TEENAGE FEVER | IX.
"THIS WAS THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVER"
(' HALLOWEEN ')

WHEN MAKAYLA MCKAY WAS SIX YEARS OLD, she watched the Titanic for the first time. While there were many scenes that were too mature for Makayla's young eyes, the message of the film got across and that was the day that Makayla fell in love with love.

She watched the Notebook, A Walk to Remember, Love and Basketball, The Fault in Our Stars, anything with a romantic main plot. She liked the different ways that people fell in love, and she liked the different endings, sad, happy, open, and closed. They were real and she liked that.

While Makayla was falling in love with the idea of love, Chris had made a new friend and that friend was Nate Jacobs. The two went everywhere together, which meant that Makayla saw a lot of Nate. A crush developed and Makayla thought that maybe Nate was her other half. Her older brother's best friend who would fall in love with her and together they'd face anything because love was strong enough to overcome anything.

What Makayla hadn't accounted for was a little thing called sex.

In movies, sex was this magical thing that solidified the couple and made the bond between them that much stronger. It was the thing that made the relationship real. When Makayla reached eighth grade, she learned that wasn't the case. Sex wasn't some magical thing, but rather a transaction between two bodies. You didn't need to be in love to have sex.

High school further solidified that as her friends began having their first kisses and losing their virginities. They thought they were in love, but that wasn't the case.

She watched her friends cry over boys and girls that weren't worthy of it and while Makayla's friends mourned their heartbreak, she mourned her belief in love. It wasn't like she had time for it anyway, her father had made that clear when she told him that she wanted to play soccer.

So, Makayla figured that she'd shelter her heart. No feelings, no strings, no heartbreak. She could get what she wanted from guys and walk away. There were good ones, ones she knew wouldn't hurt her and there were assholes, but Makayla didn't give anyone a chance.

She had Ainsley for her emotional connection and that was all that she needed. Ainsley and Makayla went on dates, something they would say was just getting lunch or dinner. They'd cancel plans if the other sent out an SOS. Whenever something good happened, they were the first to know. It was an intense friendship, but Makayla wasn't aware of the fact until Lexi had pointed out.

Lexi Howard had ruined everything.

What was supposed to be a simple and unattached fake relationship had become something real for Makayla. It reminded her of when she was a young girl discovering love for the first time all over again and that scared her. Could she have a real relationship and still be a soccer star? Could she have a real relationship?

"Red?" Lexi asks as she holds up the nail polish, "It'll match your Mr. Rogers sweater."

"Okay," Makayla says and Lexi smiles as she takes a seat at the end of her bed.

"Give me your toes," Lexi orders and Makayla laughs as she slides her foot out toward Lexi.

"Why does it matter what color my toes are? I'll be wearing sneakers," Makayla states.

"True," Lexi says, "But painting nails is a bonding experience and we're bonding."

"We could bond in other ways," Makayla suggests, and Lexi pauses to look up at her, causing Makayla to roll her eyes, "Like going to the movies, bowling, skating, a spontaneous Target run."

"A spontaneous Target run is tempting," Lexi says, "But I want to paint your toes. They're so cute!"

"That is a lie," Makayla says, "I have gross soccer toes."

"Well, I love your gross soccer toes," Lexi says with a smile, "The same way you love my weird stomach noises."

Makayla chuckles, "Okay that's fair."

Lexi smiles as she starts paining Makayla's toes, "So um Cassie text me the other night."

"About what?" Makayla asks.

"Chris," Lexi says and Makayla wonders what her brother has done now.

"What did he do?"

"It wasn't what he did. They went to the Halloween party that weekend and they were hooking up and his teammates like came in and they like pushed him around a bit. Cassie says he was crying and really shaken up about it but that he acted like everything was fine."

Makayla sighs. Her brother was being hazed and if he wasn't going to deal with it properly with Cassie, then there was no way that he was going to want to talk about it with Makayla. She also didn't want Chris to think that Cassie was telling all of his business and create issues there.

"I'll try to bring it up to him in the most casual way possible," Makayla says, but she knew that he wouldn't want to talk about it. Their father had raised them to bottle up their emotions and while Makayla was bad, Chris was ten times worse because he was a guy. Makayla had only learned to express herself with her mother. They were close because they were the only women in the house.

