Chapter 117

Chapter 41 Grayson looked at me as if I was crazy. "No," he said. "Absolutely not. You know how much I hate dressing up for Halloween." I gave him a pout, something that normally gets him to cave in. "You did in the twelfth grade," I pointed out. "That's only because you made me," he said. "And this time, you are not making me." "Pretty please?" I asked, stepping closer to him. "I really want the three of us to where a costume." Grayson bit his bottom lip and looked away. "No. I'm not caving in this time." "Please, Grayson?" I asked. "Pretty please. Halloween is today and all the costumes are going to sell out if we don't get one now. It's Ryder's first Halloween." "So?" Grayson asked. "He's too young for candy. It's not like he'll miss out." I walked in front of where he was facing and wrapped my arms around his neck. "You know what I'm going to do," I said softly. "You might as well say yes now to save some time." When Grayson didn't reply, I decided it was time for me to do my awesome tactic for Grayson to agree. I went on my tiptoes, pressing kisses onto his jaw, also known as his sweet spot. When he sighed, I pulled away and looked at him with a hopeful look. "What will we even do in costume, Flower?" Grayson asked. "I'm pretty sure we're too old to go trick-or-treating." "Grayson, come on," I said. "We're never too old to go trick-or-treating." "Yeah, Flower, we're nineteen and twenty," Grayson said. "And we have a kid. I'm pretty sure that qualifies of being too old." "Well, there's that thing in the university quad," I said. "It's not just for the university students. It's for everyone in the community, meaning it will be safe enough to bring Ryder." Grayson sighed once again. "Alright, fine. We'll dress up and go to that stupid thing." I gave him a smile before pressing my lips on his. "Thank you," I said. "Now can we go costume shopping?" "I hate not being able to say no to you," he grumbled as he went to the living room to get Ryder ready to leave. Ryder was finally sitting on his own, but when he did fall, he laughed. Like always. Once we were all ready, we left the apartment and got into Grayson's car. There was a pop-up Halloween store not that far from our apartment and I was really hoping it wasn't crowded when we got there. It was. Serves me right for waiting until today to beg Grayson to dress up for Halloween. It took a while to find costumes because, me being me, wanted all three of us to match. When I was seventeen, Grayson and I went as a greaser and sock-hop and we didn't dress up last year since I was pregnant then and didn't really want to go out. Grayson only wanted to wear a costume if it made him look hot. His words, not mine. We ended up finding Aladdin costumes for the three of us. Grayson was a bit iffy on wearing a costume from a Disney movie, but when he saw the one we picked out for Ryder, he was totally down with it. After purchasing the costumes, we went back to our apartment. I was glad we were able to find costumes today with it being Halloween and all. "I still can't believe you talked me into this," Grayson said, taking his costume out of the bag and staring out of it. "Oh, come on," I said. "Everybody loves Aladdin. Besides, with your costume, you'll be technically shirtless, so I don't know what you're complaining about. We can even sing A Whole New World!" Grayson gave me a flat look. "No way in hell am I singing. I don't sing." "I hear you sing in the shower all the time." "Shut up, Flower." I just gave him a smile before I looked at the clock. The Halloween gathering thing at in the university quad was going to be in two hours, so we didn't have to put on our costumes yet. Although, I couldn't wait to see Ryder in his. To make time pass, I decided to watch something on Netflix as Grayson played with Ryder on the floor. Grayson would chuckle every single time Ryder fell over and laughed at himself. When there was half an hour left, I got up from the couch and grabbed my costume to put it on. When it was on, I told Grayson to put on his. "Damn," Grayson said when he saw me. "You make a hella beautiful Princess Jasmine." I rolled my eyes. "Just put on your costume, Aladdin." I got Ryder's costume from the bag and put it on him after changing his diaper. He looked so adorable in his little monkey costume. Grayson was changed and sat down beside me on the floor. "As much as I hate dressing up, Ryder makes it better," Grayson said. "Come here, Abu." He gently took Ryder from me. "Aww, you know the monkey's name!" "Of course I do," Grayson said. "You've watched every single Disney princess movie more than once and made me watch them as well. Hey, you know what we should do tomorrow. By Halloween candy at the store once they're on sale and pig out." "I like the way you think," I said. "But as for now, we should get ready to go. And make sure you grab something we can sit on." Grayson furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?" "Because they're going to be playing a movie on the side of the building and I'm not sitting on the grass," I said. Grayson stood up, as did I. "Aww, my Flower is so demanding." He kissed my cheek before heading into our room to grab an extra blanket. He also made