Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

by Hayden Hunt

  It wasn’t as if I hated kids. Like I said, Jake seemed like a sweetheart and I’d probably like him. I liked children. I just didn’t want to be responsible for any.

  If I was honest with myself, I had a lot of doubt in my ability to actually be a parent. Even though I loved mine and they were great examples of how to be a decent parent… They weren’t my real parents.

  And from what I’d heard, my biological parents weren’t so great. I mean, not so great was an understatement. They were horrible fucking people and I was always in denial about that.

  Because it was a lot to take in…That the people you were born from, the ones whose DNA you held in your own body, were horrible people. You started to wonder if, somehow, you had that in you. Like it was lying dormant somewhere, and one day it was going to be brought out of you.

  I didn’t want that. I didn’t ever want to be a parent like they were parents to me. And the only way to really be sure I was never going to fuck up some poor kid was to make sure I never had the opportunity to do so. That I simply never had kids.

  Which was why I’d decided not to.

  I was sitting at the bench in front of the patch patiently waiting for Luke to arrive. It was my favorite day, Friday. On Fridays, I got to see Luke the most. In the afternoon, for our lunch, and in the evening for our dinner date.

  This Friday in particular was extra special to me, though. I hadn’t told Luke this yet, and I wasn’t planning on it, but I decided tonight was the night. Tonight, I was going to have sex with him.

  Though the first night we were together, I really didn’t feel ready to sleep with him, in the weeks that followed, it’d been hard to keep myself honest. I wanted to have sex with him, I really did, and I wasn’t sure what I’d been waiting for. I guess just to feel like this was really going somewhere, that this relationship was going to be really serious.

  I was confident now that we were, though. In fact, I had this really cute date planned for tonight and I was going to make sure it was serious. I was going to ask him to be my boyfriend officially. And I knew he’d say yes.

  And after it was official, we’d have our first night together. It was going to be beautiful and perfect and I couldn’t fucking wait. It was all I’d been thinking about all day.

  I was pulled from my reverie when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped at first, before realizing it was just Luke with our lunches in hand.

  “God, don’t do that!” I told him.

  “Sorry,” he said, laughing, “didn’t mean to scare you.”

  He sat down on the bench next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

  “So, what is it for lunch today?” I asked him.

  “I went back to deli sandwiches.” He smiled. “I ran out of places.”

  “Amateur.” I teasingly rolled my eyes.

  Every day since the first Monday he brought us lunch, he managed to bring something different each day. It was all very adorable because I had told him that I loved surprises.

  “What? You think you could have done better? There’s only so many restaurants in town!”

  “I know a few more.” I smiled at him slyly as I took my sandwich from his hand.

  “Well, maybe you can show me one tonight for our date.” He smiled and took his own sandwich. “It’s your turn to plan it, you know. I hope you haven’t forgotten.”

  “Oh, I haven’t,” I assured him. “And I’m not taking you to dinner.”

  “Oh? So what are we doing, then?” he asked.

  I grinned. “I’m taking you to a haunted house.”

  “A haunted house?” He gasped. “Babe, you know I can’t handle anything scary.”

  “I know,” I told him, “which is why I planned it.”

  “What?”

  “Oh, come on, babe! It’s close to Halloween. We need to have some adventure in our life! This is going to be a night of adventures.”

  “Oh boy.” He rolled his eyes. “Do you really want me to have some adventure or are you just looking to capitalize on my fear and have me hanging off your arm the entire night?”

  “A little bit of both. I am looking forward to the fear cuddling.”

  He shook his head. “At least it’ll be something I can tell Jake about. He’s always wanting to know where I’ve been on Friday nights. This time he’ll actually hear a story he cares about.”

  “Good.” I nodded. “He’ll like that.” I’d remembered him telling me that Jake loved anything and everything scary.

  “Yeah, he definitely will,” he agreed.

  “So, speaking of Jake, how is he doing?”

  “Not so great… I don’t think he will be until we have some good news.”

