“
Have fun baby and
remember—“
“
I will mom. Bye, love
you!”
“
Love you to— she yelled
after Barry as the front door closed behind him. As she watched the
SUV pull off, a chill crawled up her spine and an eerie feeling
came over her that almost brought her to her knees. As she leaned
forward watching the SUV turn the corner, something in her screamed
to run out of the house yelling for her son to get out of the
truck. Something tore into her heart demanding that she call his
cell phone and demand he get back home at once. An intuition burned
in her the desire to jump in her car and chase them down, snatching
her only child out of the SUV and holding him close to her as she
brought him back home. Every fiber in her being told her to stop
her son from leaving, but she ignored them all and slowly walked
upstairs to her bedroom.
After driving around the corner
Triston stopped in front of Mary’s house and was about to blow the
horn when Barry reached from the back seat and tapped his
shoulder.
“
I got it. I’ll go get
her.”
Smiling slyly Triston looked back at
Barry and said,
“
Well go ahead play boy. I
see you trying to romance your way in those panties
tonight!”
“
Nah Triston it’s not like
that at all.”
“
Oh so you’re being a
gentleman?”
“
Exactly!”
Both Amanda and Triston exploded in a
roaring laughter as they shook their heads at Barry. Amanda could
barely sit up straight as she leaned over laughing causing her long
dark brown hair to cover her face. Amanda wasn’t the smartest or
the most trustworthy girl at Warren High, but what she lacked in
character she more than made up for it in looks. But as she turned
around and looked at Barry with tears rolling down her face, Barry
turned his nose up at her as if she was repulsive and ugly. As they
continued to laugh, Barry’s face turned cherry red while he blankly
stared at the both of them secretly wishing he could punch them
both in their loud laughing mouths.
“
Is it that funny?” Barry
yelled angrily.
“
Yes! Yes it is,” Amanda
responded giggling.
Shaking his head Barry tried to open
the door, but discovered after a few violent pushes that the child
safety locks were engaged. Cursing loudly Barry glared at Triston
in the rear view mirror smiling back at him.
“
Come open the door
Triston, the child safety locks are on,” Barry demanded
angrily.
“
I’m just trying to keep
you safe Barry because you’re acting like a baby back bitch right
now.”
Barry’s eyelids lowered halfway down
over his eyes as he looked at Triston like he wanted to kill him.
Seeing Barry’s facial expression caused Triston to clear his throat
and hop out of the SUV to open the door.
“
Barry my bad dude, I
didn’t mean anything by it.”
“
Yeah whatever,” Barry
responded while pushing his way past Triston and walking around the
SUV towards Mary’s front door. Triston shrugged as he watched his
friend storm up the walk way before he climbed back in the SUV.
Amanda looked at Triston and her smile immediately disappeared when
she noticed the worried look on his face.
“
Bae, what’s
wrong?”
“
I think we really pissed
Barry off.”
“
Aw shit bae, your boy is
too sensitive. He really needs to get laid.”
“
That may be true, but
that’s my boy and I know he really likes Mary and I don’t want to
ruin the night for him by pissing him off.”
Remaining silent Amanda looked towards
Mary’s house and watched the two friends embrace. Right before they
began heading back towards the SUV, Mary’s front door opened and
her intimidating yet highly attractive father stepped outside,
calling out to Barry. Walking down the front steps to meet Barry
halfway Mr. Rodriguez towered over Barry and said something to him
Amanda couldn’t quite make out. But whatever he said made Barry so
nervous his confident step faded into an offbeat scurry that made
Barry look more like a dork than a star running back. As they got
closer to the SUV, Triston’s eyes almost popped out of his head as
he hungrily watched Mary stroll up to the passenger side of the
SUV. Every curve of Mary’s amazing body was electrified in her
black tight fitting mid-thigh length dress and suddenly Triston
secretly longed to be Mary’s light switch. Amanda’s brow
immediately sank and she turned towards Triston just in time to
catch him drooling. Rolling her eyes, Amanda sucked her teeth and
turned her back to him; facing the passenger window. Noticing her
angry reaction Triston reached over to grab her hand and she
snatched away while moving further from his reach.
