distraction!
“Ha, look at that tombstone! It says Bea A. Fraid. Hilarious!” I say nervously.
“Charlotte, I lov—”
“MENSTRUAL CRAMPS!” I shout, cutting him off.
“What are men’s tall craps?” Josh asks.
Shit, I forgot he’s still with us.