"Done," Lexi says as she leans back and looks at Makayla's foot, "Maybe it's best that you're wearing shoes, because I did an awful job."

"Did you really?" Makayla asks as she looks at her toes, only to find that Lexi had done an amazing job. She looks up at Lexi who was grinning at her.

"Cassie's my older sister, I'm like a nail painting expert," Lexi brags and Makayla shakes her head.

"I totally didn't doubt you for a second."

"That feels like a lie," Lexi tells her, "But it's okay."

"So, I wanted to ask you if it was okay if I got ready with the team?" Makayla asks, "Jamie invited us all over and-"

"You don't have to explain it," Lexi says as she crawls up the bed and lays down on her side beside Makayla, "It's okay. Cassie and I were going to go to the party with Kat, Jules, and Rue."

"You'll find me?" Makayla asks with a smile and Lexi nods her head.

"As soon as I set foot in the door," Lexi tells her, "Besides our costumes don't make sense without each other."

"Our costumes don't make sense at all," Makayla says, "But I think that's what makes them great costumes."

"Yeah, anyone can be a sexy nun, but can you pull off Bob Ross?" Lexi asks.

"Only the sexiest person in the world can pull off Bob Ross," Makayla says and Lexi smiles as she looks at her.

"You think I'm sexy?"

"Duh," Makayla says as she rests her head on her pillow, "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"No one's ever told me that," Lexi says, and Makayla isn't surprised. Not because she doesn't think it's true, because she does. Lexi Howard is the most beautiful girl she's ever seen, inside and out. But Lexi grew up constantly having to compare herself to Cassie and it was a fact that Cassie always got the attention.

"Well, I'm telling you," Makayla says, poking Lexi's nose "And I'll tell you every day if I have to."

"You make me feel weird," Lexi says softly, as though someone could hear them, but it was just the two of them in Makayla's room.

"Weird?" Makayla asks, "Like you want to throw up?"

"Yeah," Lexi says, "But like rainbows and happiness."

Makayla grins, "Rainbows and happiness?"

Lexi face flushes and she buries her face in the pillow, "Ugh stop!"

"Okay," Makayla says, "But you make me feel rainbows and happiness too."

Makayla wondered how many times she was going to tell Lexi that she liked her without actually telling her.

~*~

"Kayla I'm staging an intervention."

"What?" Makayla asks as she looks at her teammates. Yes, it was weird because Jamie was dressed as a sexy version of a jedi, and Jasmine was also a sexy jedi and Alexis was a sexy Cleopatra and Ainsley was dressed as Marilyn Monroe and then there was Makayla. Dressed as the ever so friendly Mr. Rogers.

"This girl has you wearing a sweater to a Halloween party!" Alexis exclaims, "And you're not even naked underneath."

Makayla pouts as she looks down at herself, "Is it really that bad?"

"Yes," Alexis says.

"No," Ainsley says as she steps forward, "You look fine. Besides Halloween isn't about looking like a slut."

"That's literally the point of Halloween," Jasmine mutters, "But continue."

"Guys Makayla is happy with Lexi, and this is their couples costume and we need to support Makayla in that," Ainsley says.

"Okay," Jamie says, "But I don't know her."

"It's not even like you can miss it because she's wearing a bright red sweater," Jasmine mutters to Jamie. They shake their heads as they look over Makayla's frame and she sighs.

"Don't listen to them," Ainsley says, "You look great."

Makayla knows she's only saying that to make her feel better, but it makes her smile, "Thanks."

"Besides, it leaves a bit of mystery of what's under the big red sweater," Ainsley tells her with a wink before heading toward the mini bar Jamie's parents had, "Shots?"

"Shots!" Alexis exclaims, "Makayla you're gonna need at least twelve of these to get through the night dressed like that."

"I don't even think I'd be able to stand after twelve shots," Makayla says as she follows her friends over to the bar. They make the awful decision of leaving Alexis in charge of the alcohol and she pours.

"I'll be DD," Makayla says as she looks at Alexis's shots.

"I'll also be DD," Jasmine says, "Mainly because that much vodka scares me."

"More for us," Alexis says as she slides the shots toward Jamie and Ainsley who shrug and knock the drink back. They do a few more shots before heading over to Daniel's house for the Halloween party.

