Let's Be Unpredictable

I applauded theatrically as the boys finished practicing one of their songs. I’d been watching them play through the majority of their catalogue for the last hour and I was starting to go a little crazy. They were amazing but there’s only so many times you can hear the same songs played in a loop before it starts to get to you.

“Hey are you guys doing anything for Halloween?” Calum asked unplugging his bass from the amp.

“I promised I’d take my cousin because she didn’t want to go with my Aunty. She said I was way cooler.” I laughed remembering the incident. “Would anyone care to join me?”

Despite the fact that Halloween was an American tradition and most Australian’s didn’t bother to celebrate it, my neighbourhood got pretty into it. Mostly for the young kids but it was a good night no matter how old you were.

“I’ll come with.” Ashton piped up from behind the drum kit. “Should be fun.”

I smiled over at my best friend, I knew as soon as I pitched the idea he’d be up for it. In fact I’d kind of counted on it (my Aunt had been sort of hesitant to let me go alone with my cousin just in case anything bad happened, so I’d already told her Ashton would be there).

“I was planning on going out anyway. We could all go together?” Luke suggested coming to sit down on the couch with me.

Michael nodded and said, “I’m in as long as we don’t have to wear matching costumes.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Calum laughed. It was amazing how fast the five of us could organise things sometimes. “You guys know what you’re dressing up as yet?”

By now we were all on the couch in some capacity. Luke, Calum and I were sitting like normal people. Ashton was perched on the arm beside me. Michael however had decided that he was going to lie across the three of us which made conversation somewhat strained.

“I was thinking of going as a zombie.” Michael told us all. I laughed because that was so typically Michael (and also he’d been going as a zombie for Halloween ever since I’d met him).

“I’ve wanted an excuse to dress up as Darth Vader for ages, so I think I’ll do that.” Calum put in while trying to push Michael off.

Luke shrugged. “I was gonna do Superman, it’s a classic.”

“I’ve actually got no idea.” I said turning to look at Ashton; his expression told me he was having a similar issue to me.

“We’ve only got four days.” Ashton yelled dramatically. “What are we gonna do?”

Suddenly Michael jumped up. “I’ve got it.”

We all looked at him like he’d grown a second head. I was actually wondering how he’d managed to get up so easily considering he had been lying on us.

“Come on then, what is it?” I probed.

“You’ve still got your Pikachu onesie right?” He asked and I nodded. “Perfect. Elliot, you can go as Pikachu and Ash you can go as, well Ash, from Pokémon.”

I shrugged and looked to Ashton he seemed to like the idea and it made things heaps easier for me.

“Looks like we’re doing a Pokémon theme then.” He told me with a smile, bumping his elbow against my shoulder.

“Looks like we are.” I laughed.

We had all agreed that it was best to meet at my house on the night as I was the one with the cousin.

Allie had gotten to my house extra early because she wanted us to get ready together (and by that she wanted me to do her hair and put on a little bit of makeup for her). She’d decided that she wanted to be a princess, and I might have judged the lack of originality if she wasn’t seven years old.

The first part of the afternoon was spent watching a movie because there was really no point in getting her dressed up because she would have ruined it by the time it was actually time to go. Whereas Allie was totally engrossed in the movie, I spent most of the time texting Ash because Tinker Bell movies were some of my least favourite things.

When that finished, she practically dragged me into my own room so we could begin to get ready. I started by curling her long hair into near perfect ringlets which was a mission and a half considering she couldn’t stay still for more than a few minutes at a time. By the time that was completed, I’d almost burned myself nearly twenty times. I put in some glitter hairspray to hold it in place and then put on her tiara.

I turned around and shut my eyes, as per Allie’s request while she put on her dress (which was ultimately pointless as she put both her arms through the hole intended for her head and neck and I had to put it back on again and do it up for her anyway).

For a seven year old, she was way too interested in makeup. She picked out a lip-gloss and eye shadow in the exact same shade of pink which both went very well with her purple dress surprisingly.

She let out the cutest giggle when I dusted her face with a glitter puff.

“It tickles Ellie.” She’d told me in her high pitched voice.

I walked her over to the mirror on the back of my door. “What do you think Al?”

“I’m gonna be the prettiest princess in the whole street. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” The way her face lit up made the whole ordeal worth it. She grabbed onto my legs and squeezed, almost tripping me over.

I heard the doorbell ring out. “Let’s go see who’s at the door.”

She slipped her small hand into mine and we went to answer front door. I rolled my eyes at both my Mum and my Aunt who were both still sitting at the kitchen table, having made no move to greet whoever was at the door.

I pulled the door back to reveal Ashton who was already in costume. I smiled, looking him up and down. Considering he had to rush to put together the outfit he’d done a pretty good job. He even used coloured hairspray to make his hair black just like the character.

