Page 1 of There's Pumpkin About You
ChapterOne
WREN
“So, I’ve thought of a theme.”
My best friend pulls me from my thoughts. “The theme for what?” I ask.
Oakleigh sits across from me in my living room, scrolling through her phone as she aimlessly stuffs popcorn into her mouth. She glances over at me as if I’ve asked the dumbest of questions.
“Um, the theme for my thirtieth party, duh?”
My eyebrows rise at her playful tone. “Let me guess…The Nightmare Before Christmas?”
“Mm-hm, red wig and everything.”
I pause, waiting for her laugh, which never comes. My smile slips and I shift to face her properly. “Wait, you know I’m joking, right?”
All she offers me is a wicked smile and a glint in her chocolate-brown eyes.
“You scare me sometimes,” I say, shuddering.
“And yet, you’ll miss me when I’m gone.”
We’d treated ourselves to a rare (not so rare) night in, loaded with endless snacks, non-alcoholic beer, and hours of ogling Alan Ritchson.
“Hey, how about a fall theme for the party since it’s at the end of October?” I ask, just as Reacher takes out six guys on the TV.
I watch her genuinely consider it. A fall theme would allow for Oakleigh to incorporate certain spooky elements fromThe Nightmare Before Christmas, whilst still displaying the class, mystery and beauty that the season has to offer—the warm colors, the slight chill, the pumpkins and the freshly fallen leaves. It’s exactly why fall is my favorite time of year.
After a minute, she nods with a smile across her tan face. “A fall theme sounds perfect, actually. It leaves room for open interpretation. We could find some fake leaves and gold silverware.”
“Can we even afford gold silverware?” I snicker.
“Hell no, but we can afford gold-sprayed ones from Target.”
“Same thing, right?”
“Exactly.”
The rest of our evening goes much like that—laughter and drooling over Alan Ritchson until our eyes water uncontrollably from the TV’s artificial light.
I’ve been friends with Oakleigh since high school, back when our chemistry teacher, Mr. Larson, decided it was a good idea to sit us together during our first lesson of sophomore year. For that entire year he suffered through terrible experiments and poorly controlled laughter, and yet he never once separated us. I think he—wrongly—assumed that the laughter was us enjoying the lessons.
Around midnight, Oakleigh decides that it’s probably a good idea to go home and give her cat, Ollie, some food and attention, so she packs up half of the snacks and gives me a hug and kiss goodnight.
Just as I’m about to close the door behind her, she pauses in the courtyard. “Oh, my God, I almost forgot!” She doesn’t move from the end of the small courtyard as she reaches for her phone and types frantically, brown eyes wide with excitement.
My phone pings in my pocket just as she tucks hers away, swapping it for the keys to her red Fiat 500. I check my phone and see she’s sent me a link to a website for this farm two towns away, in Eaglewood.
“What’s this?”
“My cousin ordered a bunch of pumpkins from this place last year for that big Halloween party she had, and she had good things to say. Said that the owner was a bit weird, but other than that, the stuff was really good quality.”
I lock my phone and shove it back into my pocket. “Amazing. I’ll take a look at it tomorrow and see. Maybe even go over there. Gives me a place to start with the planning.”
Oakleigh gives me a sympathetic smile. “I seriously appreciate you doing this for me, Wrennie. I hope you know that. Please don’t think I asked you for any reason other than you’re a kick-ass planner. The fact that you’re also my best friend and that you know me better than I know myself is just a bonus.”
We exchange the kind of smile that only comes with years of friendship before I blow her a kiss and head back inside. I watch out the window until I see her car pass by, content that she’s safely on her way home.
