Summer 2019
After parking farther than she would have liked, Sharon had finally made it to their party. This year’s theme was a combination of Megan’s Rhapsody: A Dream Novel and Sharon’s Monster Squad poster where guests wore their suits and dresses with a Halloween mask instead of masquerade masks from the book. She knew that Megan just wanted to have a masquerade party just like in the movie Eyes Wide Shut. That little compromise delighted her but couldn’t overshadow the larger issue of their relationship. Megan still didn’t know what Sharon was going as because they left the sale yesterday on an unpleasant note.
Megan had yet to tell Rob about her continuing affair with Sharon. At first she understood her reasoning. They had built a life together, were homeowners, and shared the same friends. This still weighed on her since she ended her relationship with Ty because she didn’t want to hurt him and they had only been together for around a year. She never told him what happened to respect Megan’s decisions and grew to resent it.
The party started at dusk and Sharon wanted to arrive early but lost track of time looking for her mask at the party store but ended up making it from a red cloth she had laying around her apartment. By the time she reached the house most of the guests were also arriving fashionably late. Everyone followed the dress code well enough with masks that only covered their face. There were some Jason masks, some political masks, and a lot of nerdy masks. Most if not all were with a significant other except for one person with a Darth Vader mask. She stared at him until he disappeared into the crowd as they entered through the front door.
Glancing across the room, She began to recognize people based on their groups. In the kitchen were Megan’s friends from the hospital who to her dismay were more like Grey’s Anatomy than Scrubs. In the dining room were Rob’s friends acting like they were in Animal house instead of their usual Seth Rogen from Neighbors ecstatic. In the living room off in the corner were her friends who could pass for any character in Scott Pilgrim. She went over to chat with them about their masks and overheard them talking about DnD.
Already feeling more comfortable in the corner with them, she asked, “Hey, do you guys know who the guy in the Vader mask is?”
“We could have used last year's costumes?” The one in with a batman mask asked while the others continued their DnD talk.
Frustrated with their answer, “I mean I guess you could have,” Sharon replied, “but what about the guy in the Vader mask?”
“I haven’t seen that person,” he answered awkwardly, unsure of the question.
Simply looking over the group, Sharon asked, “Guys?” but they simply just shook their heads one by one and went back to their discussion.
Frustrated, she looked around again to see if she could catch him in a passing glance, but before she viewed the rest of the room, she found Megan with her werewolf mask. She also seemed to be scanning the room, but she found what she was looking for and headed over. Sharon watched Megan slowly walk over, and she questioned nervously herself about Megan’s current attitude. The slow saunter could be her way of sarcastically commenting on Sharon’s constant complaint or it could just be the pace she wanted to walk.
“Finally, you decided to show up,” Megan welcomed her as she stood off to the side of her friend group.
Sharon tried to defend herself, “Well… It took awhile to find my mask.”
She paused to remember her day so far, but Megan interrupted her thought, “It doesn’t matter, I’m just glad to see you,” giving her a hug.
“Hey, I’m sorry about being so confrontational last night,” Sharon apologized and then paused again as she realized that she had nothing else planned to say.
Knowing that she had not planned this far ahead, Megan countered, “No it’s okay, I know I need to do it at some point.” Megan watched Sharon awkwardly look away, so she leaned over and whispered, “You come back to my room anytime ninja turtle.”
“I will when you know which one I am,” she whispered back to play along with Her distraction.
Agreeing to the terms, Megan began her rounds of the party leaving Sharon with, “I’ll be back, “ and a smile that peeked from underneath her mask.
A few minutes after Megan left, Sharon also decided to talk to a few other groups since her friends would let her know if anything came up. She wandered over to Rob’s friends in the kitchen who had begun a game of poker seemingly unaware of what party they were at. As she sat down they dealt her into the game before she could say anything. She played her hands conservatively so there wouldn’t be an excuse to leave. Compared to most of Megan’s friends, Sharon actually enjoyed talking with this group. They kept up with the same shows and weren’t as concerned with tax rates or insurance.
Finally she asked after folding, “Hey, have any of you guys seen the person with the Vader mask?”
“Isn’t Greg wearing one?” the man with the George Bush Jr. mask asked the group as he folded.
