Voyeur (Josh Balz Story)

Chapter 8

I instantly dreaded that it was Craig and he was here to give me some sort of bullshit excuse about what happened at the party. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was wrong. Ryan, Chris, and Josh were walking with three kids that looked like they were in middle school.

"Hey guys!" I call back waving.

I checked out their costumes as they stepped into the light of the porch. Ryan was Dracula, Chris was Jack Skellington, and Josh was a dead hockey player.

"You all look spooky." I remark with a grin.

"Thanks, so what are you still doing out here?" Josh asks.

"I'm trying to get rid of what's left of this candy." I explain, holding up the treat bowl.

"We'd be more than willing to help out." Chris states with a playful smirk.

I held the orange bowl up to them and all six of them reached in to quickly empty it out into their hands or buckets. I peered at the three other's noticing that the boy and one of the girls looked a lot like Chris.

"So are they all your siblings?"

Ryan answered first, he nodded at the dark headed girl by his side saying, "This is my younger sister Melissa."

She quickly waved at me as she was mentioned and I returned the gesture.

"Yeah, this is my bother Nick and my sister Stacey." Chris tells me, gesturing to the other two.

"So what's your name then?" Nick asked after he finished grabbing a handful of candy.

"Carina."

"So you're the girl Josh talks about." Nick remarks with a grin.

"Really? What does he say?" I questioned with an amused smirk.

His smile became even more wicked, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

I glanced over at Josh as he glared at Chris's brother. And Chris cut in after that, "Nick, stop being a pain in the ass."

"Hey Chris and I were planning to go watch some scary movies at Josh's after we drop our siblings off at home. Would you want to come?" Ryan asks me, seeming to be attempting to defuse the situation.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Just let me take this in real quick." I agree and get to my feet and while I was inside I made sure to check with my mom about it.

She was clearly pleased to see that I was going to be with friends after the night I've had so far. Her only request was, "Make sure to text me when you get there and when you're on your way home."

I hurried back out the door announcing, "Let's get going!"

They all nodded in agreement and we began trekking across the neighborhoods until it was just Ryan, Chris, Josh, and me. Once we made it to Josh's house I was ready to just sit and watch some movies with my new friends. We all ended up deciding to watch Friday the 13th first. Josh's mom was nice enough to make us popcorn and gave us what was left of their Halloween candy. The fact Chris and Ryan made it where Josh and I had to sit next to each other didn't go unnoticed by me, but I didn't mind it at all.

Two movies later Chris was saying that his mom was there to pick him up and he needed to leave. Ryan was quick to ask if he could catch a ride with them, and of course Chris said yes. I pretended that I hadn't noticed Chris text near the end of Nightmare on Elm Street and I knew that they were doing this on purpose, but for who's benefit? Did Josh actually like me or were they just assuming that he did?

Once Josh and I were alone I was glad to see that he didn't act any different to when the others were here. He reached for the stack of horror movies he had brought in here with him earlier and asked, "Do you need to leave any time soon?"