Another Love Another time

Chapter 3: Halloween

 Auggie: Age 11

After tons of pictures and the judging of the costumes out of the way we can finally get on the hayride. It's my favorite part. River and Logan went to get some hot cocoa. Logan's dad makes the best. He went with her and I'm saving our seats. Melissa sits down next to me, she has since changed out of her costume, I may have let it slip at school while talking to Logan knowing she was eavesdropping that River and I were coming as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. I wanted to test River's theory and guess what her and Logan showed up as? Fred and Wilma Flintstone. River and I had a good laugh, Melissa not so much especially since we won the kids costume contest. River said she wanted to be the Wilma to my Fred. Not going to happen. The prize...neon light signs that you can hang on your door or wall that say, "come in" or "go away". I know River loved hers. I can't wait to hang mine up too.

"Hey Auggie" Melissa says as she sits a little closer than I'm comfortable with.

"Hey Melissa" I try to scoot over a little bit to put some space between us. "Why did you change out of your costume?"

"It was getting cold, and my costume wasn't very warm."

"Oh yeah it is getting a little chilly" I look to see if Logan and River are coming yet not really knowing what else to say to her.

The trailer is getting fuller with some of the other party goers. I need to figure out a way to still save seats for Logan and River. I pull off my coat and go to lay it down so I can save a spot for one of them when Melissa goes to reach for it. "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Oh, I thought you were giving it to me because I said it was getting chilly."

"No, I need to save Logan and River a seat."

"Oh" she turns her face away like I hurt her feelings. I kind of feel bad. Not bad enough to apologize. I look back over to the shop door to see if I can spot River or Logan trying to let this awkward moment pass.

"Why don't you want to be my friend Auggie?" she catches me off guard.

"What? We are friends, Melissa. We hang out all the time.", I turn to face her.

"Not like you and River do."

"I see you more than I do River between school and things are families do. Besides, River is my best friend."

She scoffs at my response, "Why can't we be friends like that?"

"Look Melissa I know what happened at my birthday party. I appreciate the gift but what you did to River was not right. And then you show up tonight dressed as Wilma after you heard Logan and I talking about River and me dressing as them. You have to get along with River, she is my best friend that's the only way we will be friends the way you want to be friends."

Just then I see Logan and River heading in our direction. I turn to Melissa and notice she has backed off. "I will try to be nicer", she whispers.

"That's the thing Melissa you can't just try. I don't know why you both don't get along with one another, but she is my best friend, and I will always choose her."

With that Logan takes the seat between Melissa and me and River sits on the other side while she hands me my cup of hot chocolate.

"What took you guys so long?" I ask them both. "My dad had to make another batch" Logan answers while taking a sip. He must have gotten one for Melissa, she has a cup in her hand now. River elbows me and whispers in my ear, "What was that?" "I'll tell you later" as she narrows her eyes at me.

~~

The hayride is normally my favorite part of this weekend, but the whole ride Melissa talked the whole time directing all her questions to River. I really hope this was not her attempt at being nice. And with the direction from River's dad, River had too at least be civil. It was a tense ride at least for the four of us. If I couldn't see how disgruntle River was getting, I would have been laughing my butt off. River never bites her tongue, but with Melissa, River knows Melissa will take the first opportunity to tell on her if she is the least bit rude to her cousin. Gosh this ride will never be over. Logan and I start talking about baseball. Melissa starts asking River questions, but you can tell she is not genuinely interested. Every time Melissa asks a question, she doesn't even wait to hear River give a response, Melissa just starts in giving in details an answer to her own question. It's like she is having a one-sided conversation. I know she's not getting any brownie points from River tonight. The ride is coming to an end, and I can tell the three of us are ready to jump off the trailer and go find something else to do, but before we can take off Uncle Chris asks Logan and I help carry more wood to the bon fire. Not wanting to hang out with Melissa a second longer, River trails behind us and starts carrying wood too. My mom brought some things to make smores. River goes over and gets one of the pokers and puts marshmallows on them to start one of for each of us. She knows that both Logan and I will want one. We make another trip to get wood and by the time we get back River has our smores ready to eat. "Thanks River" we both say with a full mouth. She cocks her head to the side, "You wanna tell me want you and Melissa were chit chatting about?"