Page 5 of Love at First Bite
“I guess the haunted house is going to be held out in the parking lot the week before Halloween.”
“A whole week?” I whistled.
“Yeah, don’t get me started on that. But on Halloween, the only ones allowed to go through it are the ones who bought a ticket to the ball. Fifty percent of ticket sales are going into the art and sports department at the elementary school that just got cut.”
“Shit,” I cursed, scratching the back of my head. I knew what was coming and knew there was no way I could turn Onyx down
“Any chance you could help us out? On a volunteer basis.”
“Would food and beer be included?”
“You know it, man. Fuck, I’ll get Austin to buy and deliver you a damn keg of your favorite IPA if you do this.”
“I don’t need all that.” I chuckled. “Do you have any ideas structure wise what you were thinking?”
“Man, I’m so blank, it’s not even funny.” It was obvious by Onyx’ tone he was overwhelmed.
“What about a maze?” I suggested, sitting up. I reached for one of my notepads and started to doodle.
“A maze?” I had to bite away a grin at how overwhelmed Onyx sounded.
“Yeah. Look, you get a list going for volunteers, possible people who will work the haunted house. You know, dress up in scary shit, take tickets, that kind of stuff.”
“Fuck, I didn’t even think of that.”
“Don’t stress. I’ll text you Brody’s number. He’s the wrestling coach over at the high school. I’m sure if you sign off volunteer hours, you’ll have a bunch of kids signing up without a problem.”
“Thanks, man.” I could hear the relief in his voice.
“I’ll work on something and be over tomorrow?”
“Man, whenever you have time, we will be here.”
“Cool. See you tomorrow, about six.”
“Sounds good. I owe you.”
“And hey,” I called out with a shit-eating grin.
“What’s up?”
“I like my burgers medium well,” I teased, making him chuckle.
“I will have that hot and ready for you by the time you arrive tomorrow,” he promised. “Thanks again. You’re a lifesaver.” And with that, our call ended.
Suddenly, I wasn’t as bored as I’d been just a few minutes earlier. My day just got a whole lot better. I grabbed a pen and started to doodle a couple of ideas, looking forward to something for the first time in a hell of a long time.
3.Tabitha
The local dress shop was bustling with people.
The Halloween thing at the brewery had grown, and the whole city was getting in on celebrating, setting up and organizing various activities throughout town. There was even a scary movie night at the park and not-so-scary movie night for families with younger kids.
The shop was packed with women, kids, and some men looking around the store.
All of them searching through the side of the shop that was designated to costumes. Some simple ones, others more elaborate and pricier than I could have imagined. Did people really spend that much on costumes? My abuela, who had raised me from the time I was eight to nineteen before she passed, had done her best with what she had, which wasn’t much. She’d always get creative, and even with the money I had, I couldn’t imagine spending so much on a costume you could only use for a couple of hours.
There was a wall lined with pretty masks sitting right next to creepy ones at the far end of the shop by the registers. I shivered and crossed my arms.This is definitely not my scene.
