“Oh, I’m going to get you for that one,” Jett says. He dives on top of me and begins tickling my sides. I squeal and fall back on my bed, struggling to get him off me. His creepy monster mask hovers over my face.
“I love you.”
I shake my head. “I’m afraid I can’t love a grotesque monster like you.”
He lifts up the mask, and his normal gorgeous face smiles down at me. “What about now?”
My lips slide to the side of my mouth and I take a long time, like I’m thinking it over. “I guess,” I say with a sly grin. “But I mean, I’m not seeing much difference from when you had the mask on.”
He kisses me. “Better sleep with one eye open, sweetheart. Me and this mask have a lot of scaring to do.”
He winks at me and I roll my eyes. “I can’t believe it’s already Halloween. Seems like this year just started.”
“Are you saying time flies when you’re spending it with me?” he asks with that cocky grin of his.
I grab his shoulders and pull him down for a kiss. “Something like that.”
***
Since it’s Halloween, the Track stays open a few hours later for a fun party. We turn on the track lights and let people ride, and Bayleigh and my mom decorate the main building in spooky Halloween decorations. Creepy music plays through the track’s speakers, and Jett and I sit on the bleachers, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters and the occasional person stopping by on a dirt bike.
Jett wears his scary mask, but I’m dressed up like Tina Belcher from my favorite TV show, Bob’s Burgers. A lot of people immediately recognize me, which is fun.
After a group of kids leaves, Jett turns to me, his scary monster face blocking him from my view.
“Your birthday is coming up,” he says.
I lift an eyebrow. “Wow, I forgot about that.” My nineteenth birthday is in three days. Funny how it hasn’t even crossed my mind lately.
“I haven’t forgotten.” Jett says. His head drops and I imagine he’s staring at his feet even though I can’t tell for sure because of his monster mask. “I had these awesome plans for it, but now that I can’t walk much, they’re ruined.”
“We don’t need to do anything fancy. I’m not really into celebrating my birthday anyway.”
The monster turns to face me. “But it was going to be so much fun,” he says, sounding all disappointed. “An hour away, there’s the annual county fair. It’s huge, and there’s carnival rides and games and a concert every night. I was going to get us horse rides and cotton candy and wristbands that let us ride every ride as much as we want.” He looks back down at the bowl of Halloween candy in his lap. “It was going to be the greatest night ever and now there’s no way I can hobble on crutches at the fairgrounds. I wouldn’t even be able to get into half of the rides, or get on a horse.” He heaves a sigh.
I put my hand on his back. “Baby, it’s fine. We’ll go next year. I’m serious though—I have no plans to celebrate my birthday. It’s not a big deal at all.”
“I just want to do something special,” he says, his voice muffled. “You may not care about your birthday, but I do. You’re my favorite person in the world and if you weren’t born, my life would suck. So I definitely want to do something, even if it’s just low key.”
“Let’s definitely stay low key,” I say. Some little kids walk up and bashfully yell trick-or-treat, ending our conversation for now. We pass out candy and Jett gets stuck talking to some kid’s dad who is apparently a big fan.
Once they leave, and we’re alone again, Jett lifts up his monster mask. “What would you like to do for your birthday? Dinner somewhere nice?”
I curl my lip. “Not really. I don’t really want to go anywhere.”
He looks disappointed, his bottom lip poking out just a bit. “Sorry,” I say. “I just want to stay in. College is kicking my ass and work is hard and the baby drives me insane half the time. I just kind of want to sit in a quiet room and be alone with you. We could watch movies or something.”
“What kind of movies would you like?”
I shrug. “Eighties romantic comedies.”
He laughs and pulls his mask back down over his face. He leans over and lovingly bumps me in the arm with his shoulder. “Sounds like a plan, baby doll.”