The man wearing a gas mask next to him elbowed and corrected him, “Dude, that’s a stormtrooper mask.”
“Well he definitely can’t find weapons of mass destruction,” joked the man with the Iron man mask.
As the group largely ignored the joke, the one with the gas mask answered, “I don’t think we’ve him, sorry.”
“Did no one get it?” Iron man asked, setting his hand face down.
“We got it,” Sharon said starkly, throwing a chip into the middle to raise, “but do you guys know when Rob is coming back?”
Looking at his watch, Bush answered, “Should be in like fifteen, he said around 9pm.”
“Thanks,” Sharon said, revealing her hand. “Damn, I thought two pairs was good enough,” She exclaimed as the man in a gas mask raked in the pile of chips.
As her chips ran out, she saw a text from Megan telling her to look around and in no time she found Megan’s bedroom door cracked open at the end of the hallway. Unfortunately for Megan, she wanted to wait for Rob to get home first. She continued to play conservatively for the next ten minutes, still chatting with Rob’s friends. Down to her last two chips she finally saw Rob with his Phantom of the Opera mask walk around the table, and put his chips into the pot.
“Have you seen Megan?” Rob asked, sitting across the table.
“I think she went out to get more… chips,” She lied but she was never good at lying remembering the kitchen counter still full of snacks.
Rob settled in for a second before he replied, “Thanks, I hope she brings back some Funyuns.” Then again she thought to herself about how she only got caught lying around Megan and then Ty.
“Hey Sharon, take your chips,” Goerge Bush said, pushing some of the pot in her direction.
Glancing over she responded, “I’m good. I don’t want to buy back in.” After some silent stares and riffling cards, it became apparent that she had won with her last hand. “Fu… un,” only a few steps behind she tried to pivot by asking, “So fun, why don’t you take over for me, Rob?”
Rob asked confused by the sudden shift as she pushed her chips over to him, “Are you-”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen my friends much yet,” she answered while pushing in her chair as Rob began looking over his hand and a fresh pile of chips.
Back in the corner her friends still chatted about Dnd and now that she was back, they began talking about starting a new campaign. She nodded along but was distracted. As she texted Megan the details of her recent lie with hopes that Megan could handle the implications better than her, she peered around to see Rob still engaged with the game.
“So have we decided on-” She was about to ask when she received a text from Megan becoming Sharon back once again.
The group seemed mildly concerned, leaving one to answer her, “Uhm… I think we decided on next Tuesday.”
“Shit,” Sharon threw her head away from the view of her phone.
“Well I think Cally is going to be DM this time, so it should be interesting,” he tried to reassure her.
Sharon put her phone away and tried to locate the person talking to her and replied, “Oh ya Cally usually has some fun dungeon puzzles. So I gotta go pick… up some more ice, so uhm, ya tuesday should be fine.”
Instead of heading to the door, she snuck off to the bedroom to see Megan but found a note on the bed. Instead the front page had indistinguishable handwriting while the back had a small winky face in the bottom corner. She thought Megan was still trying to outsmart her, so she continued with her previous plan by dropping her pair of boxers to her feet. After tucking them half way under the bed, Sharon folded the note and exchanged it for a pair of Megan’s underwear. The Tape was still there tucked away in the back of the drawer. Sharon continued her search for Megan, and a few steps from the porch her search ended as Megan wrapped her arms around her. For as much as Megan was always one step ahead, Sharon was usually not far behind.
“Hey, Raphael,” Megan whispered to her ear.
While enjoying the moment, Sharon broke the silence with an inevitable question, “So are we going to the store now?”
“Did you not see the note?” She asked, resting her head on Sharon’s Shoulder.
“Next time try using hieroglyphics,” Sharon joked, spinning around to see Megan with her hand over her mouth holding back laughter, “I did get the one thing on the back through.”
Dragging her by the hand down the street, Megan told her with a glance, “We can get to that after we pick up some snacks.”
Megan continued to rest her head against Sharon’s shoulder as Sharon drove them to the grocery store. After pulling into the parking lot, they finally took off their masks. The store seemed disinterested in fixing any of its street lamps which illuminated the parking lot with splotches of yellow. This was the store that Megan picked so Sharon decided to trust her as yet again Megan led her on an adventure.