  Despite the doctors taking Sabrina out of the medically induced coma, she hadn’t completely come back yet. Luke said that the nurses said she had moments of lucidity, but the rest of her days were spent basically asleep. Luke and Jake had yet to come into the hospital at the same time as she was lucid, so they still hadn’t even really seen her.

  According to the doctors, though, this wasn’t such a bad thing. She wasn’t in great shape mentally and still couldn’t talk. Her doctor believed it’d likely scare Jake to see his mom awake and unable to fully react to him. And Luke agreed.

  They still visited, though. And waited for news that hadn’t yet come.

  I quickly tried to change the subject. “Tonight should be good, though. I really think you’re going to have a lot of fun.”

  “Uh, a lot of fun cowering while I walk through a house of horrors? Somehow, I feel like I’m not going to. But whatever you say.”

  I tried to be in the present moment when I was with Luke, but I couldn’t today. Even though he was right in front of me, I was still fantasizing about him for some reason. I guess because I couldn’t stop thinking about having sex with him tonight. Or asking him to be my boyfriend.

  God, he was right in front of me and I was literally sitting here fantasizing about being with him later! I had it bad for this guy.

  I still managed to enjoy my lunch, and enjoy being with him, but I caught myself drifting off a lot. Luke evidently noticed.

  “So, what’s with you, today?”

  “Huh? What do you mean?” I tried to play stupid. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise later.

  “You’re so distracted!”

  “Ah, I’m sorry, babe. I’m just really tired, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” I lied.

  “Aw, poor thing,” he said as he put a soft hand on my back and rubbed it gently. “Do you maybe want to cancel tonight? Go home early and get some sleep?”

  “What? No!” I said quickly.

  He raised an eyebrow at my dramatic refusal, so I had to try and play it off.

  “Do you really think you’re getting out of the haunted house that easy?”

  “So close.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m really going to hate tonight, you know.”

  “Somehow, I don’t think that’s true,” I answered, knowing what was in store.

  “You’re right,” he agreed as he kissed my forehead. “If I’m with you, I’m probably going to enjoy myself no matter what.”

  “Right you are about that,” I answered confidently.

  “All right, I’ve got to go back to work,” he said, standing up.

  “What? But it’s only been 45 minutes.” We almost always ate together for about two hours.

  “I know, but the shop’s getting busier and I have a ton of stuff to catch up on. I’ll see you tonight, though? You’re picking me up?”

  “Yep,” I said, standing up to wrap my arms around his neck. “I’ll see you at seven.”

  He gave me a kiss and then headed toward the parking lot.

  I stayed, sitting on the bench and fantasizing for a little while longer until I had to go back to work too.

  The pumpkin patch had, of course, gotten a lot busier as well. But it was a well-oiled machine and it didn’t take much effort on my part to
keep it running.

  I kept checking in with people, but things had gone really well this season. My Grandma had picked a good crop of employees this year.

  Speaking of my Grandma, she had been steadily improving in her health as well. She had high hopes that next week she’d be well enough to come watch the patch herself. Which I really hoped for as well, for both selfish and selfless reasons.

  The selfless reason being that I knew how much my Grandma loved the pumpkin patch and this time of the year. I knew it was killing her not to be here, in the heart of the action. And once October ended, it was gone until the next year. I didn’t want her to have to miss out on everything.

  Then, of course, my selfish reason is that if she worked next week, I’ll be able to get Halloween off. It was my absolute favorite holiday.

  Normally, I didn’t mind spending Halloween at the pumpkin patch. I mean, what was more Halloween than a pumpkin patch? I couldn’t think of anything. It was the heart of the holiday.

  This year, though, I wanted to celebrate outside of the pumpkin patch. I had Luke now, and I wanted to spend the night with him. I knew he’d probably want to take Jake out trick or treating early in the evening, but after that, I was hoping he’d come to my place and we’d spend the night together. Though we hadn’t made formal plans about it yet.

