Page 12 of Haunted Mediation
“And you’ll call me if for even a second it seems like you don’t have a ride home figured out?”
Hailey rolled her eyes again. “God, you worry too much. Can I go now?”
Leon’s arm tensed around James’ shoulders, but he didn’t say anything.
Hailey narrowed her eyes at him. “Oh my god, if you’re so worried, you can wait here for us—but I bet James won’t be happy if you ruin his night.”
“I—“ James tried to say, well, what, he wasn’t sure, but definitely something—but Leon cut him off.
“We could do the haunted house ourselves, meet back up when we’re all done, and walk back to the apartment together.”
“You can do whatever you want, but you’re not coming with us!” she said, before turning and marching off to meet her friends.
As James watched, Hailey walked up to Zach’s side, and he threw an arm around her shoulder. Meanwhile, Batman seemedto have his hand in Zach’s back pocket, and Hailey kept stealing glances at Catwoman.
Wow, that wouldreallyshow James not to make assumptions.
Leon didn’t say anything as they watched Hailey’s crew make their way over to the ticket booth. He didn’t make any move to follow them, to leave, or even to take his arm off James’ shoulder.
A cold breeze blew through the courtyard, and James found himself shrinking against Leon’s side because, yeah, okay, whatever, he was a bit cold and probably should have accepted Leon’s offer back at the apartment.
As James took a moment to inventory how cold he was, he noticed that he could actually feel almost every one of the hard muscles of Leon’s torso. He was so solid, like someone James could fall against and not have to worry if he’d drop him. His arm was also steady and warm around James' shoulders. Somehow, it felt like that warmth was spreading down James’ chest, heating him from the inside out.
For a second, James could pretend this was normal. They’d just walked Leon’s neighbor to the haunted house, and now they were going to walk hand-in-hand, or maybe Leon would keep his arm around James, to the bar. There, they’d sit too close together in a booth or pressed up against each other on barstools, and they’d try all the weird Halloween-themed drinks. Leon would grumble about it, but secretly, he’d be having a good time. At some point in the night, James would laugh at something funny, and he’d tip against Leon’s side. He’d rest his head on Leon’s shoulder, and they’d slowly turn their faces to each other, and Leon’s lips would be right there?—
“James,” Leon rumbled, and James had to check himself to make sure he wasn’t actually tipping his head against Leon’s shoulder.
“Yeah?” he said, once he was sure his voice would come out steady.
“How would you feel about a change of plans?”
James permitted himself one more second to bask in his fantasy. He leaned a little more of his weight against Leon’s side as he said, “I don’t typically do well with scary things, but if this is what you need to do, I’ll do it.”
Leon took a slow, deep breath, and as he let it out, James could have sworn he pulled James even tighter against him. “I don’t feel right that her mom thinks I was walking her to the community center, and now she has to find a way home from a haunted house.”
“Yeah, I get it,” James said, and he really did. Leon had made it very clear during their conflict mediation session that one of the most important things to him was having integrity. Of course, he wouldn’t want to let Hailey’s mom down by supposedly not sticking to his word, even though he wasn’t actually the one to give his word.
James looked up at the haunted house, at the blood-soaked rolls of gauze hanging out of the upstairs window and the chains dangling from the shutters. There were enough fake spiderwebs to cover James’ entire house, and the bones lining the staircase leading up to the front door looked a lot more realistic than the styrofoam skeleton sitting in front of his front door at home.
He blamed his mom for this.
Leon squeezed his shoulder. “I have more of that pumpkin beer at home. After the haunted house, we could grab candy on the way back, snuggle with Yarmen, and watch that Halloween baking show you mentioned last night?”
God, talk about James’ perfect date night. If only it didn’t have to come with a trip through a haunted house.
If only it was an actual date.
James patted Leon on the back. “I already said I’d do it. You don’t need to bribe me.”
“Think of it more as rewarding.”
James stepped forward and out of Leon’s hold and his warmth before turning to give him the most shit-eating grin he could manage. “Thanks, Daddy.”
James wasn’t afraid of Leon. He just so happened to decide that he wanted to speed walk to the ticket booth, for no particular reason whatsoever.
Leon caught up with him a few moments later in line and planted a solid hand on his shoulder. He squeezed once, almost painfully, before dropping his hand.
It took almost ten minutes in line before they were called up to a foldable table by a kid who definitely didn’t look old enough to drink.
