Things managed to temporarily deescalate when Sal and Larry trudged back towards the cinema building, Sal with his mask holding on by a thread, and Larry with a black eye visibly developing. Meanwhile, Travis and I were munching on the remaining amount of popcorn I was holding. We talked about what Halloween movies are underrated, and which ones made us want to cut an ear off like Leonardo Da Vinci. As much as I hate to admit it, Travis is actually kind of a cool dude.

I asked if he wanted my number, to which he said yes, so I asked to see his phone. I wasn't paying attention when Sal and Larry walked in to see Travis and I laughing as I added my number to his contacts.

"Yo, are you actually giving the Christian boy your number?" It was Larry, and he didn't sound pleased.

"Yeah, we were just talking about- Ow!" the smile was wiped clean off my face when Sal grabbed my wrist harshly and pulled me out of the building, leaving Travis behind while Larry followed.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaimed. "Sal, you're hurting me!"

He stopped walking abruptly, but other than that, he ignored what I said.

"You hurt me too," he glared down with an icy stare scrutinizing every inch of me from behind that mask of his.

"What- because I gave him my number? I'm sorry, but your opinion on someone, justified or not, is not going to control who I choose to be friends with. I get that you're mad he was a jerk to me and you had to apologize to him, but you don't own me!" I cried, and by some miracle, I was able to wrench my wrist free.

"Y/n..."

"What?" I spat, glaring back up at him with a stare even colder than his.

"I..."

"Fuck you, Sal. And fuck you too, Larry, for going along with it," I sneered and turned on my heel to go back indoors. I could wait until my mom got off work to pick me up, and I'd tell her all about what happened.

"Y/n, I'm so s-" Sal started, when I felt a hand much larger than his grab my shoulder.

I quickly turned around before Larry could get a secure hold of me and punched him in the face with every ounce of strength I had left. Shit, did I really just do that?

"OW... Damn it..." he seethed and covered his already bruised face with a hand.

"You two can come back and talk to me when you learn to respect boundaries," I said in an unsteady voice.

And with that, I walked back indoors one final time and sat back down with Travis. I seriously just ditched the guys that saved me from this kid's ass. I quickly texted my mom to let her know I was at the movies with a friend, so she wouldn't worry when she got home and I wasn't there.

"Your knuckles are bleeding a little," Travis pointed out quietly.

"Oh," I looked down. He was right. I can't imagine what Larry's face looks like...

"Hey, look," my new companion nodded his head in the direction of the glass doors at the entrance.

I could see Sal now holding his mask over his face, because his yelling made it shift too much. Yeah, he's definitely yelling at Larry. Larry yelled something back and Sal just stood there, frozen. I could only guess what they'd said.

"I'm going out there. Sorry for all the trouble we caused," I pulled the borrowed jacket closer around myself before I stepped into the freezing, tense atmosphere.

"You don't have to babysit those hom- uh, them. You know that, right?" he looked at me with a bored expression.

"Yeah. Thanks for sticking with me, T," I said earnestly, and took my leave.

When I got outside, I saw Larry's nose dripping blood and his cheeks were shiny with tears. Sal was still standing stiff as a board with his fists at his sides. Not knowing what to do, I wrapped his jacket around his shoulders and brushed a strand of hair away from his face. I wasn't really sure if I could forgive him yet, but... Well, there's a time and place for everything, and right now and here is that time and place.

"Um... A-are you okay?" I asked, my voice a lot less confident than I wanted it to be.

He didn't say anything for a moment before turning his head to meet my eyes and holding out his shaking hands for a hug, his mask now secured on his head. God, I can never stay mad at him.

"I'm so so sorry, angel. I love you more than you could ever imagine. You don't have to say anything or forgive me... Just know that I'm always here if you need me," he whispered in my ear as soon as I had accepted his embrace.

"It's okay. I love you too, Sally Face," I whispered back and finally returned the hug.

We pulled away and he held my hand softly in his own. I didn't have to look up from my feet to know he was probably glaring at Larry.

"I... I'm sorry, too. I didn't try to make things more tense, I just didn't-"

"It's okay. I'm sorry, too. Please just tell me before you grab me like a kidnapper would," I smiled, trying to lighten the mood, despite the sprinkle of cold rain starting to fall.

"Thanks, man."

"Do you wanna go back to the apartments now?" Sal asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty chilly out here," Larry remarked with a chuckle, running a hand through his hair. I nodded in agreement.

"I hate that weird transition where it's not that cold yet, but you feel like you're going to freeze to death because you're not used to it," I laughed.

"Heh, yeah..." Sal trailed off.

- Time skip to Addison Apartments brought to you by Charlie's ingrown toenails 😍🤞 -

I told the boys™️ that I needed some time to be alone and slam my head against a wall, so they were hanging out in Larry's room, probably headbanging to SF. I flopped down on my bed with a groan. I'm so tired... What even happened today?

"Hey, sweetheart. You okay?" my mom stepped in my room with a sad smile on her lips and arms crossed over her chest.

"Yeah, just had a chaotic day," I sat up and met her gaze.

"You wanna talk about it?" she sat down next to me on my bed and slung an arm around my shoulders.