  I left the pumpkin patch a little early, wanting to get ready as soon as possible for my date. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and the more I thought on it, the more anxious I became. I was going to ask him to be my boyfriend tonight! I knew he’d agree, but it was nerve racking.

  I ended up getting showered and dressed pretty fast. Normally, I wouldn’t have showered before a date in the middle of the day, but I kind of had to after the pumpkin patch. I reeked of farm. And Luke would be getting all close and comfy with me at the haunted house, so I wanted to smell nice.

  Plus, a shower would help pass the time. Or at least, I thought it would. But the time I was in the shower passed quickly and the time that passed afterward dragged on super slow. Minutes felt like hours as I waited until 6:30.

  Eventually, though, the time did roll around and I hopped in my car to pick up Luke.

  It was the same routine. I stopped in front of his house, he came outside so I didn’t directly interact with Jake, I opened the car door for him. Now that we were more comfortable with each other, I didn’t always open it, but tonight, I certainly did. Tonight was special.

  “Hey, babe.” He kissed me quickly on the cheek as he got into the car. “So, no way I can talk you out of this haunted house, huh?”

  “Not a chance,” I said to him as I started to pull away from the sidewalk.

  “Where’s it at?” he asked. I could already see he was a bit anxious. Nothing major, he wasn’t panicking or anything, but the hesitation was noticeable.

  “Only about ten minutes away, actually, it’s downtown. And don’t be too nervous, I’m sure it’s going to be corny and stupid and not scary in the slightest.”

  “It better be corny!” he insisted.

  When we were parked downtown in front of the haunted house, I made a mad dash to the passenger side door so I could open it up for him before he got a chance to. He got out quickly though, when he realized what I was doing.

  “Really?” he questioned. “We’ve been dating for a few weeks. Is this really necessary? We’re pretty comfortable with each other, or so I thought. When are you going to stop trying to impress me?” he asked playfully.

  “Hey, I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to be the sweetheart that I naturally am,” I said as I wrapped my hand around this. “Ready for this?”

  “Ready as I’ll never be.” He rolled his eyes. “But let’s get this over with so we can get to the fun part of the night.”

  “Okay, Debbie Downer,” I teased him.

  I bought both our tickets. Even if I wasn’t trying to be chivalrous, I’m pretty sure Luke would have insisted I pay for his ticket too at this particular event. Normally, he fought to split things down the middle, but I doubt he’d have volunteered to pay for his own misery.

  As soon as we stepped behind a dark cloth hidden door, I could feel Luke’s grip tighten on my arm. He was standing as close to me as he possibly could.

  I couldn’t help but laugh, because it really was kind of corny. It was zombie apocalypse themed and there were a bunch of fake zombies standing behind fake bars, as if in a prison.

  When we walked by, they all ran to the bars and lunged at us, their hands stretching outside of the bars as if to grab us. It was kind of lame to me, but apparently not to Luke, who screeched every time another ran out at him.

  “Baby!” I laughed, “They can’t touch you! You know they can’t touch you! It’s against the rules.”

  “I am going to kill you for this!” he insisted, his fingers practically digging into my arm now.

  The next room was a little better. It was set in an abandoned hospital. There was a lot of fake gore all around, and people hanging off of hospital bed tables.

  It wasn’t scary to me, but it was a lot less corny! It had a lot of really cool effects. Whoever the make-up artists were at this haunted house did a wonderful job.

  Of course, for me this was interesting, but for Luke, it was downright terrifying.

  “Oh my God, will you get me out of here already?” he growled in my ear.

  “Relax,” I told him, “you know none of it’s—”

  Before I could finish my sentence, the last ‘dead body’ in the room leaped up and growled at us. I’d admit, it even made me jump a bit. But it made Luke scream bloody murder and yank me into the next room.

  “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

  After that, Luke downright refused to walk slowly through the house. He was rushing me through every room so fast I could barely look around! And every time someone jumped at us, Luke screamed, and his breathing got harder.