Makayla parks her car down the street in the driveway of one of the other girls on the soccer team and they walk to the house in an attempt to keep things incognito. When they enter the house, Makayla raised an eyebrow at the amount of people that were there.

"More alcohol!" Alexis exclaims as she rushes toward the table that held all of the liquor. Jamie and Ainsley followed after her and Jasmine chased after them, making Makayla laugh.

She searched the sea of people for Lexi's afro wig and wasn't surprised when she found her sitting on the couch.

"Hey," Makayla greets as she stands in front of Lexi and Lexi springs to her feet and throws her arms around Makayla.

"You're here!"

"I am," Makayla says as she hugs Lexi back. Lexi pulls away and looks over Makayla's costume and grins.

"You look amazing."

"I was feeling a little insecure, but then I realized that the sweater left a lot to the imagination, like what's under it? What's she hiding?"

"You have absolutely nothing to be insecure about," Lexi tells her, "You're the prettiest girl at this party."

Makayla smiles, "So did your mom give you shit about your costume?"

"She did," Lexi says, "But wait till she sees yours."

"Oh?" Makayla asks, "Am I coming home with you tonight?"

"I was kind of hoping that you were," Lexi says before quickly adding, "In a watch-Netflix-movies and have a sleepover kind of way."

"Relax Lex," Makayla says, "I was only messing with you. And since it is Halloween I will allow you to force something scary on me."

Lexi lets out a gasp, "I know just the thing. Ever heard of the Haunting of Hill House?"

"Anything with the word 'haunting' in it does not sound like a good time for me," Makayla says, but Lexi's grin doesn't waver.

"You'll like it. There are lesbians and you'll like the Haunting of Bly Manor even more because there are more lesbians! We should make a date out of this."

Makayla laughs. Lexi had changed her so much because here she was at a house party dressed as Mr. Rogers and rather than getting drunk with her friends and making bad decisions, she was planning a Netflix date of a horror TV show.

If that didn't say she was falling for Lexi, she didn't know what did.

"Well, I'm sold," Makayla says. Her eyes drift over to the figure who was now sitting alone on the couch. Her eyes hadn't left Makayla and Lexi since the moment Makayla came over. She wondered how Rue; a recovering addict felt surrounded by the very things she was addicted to.

"Hey Rue," Makayla greets.

"Hey," Rue says with a nod, "Cool costume. Very neighborhood friendly."

"Thanks," Makayla says as she points a finger at Rue, "And you are Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo?"

"Impressive," Rue tells her.

"Yeah, I only knew that because I saw Jules's costume on Kat's story. Hey where is your other half by the way?"

"She is drunk," Rue tells her, and it makes sense why she was sitting alone on the couch.

"Oh," Makayla says.

"You guys aren't going to like this, but your brother is getting her sister high," Lexi says and Makayla and Rue both turn to see Gia and Troy sitting on the couch smoking a joint. Makayla sighs and she heads over with Rue hot on her heels.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rue asks Gia.

"Getting lit," Troy answers. He looks over at Makayla and tilts his head, "Kayla? Why are you dressed like a pedophile?"

Makayla reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone, taking a picture of her brother and the joint. She then grabs her brother by the arm, "Come on dumbass."

She drags Troy into the garage, away from everyone else. Rue and Lexi are hot on her heels and Makayla shoves her brother into a chair. She takes a step back, "He's all yours Rue."

"Kayla?" Troy says nervously.

"You ever been to rehab?" Rue asks him.

"What?" Troy asks, his eyes dancing over to his sister, but Makayla was just standing there, arms crossed over her chest, watching as Rue harassed him.

"I said you ever been to rehab?"

"No."

"Well in rehab there are some real fucked-up motherfuckers. We're talking people who are on the hook for armed robbery, attempted murder, real had shit. Hardcore motherfuckers."

"It's true," Lexi says, "I went to visit once. It was scary."

"You know what happens when you spend an extended amount of time in rehab? You tend to make friends with those hardcore motherfuckers so let me be clear with you. If you so much as go past first base with my little sister, or get her high again, I will call Omar, I will call Marlo, I will call Avon, I will call Brother Mouzone, I will call fucking Brodie, I will call Stringer and I will have them out on your front lawn, do you hear me?"

Troy looks over at her, and Makayla simply raises an eyebrow.

"Don't look at her, she can't help you," Rue says, "Do you understand me?"

