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"Hey Susie?" Pump peeked out into the kitchen. "I, uh, need some advice…"
Susie looked over at him, slightly annoyed, but could tell that he was serious. Reluctantly, she closed her laptop and took off her headphones.
"What did you do?" She asked.
"Nothing, jeez! Listen, I need…relationship advice…"
"You're dating someone?"
"No! Well, not yet, but, I mean, okay just listen, please?"
"I might already know where you're going with this but, go ahead."
Pump took a moment to consider if Susie really could read minds, like she told him when he was younger. Though he quickly pushed that thought out of his head.
"What do you do when you might like someone, but you're not really sure if you actually like them, and even if you did you're pretty sure they don't like you back?"
"Uh, wow, a lot to unpack here."
Susie patted the seat next to her, and Pump sat.
"Okay." Susie pushed all of her things aside. "First of all, why do you think they wouldn't like you?"
Pump looked at the counter.
"I dunno, maybe they'll think it's weird? That I'm weird and maybe I'm just looking too much into it?'
"Hmm, do they even know you exist? This isn't one of those 'smiled at me in math class' things, is it?"
"I mean, we already know each other, yeah…"
"And you've got a solid friendship already?"
"Well, yeah…"
"And you're afraid that you'll ruin that if you admit you like them?"
"Yeah…"
"Okay, is it someone in your drums lessons? Is it one of the cheerleaders?"
"No, it's…not a girl."
"So it's one of your guy friends…and you know each other really well…"
Things went silent. Pump buried his face in his arms.
"Oh." Susie said when she realized.
"Yeah." Pump confirmed.
More silence. Pump wanted to melt into the floor. Susie patted him on the back, got them each a slice of pumpkin pie, checked to make sure their parents were still in their room, and sat back down.
"You know, I'm being honest here," She said. "I kind of already suspected that. And…to let you in on a little secret, I overheard Mom and Miss Lila talking a long time ago. I'm one hundred percent sure that Skid feels the same way."
"What, really? No."
"I'm serious."
"Well…I mean I know he's gay, he told me when we were, like, 12. Back then he probably didn't have a crush on me though…right?"
"Trust me, it was even before that."
"Oh my God, I'm so stupid…but what about me, you just knew?"
"No, not right away. Do you remember, a couple years ago, when you had that party?"
"The big one I begged mom and dad to let me have and only six people showed up?"
"Yeah, that one. And you remember what happened when you guys wanted to play spin the bottle?"
"Um…kind of?"
"You spun, and the bottle landed on Skid. Everyone tried to get you two to kiss, but both of you were too embarrassed to actually do it."
Now that he thought about it, he remembered that night clearly. Some of the kids stood up and tried to push them towards each other, but Pump was strong enough to stop them from moving him. Skid, on the other hand, had to push the other kids away. Eventually, Pump's dad had to step in, and then his mom made them all play a different game.
Thinking about it more, he and Skid did kind of avoid looking at each other for the rest of the night. Skid even went as far as to hide in his hoodie. But all the other kids kind of lingered on the moment, whispering about it and trying to subtly get the two closer to each other, even at one point leaving the two alone in the backyard.
"Was it really that obvious?"
"You're kidding, right? I knew, Mom and Dad knew, everyone at the party knew."
"Skid didn't…he probably thought I didn't want to kiss him because it was weird…"
Pump looked like he was on the verge of tears, believing that he had blown his shot before he could even take it.
"It could have been a misunderstanding," Susie said. "But you guys are so in sync with each other that it's scary, so probably not."
"But why doesn't he just tell me?"
"Why can't you just tell him?"
"Point taken."
Susie took their empty dishes to the sink.
"One of you is going to have to confess." She turned to him. "It may as well be you. If Skid hasn't fessed up by now, I don't think he ever will. Tomorrow night is Halloween, it'll be the perfect chance."
"What do I even do? What do I say?"
"Take him somewhere special, and be honest."
Susie gathered up her things and went to her room, giving her not-so-little-anymore brother a hair ruffle.
Pump stayed up pretty late that night, practicing what he was going to say.
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Pump was probably way more nervous than necessary walking up to Skid’s door. Taking a shaky breath he reached up and rang the doorbell.
“I got it!” He heard Skid yell from inside.
Skid flung the door open, as excited as ever. His eagerness became much more visible when he saw Pump.
“Hey, man, I’ve been waiting for you all night!” He said.