“Hey, do you remember cereal with the frog?” Sharon asked, already distracted two isles into the store.
Megan responded from the end of the aisle looking back at her, “It was like dig dug or something.”
“No, but do you remember what the actual cereal looked like or tasted?” Sharon amended her previous question. She picked up a few boxes reminiscing while Megan ran off to get snacks. “Were they the sugary gold nugget type,” she said unaware that she was left behind, “Funyuns!” Finally looking up from her boxes of cereal, she noticed Megan walking back with a few bags of chips.
Rolling her eyes, Megan asked, “Did Rob ask for Funyuns again?”
“Is that a problem-” Sharon tried to ask before Megan’s face told her to move on, “Maybe our next party should be like a cereal party where people try out all the cereal from their childhood. Cereal could be like the cover charge.”
While Megan checked out, she replied, “We haven’t had a cover charge since college.”
“We also haven’t thrown a good halloween party since the first year of college,” Sharon added as she bagged her boxes of cereal.
Megan added, “Well the second and third year parties weren’t as good but they were still pretty memorable.”
When they passed under the next streetlight, Megan couldn’t help but notice Sharon looked away. On the ride home the cab was filled with a much different silence than before. Megan held her hand for whenever she could as if she could distract Sharon with the constant attention.
“Just park in the alley,” Megan said quietly, unsure of Sharon’s thoughts.
Staring at the road, Sharon responded in turn, “Oh right, the sale is over now, duh.”
The alleyway had become narrow because piles of unwanted junk lined the one lane road. Parking just past the garage, Megan got out to open the garage so Sharon could reverse in. As she did, the garage seemed to have an odd glow. After getting out of her truck, she found Megan sprawled out on that futon shown only by the light of a few candles. Megan’s gambit paid off as Sharon looked her over with a wide grin.
Stepping out of the Truck, they locked eyes with an exchange of cheerful grins. Megan snorted at such a blatant act and Sharon responded, “I haven’t made you laugh that hard in some time. It’s almost like you were hiding it from me.”
“I have-” Megan tried to explain herself before Sharon Bent over to stop her with a kiss.
Straddling her now on the futon, Sharon panicked, “How long do you think we have?”
“As long as we want,” Megan dragged as the garage door closed.
The glow across their faces shifted from the silver moon light to a dull flickering yellow. Sharon looked for the light spots on the edges of Megan’s dark brown eyes. Lowering her head for a kiss, Megan wrapped her arms around Sharon and pulled her in.
Only a few minutes later, they were interrupted by the buzzing of Megan’s phone against the concrete floor. Sharon rolled over so that Megan could reach it. The small futon limited her view to that of Megan looking over the recent text.
After letting out a sigh, Megan informed Sharon, “Rob is wondering about the snacks.”
“Do we have to go back?” Sharon insisted, wondering if this was really going to stop them.
It did as Megan sat up and hunched over, reassuring her, “Maybe we can pick this up afterwards.”
They put their masks on, grabbed the snacks, and headed back to the house. Each friend group was still split across the house with Rob still playing poker. Megan and Rob chatted for a bit but went back to talking to their own friends after a few minutes. Sharon’s friends continued to plan their next session and all she knew was that she needed to make a new character by Tuesday. Rob’s friends left first which put a damper on their plan to continue their session in the garage.
Eventually the party dwindled until it was just the three of them. Since it was Sharon’s and Megan’s party, Rob went to the bedroom to lie down when they began cleaning. Their friends weren’t the craziest partiers anymore but Megan always wanted to be thorough so every surface had to be wiped down.
Putting the snacks away, Sharron asked, “So did he ask about the Funyuns?”
“No, but he did seem to be disappointed when he saw the chips we brought back,” Megan recalled while wrapping up the vacuum power cord.
Sharon watched Megan slide the vacuum seamlessly into the closet, remarking, “Weird maybe we should have gotten some.”
“Hey, you took that note with you, you know where it is right?” Megan asked quietly as she approached her.
She remembered leaving that in the cab but her heart sank, picturing the incriminating boxers left behind so she softly answered, “Ya, it’s in the cab of my truck.” Holding Sharon’s hands Megan stared back at her until she asked, “So our next party is going to be a cereal party right?”
“Of course,” Megan giggled as she swung their arms, “You can get going whenever, it’s clean enough.”
