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By the time I'm done telling my story, Jolie is holding her stomach, bent over laughing, and begging me to stop. I put our food wrappers back on the tray and walk it over to the garbage.
"Can I persuade you to get me one more thing before we go?" she asks, standing from the table.
"Anything."
"One of those fried Oreos from over there."
"You got it."
We walk over to one of the other food trucks, our hands linking again, and wait on line. This time I'm watching and waiting for that first bite wiggle and sure enough, it makes me laugh again when it comes. And even better, that this time, I don't see her eyes dim when she realizes she's laughing along with me.
As we walk back to my car, I see Jolie shiver, and I hurry to take my hoodie off and hand it over to her. She takes it with a smile.
"Good, because the scent was wearing off on the other one," she says as she puts it on, zipping it up.
"We can organize some kind of exchange program. You give mine back to me, because now it'll smell like you, so I'm set. And then I give you a new one that smells like me."
"I like that. We make quite the team."
"We do," I agree.
"So, what are you doing tomorrow?" she asks as we head back to the haunted house.
"Working until five. You?"
"Three classes and then work."
"What time do you go on lunch, or really more like dinner with how late you work."
She chuckles. "Around eight. There's usually a lull in the kids leaving and the adults arriving, so I eat then."
I nod, an idea forming in my mind that I hope she likes. I pull up next to her car in the now empty lot.
"I don't want this night to be over." She sighs.
"Me either. But on the up side, this won't be our last night together."
She arches a brow. "So certain I'll let you take me out again, huh?"
"I mean, if a fried Oreo doesn't win you over, I don't know what will."
She laughs, and I savor my last time hearing it for the night.
"You got me there. One more kiss wouldn't hurt to seal the deal though."
I lean over, more than ready to do anything to help my chances at seeing her again. She meets me halfway, our lips meeting one last time. This one soft, sweet and over way too soon.
I get out and open the door to my car, then to hers.
"Next time I see you, we'll do this whole hoodie exchange," she tells me.
"Just make sure your scent holds up its end of the deal," I joke.
"Will do. Thank you, for giving me a night of freedom and happiness."
I can't seem to swallow past the lump that forms in my throat to reply. Maybe she doesn't need me to because she just gives me another smile and closes her door. I watch her go, not ready to get back into my car just yet. When her headlights fade I lean against the passenger door, reliving the night, reliving how easy it felt to be around her. Reliving her smiles and laughs, and even her sadness, because that was beautiful too. Reliving how I was able to forget about this part of my life being the after for some time, and that even when I remembered Ben, even that hurt less because I was in the company of someone who made me feel like it was okay to remember him how I remember him, and not only when it's in the best light.
I get into the car when the cold starts to hit me without my hoodie on, driving home and somehow feeling like I weigh a little less. Or maybe the world got a little easier. When I pull up to my grandma's house, I can't help but look at the house next door. Ben's family's house. Where his mother and sisters live in the bubble they've made of a son and brother they never really knew. It's not their fault in the end. He didn't want them to know the real him, wouldn't let them see, and now I'm left holding up the facade he built without him here to keep it going.