"You better answer because you don't want us to call Wee-bey," Lexi says.

"Do you know what kind of people these are?" Rue asks and Troy shakes his head, "These are the kind of people who will strip you naked and will go to work on you with a pair pf pliers and a blowtorch. Do you hear me?"

"Rue I think he understands," Lexi says.

"I don't think he understands."

"Tell her you understand," Lexi orders and Makayla wasn't one to easily get hot and bothered, but if Lexi ever wanted to boss her around, she might just let it happen.

"I understand," Troy says, his voice shaking, and he looks as though he wants to shit his pants. The sight is amusing to Makayla who found her little brothers to be very indifferent about everything going on around them.

"Now go in there tell my little sister she looks nice."

Rue and Lexi back away from Troy and he stands, glancing wearily at the two women. He looks over at Makayla and she nods back toward the party. Troy rushed through the door and as soon as he's gone, the three of them start laughing as they head back in the house.

From across the room, they watched as Troy complimented Gia and even got her a drink.

"Okay the two of you are cool as hell," Makayla says, "Besides my mother, no one has ever scared him shitless like that."

"We were just naming characters from the Wire," Rue says with a laugh and Lexi joins in.

"That was brilliant," Makayla compliments, "Ten out of ten."

Rue smiles at her, "Well I've got to go find Jules, so I'll see the two of you around."

Makayla watches as Rue heads off and slides closer to Lexi now that her best friend was gone.

"Rue's kind of cool, I can understand why you had a crush on her," Makayla says, and Lexi rolls her eyes playfully.

"I know you like parties," Lexi says, "You can go hangout with your friends, I'll be fine."

"I just want to spend time with you," Makayla tells her.

Lexi tilts her head, "Wanna dance with me?"

"Yeah," Makayla says, and Lexi takes her hand and drags her into a separate room in the house where everyone was dancing with each other.

"I don't really know how to dance," Lexi says loudly over the music.

"That's okay," Makayla says, "I'll help you."

Better by Khalid started playing through the speakers and Makayla stood behind Lexi, placing her hands on her hips. Lexi looked back at her curiously and Makayla smiled at her, "Okay so just move your hips in rhythm with the music."

She helped guide Lexi's hips and soon Lexi was starting to feel it, her hips not needing the guidance of Makayla. She goes to take a step back, but Lexi's hands fly to her own, keeping them in place.

"Keep them there," Lexi tells her, and Makayla obeys as the move in beat with the music. Makayla sings into Lexi's ear, making the other girl giggle. Makayla moves her hands off of Lexi's hips, only to spin her and tug Lexi close to her.

Lexi throws her arms around Makayla's neck and the two of them just sway. Lexi smiles at her before leaning up and kissing Makayla, something that she hadn't been expecting. Sure, Lexi had been taking more initiative, but never in public. Makayla kisses Lexi back without hesitation, hands dropping to her waist as she tugs Lexi closer to her.

"I'm kind of over this party," Lexi tells her.

That caught Makayla's attention.

"Okay," Makayla says, "My car is a few houses down."

"Let's go," Lexi says as she takes Makayla's hand and guides her through the sea of people in the house. They're almost to the front door when Makayla sets her sights on her older brother who was the only person at the party not dressed up.

"Wait," Makayla says, "Chris is here."

Lexi stops, "He could be here for Cassie. I think she's been drunk texting him."

"Where is she?"

"That is a great question," Lexi tells her.

"Okay new plan," Makayla says, "I'll distract Chris, you find Cassie and then we can get the hell out of here."

"Good plan," Lexi tells her, but before heading off, she grabs Makayla's face and pulls her in for a quick kiss, "That was for good luck."

She gives Makayla a wink before slipping off and Makayla bites her lip before heading off after her brother.

"Chris," Makayla calls out to him, and he turns and looks at her.

"Um care to explain why you're dressed like Mr. Rogers?" Chris asks her.

"It's my costume," Makayla says, "Lexi and I are repping PBS. Anyway, why are you here?"

"I'm looking for Cas, have you seen her around?"

"No," Makayla answers, "But are you okay?"

"What?" Chris asks her, "Did she say something to you?"

"No," Makayla says, "It's just – I know what it's like to have dad's pressure on you, I'm probably the only person who understands and you never come home anymore, I mean not for long, s I just want to make sure that you're okay."