“Alright pal, I’ll see you later,” Sharon assured Megan.
As soon as she reached the garage she remembered that her copy of Monster Squad was still in their basement so she went back. She left her shoes at the back door and by the time she reached the stairs she could start to hear the two in their bedroom. She continued and grabbed the tape but on the way back up she stopped.
Their voices grew louder than she expected until she began to recognize some words. Step by step she crept up the stairs until she could hear the word boxers and continued to hear it. Walking past the hallway, “Raphael” was shouted by Rob, then “Sharon?” was shouted by Megan, and Finally “hidden tape” by Rob. The pieces came across blurry but they still clearly told her to leave, now.
Opening the garage door left her sniffling as she saw the candles fading. She opened the garage door and stood there deciding whether to blow them out. The silver light dulled the yellow flicker as she panicked about her standing after the stunt she pulled. Like a ghost Ty stood in the doorway wondering what to say.
“Hey, what’s with the candles?” Ty asked, startling her with his presence.
Her internal questions halted leaving her to ask, “Why are you here?”
Scratching the top of his head, Ty bluntly answered, “I live just down the block.”
“The one that-” She asked.
“Ya that house we walked through last year.” Ty answered before she could finish asking because he wanted to move on.
Sharon asked after what seemed like a full minute, “But what are you doing here?” Pointing down.
“I wanted to see what people were throwing out this year,” Ty explained looking over to the couch and then asked, “Is that my old futon?”
She tilted her head back to think and replied back, “Ya I think it is.”
“What’s with the candles, was that Rob and-” Ty asked, noticing Sharon tucking her hair behind her ear, “You and?”
She stared at the concrete floor, maybe she could admit it to the division between slabs, maybe it wouldn’t judge her like she has. The only words she could muster to the floor were, “I… Uhm-”
“Come on, it's been what like 8 months,” Ty insisted, astonished by her shattered composer.
Sharon again tried to confess to at least the floor, “It was with Megan.”
Stepping over the divide in the floor Ty asked, “You were sleeping with Megan?”
“Yes,” She whimpered, looking up to him finally.
Ty asked softly, seeing a tear roll down her cheek as she sniffed, “Why are you crying? Is everything okay?”
Wiping a tear from her face she answered, “Long term, ya I’m always alright. Short term, I guess there are a few things I regret.”
“Does Rob know?” Ty asked bluntly, trying to cut into it. Sharon nodded so Ty continued, “How long?”
Sharon asked “How long has he know or-”
“Both if that’s not too much,” Ty replied while keeping a few guesses at the front of his mind.
Sharon sat down on the futon and wiped her palms against her forehead. Sharon responded, “Well, for what I know Rob just found out now… and well it’s been a year since I… “
“Oh,” Ty sighed while looking away.
He began walking towards the alley and Sharon panicked and said, “No, I’m sorry just wait a second.”
“So it was because you couldn’t see us together in the future,” Ty implied, standing under the garage door.
Sharon thought that the truth would easily flow once it started but she couldn’t bring herself to explain her transgressions. “Well I mean that was sorta true but uhm… I just only saw a future with Megan.”
“How has that future been?” Ty quipped back like he had always known.
Her assertion crumbled as Sharon began to whimper, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” wiping another stream of tears from her cheek, “I should h… have told you but… I wanted to wait for Megan to tell Rob and she… never did.”
“Megan never-” Ty tried to ask.
“I wanted to tell you but the guilt just kept weighing on me until it just,” Sharon continued trying her best to explain, “But now I’ve just set up Megan, like that’s just as bad and I’m just left wondering why I was willing to do anything for her.”
Sitting next to her with his arm held around her, he tried to calm her by saying, “It’s okay.”
“How could it possibly be okay, I’ve disrespected her and… you,” Sharon snapped at Ty and herself.
Ty wanted to dig deeper but instead continued to comfort her as she sobbed on the futon. After a few minutes she wiped her cheek for a final time and Ty began to get up.
“Hey, do you want your futon back?” Sharon half joked as she looked up at him.
After a quick look over it, Ty replied, “Uhm… Ya I guess I still need a couch.”
The futon was loaded into the back of her truck with little effort. Sharon parked the truck just outside the garage, blew out the candles, and closed the garage door. Since it was so late when they arrived, Ty had the futon set in the garage.
