exactment

It was happening and Henry was as dapper and dandy as could be. He was all proper as if he might be going to an opera. On the other hand, the garage had been cleared and now appeared to be a disco with silver ball included, spinning and sparkling as the electronic bliss kicked in. All because of Leo... who was in charge of music and lighting.

There were two things Leo clearly enjoyed as a hobby, although, he never let the two take over his life, until now. Yes, he was the master of his domain while Henry made little cucumber sandwiches and lots of dips for chips. Oh, and there were drinks. Even bottled water. He'd made little labels, inscribed Leo and Henry's Halloween Bash 2014, as if there might be more to come.

"What if we can make a business out of this?" Henry beamed. Oh, the dreams he had of making a fortune over party planning. He looked around now. Not anyone had showed. The trick-or-treating hour was coming to a close. What if no one came to their party?

Vada was staying clear. She would not go to Henry's party. She was not in the most festive mood even is she did handout candy to the little ones dressed as witches and a few who glammed up like Miley Cyrus. She felt so old and restless. If only Alo were here, but he was studying. They couldn't even have any facetime. It would be an awful Halloween. But then she guessed she deserved it.

After all, she was still grounded. She might be grounded until the end of time, or so Vada decided. She was glad that Cody hit it off with Ruby. A part of her wondered if maybe Ruby was a little  much. She did talk nonstop. Cody probably hated Ruby and Vada too. Seriously, Vada couldn't say it was all her fault. After all, Ruby was in the hallway at school. Ruby would have chatted up anyone.

Vada went back to the kitchen to see how many bags of candy were left. She refilled the bowl. No use in keeping any. The candy would hang about until at least Christmas. No one was really a sweet tooth in this family. And she wasn't actually up to it. No way did she want to get sick on candy when all she really wanted was to be with Alo, like they were over the summer. Oh, if only she could get a premium hug from her cuddle bear.

Just as she was about to go back to the livingroom, a tap came to the back door. It was locked. Henry probably needed something. Probably, another invite, or maybe even beg her to come to his lonesome party. She knew no one was there. She'd hate to tell  him that she told him so.

But when she opened the door, it wasn't Henry. Besides it was dark now. The moon glistened,  out on a clear cold night. There was Roman. and he looked far too under-dressed to be out on this fall evening.

Gage didn't know why he showed up at the party, but it looked as if the place was hopping. The motion lights were going and so was the foreign electronic music that he was lost in. Why did he think Macy would be here?

Just the night before, he'd found her house. But she wasn't there. In fact, the old woman had never heard of her, and yet there were scads of pictures of Macy on the wall. He saw what an adorable little girl she'd been. She still looked that innocent.

Sadness crept into his veins of knowing what she was living in. The place was stashed with newspapers, dirty dishes and cats. Lots of cats.

He hated this dead end. Gage was on a mission now. He really needed to find Macy. Somehow, he was going to find her.

Macy told Chandler this was not a good idea. She checked her watch. It was straight up 10 p.m. Maybe not the bewitching hour, but she'd rather be watching something stupid on NetFlix than being here. So what if it were a Friday night, she really hated parties.

She looked around and saw some people she knew. Some were dressed up as vampires and witches. There was even someone poising as the lead singer from the Black Veil Brides. Macy just sighed. She felt left out.

Chandler wasn't even listening to her. He wouldn't even hold her hand. He was looking for Henry, naturally.

"OK, if ..if ..lets say..you do find him..what will you say to him?" She hated to be a downer, but Chandler was so shy. Besides, must she remind him again, Henry had a boyfriend.

Of course, he wouldn't answer her. The music was loud and Macy felt as if she was already tripping with the lighting and the music. She winced hard as someone touched her shoulder. It was Gage.

"Want to dance?" She thought he asked.

Unfortunately, she lost Chandler in the massive people coming in. Naturally, Gage wouldn't let go. She looked up at him as if it were a terrible idea, but she followed him through the slow movement of dance, as the lights flashed about, making them much more surreal than they actually were.

He moved with the music and they swayed.

"Can we talk?" His words were trying to be loud, but they couldn't talk here. She wrinkled her forehead as if that would not happen. Again, he took her hand. She took a deep breath, and they made their way through the dizzy mess.

"Look, can you just forgive me?" He said once they were on the lawn.

Before she knew it, .they were laying in the damp sweet grass. She kept her eye on the moon. She didn't want to let him in. He looked at her for a moment but rested next to her and looked back into the open space above. "I..I..know..what ..its like..to be you."

Macy raised herself up on her elbows in her Levi jacket.

"You, don't know a thing about me." She squinted hard.

"You, shouldn't have to live like that. I mean, your grandma's sick. You, need help." He turned to her then. She saw his rippled locks of hair. It was so misleading. He looked like an angel of some kind. She had to hate him. She wanted too.

"Look, nobody sees me..like you do." He rested his hand on her stomach, as if it would only take him a second or two to go places that might take them both to another world, even if they were right here under the stars.

Macy drew a breath as she nursed her bottom lip.

"I can't be mean to you, anymore. I just can't." There were tears in his eyes. It was so unexpected. This wasn't at all, like the Gage she remembered.

Henry was on cloud nine. Yes, the party was a success. And..people were upstairs in his sewing room. It was all.. so... electric. And kind of dark. Henry winced. Wondering what was going on. Some kind of game.

Well, Henry didn't think any hanky panky was going on. Of course, they were all a bunch of nerds. Someone was playing WereWolf. Yes, those kind of games. Naturally, there was some kissing. No one was smoking. Thank God.

But... were they spinning the bottle?

Henry winced hard. This was the last thing he was expecting. God knows, how he hated to police his own party. But that's what came with the territory? Didn't it?

"What's going on?" Henry would pull the plug on this. He didn't even clean out his closet. Some of his finest clothes he'd made were in there. Of course, he was in a huff as he made a straight line to the closet. Just his luck, what if somebody was doing the deed? Naked no less.

He jerked the door open. To his surprise. there was only one person in the closet and his hands came around Henry's neck, in an embrace. His lips took in Henry's and the door closed.