Always Been You (6 page)

The rest of the night went by so quickly and before long, it was time for me to go home. After loitering in the quiet restaurant for a while, talking about things one would normally talk on a first date, Aaron and I finally decided to head back to his car. The date had been so wonderful that by the time we made it to my front door, I felt like I was floating on air.

“So,” I said.

“So,” he repeated.

“So,” I said again.

A moment of silence passed before we both blurted out “I had fun tonight”. We chuckled.

“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” I grinned.

“You’re welcome,” he grinned back. “Would you mind if I took you out again sometime?”

“Do you promise to make sure the next time it won’t be so fancy?”

“You didn’t like the restaurant I chose?”

“No, I did, but honestly, I’d rather go somewhere less posh.”

“So, you don’t like places like that either.”

“Either? You mean you don’t too?”

“I hate wearing ties,” he said, pulling at the knot.

“Then why in the world did we go to a place like that?”

“I thought that’s what you do if you want to impress a girl.”

“Well, picking a restaurant on top of mountain where you have to ride a gondola just to get to certainly will impress anybody.”

“Then what would your answer be if I promise to take you somewhere more casual?”

“Does this count?”

“Definitely,” he grinned, as I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

 
Chapter 4

A Hilarious Night to Remember

Late Saturday afternoon, I was standing outside the gate, confused as to why I was told to come over early. Yesterday when Amy had suggested that we all change into our costumes for the dance at her abode, I’d assumed at least someone would be here. There was no way anyone was inside a place that looked empty as I stood staring at her yellow house. Thinking it clearly must be a mistake; I opened the gate anyway and started along the brick path.

With a slight mist surrounding the property, Amy’s front yard resembled a spooky cemetery. There were moving zombies crawling out of the ground, tombstones scattered across the lawn, human carcasses lying on the grass, and ghosts hanging from the branches of a barren tree. The porch was covered in cobwebs with huge spiders, and had bats swaying in the cool, autumn breeze. There was even a life-sized grim reaper with a skeletal face and flashing red eyes sitting on an old, wooden rocking chair, watching the entire place from his post on the front porch.

Near the front door were two pumpkins sitting on the top step. The one to my left was intricately carved as a witch. She was painted entirely green, had yellow eyes with red veins made out of clay, and two greying teeth sprouting out of the smiling mouth. A black hat was atop her head of black-coloured straw, and a carrot arm held a small, wooden broom. The one on my right was painted green also, but still had orange patches peeking through. With the same yellow eyes, it also had a butternut squash for its nose, black and white straw falling to the sides for hair, and was sitting on top of a pair of really huge, worn-out black loafers. Drops of red paint were near the mouth by the grey teeth bearing a goofy smile. There was even a thick silver thread sewn on the side of its head.

As I continued getting swallowed by the vapours that seemed very saturated with moisture closer to the front door, my thoughts began straying back to the beginning of the week.

On Monday afternoon, I had been surprised that Jacob had stuck to me like glue. I thought for sure he would still be upset with me like he had been last week. But then once I heard about the Halloween dance coming up on the weekend, and also the school buzzing about who Jacob would take, I knew what Jacob was trying to do.

Just about every girl from tenth grade and up never left his side since the first moment he had walked into school. They would even wait for him outside each of his classes, by his locker, or even hung by the boys’ washroom just to corner him until he gave in and picked one of them. By the time noon came around, he became so frustrated with their persistence that the only thing he could think of was to hide behind me.

I was still annoyed with Jacob when he had approached me, but he never gave me a chance to walk away. With a firm grasp on my arm, he had tugged me down the hall, pulled me around a secluded corner, and had gotten down on his knees to apologise for his rude behaviour. The look in his eyes had been so sincere, any rude remark I thought of using on him had instantly died on my lips. Although when I had agreed to help Jacob out in avoiding the girls, I didn’t think he’d be accompanying me everywhere I went. The next morning, I had found him sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast with my parents. According to him, he was over early so he could drive me to school. I thought it had to do with him feeling afraid of the girls. However, once we got there, we then were surprised no one had approached him. I guess they had assumed Jacob was going to the dance with me.