“Do you want to get coffee sometime?” Sharon asked as she walked back to her truck.
Ty smiled and said, “Sure.”
“I’ll give you an update on how my future is then,” She promised with him smiling back.
Megan had yet to tell Rob about her continuing affair with Sharon. At first she understood her reasoning. They had built a life together, were homeowners, and shared the same friends. This still weighed on her since she ended her relationship with Ty because she didn’t want to hurt him and they had only been together for around a year. She never told him what happened to respect Megan’s decisions and grew to resent it.
The party started at dusk and Sharon wanted to arrive early but lost track of time looking for her mask at the party store but ended up making it from a red cloth she had laying around her apartment. By the time she reached the house most of the guests were also arriving fashionably late. Everyone followed the dress code well enough with masks that only covered their face. There were some Jason masks, some political masks, and a lot of nerdy masks. Most if not all were with a significant other except for one person with a Darth Vader mask. She stared at him until he disappeared into the crowd as they entered through the front door.
Glancing across the room, She began to recognize people based on their groups. In the kitchen were Megan’s friends from the hospital who to her dismay were more like Grey’s Anatomy than Scrubs. In the dining room were Rob’s friends acting like they were in Animal house instead of their usual Seth Rogen from Neighbors ecstatic. In the living room off in the corner were her friends who could pass for any character in Scott Pilgrim. She went over to chat with them about their masks and overheard them talking about DnD.
Already feeling more comfortable in the corner with them, she asked, “Hey, do you guys know who the guy in the Vader mask is?”
“We could have used last year's costumes?” The one in with a batman mask asked while the others continued their DnD talk.
Frustrated with their answer, “I mean I guess you could have,” Sharon replied, “but what about the guy in the Vader mask?”
“I haven’t seen that person,” he answered awkwardly, unsure of the question.
Simply looking over the group, Sharon asked, “Guys?” but they simply just shook their heads one by one and went back to their discussion.
Frustrated, she looked around again to see if she could catch him in a passing glance, but before she viewed the rest of the room, she found Megan with her werewolf mask. She also seemed to be scanning the room, but she found what she was looking for and headed over. Sharon watched Megan slowly walk over, and she questioned nervously herself about Megan’s current attitude. The slow saunter could be her way of sarcastically commenting on Sharon’s constant complaint or it could just be the pace she wanted to walk.
“Finally, you decided to show up,” Megan welcomed her as she stood off to the side of her friend group.
Sharon tried to defend herself, “Well… It took awhile to find my mask.”
She paused to remember her day so far, but Megan interrupted her thought, “It doesn’t matter, I’m just glad to see you,” giving her a hug.
“Hey, I’m sorry about being so confrontational last night,” Sharon apologized and then paused again as she realized that she had nothing else planned to say.
Knowing that she had not planned this far ahead, Megan countered, “No it’s okay, I know I need to do it at some point.” Megan watched Sharon awkwardly look away, so she leaned over and whispered, “You come back to my room anytime ninja turtle.”
“I will when you know which one I am,” she whispered back to play along with Her distraction.
Agreeing to the terms, Megan began her rounds of the party leaving Sharon with, “I’ll be back, “ and a smile that peeked from underneath her mask.
A few minutes after Megan left, Sharon also decided to talk to a few other groups since her friends would let her know if anything came up. She wandered over to Rob’s friends in the kitchen who had begun a game of poker seemingly unaware of what party they were at. As she sat down they dealt her into the game before she could say anything. She played her hands conservatively so there wouldn’t be an excuse to leave. Compared to most of Megan’s friends, Sharon actually enjoyed talking with this group. They kept up with the same shows and weren’t as concerned with tax rates or insurance.
Finally she asked after folding, “Hey, have any of you guys seen the person with the Vader mask?”
“Isn’t Greg wearing one?” the man with the George Bush Jr. mask asked the group as he folded.
The man wearing a gas mask next to him elbowed and corrected him, “Dude, that’s a stormtrooper mask.”
“Well he definitely can’t find weapons of mass destruction,” joked the man with the Iron man mask.
As the group largely ignored the joke, the one with the gas mask answered, “I don’t think we’ve him, sorry.”