“
Bae what’s wrong with
you?”
“
How about you drop me off
at home and you and Barry can run a train on little miss sunshine
in the back seat.”
“
What the fuck!” Barry
yelled as he climbed inside the back seat hearing Amanda’s
insult.
Mary placed her hand over Barry’s
mouth and smiled. Shaking her head she urged him to calm down. She
didn’t want to start anything with Amanda tonight and with their
history she didn’t need Amanda saying things that would ruin a
friendship forever.
“
Mary I’m so sorry for what
Amanda just said. She didn’t mean it. She’s just tripping,” Triston
apologized.
“
Oh I meant that shit, but
I
am
sorry for
saying it…out loud.”
“
It’s cool Triston,” Mary
responded smacking her lips while smiling brightly. “Let’s just go.
We’re wasting time in front of my house and I need to be home
before—“
“
12:00am, Yeah Barry kept
drilling me about your curfew
all
day today. We’ll get you back in time I promise,”
Triston assured.
Looking over at Amanda, Triston
noticed she was still caught up in her feelings so he decided to
leave her be and started driving towards route 41 on their way to
Antioch. Before long everyone began to relax and started joking and
laughing loudly until Triston turned into the parking lot of a
local restaurant. Mary suddenly stopped smiling and looked around
as if she was lost.
“
Triston, why are we
stopping here?” Mary asked with a sense of urgency.
“
Oh, Amanda is hungry and
this is her favorite place to eat. Don’t worry we still have
time.”
“
But you know those lines
at the haunted house gets pretty long. We should get there early
enough so that we can get in line and avoid the crowds,” Mary said,
desperately trying to convince Triston to leave the restaurant’s
parking lot. Amanda rolled her eyes as Mary’s voice caused her
nerves to almost come undone. Turning around Amanda looked Mary up
and down and said,
“
You know Cinderella, if
you don’t like where we’re driving you can always find another ride
to the haunted house. Maybe a carriage made from a pumpkin and
pulled by rats can get you there and back before the clock strikes
midnight. I’m so sick of hearing about your 12 o’ clock curfew. Let
it go already!”
Triston almost lost control of the SUV
when he heard what Amanda said to Mary and immediately yelled for
Amanda to close her mouth.
“
Mary ignore Amanda, she’s
suffering from hunger like those people from the Snickers
commercial. Just put some chocolate in her mouth and she’ll be back
to normal,” Triston joked.
“
Really Triston!? I don’t
think you want me to put any “chocolate” in my mouth;
asshole!”
Mary started laughing hysterically and
soon everyone joined in, laughing loudly for about a minute until
Mary said,
“
You know what Triston,
let’s go eat, but please be mindful of the time.”
While everyone got out of the SUV,
Mary glanced at her watch before grabbing ahold of Barry’s hand and
walking into the restaurant.
7:15pm.
T
wo hours later Triston pulled into the crowded parking lot of
the haunted house and Mary’s face went cold. Looking down at her
watch she noticed the time of 9:15pm. Judging the line that ran
around the entire building, she estimated that by the time they got
into the haunted house it would be around 11:30pm. The average
haunted tour lasted at least twenty minutes and the ride from
Antioch to Gurnee was another thirty minutes. So she concluded that
there would be no way she would get home in time. Triston noticed
Mary’s expression and grinned before saying,
“
Mary, Mary quite contrary,
don’t you worry. My boy works here and I texted him while we were
at the restaurant. He’s gonna get us in through the side door, no
fee or waiting in line.”