Eventually breaking away from the mist, I finally reached Amy’s porch and rang the doorbell. It sounded like chains rattling through the house. But while I waited for someone to let me in, I guess I was too consumed with my thoughts and didn’t notice the grim reaper had moved. Not until it suddenly jumped up from its chair and wrapped its arms around my waist.

Jumping three inches off the surface of the porch as I let out a piercing scream that echoed down the street, I then kneed the reaper between its legs. I felt completely satisfied with my well-aimed kick as it crumbled to the ground, but once I heard a human moan, I then quickly yanked off the mask to find Matt groaning in pain.

“What happened?” asked Amy, yanking open the front door.

“Your stupid idiot of a boyfriend thought he’d be funny by trying to scare the shit out of me,” I grumbled.

“Hey, what did I miss?” asked Jacob, hastily running up the path.

“Your dumb cousin tried to scare Jenna,” said Amy.

“Matt, you really are a moron,” sighed Jacob.

“Are the rest already here?” I asked Amy.

“They’re in the living room,” she said.

Stepping over Matt, who was being helped up to his feet by Amy and Jacob, I then entered into the darkened foyer and was greeted by a life-sized zombie groom by the door. He was wearing a withered black tuxedo and a matching top hat, and standing beside him was his headless bride dressed in a frilly, vintage bridal dress. Behind them, the windows were covered with greying, ripped fabric, and the overhead bulb above me was replaced by a black light. Ghosts, which were actually helium balloons covered in white sheets, were hovering in the air along the narrow corridor. Spider webs with hairy spiders lined the hall, illuminated pumpkins flickering with candles sat along the baseboards, and eerily sounds like screams and groans were coming from the speakers above. There was even a goblin sitting in a corner, holding a bucket of dry ice that created a foggy path leading towards the living room.

“Now that my idiotic boyfriend has learnt his lesson, what kind of costumes shall we wear tonight?” asked Amy, as she and Jacob helped Matt to the couch.

“It has to be something good,” said Katie. “I got it! I’m sure you girls will agree with me on this one. You know how much trouble we go through to look perfect for guys, right? Well, how about this? Instead of us constantly getting beautified for the affection of the opposite sex, what if we get revenge on the guys by dressing them up as girls for Halloween?”

“What?” the guys spluttered altogether.

“I think that’s a great idea,” said Amy. “No one’s going to think less of you. Besides, I’m sure there will be others dressed in more odd looking stuff.”

“It’ll be fun,” said Nikki.

“For you maybe,” muttered Devon.

“Seriously, what did we ever do to you?” said Alex. “We’re not the ones forcing you to do this for us.”

“Yeah,” gasped Matt.

“If you don’t agree to let us do this once then I’ll just have to cut you off.” Amy sniffed at her boyfriend, but once she saw the slack-jawed expressions on our faces, she began to blush. “I…I don’t mean that.”

“Then what did you mean?” asked Alex, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

“It’s none of your business,” snapped Matt, finally regaining his voice. “Fine, we’ll do it.”

Hearing Jacob’s false cough which sounded remarkably like “Whipped”, I bit the inside of my cheek to prevent a laugh from escaping and quietly followed the girls up the spiral staircase towards Amy’s princess bedroom.

Unlike most rooms which were entirely pink, Amy’s wall was white. She still has some pink in her room, like her bed draped with a striped comforter and the lace-lined linen sheets, but the furniture was a mixture of white and black. The carpet was a chequered-pattern in white and black also, except there was also a wool rug on top of it with a picture of a girl walking her poodle. By her desk she had a zebra-printed chair, and right above her queen-sized canopy bed was a small, crystal light. On the opposite wall across from her bed was a twenty-inch flat-screened TV. Underneath the TV, Amy even had a canopy dog bed with pink feathers for her Pomeranian named Koko, who had just jumped onto my lap.

The girls and I were grateful that Amy’s mom works as a costume designer, but we also were stumped with choosing the right outfit for the guys. There were so many choices it was hard picking out the best. Finally agreeing to dress the guys up as the Spice Girls,
the girls and I then had just finished deciding on escorting them in tuxes when the guys walked into the room.

