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"Norton Campbell” he read on the plastic gold plate. His eyes flickered from trophy to trophy as he filled out his application. “Uni is the real deal, Norton. It’s very important that you take it seriously.” His mother’s words echoed in his mind, then promptly faded away with the next song on his playlist. The ravenette turned up the volume in his ear-buds, and tuned back in to fill in the paperwork.
Of course he took it seriously…What would he have gotten straight A’s or joined the baseball team for? For shits and giggles?
Norton stared at the next question on the application.
“What do you hope to achieve by taking courses at OU?”
OU standing for Oletus University of course, one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the damn country! Go big or go home, right? Nothing would beat getting accepted…
The ravenette sighed and leaned his head into his palm. His mum would be proud either way, but to actually attend the university? His success was almost guaranteed. He wiped away a few eraser shavings, and continued back to work, until at least he heard a sound outside of his earbuds. The ravenette gave a tap to his phone: ten-thirty (wow, time really flies!). No way was his mother awake.
Norton took out one of his ear-pieces, and happened to glance towards the window; he nearly fell out of his seat when he saw Naib Subedar waving at him from the other side of the glass.
The ravenette scrambled to the aperture and quietly lifted it up, but because of its age it creaked and groaned from the movement.
“Naib? What the hell are you doing here?”
He whispered furiously.
“Took you long enough, I was knocking for a bit. Surprised your mum didn’t haul ass to see what the racket was about.”
The nepali causally slipped into Norton’s room and smiled, then comfortably took a seat on his bed like he owned the place. The ravenette noticed that the other boy was dressed in only pants, shoes, and what appeared to be toilet paper wrapped around his torso and head.
“What are you…Wait, you still didn’t answer my question.”
“Was gonna ask if you could come out and party, it is Halloween after all.”
Naib lowered his hands up and down his body, showing off his so-called costume. It was kinda hot, seeing as how the mummy wrap did no justice to hide the boxer’s fit physique. Norton grew red.
“Really? You could’ve just texted me…And aren’t we a little old for Halloween?”
Naib laughed, and Norton promptly hushed him.
“You’re never too old to have fun, besides, we’re not going around askin’ for candy. We’re going to a party.”
“A party? Does your mum know about this?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m legally an adult, I can go out if I wanna.”
“I dunno Naib.”
The ravenette turned back to his desk, where his application waited idly for his return.
“C’mon. For old times’ sake?”
Naib folded his hands together and mustered up the sappiest, cheesiest, downright embarrassing pleading face he could. The bastard even made his lip tremble in a way he knew Norton couldn’t resist.
“ARG! Fine! Just stop doing that!”
He huffed, and immediately the boxer’s face transformed into a shit eating grin.
“Great. Got something to wear?”
“I’d have to look in my closet.”
“Good. Now hurry up.”
“Impatient!”
“I have a right to be impatient, I told William we’d be there in half an hour!”
Norton rolled his eyes, but as he turned his back to the nepali, he couldn’t help but let a giddy smile form on his lips.
-
The party was out of control, to say the least. Their hostesses, Vera and Chloe Nair, had an absolutely stunning house (a curtsy of their well-off parents, of course), and because of that they owned all the amenities that would provide an off-the-chain party. Pool? Check. In home theater? Check. Private lake? Check.
There were people absolutely everywhere, some had already passed out in the yard. Most wore cheesy costumes, but some went all out, like Demi Bourbon, who wore a stunning witch costume. Norton was, of course, one of those unfortunate souls who did not own something extravagant. He just had a black and red cape, a pair of fake vampire teeth, and a white dress shirt with a bit of fake blood stains. Not the most eye-catching of outfits, but it would suffice.
“Hey Norton!”
Naib called over the boisterous music.
“Yeah?”
He hollered back.
“Wanna go smash some pumpkins? There’s a bunch of ‘em over there!”
The boxer motioned towards the area to the side of the Nair house, which already had quite a few participants.
“Sure!”
Together the pair made their way through the crowd of ghouls and goblins, and towards the group of people who had been pulverizing innocent gourds.
“Hey, William!”
Naib shouted, and waved his arms. The dark-skinned boy looked up from his activities, and smiled to the nepali in a way that made Norton’s stomach churn. Did that just make him jealous? What was there to be jealous of?
Perhaps William being closer with Naib than he was…
“Naib, I thought you’d never make it!”
The dabbed each other up and laughed, while the ravenette stood awkwardly on the side.
“Sup Norton! I’m surprised Naib conned you into coming! Never seen you out at any sort of party!”
“Yeah well…all this isn’t really my kinda thing.”
He scratched the back of his neck, and forced a friendly smile.
“Have you tried the drinks yet? They’re bangers!”
William lifted a red cup to the pair, and they peaked into the contents of the plastic. The liquid was a deep crimson, assumedly to mimic blood.
“No we haven’t…Wanna get some after this?”
“Ah…Sure…”
Norton swallowed a “no”. He didn’t want to drag Naib down while he was having fun, but he also didn’t want to get illegally wasted: oh what a fool he was for the boxer. A wave of cheers echoed through the night as a few pumpkins were dropped from the second story of the house.
“Let’s go!”
Naib grabbed his hand, and suddenly the worries of the evening melted away: the nepali had the strange ability to make that happen. Someone brought out a lawn mower, and now they were running over pumpkins throughout the yard, every time orange guts went flying, the party-goers would cheer like an audience watching a celebrity work the stage. Naib got the pair drinks, which were surprisingly good, and together they headed towards the lake where people had begun to strip down to their socks and swim.
