Lydia, Rita, Riley, and I stepped out of Riley's Jeep and onto the sidewalk in front of Bernie's.

"Thanks for the lift, Ri," I said gratefully, smoothing out my dress and checking to make sure my hair wasn't utter chaos.

"No prob," he replied, brushing off the shoulder of his Jack Skellington suit. He had done his own face paint, and it was pretty darn impressive.

"Well, I, for one, am starving. Let's get our grub on!" Rita cheered, adjusting her tiara and flouncing into Bernie's, her skirt and tight curls bouncing with every step. Rita had decided to go as Glinda from Wicked, and had even slept in rollers the night before to achieve those signature Glinda ringlets.

I smiled and followed her, Riley, and Lydia inside. Music was blaring, neon lights were flashing and moving, and the atmosphere was electric. Honestly, it reminded me of a night club.

"Oh, hey," Lydia said, nudging me. "I see my uncle. He's over there, to the left of that zombie couple."

She didn't have to point him out, because as soon as she nudged me and my gaze followed hers, I spotted him. And I couldn't help but grin.

He was wearing a matching costume to my own. It was a glamorous suit, and was white with vertical black stripes. His pants were the same way. His tie was a deep purple with other smears of color mixed in, and I noticed green smudges all over his suit. It looked like he had just emerged from the grave, and I honestly really dug that look.

When his eyes met mine, he smiled and approached Lydia and me.

"Hey, Uncle Larry," Lydia greeted him, smiling.

"Heya, kiddo," he replied, ruffling her hair under her veil. She just rolled her eyes and gave him a playful smirk.

"Uncle Larry, this is (Y/N), my tutor. (Y/N), meet my uncle," Lydia introduced us, before turning back to Larry. "Now, don't try to make any moves, or so help me-"

"Whoah, there, Small Fry! Take it easy," he told her, chuckling good-naturedly.

I walked up to him and gave him a hug, which he gladly accepted and returned. I pulled back to look at him.

"You look great!"

"And you look super sexy," he responded, giving me a flirty wink.

I giggled.

Lydia was staring at us in disbelief. "Um.... what is going on, here?"

"Oh, yeah, I kinda sorta already met your uncle. And.... we're dating, now."

"You what."

"Yeah, I ran into him yesterday, we went out for coffee, and really hit it off!" Yeah. Really hit it off. As in "we-made-out-in-a-cafe-for-a-solid-two-minutes" hit it off.

"Oh, really?" she said, crossing her arms and giving Larry a look. He just shrugged sheepishly. She sighed and shook her head. "Well, I give up. You two have fun being gross. I'm gonna go eat before you ruin my appetite."

"What was that about?" I asked Larry as Lydia disappeared from view, chuckling confusedly.

"It's Lydia, so who knows?" he brushed it off.

"Hmmmm, very true."

"So, how was my Angel's day?" he asked, grabbing my right hand and waist and swaying to the beat. I followed his lead and placed my other hand on his shoulder.

A smile danced on my lips. "Pretty uneventful, other than receiving this gorgeous outfit," I replied as he spun me slowly. Facing him again, I asked, "So, how did you manage to change my attire to match yours?"

He grinned guiltily. "There's really no fooling you, is there?" He laughed. "I may have worked a bit of my magic and asked them to make a few alterations to the design."

I smiled at him. His eyes drifted down to my pendant, and my worry flared back up, again. Larry stopped swaying, and stared at the necklace, and for a split second, I thought I saw tears in his eyes.

"Where did you get this?" he asked almost inaudibly, so that I had to strain to hear.

I panicked. I had to think of something. And fast. Or else this was all going to go south faster than you could say "Michael Keaton".

"Oh, I found it at a pawn shop a while back," I lied, and I was praying that Larry couldn't tell how bad of a liar I was at that moment.

He looked hurt. But more than that. He looked absolutely, horribly crushed.

My brow furrowed worriedly.

"Larry, are you... are you alright?" I asked him, concerned.

He shook himself, and for the first time I noticed the deep purple that had snuck its way into Larry's usually-green hair.

Grief.

He raked a hand through his locks, and the purple was completely gone, replaced with the normal green.

"I'm fine," he grinned, trying to be chipper, but I could tell something was bothering him. "I just need to run to the bathroom, real quick. I'll be back in a sec."

"Okay," I said softly, watching Larry hurry toward the nearest men's room.

And I didn't know why, but my heart hurt for him.

~

I straightened my dress and made my way up to the stage, Riley right in front of me. He walked up to the keyboard and perched on the stool, while I stood in front of the mic in the front. I had to lower the stand due to being significantly shorter than the dude who had performed before me. Riley adjusted his own mic, before flashing a pretty-boy grin at the crowd. I heard a couple of girls squeal.

Geez. He's already got quite the fan club, I thought, laughing to myself.

"How's everybody doing, tonight?" he said, which was met with excited whoops and shouts from the crowd. "My name is Riley McBride, and to my right is the lovely (Y/N) (Y/L/N)." Here I curtsied to many whoops and wolf-whistles. "And we'll be your final entertainers for the night, here at Bernie's!"

There was more applause, then Riley was expertly tickling the keys, the track playing in the background. I smiled and started clapping my hands, motioning for the crowd to join me. They quickly followed suit.

