Because of a Song

“This is the pink Power Ranger costume?” I looked down at my costume. Instead of looking like a Power Ranger, I looked more like a pink Teletubby. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was a pink Teletubby. I wasn’t sure, but I was pretty sure that there wasn’t a pink Teletubby, so it didn’t make sense to me why they’d make a pink Teletubby costume. All I could remember was the little short, red one that everyone thought was gay. Ro or Mo or Go or something like that.

Either way, I looked stupid.

“Calm down,” Stephen said. He gestured to my costume. “The guy at the store must have misunderstood.”

“Obviously,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “What are we going to do? I can’t go out like this!”

Stephen sighed. “I’ll call up Angela and tell her to come over and bring one of her sister’s costumes.”

I looked at Stephen. “Who’s Angela and how old is her sister?”

Stephen looked up from his cell phone. “Angela happens to be a very big fan of yours, and, of mine. Her sister is a year younger than her, so that would make her...eighteen.”

“YOU HAVE THE NUMBER OF A NINETEEN YEAR OLD?!” I screamed. “FOR GOSH SAKES, STEPHEN! YOU’RE 15!”

“SHE’S A FAN OF YOU, LAUREN! Now calm--down.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine, whatever,” I said. “Send her over, and tell her not to bring anything slutty or I’ll have to smack her ass all the way back to the place she was born.”

“She’s not like that, Lauren. She likes to wear jeans.”

“Mhmm. That’s what she wants you to think. She actually wears thongs and gives guys lap dances.”

Dan, one of Stephen’s good friends, cracked up laughing. “Good one, Lauren,” he told me.

“Thanks.” I smiled at him, which made him blush. When he looked away quickly, I rolled my eyes and smiled to myself. I’d known Dan for many years, and I’d always known that he thought I was, quote, ‘hotter than the sun’, as Stephen told me. He was a sweet guy, but a little too young for me. I had a feeling tonight was going to be eventful, and so I decided to cut it short. “Can I..talk to you for a minute, Dan?” I gestured towards the door to the next room. I saw his face light up, and I felt bad for what I was about to do, but I knew it had to be done for all of us to have a fun night. As we walked out of the room, I turned back to Stephen and his friends. “Now don’t come to the door with glasses and try to eavesdrop, okay?” They all nodded their heads and went back to talking about who knows what.

When Dan and I were safely in the next room with the door fully shut, I said, without wasting a second, “Look, I know you have a slight crush on me, and--”

“I DO NOT!” Dan said, all the while blushing like crazy.

“Dan, I know. You think I’m ‘hotter than the sun’,” I said, putting air quotes around the words ‘hotter than the sun’.”

“DAMNIT! HE PROMISED NOT TO TELL YOU THAT!”

I let out a small laugh. “Dan, it’s okay. Don’t be mad at him; it actually turned out great.” I saw his face start to light up, and I immediately started talking again, not wanting him to get the wrong impression. “No, Dan. I just meant that--that it’s for the best because now I know, and it’s out there, and I can tell you that it’s not ever going to work out. And now you can forget all about it and move on. Because, honestly, you’re a great guy, but I don’t like you in that way, and I don’t want you to go on thinking that this could turn into something other than me being your best friend’s sister, because, well, it never will. And I’m sorry, but...I don’t want to you try and hold onto me when there’s no chance of anything happening.”

“Oh,” Dan said. “I see.” He looked down at the ground, seemingly dejected.

“I’m really sorry, Dan. You’re a great guy, and I know you’ll find someone some day, but--that girl’s not me.”

“Nah,” he said, waving the subject off with his hand. “It’s totally okay. I kind of suspected that anyway. I just want you to know...I felt this way before all of the fame. Never forget that.”

I smiled up at Dan. For a 15 year old, he was quite tall. Or maybe I was short for an 18 year old. Either way, I had to crane my neck to look up at him. “You’re a good guy, you know that?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, so I’ve heard.” He turned around and started walking towards the door.

“Wait,” I said. He stopped and turned around to look at me. “You’re a good friend to Stephen, and I just want to say thank you. He‘s my little brother and even though we fight sometimes, okay, a lot, I still love him, and I’m glad he has friends like you who can keep him on the right path, especially now that this ‘Angela’ chick is coming over, and--”

Dan laughed. “It’s okay, Lauren. I understand.” He smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

---

“I’m here!” a female voice declared before barging through the door to the basement, where we all were sitting, talking to each other. I looked up and gasped. It was none other than Macy McAdams, in all her shining glory. Just as I figured, she had to dress to impress, same as always. She had on a slinky green dress and held a wand in her hand. There were plastic wings taped to her back, and her blonde hair was up in a bun.

“Angela!” my brother announced.

“Hey cutie!” I glared at her. She looked at me. “What’s wrong, Lauren? Surprised to see me?”

“Actually yes,” I said. “What I’m not surprised to see is that slutty outfit you have on. It was always like you to try and outdo everyone. Too bad the only thing you’ll be getting tonight is weird looks from the people handing out candy. Aren’t you a little, I don’t know, old to be going trick-or-treating?”

Macy just scoffed. “And what are you supposed to be? That pink dog from Blues Clues? Newsflash, Lauren, we’re not five anymore!”

I glared at her.

Stephen looked back and forth at us. “Woah, woah, woah,” he said. “You guys know each other?”

“More than I’d like to,” I muttered.

“Anyway,” Macy said, “here’s your outfit. Obviously you need it.” She looked me up and down and smirked. I glared at her and grabbed the outfit. I walked into the bathroom and slid off my clothes, then put on the outfit, glad it wasn’t anything remotely close to what Macy was wearing. It looked to be a basketball uniform. After smelling the outfit and seeing the colors on it, our high school colors, I realized that this must be Macy’s sister Mary’s basketball uniform. Just great, I thought. Now I’m going to smell all night long.

A few minutes later I walked back out of the bathroom and into the recreation room in the basement. Macy looked at me skeptically. “Aren’t you going to wear the outfit I gave you?”

I smiled. “Nope, I think I’ll stick with this one. At least it doesn’t smell.” I handed Macy the outfit and she grabbed it from me. I could see the anger in her face; it only made me smile bigger.

“Okay, I’m ready!” Stephen walked into the room. I hadn’t even noticed he was gone. But I didn’t care; what I cared about was what he was wearing. He was no longer in his green Power Ranger’s outfit, seeing as he traded for it with Roger. Granted, he was still technically wearing the outfit, but he had cut it up to look like some kind of--I don’t even know how to describe it.

“You do know we rented these costumes, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll pay for it, whatever. But what do you guys think?”

“What exactly are you supposed to be?” Roger asked.

Stephen just smiled. “I’m Peter Pan, here to take my beautiful Wendy trick-or-treating.”

I felt an odd sensation come over me. Macy’s outfit. She’s Wendy. She’s... “SHE’S GOING WITH US?!”

“That’s right,” Macy said, smirking. “You wouldn’t give me Joe’s number, so now I’m taking advantage of your precious little brother. I bet he knows his number.”

It felt like defeat was nearing. Or maybe it had already happened, right then, in that moment. Either way, I was royally screwed.