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“Frankie, that’s fantastic! Congratulations!” My mom did exactly what I expected her to do, she hugged Frankie carefully but with every ounce of her enthusiasm. “I’m so proud of you.”
I wandered over and dangled two acceptance letters of my own. “Can I get in on some of this action?”
Mom’s gaze fixed on me. “You got in?” She and Frankie chorused it as one.
“Well don’t look too surprised, I’m pretty damn awesome.”
Where she’d been reticent about celebrating her own, Frankie let out a scream for me, and the joy on her face had me laughing before I got a crushing hug from both her and Mom. The noise pulled the girls out of their rooms, and there was an impromptu bout of yelling and hugging. It actually took effort for me to extract Frankie from there and get her back in the car.
I promised Mom she could take us out for a celebration dinner soon, but maybe we’d wait until we all decided on the school. The air was electric all the way to the shop, and Frankie damn near bounced out of the SUV when we got there.
“It’s about damn time,” Archie groused. “Did you two get lost?” He wasn’t remotely ticked, if anything, he gave Frankie’s glowing face and happy smile a speculative look. I knew what he was thinking, and yeah, that would have been fun, too.
Frankie had her arms around Coop when she looked at me and raised her brows. I spread my arms and bowed my head, motioning for her to take it all from the top.
“We got in,” Frankie said. “Jake and I both got into NYU and Fordham. The first acceptance letters were in.”
“Hell yes,” Coop said, squeezing her to him before he let her go to Archie, who also scooped her into a hug. Coop slapped me on the shoulder as did Bubba. When Frankie turned from Archie toward Bubba, I crossed mental fingers as he grinned at her.
“I’m so happy for you,” Bubba told her. Frankie’s hesitation landed for less than a second before she stepped to him and wrapped her good arm around him. All but sagging in to her, Bubba held her close and pressed his face against her hair. The hug didn’t last long, but it was a hug and that was a good step forward as far as I was concerned.
Even better, she didn’t move away from Bubba but stayed there next to him. The night was just improving.
“Let’s shop,” Coop said. “We have people to be.”
Inside, we meandered together, but Bubba stuck close to Frankie and I paralleled, just keeping an eye on the people who were there. The place was pretty packed, but Halloween was a couple of days away. The party was on the weekend, so we needed to pick out what we wanted.
“Sexy maid?” Coop suggested.
“No,” I answered along with Archie. Sexy was fine, but we weren’t making her parade anywhere wearing anything she didn’t want.
“Well, we have the options of sexy nurse, sexy firefighter, sexy doctor, sexy—”
“Coop, man, different section.” I thumped him, but Frankie laughed.
“I’ll totally wear it if you four will.”
“And on that note,” Coop said. “Next section.”
She flashed a smile at me, and I grinned.
We waded through monsters from vampires to werewolves, to Frankenstein and his bride. That had some potential, but Archie pointed out we’d look like some goth metal band if we went as the Frankensteins. Point. Frankie liked the elf ears and theLord of the Ringscostumes, but the cast would prevent her from really using a bow.
Bubba pulled out dwarf costumes and got Frankie snickering when he offered her a full beard. Dwarf women were bearded after all, and as funny as that sounded, I’d prefer her lips weren’t hidden behind nasty faux hair.
We made it to superheroes, but Frankie kept walking when Archie pulled out the Catwoman costume and followed her with a teasing if pleading smile. Serial killers and slasher film costumes were right out. I wouldn’t mind one of those, it’d be fine, but I also wanted to be able to kiss her some time that evening.
Decisions. Decisions.
Fairy tales and nursery rhyme costumes were in the next section, and Frankie stared at some of those thoughtfully. “The problem,” she admitted as we huddled. “Is you guys wanna theme, and there’s not a lot of options that means all five of us can coordinate.”
“I don’t care if we’re all wearing the same thing,” Bubba offered.
“Neither do I.” I gave her braid a little tug, and she slapped my hand. “The trick is to just find one we all like.”
“What about Sexy Red Riding Hood?” Coop suggested with a wicked grin, and all of us groaned. “C’mon, then we’re all the big bad wolf. All the better to eat you, my dear.” The leer at the end had her groaning even louder, and she pinched him. Absolutely irreverent, he at least circled us back to where we’d started. “If you gave us some guidance here, Frankie, it would definitely help with the decision-making process.”
“She could go as the Invisible Woman,” a familiar feminine voice offered. “You know, all wrapped up in bandages because she’s so good at not letting you see her if she doesn’t want to be seen.”