We went through Michael Jackson's "Thriller" without a hitch, and the crowd really seemed to love us. I took a swig of water from my nearby bottle while Riley addressed the audience.

"Alright, everyone, this next song is one that's very dear to me, because I co-wrote it with Miss (Y/L/N), over here, and it marks a time in our lives when we really didn't know what exactly we were to each other, but we knew that we would always have memories of our time together, and that we would always have each other to depend on, moving forward."

He smiled at me, and I smiled back, fighting back the tears that were trying to form in my eyeballs.

The music started playing, and I let out an anxious breath slowly.

"I feel a little nauseous and my hands are shaking,
I guess that means you're close by,
My throat is getting dry and my heart is racing,
I haven't been by your side in a minute but I,
Think about it sometimes,
Even though I know it's not so distant,
Oh no I still wanna reminisce it."

I squeezed my eyes shut and just got lost in the song, letting the sounds take over me. I felt a little more at ease.

"I think of that night in the park,
It was getting dark and we stayed up for hours,
What a time,
What a time,
What a time,
You clinged to my body like you wanted it forever,
What a time,
What a time,
What a time,
For you and I,
What a time,
What a time,
For you and I."

Riley took over, his soothing voice reverberating off the walls.

"I know we didn't end it like we're supposed to,
And now we get a bit tense,
I wonder if my mind just leaves out all the bad parts,
I know we didn't make sense,
I admit it, that I,
Think about it sometimes,
Even though I know it's not so distant,
Oh no I still wanna reminisce it."

We both sang the next chorus.

"I think of that night in the park,
It was getting dark and we stayed up for hours,
What a time,
What a time,
What a time,
You clinged to my body like you wanted it forever,
What a time,
What a time,
What a time,
For you and I,
What a time,
What a time,
For you and I."

I took the last chorus, with Riley adding runs and backup vocals.

"I think of that night in the park,
It was getting dark and we stayed up for hours,
What a lie,
What a lie,
What a lie,
You clinged to my body like you wanted it forever,
What a lie,
What a lie,
What a lie,
For you and I,
What a lie,
What a lie,
For you and I,
For you and I,
For you and I,
For you and I,
For you and I, yeah!"

I opened my eyes, to the cheering, clapping and waving audience before me. It took a minute for me to register, though. I felt overwhelmed and disconnected from the situation. I don't know at what point in the song I had started to cry, but my cheeks were wet with tears.

Riley and I gave the crowd quick bows. When I straightened up again, I met his eyes. And those eyes broke me.

Larry's gaze was full of concern, sorrow, grief, and sympathy. His hair was a light violet color.

I choked up and rushed off-stage. I could tell Riley had lost track of me, because he was shouting my name worriedly.

I ran right into someone, I was so wrapped up in my thoughts. I blinked rapidly, trying to see who I had run into through my tears.

It was Larry.

"(Y/N), are you okay??"

"No!" I sobbed, grabbing his waist and burying my face in his chest. I wanted him to hide me from all of my emotions; from the world.

His arms enveloped me protectively.

"Why does the past have to hurt so much!" I gasped between sobs.

He stroked my hair comfortingly. "I don't know, babes."

"Cuz it hurts so bad!"

"I know it does, Angel. I don't know what you're trying to forget or run away from, but I'm so sorry."

I could tell he was tearing up, himself.

"(Y/N)!"

I heard Riley finally come up to Larry and me.

"You must be Riley McBride," Larry said evenly, clearing his throat. I heard the two of them shake hands and then felt Larry's hand wrap back around me.

"Uh, yeah, that's me-"

"Oh my god Uncle Larry, what did you do???"

Lydia was already on the defensive.

"He didn't do anything, Lydia," I mumbled.

"Let's get you home, babes."

I nodded, my face still buried in Larry's broad chest.

I was caught off-guard when he scooped me up bridal-style. I quickly recovered and wrapped my arms around his neck, hiding my tear-stained face in the crook of his neck, his scruffy stubble tickling my nose.

"Riley, I'll hold down the fort, here, you take Lydia, her uncle, and (Y/N) back to their place," Rita said decisively.

"Oh you don't have to-"

Larry was cut off by Rita.

"No, I insist. It's been one heck of a night for her. She needs to go home and get some rest as soon as possible."

If I had been in a more sound state of mind, I would have thanked her profusely for understanding, but as it was, I couldn't even make eye contact with anyone, much less form a cognitive sentence.

"Thank you so much," Lydia said, and we then made our way back out to Riley's Jeep.

Larry climbed into the back with me while Lydia hopped in the front with Riley.

Larry hugged me gently. He seemed to understand how utterly fragile and vulnerable I was in that moment. He understood how absolutely broken I was. And I was beyond thankful for that.

He held me while I cried all the way home.

********************

Hey guys! This was a longer chapter, so I hope it compensates for the long wait lol. 😅

Any who, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'm in the process of writing chapter 23.... let's just say there's some wholesome fluff involved and I'm so happy that I finally get to write fluff for the book.....

But yeah! Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments and tell me what you think!
Also!! Don't forget to check my announcements for all the details on an art competition I'm hosting! The rules are all there as well as the list of prizes. The deadline is January 17th, so don't delay!!

Ciao, bellas!
~Smol Emo