|| Arabella ||
'So…?" Theo looked at me expectantly once I came out of his uncle's friend's kitchen after my interview as a part-time chef.
Like Theo promised, he drove me here and was weirdly nice enough to wait while I gave my interview. He was now sitting at a corner table, having some cheesecake and cappuccino.
I grinned and announced, 'I passed!"
'Congrats," he wished in monotone, taking a sip of his shake.
'Hey, show some more enthusiasm," I scolded, putting a hand on my hip.
'Well, what do you expect? Shall I do a happy dance for you?" he responded dryly.
'No, but—"
He cut me short and said, 'I knew you would pass."
'Aww, look at you, believing in me like an actual good roommate," I cooed and sat on the chair across from him.
'Anyone who has ever tasted your cooking would be stupid not to believe that you'll get hired here."
A grin formed on my face again. 'Do you actually like my cooking?" I asked excitedly.
'Will you take no for an answer?" he asked.
A waiter placed a piece of cheesecake and chocolate milkshake as I replied to Theo, 'I don't know. You're very stingy with compliments."
'No arguments there," he surrendered, looking out the big view window.
I also looked out, taking a bite of the cheesecake. Some people were decorating their exteriors with pumpkins and lanterns. It was Halloween season, after all.
'So I have had this idea in my head for a while now," Theo started, 'Don't you think we should do something to get Wyatt and Coral closer?"
I furrowed my brows. 'What can we do?"
Theo turned his gaze to me and smirked. 'Play the cupids."
'Now, that sounds intriguing."
Coral was my closest friend, and since Wyatt was one of my roommates, I knew that he was an amazing person—sure, a little clumsy and gullible, but still very sincere and caring. He would take the best care of Coral, and she needed to come out of her shell of never being able to commit. I wanted that ‘best friend' title. Therefore, I was all in for getting those two together.
'So are you in?" Theo asked for confirmation.
I placed my fork down and asked, 'What's the plan?"
———
'This wasn't part of the plan!" I hollered.
'Of course, it was. What, did you expect magic fairies to come and make the costumes for them?" Theo retorted.
'No, but I hate making choices," I cried out.
We were currently in the shopping mall, standing on the escalator. Apparently, they were selling Halloween costumes in many stores here, and we were going to buy a matching costume for Wyatt and Coral, then get them to play seven minutes in heaven through truth and dare at the Halloween party at school where every student was invited.
The plan wasn't perfect, but that's all we had. Plus, Theo said that there was no way two straight people wouldn't make out in the closet, at least they would talk it out inside and get closer. So it was a win-win.
'Deal with it. Won't you do at least this much for your best friend?" Theo questioned.
'Unbest friend," I corrected.
'Same shit." He rolled his eyes and stepped out the escalator, heading towards some of the stores that had sales going on for costumes.
I followed behind him and asked, 'What's the guarantee that Wyatt would even agree to come? Nowadays, all I see him doing is study and study and study." Wyatt's SAT exams were only a week away, after all.
'That's the exact reason. He needs to catch a breather. That idiot is going to burn himself out even before the exam day comes," Theo pointed out.
He was technically right.
'Besides, two hours off study won't hurt," he added, and I nodded in understanding.
Theo and I entered a Halloween store, filled with all sorts of costumes.
A lady store clerk greeted us with a smile. 'Good afternoon, sir and ma'am. Would you like to check out the couple's costume?"
I was about to deny that we weren't a couple, but Theo spoke up first, 'Yeah."
I jabbed him with my elbow and hissed, 'Why didn't you correct her?"
'It's too much effort to explain. Let her assume whatever she wants," he replied casually.
I frowned and followed the lady, who started showing us several outfits. We told her that we could manage, so she sauntered away shortly after.
'What should we choose so that they won't doubt getting a gift from us?" I asked Theo.
'As long as you don't tell Coral to dress up as Princess Fiona, she won't doubt a thing."
'Please, I don't want to imagine Wyatt as Shrek." As soon as I said so, Theo and I shared a look before bursting out laughing as the images flashed in our minds.
After we were done laughing, I saw a costume of Anna of Arendelle from ‘Frozen'. 'How about this? Wyatt would make a good Kristoff."
'She definitely would know that there's a Kristoff," Theo remarked, and I pouted.
'How would she know?"
'Because why would you get her an ‘Anna' outfit instead of ‘Elsa'?"
'You have a point, but they would look super cute though."
He nodded and scuffled through some other outfits. 'How about this?"
I looked at the costume he was pointing at and gave him a flat look. 'Seriously?"
'What? Peanut butter and jelly are classic." He gave an innocent look.
