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Most of the kids in the neighborhood know me and Rosie. They’ll abide by the rules.
The party is already going when I get to Freddie’s. The lot is full and I end up parking on the street a few blocks away. When I go inside, it’s a crazy scene with every possible costume in various stages, from subtle to extravagant. It’s a Halloween nightmare. I spot Mark and make my way to him.
He nods at my jersey. “You went all out I see, Mr. Quarterback.” He’s wearing a T-shirt that says, “This is my Halloween costume” along with a headband with light up antennae.
“And you must be a lazy alien.”
He grins. “That’s it. You got it.” I look around the room and he nudges me. “She’s here somewhere.”
“I figured.”
Mark shakes his head. “Just go find her. I think she’s over by the table hockey game.”
I pat his back, then go in search of Allyssa. I find her playing a game against a Greek goddess. Allyssa is wearing her cheerleader uniform and has her hair in pigtails. I watch her from a distance. She’s beautiful and it brings me back to high school. There were eight girls on the cheerleading squad, but she was the only one I ever watched. Watched and wondered if I’d ever have the guts to ask her out. I felt like that kid now, watching her kick the Greek goddess’ butt at air hockey. When she sees me, she misses a block on a shot and the Greek goddess scores.
Allyssa returns her concentration to the game and wins in two more shots. The Greek goddess wanders off and Allyssa comes up to me and smiles.
“You wore your jersey.”
“I told you I would.” I tug on one of her pigtails. “And you wore your uniform.”
She smiles. “I told you I would.”
“But you won the bet.”
She shrugs. “It was the least I could do, since you went all out and cut your hair.” She looks at the new beard growth on my chin. “I see the beard is coming back nicely.”
I run a hand over my cheek. “I told you to not get used to it being gone. Can I buy you a drink?”
She nods and we head to the bar. Neither of us likes to drink at these kinds of things. We’ve both seen the aftermath of that too many times. So I order two Cokes and we take them to a table.
She sits and looks around the room. “There are a lot of people here tonight.”
“Cops and lawyers.”
“Hmm. It seems in some instances it actually works out.”
I take a sip of my Coke. “This is hardly a reflection of the real world.”
“Still.” She waves at someone across the room. She looks so cute in her uniform I can barely keep myself from reaching across the table for her. When she looks back at me, I feel like maybe she knows what I’m thinking.
“Is Rosie home handing out candy?”
“I left it on the porch. She has strict orders to take care of any kid who takes more than he should.” I look at her for a moment, then say, “I don’t suppose you’d like to—”
“Yes.”
I laugh. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“Go outside? If it’s something else, then go ahead and finish the sentence.”
I stand and take her hand. “Let’s go outside.”
We make our way through the crowd and go outside, then walk down the street to my truck. I drop the tailgate and we sit down on it.
I glance at her. “I have a confession to make.”
“Okay.” She turns and looks at me.