A bright smile shined on Mary’s face
as she excitedly anticipated her first night out on Halloween with
her best friend. Gripping Barry’s hand and squeezing it tightly,
Mary followed him out of the truck towards the side of the massive
one story building. Once they reached the side of the building
Triston’s friend was there waiting to let them in without a
second’s delay. Right before Mary followed Barry inside the dark
building filled with the screams of patrons and spooks alike, she
looked down at her watch.
9:30pm.
Forty minutes later Mary was running
outside the haunted house screaming to the top of her lungs with an
actor dressed as leather face chasing her with a real chain saw.
Barry, Triston and Amanda weren’t far behind, running from an actor
dressed like Michael Myers as he walked behind them holding a
machete. Barry ran towards Mary and she leaped into his arms
laughing with tears of fear in her eyes.
“
How are you going to leave
me in there like that,” he asked while holding her close to
him.
“
You’re too slow! I wasn’t
gonna wait for you. It doesn’t make sense for all of us to get
killed. Someone has to live to tell the tale,” she responded while
relaxing in his embrace.
Triston and Amanda watched the two of
them and smiled. Triston was happy that Barry was finally a few
steps away from making his dream girl a real girl. Amanda on the
other hand rolled her eyes as she continued to flash a fake smile.
She hated the fact that Mary received so much attention. She felt
guys gravitated to her just because she was mixed with a Mexican
father and African American mother, so everyone considered her
exotic. But Amanda thought she was average looking, definitely not
more attractive than her and her innocent demeanor was an act that
Amanda knew was phony.
Boys are so
stupid
, she thought as she nudged Triston
for them to leave.
Waving in Barry and Mary’s direction,
Triston signaled for them to follow them back to the truck. As they
all climbed into the SUV Mary glanced down at her watch
again.
10:20pm.
Right before they pulled out of the
parking lot, Triston turned down the music to make a
suggestion.
“
Hey, let’s head over to
Independence Grove! A bunch of Warren and Libertyville High kids
are headed over there now.”
“
Isn’t it closed,” Mary
asked uncomfortably.
“
Yeah, so?” Amanda
snapped.
Leaning over while staring at Amanda
angrily, Barry whispered in Mary’s ear,
“
Come on, it’ll be
fun.”
Looking Barry in his eyes Mary frowned
while leaning her head to the side. Placing her warm and soft hand
on his cheek she leaned forward and kissed him softly on his lips
and said,
“
I don’t have time; I need
to be home before twelve.”
“
We’ll only be there for
about an half hour, more than enough time to get you home,” Triston
said, trying to assure Mary that the trip to the forest preserve
wouldn’t be a risky detour. Looking at Triston staring at her in
the rearview mirror Mary remained silent as she pondered her
chances of getting home on time. After a few more seconds she
nodded her head and yelled out loudly,
“
Let’s do it!
YOLO!”
11:00PM
Libertyville,
IL
Independence Grove Forest
Preserve
M
ary rested her head on Barry’s chest as the two of them laid
on the grass looking up at the clear night sky dotted with
countless sparkling stars. A few minutes earlier Triston and Amanda
crept away to some nearby bushes pretending they were going for a
walk, but Mary and Barry knew neither of them would be on their
feet for long. Rolling over so that she was looking in Barry’s eyes
Mary asked,
“
Why did it take you so
long to ask me out Bare?”
Her question caught Barry off guard
and he tried to sit up, but she pushed him back down and waited for
his response. Clearing his throat while squirming, Barry
responded,
“
I was afraid of you saying
no or it ruining our friendship.”
“
How can it ruin our
friendship? I would think it would make it stronger,” She
responded, smiling. She then moved closer to him and kissed him
passionately on the lips. After a few minutes her excitement took
control and she climbed on top of him and the two of them embarked
on a passionate experience that was long overdue. Just when things
were heating up to a boiling point, Mary’s alarm went off on her
Smartwatch and she leaped to her feet; adjusting her dress and
frantically yelling Triston’s name. Looking at her watch the time
of 11:30pm glared back at her as it blinked on and off and her
entire body was immediately covered in goosebumps.