"You want to talk about this at a party?"

"Public settings are the only place I see you now," Makayla responds.

Chris looks around, "Look, things at college aren't what I expected them to be."

"What did you expect?"

Chris shrugs, "I don't know. I thought it would be like high school. I'd climb my way to the top and then I'd be going to the NFL, but those guys are just as good as me and at some point you have to know when to cut your losses."

"Are you quitting?" Makayla asks.

"No!" Chris says quickly, "No, I've gone through too much shit to get where I am. I just want dad to understand, you know?"

"Yeah," Makayla says, "If you want to talk to dad, you should probably talk to mom first. And know that I'll support you no matter what and I'm always here if you need to talk."

"Thanks," Chris tells her, "Same goes for you."

"McKay!"

Both Makayla and Chris turn to look as Lexi descends the stairs. Chris's brows furrow, "Are you Bob Ross?"

"Yeah!" Lexi exclaims, "You're like the only person to get that."

Chris chuckles, "Hey, have you seen Cas?"

"Yeah, um she actually went home," Lexi says nodding her head, "She said she'd call you later."

Chris nods his head, "Okay well nice couple costume, a very unique take on Halloween."

Makayla laughs, "Thanks. Well Kayla, I'll see you at home."

"Not tonight," Lexi says as she wraps her arms around Makayla, "She's coming home with me."

Lexi's words make her feel warm. The fact that she was wanted somewhere by someone was an indescribable feeling.

Chris raises an eyebrow, "Well that was an image I didn't need in my head. Have fun."

"We will," Makayla says as she watches her brother head toward the front door.

"Crisis averted," Lexi says as she holds up her and hand and Makayla laughs as she high fives it.

"Cassie didn't actually go home, did she?" Makayla asks and Lexi shakes her head.

"I think she was hooking up with Daniel."

Makayla grimaces and shudders, "Ew. He's dressed as Ted Bundy. Cassie can do better."

"Agreed," Lexi says, "Can we leave? I want to get in bed and actually eat something."

Makayla laughs and slings an arm around Lexi's shoulder, "Yeah come on."

They stop and get something before heading over to Lexi's house. Her mom was still awake on the couch watching TV and wineglass full in front of her. When Lexi and Makayla entered the house, she stared at the two teens.

"You roped Makayla into your nerd costume?"

"I did," Lexi states proudly.

Suze Howard nods her head and takes a sip of her wine, "Come here you two."

And they do. They stand in front of Suze who pulls out her phone, "Smile."

They obey and Suze takes a picture she looks at her phone screen and smiles at it fondly before looking up at Lexi, "Never did I think you'd find someone to match your weirdness. Good for you Lex."

Makayla's brows furrowed, pretty sure that Suze had not only insulted her daughter but had also kind of insulted her as well. But as she looked over at Lexi to see her smiling widely, she figured that was just how Suze communicated with her youngest daughter and showed her love.

"That's all. And know that I can hear you guys upstairs so try to keep it down."

"We will," Lexi says as she grabs Makayla's hand and drags her upstairs.

The girls giggle as they head into Lexi and Cassie's room and close the door behind them. Lexi tugs Makayla close to her and kisses her, making the soccer player smile as she wraps her arms around Lexi's waist.

"This was the best Halloween ever," Lexi says.

"Why?" Makayla asks.

"Because I was with you," Lexi answers, "I hate parties and I kind of hate Halloween because it's not fun anymore. But you wore a dorky costume with me, and you danced with me, and I love – love that you would do that."

Makayla smiles, "It wasn't dorky, it was cool. You're cool Lexi. And hot like super hot but most importantly you're unlike anyone I've ever met before. You're completely yourself in the face of everyone's expectations and I love that about you."

Lexi's eyes go wide and the confident Lexi that Makayla had been dealing with all night seems to disappear and shy Lexi appears once again, "So um I have clothes that you can borrow, and we can start watching the Haunting of Hill House?"

"Okay," Makayla says with a smile.

Lexi Howard had ruined everything, but Makayla didn't mind, if love, true love, was dressing up as Mr. Rogers for Halloween and watching scary movies and TV shows on Netflix with the kindest and most beautiful girl that Makayla had ever met, then she was kicking herself for not falling sooner.