He stepped in the door, giving me a quick, one armed hug before he crouched down to the same height as Allie.

“Who is this beautiful princess?” He asked her shooting me a wink.

Allie laughed and launched herself at him. “It’s me, silly.” He caught her in a hug and then picked her up and swung her around.

Ashton was virtually Allie’s favourite person in the whole world, and I couldn’t help but realise that it was a feeling that I also shared. He’d put her down now and she was twirling, showing off her dress.

“Are you able to stay with her until I get ready?” I asked over Allie’s recount of her entire afternoon, he nodded and I went back to my room.

It took me all of ten minutes to get dressed, put my hair into two pigtails and apply minimal makeup.

When I returned to the living room all the boys were there. Luke was carrying Allie and running away from Michael who was chasing after the two of them. Calum and Ashton looked on, laughing every now and then.

“Is everyone ready to go?” I inquired; I was met with excited cheers and a particularly high pitched giggle from Allie.

“Have fun guys.” Mum shouted from the kitchen as we headed out the door.

It was followed by a “Be careful, don’t be too late” from my Aunt.

Once we got outside Allie offered Ashton her right hand and me her left. We headed down the path, the other three tagging along behind us. Allie started skipping and I noticed the movement kept jerking Ashton’s arm seeing as he was taller than me and much taller than Allie. Despite it he had the biggest smile on his face and I noticed just how fond I was of the boy.

We got to our neighbours house and I knocked on the door while Ash handed Allie her pumpkin bucket.

“Trick or treat.” She all but sang once the door had opened.

“Oh my, what a lovely young princess.” The elderly woman smiled. “I’ll get you some sweets Your Highness.”

The woman reached for a bowl sat on a table beside the door. She pulled out a handful of wrapped lollies and a few small chocolate bars and dropped them into the bucket. Allie smiled and offered a “thank you” before skipping back down the driveway, pulling Ashton and myself with her.

It went along pretty much the same as that. We’d go to a house, Allie would be adorable and get some lollies and then we’d move on to the next house. I noticed about halfway down the street that Calum, Michael and Luke were also getting food (although they were only keeping about half of it and sneaking the rest into Allie’s bucket with the help of Ashton).

“Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?” Allie asked Ashton and me when we were almost finished with the other side of the street.

We were both completely caught off guard by the question. I looked over at Ashton, who wore a bemused little smile, before answering. “No, we aren’t.”

As we kept walking, she tugged on the bottom of Ashton’s vest to get his attention.

“I think you should be Ellie’s boyfriend.” She told him matter-of-factly.

His small smile had now grown into a full-blown grin which was directed at his feet. “You think so?”

She nodded and he let out a small laugh. I’d be lying if I said that I’d never thought about the idea of dating Ashton. We were so close that sometimes it was like we already were, but it had never progressed any further than just friends (which was fine because just friends with Ashton was better than nothing at all).

“We’d better start heading back, El. It’s getting pretty late.” Until Luke mentioned it, I hadn’t even realised that so much time had passed.

“Yeah, you’re right. Her Mum’s going to kill me.” I said with a laugh.

“Allie, I’ll race you back to the house.” Michael told her, giving her a little head start before following.

Running at full speed for Allie was kind of like speed walking for any of us, but Michael stayed far enough behind her to convince her she was winning while still staying close enough to catch her if she tripped and fell.

Ashton and I ended up lagging behind everyone else, after being in front the whole night it was nice to just relax a little bit and walk at a pace set by us instead of by Allie. I saw the other four disappear into my house while we were still three or so houses away.

“Hey El,” I looked to my side to see that Ashton wasn’t actually there; rather he’d stopped a few paces back. “Trick or treat?”

I backtracked until I was next to him again. “What?”

“You heard me; trick or treat?” He grinned and I narrowed my eyes, not quite sure what he was getting at.

“Trick.” I told him with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes at me. “Come on, you’re supposed to pick treat.”

“Then what was the point of giving me the option?” I teased with a laugh.

“No one picks trick, that was the point.” His laugh rang out and seemed to echo in the street.

“Fine then, treat.” I cocked an eyebrow. “What are you getting at Irwin?”

As a response he bit his lip and then took a step closer to me. I gave him a confused look and he grinned down at me.

He lifted a hand to cup my cheek and before I was fully able to comprehend exactly what was going on he leant down and kissed me.

It was short and sweet and completely unexpected. I tried to find an explanation somewhere in my head but all I could think of was the way he was running his thumb across my cheek and how his lips felt on mine.

We pulled apart and I couldn’t help but notice his content smile and the slight pink colour in his cheeks.

“So, um – what brought that on?” I was actually surprised at my ability of form a somewhat coherent sentence.

“Well, I’ve wanted to do that for a while now.” He tilted his head and looked down at me. “And Allie got me thinking; I kinda wouldn’t mind being your boyfriend.”