“Dude, it’s only seven.” Pump laughed a little.
“Uh, yeah, and trick-or-treaters started showing up three hours ago.”
“Sorry, my mom dragged me into something.”
“It’s good, don’t worry.” Skid yanked his bag off the side table. “BYE MOM, WE’RE LEAVING!”
“Okay, be safe!” Lila called from somewhere inside the house.
“OKAY! LOVE YOU!”
Not even waiting for her to answer, Skid slammed the door behind him and he and Pump took off down the street. The two had a lot of catching up to do before all the good candy was gone.
But each house they walked up to, each new road they took a turn down, Pump’s nerves only got worse. There didn’t seem to be a moment of time that he could propose his idea, as soon as he found the courage to do so Skid was already pulling him towards the next place. He was having fun, and so was Skid, so he figured that’s all that really mattered, right?
No. It was now or never. As they took a shortcut through an empty street with houses still for sale, Pump put a hand on Skid’s shoulder.
“Hey, why don’t we slow down a little?” He said. “We’ve got a lot of candy already.”
“Uh…” Skid looked at his bag, which was just about overflowing. “Yeah, you’re probably right. You wanna just head back to my place and watch a movie?”
Pump felt himself flush a little as he prepared himself.
“Well, I was thinking, we’ve still got a little time before we have to go back. How about we go to the graveyard?”
“Wow, for real? Sure!”
They turned and headed back the other way. They know where it was, they’ve been there plenty of times, though recently they haven’t been able to find the time to. It was the source of a lot of their best memories, mainly seeing ghosts and other things, and also where Skid finally got over his fear of cats. Pump just hoped it was special enough for this moment.
Currently, Skid didn’t have a clue of what was about to happen, as Pump helped him over the fence and the two found their way to their spot behind the mausoleum.
“Full moon tonight.” Pump casually mentioned as they sat down.
“Oh yeah, I didn’t notice.” Skid said.
They dumped all of their candy in front of them to trade. As usual, Skid traded all of his grape flavored candy for blue raspberry, shoving it deep into his bag so his mother wouldn’t find it. Even though he had gotten progressively more chill about it over the years, she still didn’t allow it in the house.
They leaned up against the wall, having a quiet moment as they each had a few pieces of their candy. Skid must have realized just how close they were sitting, because he had tensed up just enough for Pump to notice. They caught each other’s eyes, and Skid quickly turned away, pretending he was looking at something else, but Pump could see his cheeks turning red.
This was it.
“So, uh…” Pump started, but his mind went blank. The entire speech he had practiced for hours the night before was suddenly nothing but ashes in the void.
Skid continued to stare into the distance.
“Yeah?” He asked.
Pump scrambled in his head for something, anything, that he could say.
“Do you remember that time we played spin the bottle?” He blurted.
Shit.
Skid grew more tense, breaking out into a bit of a sweat.
“Uh, kind of…” He said. “But, that was a while ago, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, I mean…okay let me start over. Or…actually give me a minute…”
Pump felt like he was going to throw up, he was blowing it! What the hell was he doing!?
“Hey, man, uh…” Skid said.
“No, no, wait, I’m trying to remember, I promise!”
“Pump, there’s something I should have told you a while ago…”
“What…”
“Look, I…I like you…Like a lot…I’ve liked you for a long time. And even if you don’t like me back…can we at least still be friends?”
Pump sat there in shock for a moment, and then burst out into laughter. Skid turned to look at him, wildly embarrassed.
“Dude!” Pump said through giggles and tears. “That’s what I dragged you out here to tell you!”
Now it was Skid’s turn to be shocked, and then also burst into a fit of laughter.
“No freakin’ way, dude!” He said.
They calmed down, and Pump took Skid’s hand into his. Now that that was out of the way, there was one thing left.
“If I may,” Pump said slyly. “I think I owe you something from that game.”
“What do you mea--”
Pump interrupted Skid with a kiss, which Skid returned. When they finally separated, the two of them were grinning ear to ear. Skid leaned into Pump, both of them happy that all that worry and doubt was no more.
Though the moment was interrupted when Skid received a text from his mother, and they realized that it was an hour past their curfew. They grabbed their bags and scampered back to Skid’s house. Lila said nothing, detecting that something had happened that she shouldn’t ruin with a scolding.
They sat on the couch to watch their movie, but didn’t even make it halfway through before falling asleep in each other’s arms.