“Did no one get it?” Iron man asked, setting his hand face down.
“We got it,” Sharon said starkly, throwing a chip into the middle to raise, “but do you guys know when Rob is coming back?”
Looking at his watch, Bush answered, “Should be in like fifteen, he said around 9pm.”
“Thanks,” Sharon said, revealing her hand. “Damn, I thought two pairs was good enough,” She exclaimed as the man in a gas mask raked in the pile of chips.
As her chips ran out, she saw a text from Megan telling her to look around and in no time she found Megan’s bedroom door cracked open at the end of the hallway. Unfortunately for Megan, she wanted to wait for Rob to get home first. She continued to play conservatively for the next ten minutes, still chatting with Rob’s friends. Down to her last two chips she finally saw Rob with his Phantom of the Opera mask walk around the table, and put his chips into the pot.
“Have you seen Megan?” Rob asked, sitting across the table.
“I think she went out to get more… chips,” She lied but she was never good at lying remembering the kitchen counter still full of snacks.
Rob settled in for a second before he replied, “Thanks, I hope she brings back some Funyuns.” Then again she thought to herself about how she only got caught lying around Megan and then Ty.
“Hey Sharon, take your chips,” Goerge Bush said, pushing some of the pot in her direction.
Glancing over she responded, “I’m good. I don’t want to buy back in.” After some silent stares and riffling cards, it became apparent that she had won with her last hand. “Fu… un,” only a few steps behind she tried to pivot by asking, “So fun, why don’t you take over for me, Rob?”
Rob asked confused by the sudden shift as she pushed her chips over to him, “Are you-”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen my friends much yet,” she answered while pushing in her chair as Rob began looking over his hand and a fresh pile of chips.
Back in the corner her friends still chatted about Dnd and now that she was back, they began talking about starting a new campaign. She nodded along but was distracted. As she texted Megan the details of her recent lie with hopes that Megan could handle the implications better than her, she peered around to see Rob still engaged with the game.
“So have we decided on-” She was about to ask when she received a text from Megan becoming Sharon back once again.
The group seemed mildly concerned, leaving one to answer her, “Uhm… I think we decided on next Tuesday.”
“Shit,” Sharon threw her head away from the view of her phone.
“Well I think Cally is going to be DM this time, so it should be interesting,” he tried to reassure her.
Sharon put her phone away and tried to locate the person talking to her and replied, “Oh ya Cally usually has some fun dungeon puzzles. So I gotta go pick… up some more ice, so uhm, ya tuesday should be fine.”
Instead of heading to the door, she snuck off to the bedroom to see Megan but found a note on the bed. Instead the front page had indistinguishable handwriting while the back had a small winky face in the bottom corner. She thought Megan was still trying to outsmart her, so she continued with her previous plan by dropping her pair of boxers to her feet. After tucking them half way under the bed, Sharon folded the note and exchanged it for a pair of Megan’s underwear. The Tape was still there tucked away in the back of the drawer. Sharon continued her search for Megan, and a few steps from the porch her search ended as Megan wrapped her arms around her. For as much as Megan was always one step ahead, Sharon was usually not far behind.
“Hey, Raphael,” Megan whispered to her ear.
While enjoying the moment, Sharon broke the silence with an inevitable question, “So are we going to the store now?”
“Did you not see the note?” She asked, resting her head on Sharon’s Shoulder.
“Next time try using hieroglyphics,” Sharon joked, spinning around to see Megan with her hand over her mouth holding back laughter, “I did get the one thing on the back through.”
Dragging her by the hand down the street, Megan told her with a glance, “We can get to that after we pick up some snacks.”
Megan continued to rest her head against Sharon’s shoulder as Sharon drove them to the grocery store. After pulling into the parking lot, they finally took off their masks. The store seemed disinterested in fixing any of its street lamps which illuminated the parking lot with splotches of yellow. This was the store that Megan picked so Sharon decided to trust her as yet again Megan led her on an adventure.
“Hey, do you remember cereal with the frog?” Sharon asked, already distracted two isles into the store.
Megan responded from the end of the aisle looking back at her, “It was like dig dug or something.”
