Among You by Jack Wallen Read Free Book Online Page A

catch up with the star of the show.
    “ That was awesome, Scott. You are so good with little kids.”
    I half-expected to look back at Sally to see that ‘I want to have your babies’ look in her eye. Instead, I quickly changed the subject.
    “ Did you catch that one Stormtrooper reaching for you? I think he was going to get his first handful of…”
    Sally slapped me. “Shut it, Spooky. Don’t sully the innocence of children for me.”
    I LOL’d…literally.
    “ I didn’t have to sully that little guy; Lolipop Chainsaw did that for me.”
    Another slap.
    “ Sorry, Sal, I couldn’t resist. Your cleavage set that joke up so perfectly.”
    For the first time since I’d known her, Sally blushed.
    I opted to let it drop. I didn’t want to push the moment into an uncomfortable place. We were already tiptoeing around enough issues as it were.
    The rest of trick or treating went off without another scene from Star Wars, but with plenty of interesting characters and more fun than should be legal for free. Thankfully the remaining minutes flew by and it was time to make our escape to another world, another place.
    We raced to Sally’s car. Instead of jumping into the driver’s seat, Sally opened the rear passenger door and hopped in.
    “ Umm, Sally, am I supposed to join you back there?”
    “ No, doofus. I’m going to slip on some yoga pants. I’m literally freezing my ass off.”
    We had a laugh at Sally’s misuse of the word ‘literally’. It was a shared pet peeve of ours.
    “ Oh, hell no. That’s the finest ass in town,” I replied. “I better check the porch. What if I can only recover one cheek?”
    “ We’ll have to make do…unless you’d be willing to spare one of yours?”
    Sally finished dressing, switched to the driver’s seat, and fired up the car. “ Hit play on my iPod. I made a special playlist for the trip.”
    The look on Sally’s face spoke volumes of wickedness as I picked the iPod from the dash of the car. I tapped play and the familiar sounds of one of my favorite bands spilled from the speakers.
    “ Die So Fluid,” I beamed. “You beast. This is my favorite song of theirs.”
    Sally’s voice purred when she said, “I know.”
    The opening drumbeat and guitar riff from The World Is Too Big For One Lifetime begged me to turn the volume past eleven. Instead, I closed my eyes and let the sound wash over me. As soon as Grog’s bass line and voice greeted us, I knew this night was going to be perfect.
    Sally turned the wheel and pulled away from the house. We were on our way. My heart thrummed and thumped as if it would leap from my chest. When the chorus of the song hit, Sally and I both sang along.
    I reached out and grabbed Sally’s hand.
    “ I don’t know how I’d get through life without you, Sally. Saying you’re my best friend doesn’t do my feelings justice.”
    Sally squeezed my hand, hard.
    “ Don’t take this the wrong way, Scott, and don’t freak out…but…I love you.”
    A mixture of ice and fire shot up my arm. Just before the words that couldn’t ever be taken out of play slipped from my lips, I saw the sign.
    “ Tyler’s End, two miles,” I shouted. My proclamation deflated Sally. I could feel joy leak from her pores.
    “ Sally, stop the car.”
    “ What? Why? We’re almost there.”
    “ Please, it’s important.”
    She eased the car into a strip mall parking lot, put the car in park, and turned to face me. “What is it?”
    I swallowed to force the lump of fear as far down as possible. I’d faced the most horrific of horrors on the screen, yet the simple interaction with a female had me sweating silver bullets.
    “ Scott, are you okay?”
    “ I am, Sally. Look…” Another swallow. “I love you too. I do…more than you could possibly know. But this – what we have – is too precious a thing for me to risk losing. Your friendship is the single most important thing in my life. The idea of doing something that could possibly ruin that is