He was late. And it wasn’t just by a few minutes, either. More like an hour. It wasn’t exactly his fault, though, as to why he was late. He had just thought that he could rest his eyes for a moment before he had to start making his way over to Valerie’s house for her birthday. ‘Resting his eyes’ turned into a three hour nap that only gave him a solid ten minutes to shower, get dressed and tune his guitar before he had to be out of the door. Even then he was still extremely late and time was trying to make up for it by trying to push his junky little car way past the speed limit. He was actually quite surprised that he hadn’t been stopped by the police, but he didn’t let himself feel relieved, as to not jinx it. As Christian pressed harder on the gas pedal, nearly mowing down several pedestrians in the process, he hoped that Valerie wouldn’t be upset with him and think he stood her up or something. He had tried calling her when he first woke up, but it had just went to voice mail after a few rings. If she was upset, he hoped that she would forgive him, or at least still let him play her his song - the one he had been working on for what felt like forever and just finished the week before. Pulling onto Valerie’s street a few minutes later, Christian hurriedly pulled into an empty space in front of her house and quickly reached into the backseat for his guitar and the card he had gotten her. He knew he probably looked like a complete maniac, running up the front walk and knocking on the door. He was sweaty and panting hard, his hair falling into his eyes messily, his shirt haphazardly buttoned. But he was here, and that what was important. The moment that the door opened, Christian lifted his hand up in a wave and exclaimed, “Hi!”
It was Valerie’s birthday, and much like every year she was stuck at home giving candy. She didn’t mind it though, partying just wasn’t her thing. But this year was different. Instead of limiting her brother to stay at her side, she allowed him to go to a Halloween party. It wasn’t like she would be alone too long, she made plans to hang out with Christian. She was excited for that, just to see him really. But as the time past from the designated time he told her he’d arrive, her excitement died slowly. Valerie knew this would happen, it always did. The trick or treaters hadn’t began to arrive yet so she sat quietly, watching episodes of Hannibal and continued to wait. She sighed as she accepted he just wasn’t going to show up. It was alright, it was disappointing, but alright nonetheless.
It wasn’t until she heard a knock at the door and realized the sun was dipping behind the trees that lined the outskirts of her neighborhood that she figured the children were coming up. Valerie stood up and adjusted her shirt and walked across the hardwood floors of her living room and out into the corridor where her front door was located and grabbed the bowl of candy that sat on the table beside of the door. She opened the door with her mouth open to say “Happy Halloween” but instead no words came as she realized who it was. Instead of her fake smile, a real one replaced it. “H-hey! I thought you weren’t going to show” she said as she moved out of the way in order to let him come in. “Come in, come in” she told him with a smile.