sure to grab a blanket for Ryder as well. While he did that, I filled up Ryder's diaper bag and put it in the basket of the stroller. Ryder no longer needed the carseat attached to the stroller whenever he went in there, thank goodness. It was a hassle having to keep connecting and disconnecting it. Grayson put Ryder in the stroller and grabbed his house keys before we left. We didn't have to take his car since we were just going to the university. A lot of people of all ages were there. It wasn't just the university students there. Quite a few food carts were set up, giving everybody different varieties on what to eat. As soon as we got there, Grayson insisted on holding Ryder instead of having him in the shoulder. And as soon as Grayson took him out, he placed him on his shoulders. "There," he said. "Now Aladdin's monkey is on his shoulder." "Be careful with him," I said. "Flower, I'm not going to drop him," Grayson said. "Besides, he's holding onto my hair awfully tight." Thalia and Roland suddenly walked up to us. "Aww," Thalia said. "You guys look so cute." "Cute?" Grayson asked. "I am not cute." "Just ignore him," I said. "He has a serious obsession with his looks. He does look cute, though." "See? This is why I didn't want to go Disney." "And you decided to go Disney because of Ryder," I said. "Don't worry, Grayson. Ryder looks cuter than you." "He really does," Thalia said. "Seriously, that monkey costume is to die for. There's a costume contest going on and you'll probably win the family one." Grayson frowned. "Costume contest? I hate contests..." "What are you talking about?" I asked. "You are one of the most competitive person ever. You love to win." "Not these kinds of contests," Grayson said. "It was like the whole prom king and queen." I rolled my eyes. "You complain too much." "Well, Roland and I are going to pig out on food," Thalia said, taking her boyfriend's hand. "Come on, Roland." She pulled him towards one of the food carts. "I don't want to win no contest," Grayson complained. I sighed. "Stop complaining." "Only if I get a kiss." I sighed, though I had a smile on my face as I gave him a kiss. "There, now will you stop complaining?" "For now," Grayson said, removing Ryder from his shoulders and holding him in front of him instead. He looked around and saw people setting up the projector. "We should probably get some food before the movie starts." I agreed, so we checked out each food cart to see what they were offering. Some did just snacks, so we got some bags of chips and licorice from there, as well as two cans of soda. There were also hot dogs, but Grayson was going to get that when the movie started so it wouldn't be too cold by the time we ate it. We walked around for a bit and I was loving being here. It was family friendly, something Grayson and I could enjoy with Ryder now. There was no alcohol or anything else. Near where the projector was, someone had a megaphone and got everyone's attention. "Thank you for coming, everyone," she said. "We always love throwing this family Halloween gathering to make sure Halloween is safe for everyone. We're about to start the movie in just a second, but first, we want to announce the winners of the costume contest. We had judges walking around, looking at everyone's costumes. There are different categories. One for kids and teens, one for adults, and one for family. And here are the winners." She started with the kids category. There were three places and whenever a winner was called, a judge came over and led them to the front. My favorite costume had to be a little boy in a Santa Claus costume. He was wearing something for a completely different holiday. Then the adult category went, and finally the family category. I honestly did not expect to win since there were so many creative family costumes, but the woman with the megaphone said, "And first place of the family category is the adorable little family dressed as Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, and Abu." Grayson sighed. "Please don't tell me that's us." "Well, I see not other Aladdin, Jasmine, and Abu," I said as the judge walked over with a smile She gestured for us to follow and Grayson was basically grumbling the whole way. "Congratulations," the woman said with the megaphone away from her mouth. "Here's your prize." She handed us a gift basket with a lot of Halloween candy and some bags of popcorn. "Thank you," I said. "I have to say, your baby is probably what made the judges choose you," she said. "He's really cute." That, finally, got Grayson to smile instead of frown. "Thanks." Ryder began babbling then, then brought Grayson's thumb to his mouth and bit it. The movie was about to start, so Grayson and I found a place to sit. We set the blanket on the grass before Grayson went to the hot dog cart to get us each a hot dog. He sat down right as the movie started and placed Ryder in his lap. "You know," he said in a quiet voice. "This actually isn't that bad." "Are you happy that you came?" I asked. Grayson smiled before leaning over and giving me a kiss. "Definitely. I love doing things as a family." Family. That was what we were. Sure, we weren't married, but we were still a family. And we always would be.