Ides of March

“Is it? I’ve never noticed.” she asked, looking toward the corner he’d left. “Working on something important?” she asked, reaching for her coffee, careful to avoid his computer and absolute mortification.

“If you were an important key, where in this public park would I have buried you during a family emergency like two months ago?” Nic questioned out loud, as he gently lifted the dirt surrounding flower patches. He was full incognito, dressed as a gardener, since he’d gotten kicked out of the park the day before. Why would hiding treasures in public property be a crime, anyway? Laws were stupid.   @vestahqs·

Pausing on his jog, James pulled a headphone out and looked at the man curiously. “Why exactly would a key be hidden in a park?”

“Hell is Wal-Mart. I’m just going to online shop from here on out.”

@vestalanding

“Technically that’s Target. That’s where all the Karen’s shop. Why do you hate Walmart?”

“Oh, no, go ahead. The chair’s open. I didn’t realize it had gotten so busy in here.”

@vestalanding

“Thank you so much,” James sat down and pulled his laptop out, not even caring that he was sitting at a bar top. “I just couldn’t keep sitting in the corner over there. The wifi is best here.”

“That depends, is your grandma— mom?— a lovely neighbor? I’m sorry, I can’t guess ages to save my life, I feel like you could be my age as well as um.. straight out of high school? And it’s.. uh, completely besides the point. I swear I went into this trying to help, so.. anyway! Is she more likely to have a cocktail party with girlfriends or spend a fortune on one of these wacky fortune tellers you see at fairs?” 

“She’s my mom. And both kind of? She has a group of women she plays Bunko with on Friday nights. I haven’t been home when they’ve played in a bit, but it used to get a bit rowdy. But she is also prone to that Zolton machine. She even keeps the slips. It’s really a close call.”

“Um… I don’t know about a sixty year old woman, but I would like the make your own fortune cookie kit. Probably better for someone her age too.”

“See that’s what I thought too. But then an intern started talking to me and made me think twice and now I’m staring at both kits sitting in my shopping cart trying to weigh pros and cons since my usual go to didn’t work.”

“Fuck yeah, the seltzer kit. If I were sixty, I’d through those cookies right back at you.

“Okay, but why would you prefer the seltzer to the cookies? Especially if you love Chinese food?”

“Not sure. Do they like regular seltzer?” he answered, “People seem to like those hot dog and bun warmers lately. Keep seeing those around.”

“She drinks it like it’s water,” James laughed at his own joke. “Wait, do they cook the hot dog or just keep them warm? Because there is a complete difference there and I’d like to know how you’re supposed to cook the hot dog and why you’re trying to keep it warm.”

“I mean, we have women that age that come into the bar and order Barefoot hard seltzers all the time.” Harley shrugged. “How well do you know the person you’re buying it for?”

“Wait, isn’t Barefoot a wine company? They make seltzers too?” James laughed at himself briefly, “It’s for my mother. So I’d like to think pretty well, but depending on the day, not so much.”

“If she’s looking for a real good time, go with the hard seltzer.”

“Do you know of a different kind of seltzer making kit then hard seltzer? Because I could only find the hard seltzer kit and I don’t want to get her another one of those ‘Make Your Own Soda’ machines. She was basically drinking seltzer water when she thought she was drinking home made Coke.”

Cosmo hesitantly stepped to James holding out a bowl full of candy. “Uh, pretty please?” he responded with a smirk, knowing full well that wasn’t what he was looking for. 

Shaking his head, James lifted the bowl over his head with a smirk. “Try again. Think more juvenile.”

Gavin could only wince at James’s story as his face turned slightly red from the second hand embarrassment he felt for the other man. “Well, that won’t happen here,” Gavin promised. The fae were tricksters, but they usually weren’t as bad as the witches. “I was just offering a secondary option to be a good host,” Gavin explained, not telling the whole truth, but again, also not lying. 

Narrowing his eyes, James couldn’t play the word games anymore. Filling the cup with the punch, he looked at the fae in front of him once more. “I’lm going to drink this unless you tell me that there is a good reason not to.”

“You’re fucking hilarious, Lancaster, but a terrible pack member.” Hunter rolled his eyes. He would not say please. He could go find food elsewhere before the full moon.

Holding up a Kit Kat, he looked at Hunt and shook his head. “Literally, all you have to do is say ‘Trick or Treat’. How hard is that?”

“Can you help me?” Carson said to the first person who walked past. “Poor dude stared into the portrait and now won’t stop asking me what I want him to do. I told him to go stand in the corner for the rest of the night… Do you know how to, you know, turn it off or something?” @vestalanding·

James looked at the man in the corner and shrugged his shoulders. “Nope, but I’m sure if you found the hostess she might be able to give you an answer. Or better yet, find a witch. They might be able to bewitch him with something else that could be even more foolish.”

Maggie wasn’t sure that a corn maze was the best idea, her sense of direction was limited at best and she had definitely drank too much punch. She arrived at the entrance to see James holding a bowl of candy, baiting her for the full size bars. “Give me one or I’ll punch ya?” she suggested as an option.

“You see, that would scare me more if I didn’t know what goes bump in the night. And well, bump in the maze.” Shaking his head, he taunted her by shaking the bowl slightly. “Try again.”

“i haven’t learned how to read minds yet. why don’t you just tell me?”

“Did you never go trick or treating as a kid? All you have to do is literally say Trick or Treat.”

“Yeah, I won’t eat chocolate by my blood is laced with drugs and alcohol.” Olivia rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Would you just start timing?” In a runners stance Olivia looked up at him, “ready?”

“I mean, you seem like you might be on something is all I’m saying.” Holding up the watch. James looked at her, “Ready, set... go.” And he pretended to press the start.