“Okay, everyone, pair up and let’s get to it,” announced Amy.

“Are we all going to change in here?” asked Alex, as he headed over to Katie, Devon stood by Nikki, Matt stood by Amy, and Jacob walked up to me.

“Once you guys pick out an outfit, everyone is then going to pick one of the other rooms to change in so we can surprise each other with the transformations,” explained Amy.

“Hey, how come Sporty Spice isn’t in here?” asked Matt.

“Sweetie, I’m impressed you know who is missing—and also a bit disturbed—but what fun would that be?” said Amy, giving her boyfriend a questionable look. “Anyone can wear a track suit and we all need to see you guys in drag to keep us satisfied.”

“Hey, Jenna, are you still mad at me for how I acted last week towards you?” whispered Jacob. “I’m only asking because I just want to know if you’ll go easy on me, or if you’re going to get brutal and make me do things no normal guy would do.”

“Let’s see, since I’m still a bit upset with you, I think you owe it to me to do whatever I say,” I whispered back. Koko barked. “Koko thinks so too.”

“You’re not going to make me shave my legs are you?”

“No, but once you pick out a dress, then I will decide what’s next.”

Emitting a really long sigh, Jacob slowly walked up to side of Amy’s bed where the guys were gathered, carefully gazed over the selection, and picked up the first thing he saw.

“How about this one?” he asked, placing the knee-length, black strapless dress against his body.

“You have good taste,” I grinned. “What do you think Koko?”

Koko let out another bark.

“I have to agree with Amy’s dog,” said Alex, holding up the glittery, blue dress.

“Why’s that?” Nikki asked him.

“Out of all of us, Jacob has the best body,” he grinned.

“It will even show off his sexy muscles,” added Matt, grabbing the leopard print jumpsuit in front of him.

“Especially the legs,” smirked Devon, who was left with the white baby-doll dress.

“Go ahead and laugh now, but I’d be more worried about what the other girls are planning on doing to you,” grumbled Jacob.

While Matt, Devon, and Alex’s faces suddenly paled, Jacob then flung the dress over his left shoulder, grabbed me by the arm once I placed Koko back on the floor, and pushed me out the door to the closest guest room.

“Where are you going?” he asked, as I started to head back.

“You made me forget to grab everything else I need from Amy,” I said. “While I’m busy collecting some things I need, why don’t you go and shave that stubble on your face? Oh, yeah, make sure you also wet your hair, so I can style it.”

Moments later, and with all the paraphernalia of stuff to turn Jacob into a girl, I headed back into the room and found Matt and Devon sitting on the bed, talking to a bare-chested Jacob, who had a white towel around his neck.

“And what are you two doing in here?” I asked them.

“Since the girls are still busy getting things ready for us, Dev and I decided to come see what you have planned for my pretty-boy cousin,” said Matt.

“It still doesn’t mean you can be in here,” I said, as Jacob threw a pillow at Matt’s head. “Amy said the transformations are supposed to be kept a secret.”

“You both don’t have to get touchy because you guys want to be alone.”

“Not everything involves kinkiness, Matt,” I argued back, as Jacob threw another pillow, this time hitting Matt squarely in the face. “He needs to fit something and I can’t give away what it is.”

“But I thought we got everything already?” asked Jacob.

“I…it’s something else you need to help accentuate the dress,” I said carefully.

“Now I definitely want to see what you’re up to,” chuckled Matt.

“Out!”
Jacob and I yelled.

“C’mon, Dev, let’s leave the two lovebirds alone,” said Matt.

Shaking my head as I went to shut the door behind them, I then turned back to face Jacob and was startled to see him staring at me.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said. “So…what’ll I be fitting?”

“Oh, that will be later. Right now, I think we should get the makeup done first since that will probably take the longest.”

“You mean I have to wear makeup too?” he complained.

“Yes, you have to wear makeup too,” I said. “Now hold still.”

Thirty minutes later, I was finally done with the makeup and began to style his hair. Unfortunately, every time I used the hair dryer and the round brush to give it some volume, the result always ended with his hair going in different directions.