I nodded and spent a little while telling her about everything that happened (leaving out a few details, of course). She nodded along and rubbed my back as I spoke and let hot tears fall from my eyes. I grabbed a tissue from my nightstand and wiped my nose.

"Well, it sounds like Sal is just protective. So, if you haven't forgiven him, I'd think about getting into the mentality to do that. As for Larry... I don't think he was trying to put Sal above you," she hugged me and wiped the tears from my face.

"Yeah, I forgave them both and apologized for nearly knocking Larry's giant nose right off of his face," I laughed through my tears.

"That was nice of you."

"Heh..."

"Anyway, I'm glad you made up with them, because I invited the Johnson family over for dinner," she patted my shoulder and stood up.

"I- you what?" I stared at her, absolutely bewildered. "Didn't I just tell you Sal is my boyfriend? Not Larry."

"I invited them over before that, hun. I thought maybe I could do some matchmaking with you and him," she laughed.

"Oh my god," I groaned.

"Haha, you can invite Sal over if you want."

"Thanks, mom. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart. Want me to close the door?"

"Yes, please."

She left my room and pulled the door shut as she stepped out. The atmosphere instantly changed to something rather melancholic, and I decided to call Sal instead of texting the boy. I picked up my phone and rang his number... Only for him to not pick up. I sighed. Oh well, I don't really feel like going downstairs right now...

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my bedroom door roughly 57 seconds later. I opened it to see Sal panting slightly behind his mask.

"Hi."

"Hi," I laughed. "Come on in."

I stepped aside and let him enter my room. We sat down on my bed and he took off his mask to kiss my cheek.

"Soo my mom invited Larry and his mom over for dinner because she didn't know about us yet. I felt weird about not including you, though. You wanna come?" I explained.

"Yeah, of course. Thank you," He smiled brightly and ran a hand through his hair.

"Also... Can I braid your hair? Pretty Please?" I begged.

"No way," his eyes widened.

I pouted and gave him my best puppy dog eyes. His stiff posture wavered and he finally let his shoulders drop with a sigh.

"Jesus Christ, fine. Don't ever look at me like that again, though," he warned. I smiled ecstatically and jumped up to grab a hairbrush and some hair ties from the bathroom.

"Oh my god, I'm so excited! Okay, sit here and try not to move your head," I raved. He sighed and shifted his position to sit on the floor between my legs.

His hair was surprisingly really soft, despite the many tangles. He complained I was hurting him, but I was already using hair detangler and being as gentle as possible, so I told him to suck it up like the true empath I am. It took me about 20 minutes to brush his blue locks and section it into to even halves.

"Hold this," I said, handing him the bottle of coconut scented detangler and hairbrush. I put the left half of his hair into a low ponytail to keep it out of the way while I braided the right side. "Will your mask fit over a french braid?"

"No, but it's fine. I don't have to wear it around anyone who's coming over for dinner. It's just you, Larry, and your moms, right? And my dad?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Yeah, then it's fine."

"Cool, thanks," I grinned and started braiding. I was done with one side after about ten minutes, since Sal wouldn't stop moving his head. I was done with the other side a bit faster, since he seemed to realize I'd only have to pull more if he kept moving.

"All done!" I beamed and led him to the bathroom so he could see it in the mirror.

"Not gonna lie, this is kinda fabulous. I used to wear my hair in pigtails, but I stopped when I started high school, so I'm not used to all the yanking," he grinned and studied my figure as he hugged me in the mirror.

"Your welcome. Also, I need to see pictures of that sometime."

"Sure," he laughed.

"Alright, lemme put this stuff away," I said and wiggled out from his arms to replace the brush and hair detangler. "I need to show my mom, c'mon."

I practically carried him out of the bathroom to the kitchen, where my mom was preparing a large meal.

"Mom, look. I began the yassification process of Sal Fisher!" I exclaimed, turning him around so she could see his braids.

"The what?" they both said in unison.

"The yassification process. Y'know- like yasss," I said, slower this time.

"Oh my god," Sal laughed and my mom merely shook her head and chuckled.

"Yes, he looks very... yassified," she assured me.

"Sally, can I pleaseeee put some mascara on you?" I begged.

"No way. I barely let you do this much, and when I say it's never happening again, I mean it," his eyes widened and he took a step backwards to create some distance between us.

"Fine," I frowned and closed the space between us by picking up his hands.

Just as he let out a sigh of relief, the doorbell rang. I rushed to open the door, since my mom was still setting the last of the food on the table. Larry waved from the hallway with a lazy grin and his mother greeted us with a smile and a hello. Sal's dad was right beside them, his arm around Lisa's shoulders.

"Hi! It's good to see you all, come on in," I let everyone in and the six of us sat down at the table.

"Woah, cool hair, dude," Larry remarked.

"Thanks," Sal grumbled. "Y/n did it."

"Not gonna li,e I'm surprised you let them, heh. But they did a good job," he nodded.

Dinner went by smoothly. The food was amazing and everyone seemed to enjoy it, in addition to the company. We talked about plans for Halloween, which was already tomorrow! Sal, Larry, and I decided to invite Todd, Maple, Chug, and maybe Travis to go the Erebus Haunt (). Lisa and Henry invited my mother to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters outside the entrance of the complex, to which she gladly accepted. I think Todd's mom is gonna be there, too.