“No, but do you remember what the actual cereal looked like or tasted?” Sharon amended her previous question. She picked up a few boxes reminiscing while Megan ran off to get snacks. “Were they the sugary gold nugget type,” she said unaware that she was left behind, “Funyuns!” Finally looking up from her boxes of cereal, she noticed Megan walking back with a few bags of chips.
Rolling her eyes, Megan asked, “Did Rob ask for Funyuns again?”
“Is that a problem-” Sharon tried to ask before Megan’s face told her to move on, “Maybe our next party should be like a cereal party where people try out all the cereal from their childhood. Cereal could be like the cover charge.”
While Megan checked out, she replied, “We haven’t had a cover charge since college.”
“We also haven’t thrown a good halloween party since the first year of college,” Sharon added as she bagged her boxes of cereal.
Megan added, “Well the second and third year parties weren’t as good but they were still pretty memorable.”
When they passed under the next streetlight, Megan couldn’t help but notice Sharon looked away. On the ride home the cab was filled with a much different silence than before. Megan held her hand for whenever she could as if she could distract Sharon with the constant attention.
“Just park in the alley,” Megan said quietly, unsure of Sharon’s thoughts.
Staring at the road, Sharon responded in turn, “Oh right, the sale is over now, duh.”
The alleyway had become narrow because piles of unwanted junk lined the one lane road. Parking just past the garage, Megan got out to open the garage so Sharon could reverse in. As she did, the garage seemed to have an odd glow. After getting out of her truck, she found Megan sprawled out on that futon shown only by the light of a few candles. Megan’s gambit paid off as Sharon looked her over with a wide grin.
Stepping out of the Truck, they locked eyes with an exchange of cheerful grins. Megan snorted at such a blatant act and Sharon responded, “I haven’t made you laugh that hard in some time. It’s almost like you were hiding it from me.”
“I have-” Megan tried to explain herself before Sharon Bent over to stop her with a kiss.
Straddling her now on the futon, Sharon panicked, “How long do you think we have?”
“As long as we want,” Megan dragged as the garage door closed.
The glow across their faces shifted from the silver moon light to a dull flickering yellow. Sharon looked for the light spots on the edges of Megan’s dark brown eyes. Lowering her head for a kiss, Megan wrapped her arms around Sharon and pulled her in.
Only a few minutes later, they were interrupted by the buzzing of Megan’s phone against the concrete floor. Sharon rolled over so that Megan could reach it. The small futon limited her view to that of Megan looking over the recent text.
After letting out a sigh, Megan informed Sharon, “Rob is wondering about the snacks.”
“Do we have to go back?” Sharon insisted, wondering if this was really going to stop them.
It did as Megan sat up and hunched over, reassuring her, “Maybe we can pick this up afterwards.”
They put their masks on, grabbed the snacks, and headed back to the house. Each friend group was still split across the house with Rob still playing poker. Megan and Rob chatted for a bit but went back to talking to their own friends after a few minutes. Sharon’s friends continued to plan their next session and all she knew was that she needed to make a new character by Tuesday. Rob’s friends left first which put a damper on their plan to continue their session in the garage.
Eventually the party dwindled until it was just the three of them. Since it was Sharon’s and Megan’s party, Rob went to the bedroom to lie down when they began cleaning. Their friends weren’t the craziest partiers anymore but Megan always wanted to be thorough so every surface had to be wiped down.
Putting the snacks away, Sharron asked, “So did he ask about the Funyuns?”
“No, but he did seem to be disappointed when he saw the chips we brought back,” Megan recalled while wrapping up the vacuum power cord.
Sharon watched Megan slide the vacuum seamlessly into the closet, remarking, “Weird maybe we should have gotten some.”
“Hey, you took that note with you, you know where it is right?” Megan asked quietly as she approached her.
She remembered leaving that in the cab but her heart sank, picturing the incriminating boxers left behind so she softly answered, “Ya, it’s in the cab of my truck.” Holding Sharon’s hands Megan stared back at her until she asked, “So our next party is going to be a cereal party right?”
“Of course,” Megan giggled as she swung their arms, “You can get going whenever, it’s clean enough.”
“Alright pal, I’ll see you later,” Sharon assured Megan.
As soon as she reached the garage she remembered that her copy of Monster Squad was still in their basement so she went back. She left her shoes at the back door and by the time she reached the stairs she could start to hear the two in their bedroom. She continued and grabbed the tape but on the way back up she stopped.