'Please," I scoffed, 'You just want to make fun of them."
'If I wanted to, I would suggest dressing them up as burgers and fries or socket and plug," he objected.
I laughed. 'As tempting as that sounds, no."
As we kept looking through costumes after costumes, it was getting more and more frustrating for me.
'This is why I don't like shopping. I can't make a choice," I whined.
'You know what? Let's just settle for witch and wizard. It's classic and no one would doubt," Theo reasoned. As I have found out, he was indecisive about clothes like me too.
'Ugh, finally," I groaned and stomped towards the section with gothic outfits. 'Don't you think it would be much easier if Wyatt knew about our plan?"
'What's the fun in that?" he remarked, and I rolled my eyes.
We finally chose a couple costumes for Coral and Wyatt. Just as we were heading towards the cash counter, a Pikachu headband caught my attention, so I paused to try it out.
'... do you get— Annabelle? What are you doing?" Theo, who had gone a few steps ahead, came back to me.
'Isn't it cute?" I twisted my face in order to show him that I was zapping him.
'Do you want to dress up as Pikachu?" he asked, eyeing the Pikachu kit.
I grinned widely, clapping my hands. 'That sounds cool. I have the perfect yellow dress to go with it."
'But I wanted you to dress up as Annabelle," he muttered.
I wanted to glare at him, but I was too in awe of the cute kit to let him bring my mood down. 'Never."
'Why not? You would look the best out of all," he insisted.
I bit my lip for a while, pondering over it.
'It's fine if you don't want to do it this year since your heart is set on the Pikachu kit. How about next year?" he suggested.
'Alright, but…" I trailed off.
'But what?" He furrowed his brows.
'You have to dress up as Meowth." I smirked.
'Nope. Not taking this deal. I hate that annoying cat." He backed away.
'Why not? You love cats."
'Yes, I love cats, but not talking cats who walk on two feet."
I frowned. 'I won't take no for an answer. You have to dress as any character from Pokemon if not Meowth."
'Then I choose Ash."
'He's not a Pokemon," I pointed out.
'You said a character. I picked him, and I'm not going back on this," he declared and picked up a Pikachu kit for me, marching towards another section to find Ash's cap and PokeBalls.
'That shrewd jerk."
———
I was still sulking over not getting to have Theo dress up as a Pokemon. We were now looking for Ash's green trainer gloves for Theo since the earlier store's gloves didn't fit his hands.
While we were walking, I noticed a couple kissing in the corner booth. I would bet that if the mall wasn't crawling with people, I could hear them moan.
Moan… That word made an idea pop into my head.
'Hey, can you give me your phone? I need to make a call to Coral," I told Theo, who was looking around the stores.
He raised an eyebrow at me. 'Where's your phone?"
'I forgot it in the car," I said sheepishly.
'Oh, okay." He fished his phone out of his jeans pocket and passed it to me without any suspicion.
'Pin?" I asked as he didn't unlock the screen.
'2912."
Aww, you poor thing. You are never going to trust me with your phone again.
I took his phone and went to a corner, quieter place in order to be able to talk to Coral while Theo waited around the escalator.
I downloaded a few sound effects on his phone and executed my mission.
I went back to Theo and gave his phone back innocently. He slid his phone back into his pocket and started walking. Little did he know what was going to happen to him.
Grinning dubiously, I looked around the crowd of people and took out my phone out of my purse, dialing Theo's number.
Just as I did so, high-pitched moans erupted amongst the crowd, and everyone stopped in their tracks.
I stifled my laughter as people started to look around for the source of the moaning.
I looked at Theo, who was suspiciously glaring at his pocket. Just as he took out his phone, all the heads snapped at him as his phone kept ringing with loud moaning.
I tried to keep a straight face as Theo tried to get his head around the change of ringtone in his phone, but when his eyes fell on the caller, he glared at me while everyone else was glaring at him.
'Young boys these days are so horny."
'Not to mention, obscene and perverted."
'The least they can do is spare us the indecency."
'Isn't hearing moans in the bed enough that they have to set it as a ringtone?"
'To be frank, it's kind of turning me on."
The people around us whispered judgmentally, and all I wanted was to roll down on the floor, laughing.
Theo's face was worth watching. He had never been redder. He was so embarrassed. In front of so many people.
It was way better than getting him to dress as any Pokemon.
In the end, I couldn't hold it anymore, so I roared with laughter, attracting the attention of some people. As if they suddenly came to a realization that it was a prank or a dare, their mouths formed in an 'O'.
'Anna… belle…" Theo was shaking with fury, and I could tell that it was my turn to run, so I did.
I ran as fast as I could without looking back.
