Sanctuary - Side 2

It's Halloween aka my favorite holiday and a night in as Abby and I are going to give out candy tonight. Although we made it to a Halloween party last year, we thought that tonight we would be the perfect opportunity to spend time together and watch horror movies. Abby thoroughly decorated the house inside and out which amused and I thought I was the one who loved this holiday.

“Are you excited about tonight? I asked.

We were at Walmart for our biweekly trip for groceries which included ice cream.

“Super excited. I started giving out candy on trick-or-treat night the year after I was no longer able to go out and do that myself aka when I was thirteen. Plus, we get to watch scary movies tonight.” she said the last part in a spooky voice.

I began laughing.

“What? I didn’t sound scary?”

“What matters is that you tried.” I said, patting her on the shoulder.

She jabbed me in the gut and jokingly rolled her eyes. I continued to laugh.

“Are you?”

“Yeah. I love seeing their costumes.”

“Me too and seeing the smiles on their faces when they get candy.”

“It makes me think about us going trick or treating when we have kids.”

It hasn’t been a topic we’ve actually had a genuine conversation about, but we both knew that we wanted kids someday.

“I love the idea of us raising our own children.”

I could see the huge smile on her face.

“How many?”

“Two, maybe three.”

“A boy and a girl?”

I couldn't help but smile.

“Sounds perfect.”

We’re not planning on having any kids until the year after we get married, so I hope to get into a thorough conversation about this sometime next year. She turned to me and we kissed. Abby cooked dinner earlier than usual since trick-or-treat starts at six.

"Whatcha cookin'?" I asked.

"Chicken parmigiana."

"Fuck yeah."

She laughed.

“I agree.”

“Can I have a taste?”

I was asking about her homemade sauce.

“No. You’re gonna have to wait.”

“Please?”

“It’s still a no.”

I wrapped her arms around her stomach.

“Less than a half-hour. Ok?”

“Ok.” I said defeatedly.

Roughly a half-hour later, dinner was ready and the smile on my face couldn’t be bigger. When I heard her pull it out of the oven and plating our food, I walked into the kitchen.

“Can I help?” I asked.

“Yeah. Could you grab us drinks, please?”

I nodded. By the time I walked into the dining room, she had everything set on the table and was about to sit down.

“I cannot wait to dig in.” I said.

“I know. Neither can I.”

I had such a look of pleasure when I bit into my chicken which truly amused her.

“Good?”

“Great. No, scratch that. Fantastic!”

“Thank you, Alex.” I said laughing.

“You’re welcome.”

I washed the dishes while Abby went to our bedroom to change into her costume; she came out looking like the ’80s threw up on her, complete with crazy leggings, a sweatshirt and wild hair because why not?

“How do I look?” she asked, spinning around.

“Awesome! This is a great look for you.”

She was laughing and so was I.

“You’re kidding. Right?”

“No.”

“I was born in the ‘80s and wish I could’ve really grown up in the decade.”

“Yeah. Two years isn’t enough time. I get it.”

“Glad I didn’t have to wear a wig. I just teased my hair like crazy, so please refrain from touching it.”

“I’ll try.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Let’s go sit down, Cyndi Lauper.”

She shook her head and went to sit down on the couch.

“How long till trick-or-treat?” I asked.

“20 minutes. Candy ready?”

“Two huge bowls worth.”

Abby put me in charge of Halloween candy and I ended up getting four huge bags of it; I hope there would be some leftover.

“Good.”

“Wanna take a selfie?”

“Hell yeah.”

She grabbed her phone and took a picture of both of us.

“I’m totally posting this if you don’t mind.” she said.

“I’d love that.”

She edited it and posted it on three of her social media accounts. We were deciding on what to watch first when we heard a knock on the door. She got up first to answer the door, grabbed the dish and opened it to a huge group of kids.

“A lot of cutie pies out there.”

“Cutie pies?”

“You’re gonna have to get used to me talking to me like that if I’m gonna be a mom.”

“Well, I can’t imagine me talking like that.”

“You will be. You just don’t realize it.”

I highly doubted that I would.

“Nope.” I said, shaking my head.

She kissed my cheek.

“I’m right and you know it.”

I didn’t know how to respond.

“We’re gonna take turns tonight.”

-knock knock-

“You’re up slugger.” she said patting my thigh.

Handing out candy and talking to those kids made me wonder about how I would I be as a father.

“You’re adorable.” she said as I sat back down.

I turned and kissed her.

“I love you.” I said.

“I love you, too.”

She kissed me back and leaned up against me. The night ended up being a fairly busy one and we were left with one bag of candy.

Success!

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

“What?”

“We have one bag of candy leftover!”

She started to dance around at this point. I came over to where she was which ended up being in the middle of the living room and picked her up.

“What are you doing?” she asked laughing.

I didn’t answer her and sat her down on the couch, then gunned for the candy.

“I see what you’re doing!”

She leapt off the back of the couch and ran to where I was and saw me about to tear open that bag of candy. We played tug of war to get control.

“Alexander William Gaskarth, let me have this.”

She pulled it toward her.

“No, Abigail Marie Shaw. It’s mine.”

I pulled it my way. This really made me wonder how old we actually are.

“You’re a stubborn ass.” I said.

“So are you.”

After a handful of tugs later, the bag busted open and candy flew across the room.

Fuck.

“See what you did.”

She wasn’t seriously angry, but I didn’t want to pick up all the candy that was everywhere. She found the candy bowl and got on my hands and knees to clean up the mess she made. In the midst of a second trip to the bowl, I stole it.

"Get your ass over here, Alex." she said grabbing my foot.

That stopped me in my tracks as I turned myhead.

"Really, Abby?" I asked, turning back toward her.

She continued to move for maybe five feet when I grabbed her foot, stopping her. She busted out laughing followed by my own laughter. I tackled her and we rolled until she was on top of me.

"We are so fucking strange." she said.

"You can say that again."

"We are-"

He interrupted her by kissing her. She wrapped her arms around me deepening the kiss. She didn't want to move and neither did I, but we knew it'd be better if we weren't actually lying on the floor surrounded by fun-sized candy bars.

"This is better." I said, taking a bite out of a Twix.

"It is." she said, taking a bite out of a Hershey bar.

We laid in bed together watching a scary movie and eating candy. Best. Halloween. Ever.

Notes