Page 10 of Haunted Mediation
“We do like to be sex positive,” James mumbled, more to himself. “At least the youth aren’t kink shaming.”
“No,” Leon said, stalking down the hallway and away from the two biggest sources of headaches in his life.
He made James hold most of the conversation with Hailey as they walked towards the community center. He did a pretty good job of it, asking about school and where she was applying to college. She’d been taking cosmetology classes at the local community center for almost a year, but she thought she might want to do that more as a side hustle and was planning to study sociology.
The walk took longer than it usually would have due to the crowds of people out and about, dressed in all sorts of costumes on their way to and from events. They passed through a part of the city that used to be industrial but was rapidly being filled with high-rise apartment buildings and coffee shops. Leon began to notice signs for some sort of haunted house, and as they turned a corner, he was shocked to see that what was usually an abandoned warehouse had been turned into a fully decked out haunted house.
People were milling about on the sidewalk and in a small courtyard in front of the haunted house. Strobe lights cast eerie orange and purple light onto the building, and smoke machines poured smoke onto the ground.
As they passed by, Hailey let out a gasp and darted into the courtyard.
“What the—” Leon muttered, quickly hustling after her like she was Yarmen chasing a piece of food that had fallen off the table.
“Oh my god, you guys!” Hailey squealed as she ran up to a group of five other teenagers, all dressed in varying costumes.
Two of them were holding hands, wearing purple and green M&M costumes. One of them was dressed as Catwoman, one of them as the Joker, and the other as Batman. The Joker immediately hugged Hailey tightly, and Leon scowled.
“Hailey,” he said, doing his best to keep his tone even.
The group of teens looked over at them, all except for Hailey.
“I thought we were going to the trick-or-treat event!” Hailey said, in a voice that was nearly falsetto. She pulled back from her hug and cast Leon a glance before looking back at her friends. “Did you change your mind last second?”
The Joker gave her a confused look, but Catwoman seemed to catch on much faster. “Oh, uh, yeah, they were…out of candy?”
The Joker looked between the two of them and then at Leon. “Yeah, we…saw signs for the haunted house and thought we might as well try it out?”
James made a noise, and Leon turned to see him covering his mouth, his eyes dancing with the orange and purple flickering lights.
“Wow. What a happy accident that we just so happened to stumble upon your friends,” James said, and Leon narrowed his eyes at him.
“Oh my god, right? How lucky!” Hailey said, snapping her gum before grinning widely at Leon. “Well, thanks for walking me into town! Now you guys can go do whatever old people do for fun.”
For. Fuck’s. Sake.
Chapter Three
JAMES
“Hailey, can I please speak to you for a minute?” Leon growled before stomping off across the courtyard.
James and Hailey exchanged a look before they both followed after him.
“He should have been a werewolf for Halloween,” Hailey murmured to James, who gave a surprised laugh.
Back in their conflict mediation session, James had compared Leon to a werewolf in his head to try to ignore how low and sexy his voice sometimes got. In this case, though, he really was acting like a werewolf. He was practically foaming at the mouth as he turned on James and Hailey.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” Leon asked, and Hailey immediately crossed her arms over her chest.
Something in James’ gut squirmed uncomfortably. He always hated it when people fought in front of him. His parents fought in front of him for years, until his mom got sick. Then the fighting stopped completely, and it took James a while to figure out that, somehow, that was actually worse.
“Leon—” James tried to say.
But Leon held his hand in the air to silence him. “Do you think I don’t know this is the haunted house your mom wouldn’t let you go to without a chaperone?”
Hailey huffed, and James wouldn’t have been surprised if she stamped her foot. “It’s just because you have to either be eighteen or have someone with you who’s over eighteen—but Carly, Jeb, and Zach weren’t originally going to come with us, and now they’re here, and they’re eighteen.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed. “Is that really the only reason she didn’t want you coming to this alone?”