The pair planted themselves on the shore, away from the dock where others were dive-bombing into the dark water. The sound of laughter and splashes echoed on the surface of the water, and the moon hung brightly above the party like a spotlight.
“It’s been a while since we hung out,”
Naib announced, and sipped at his drink.
“Yeah.”
Norton agreed, and tossed his head back towards the starry night sky.
“I missed you.”
The ravenette heard the nepali say, and quickly he turned his head towards the boxer. He swore he felt sparks as their eyes met.
“I missed you too.”
He admitted, and ran his fingers through his ebony locks.
“Remember when we went out as Woody and Buzz from Toy Story?”
“Yeah, we got our asses whooped by a group of high-schoolers and went home without any candy.”
“That wasn’t that year! Was it?”
“Yeah I remember you bawling like a baby in your little space-suit.”
“Har-har.”
The ravenette rolled his eyes as the nepali laughed.
“Do you remember when I got grounded on Halloween, and I couldn’t go out with you?”
“Course I do. I went to double the amount of houses so I could get you some candy.”
“Yeah, and you gave me all of the laffy-taffy’s cause they’re my favorite.”
They both smiled and took a drink from their cups, their mutual fondness of the memory made their cheeks glow with warmth.
“Do you remember when we went as a group with Patty and Martha, cause it was Patty’s last Halloween before she moved?”
“Yeah…We all were emotional pre-teens who pretended that we didn’t cry over that night…”
“And we gave all of our stock to her so that she’d remember us.”
“Mhm…”
“I guess you never really do get too old for Halloween…cause it’s literally the best way to make memories.”
“Yeah.”
They sighed. Naib turned to Norton with a serious expression.
“Do you remember when I told you I loved you?”
“Mhm…”
It took the ravenette a second to process what had been said.
“WHAT?”
He cried as it sunk in. The boxer laughed.
“Naib? Did you just confess? Was that a confession? Are you serious? Wait hold on-“
The nepali smiled and rolled his eyes, then grabbed the other boy by the collar and pulled him in for a kiss. Norton froze, unsure of how to react, afraid that if he’d move he’d wake up from a dream. Naib pulled away and turned towards the dock, away from his best friend.
“Yeah…It was a confession…”
He muttered.
“You like me?”
Norton was still in shock.
“Of course, you idiot.”
The nepali hugged his knees to his chest, his face was the color of their drinks.
“Wow…I just…I thought…”
They sat in a very awkward silence.
“I thought you liked girls.”
“No. I don’t.”
The nepali said quietly.
“But Martha…?”
“I dated her because I thought I liked her. Just turns out we were both in denial, cause she told me she was a lesbian not long after we broke up. I think that’s when I knew I was gay, cause I felt the same way she had…But I was too much of a coward to come out.”
“You’re not a coward.”
Norton rested his hand on his companion’s shoulder.
“You just needed a bit of time to figure yourself out.”
He assured the boxer.
“Thanks.”
They exchanged goofy-grins, and Naib shyly grabbed Norton’s hand.
“It’s not just the alcohol talking, by the way. I really am in love with you. I think I have been for a while.”
“Me too.”
Someone must’ve brought fireworks, because soon the night sky exploded with color. The boys jumped in surprise at the sudden noise, but together they sat back and enjoyed the show.
“Does this mean we’re dating?”
Norton asked.
“Only if you want to,”
Naib replied.
“Of course I do! I mean…yes, that’d be cool.”
The ravenette tried to play off his enthusiasm, but Naib only snorted at his attempt.
-
Naib happily escorted his boyfriend home (god he had wanted to call Norton that for a long time!), and together they snuck back into the window. They exchanged a few sloppy kisses, neither were experienced enough or sober enough to give proper ones, and Naib and Norton said their goodbyes.
“Night…”
The ravenette dreamily whispered as Naib escaped through the window.
“Night.”
He replied, and crept down to the ground. Silently he ran back to his car, and made his way back to his own bed…
Only…
“Norton?”
A voice woke the ravenette up. His mother was sitting on his bed, with a hand resting on his shoulder. She must’ve really been trying to wake him up, if she had gone to such lengths. Drowsily, he leaned up and rubbed his temple: the night before was coming to haunt him in the form of a headache.
“Yeah? What’s up?”
He asked and picked at his eyes.
“It’s…It’s about Naib dear…”
For a moment his stomach dropped, and he was readying to apologize when he noticed her expression was not one of disappointment.
“What’s wrong with Naib?”
He asked.
“Honey…His mum called me this morning…Asking if he’d come over…cause he wasn’t in bed when she woke up.”
He silently waited for her to continue.
“She got a call a few minutes after she called me and…”
She didn’t meet his eyes.
“He got in a car accident last night…and…”
Norton begged that she wouldn’t say it. Pleaded that he was in the hospital recovering. Anything but…
“He passed away.”
The ravenette grabbed her hands, his heart caught in his throat.
“Please tell me it’s not true.”
He said, his voice cracked. His mother shook her head.
“I’m so sorry.”
-
Norton stood silently by his mother, she comfortingly grasped his hand and squeezed it. They stood under the umbrella, the rain pittered and pattered on the grassy soil. The casket slowly sank beneath the ground, and the nepali’s mother let out a violent sob. Another of her children embraced her, and slowly lead her away from the scene. As all others began to disperse, Norton stayed behind.
“Norton…”
His mother tugged on his palm, but he remained standing, staring at the earth where his best friend laid to rest.
“Just one more minute.”
She nodded her head, and stepped away. The rain trickled down his black suit, he cared not for the weather. Norton took to a knee, and placed a laffy-taffy on the grave.
“I saved this for you.”
He said with a smile.