Their voices grew louder than she expected until she began to recognize some words. Step by step she crept up the stairs until she could hear the word boxers and continued to hear it. Walking past the hallway, “Raphael” was shouted by Rob, then “Sharon?” was shouted by Megan, and Finally “hidden tape” by Rob. The pieces came across blurry but they still clearly told her to leave, now.
Opening the garage door left her sniffling as she saw the candles fading. She opened the garage door and stood there deciding whether to blow them out. The silver light dulled the yellow flicker as she panicked about her standing after the stunt she pulled. Like a ghost Ty stood in the doorway wondering what to say.
“Hey, what’s with the candles?” Ty asked, startling her with his presence.
Her internal questions halted leaving her to ask, “Why are you here?”
Scratching the top of his head, Ty bluntly answered, “I live just down the block.”
“The one that-” She asked.
“Ya that house we walked through last year.” Ty answered before she could finish asking because he wanted to move on.
Sharon asked after what seemed like a full minute, “But what are you doing here?” Pointing down.
“I wanted to see what people were throwing out this year,” Ty explained looking over to the couch and then asked, “Is that my old futon?”
She tilted her head back to think and replied back, “Ya I think it is.”
“What’s with the candles, was that Rob and-” Ty asked, noticing Sharon tucking her hair behind her ear, “You and?”
She stared at the concrete floor, maybe she could admit it to the division between slabs, maybe it wouldn’t judge her like she has. The only words she could muster to the floor were, “I… Uhm-”
“Come on, it's been what like 8 months,” Ty insisted, astonished by her shattered composer.
Sharon again tried to confess to at least the floor, “It was with Megan.”
Stepping over the divide in the floor Ty asked, “You were sleeping with Megan?”
“Yes,” She whimpered, looking up to him finally.
Ty asked softly, seeing a tear roll down her cheek as she sniffed, “Why are you crying? Is everything okay?”
Wiping a tear from her face she answered, “Long term, ya I’m always alright. Short term, I guess there are a few things I regret.”
“Does Rob know?” Ty asked bluntly, trying to cut into it. Sharon nodded so Ty continued, “How long?”
Sharon asked “How long has he know or-”
“Both if that’s not too much,” Ty replied while keeping a few guesses at the front of his mind.
Sharon sat down on the futon and wiped her palms against her forehead. Sharon responded, “Well, for what I know Rob just found out now… and well it’s been a year since I… “
“Oh,” Ty sighed while looking away.
He began walking towards the alley and Sharon panicked and said, “No, I’m sorry just wait a second.”
“So it was because you couldn’t see us together in the future,” Ty implied, standing under the garage door.
Sharon thought that the truth would easily flow once it started but she couldn’t bring herself to explain her transgressions. “Well I mean that was sorta true but uhm… I just only saw a future with Megan.”
“How has that future been?” Ty quipped back like he had always known.
Her assertion crumbled as Sharon began to whimper, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” wiping another stream of tears from her cheek, “I should h… have told you but… I wanted to wait for Megan to tell Rob and she… never did.”
“Megan never-” Ty tried to ask.
“I wanted to tell you but the guilt just kept weighing on me until it just,” Sharon continued trying her best to explain, “But now I’ve just set up Megan, like that’s just as bad and I’m just left wondering why I was willing to do anything for her.”
Sitting next to her with his arm held around her, he tried to calm her by saying, “It’s okay.”
“How could it possibly be okay, I’ve disrespected her and… you,” Sharon snapped at Ty and herself.
Ty wanted to dig deeper but instead continued to comfort her as she sobbed on the futon. After a few minutes she wiped her cheek for a final time and Ty began to get up.
“Hey, do you want your futon back?” Sharon half joked as she looked up at him.
After a quick look over it, Ty replied, “Uhm… Ya I guess I still need a couch.”
The futon was loaded into the back of her truck with little effort. Sharon parked the truck just outside the garage, blew out the candles, and closed the garage door. Since it was so late when they arrived, Ty had the futon set in the garage.
“Do you want to get coffee sometime?” Sharon asked as she walked back to her truck.
Ty smiled and said, “Sure.”
“I’ll give you an update on how my future is then,” She promised with him smiling back.