  God, I’d thought he’d be scared, but nothing like this! If I knew it was going to downright terrify him, I wouldn’t have brought him here.

  When we finally reached the end of the haunted house and were outside, he tried catching his breath.

  “Are you okay, babe? I didn’t know it was going to be that bad—”

  But he didn’t answer. He stared at me for a moment, as if trying to figure out what I was saying, and then suddenly fell toward the floor.

  I caught him almost instinctively. “Help!” I screamed out.

  Quickly, paramedics were by my side, holding on to either side of him.

  “We’ve got to get him on the ground,” one said to me.

  I wanted nothing more than to grip him tight to me and keep him safe, but I stepped back and allowed the paramedics to slowly lower him to the floor.

  “Holy shit, fuck!” I muttered. “Is he going to be okay? Tell me he’ll be fine!”

  One of them began to check his vitals. “He seems to be breathing okay, though he’s slightly tachycardic. We’ll get him some oxygen and—”

  But he never finished his sentence because already, Luke was beginning to stir.

  “Sir, do you know where you are?” one of the paramedics asked.

  “I’m, uh, I’m at the haunted house?”

  “That’s right. Do you know what’s happened?”

  “Did I… faint?” he asked.

  “Yes, have you fainted before?”

  “Yes…” He sighed. “A couple times. I’m feeling a lot better now, though.”

  “Are you okay to sit up?” the paramedic asked.

  “Yeah, think so.”

  The other paramedic had stepped away and returned with a small bottle of Gatorade.

  “Go ahead and sip this and sit for a second while we check your vitals again, okay?”

  “Sure.” He nodded, popping open the Gatorade and sipping.

  His blood pressure and heart rate had all returned to normal, though. Within a minute, he was standing again. The paramedic offered to get him to the
hospital, but Luke insisted that wasn’t necessary and the paramedics said since he’d fainted in the past he was free to decide on his own.

  Evidently, if this was a first time fainting experience, they were obligated to take the person to the hospital for evaluation, just in case there was a serious underlying issue. Though in most cases, fainting was a harmless event after the blood returned to the head.

  “Thank you guys so much,” I said after Luke had stood up next to me. “We’re lucky you were here… Wait.” I suddenly realized in the confusion I had no idea why they were here. “Where did you come from?”

  One of them laughed. “We’re here for the haunted house. You aren’t the only person to faint afterward. Us and a few other paramedics moonlight here for some added safety.”

  “Oh, that’s great,” I said, and I could see on Luke’s face he was relieved to hear he wasn’t the only one. “Well, thanks again. I guess I’ll get this guy home now.”

  “Drive safe, take care,” one of them told us as I began to walk Luke to the car.

  “Oh my God, baby, I’m so sorry,” I told him as we got to the car. “If I had any idea it was going to be that traumatic for you…”

  “Oh, don’t be.” He shrugged it off. “I didn’t even know it was going to be that traumatic. I mean, I’ve always struggled a bit with scary stuff but that was pretty extreme even for me!”

  “Do you want me to just take you home so you can rest?” I said. It looked like passing out had taken a lot out of him.

  “No, no, I want to still hang out. I’ll be fine, I’ll rest on the way over. I’ll lay down on your couch when I get there, it’s not a big deal.”

  And rest on the way over he did. He nodded off as soon as we got into the car. Poor thing, I felt absolutely terrible. I already knew he hadn’t been sleeping well, and he was often tired through the day. Fainting seemed to push him over the edge.

  Well, this night was basically going the exact opposite of how I planned. But I didn’t even care. So it wouldn’t be our special night, so what? All that mattered to me was that Luke started feeling better and I was more than happy to be the one to take care of him.

  I sat in the car ten more minutes once we got to my apartment. I couldn’t bring myself to wake him; he looked too peaceful. Instead, I took my seat belt off, leaned into him, and slowly ran my fingers through his hair. Eventually, he woke up on his own.