All's Fair in Love and Las Vegas

Chapter Forty-Six

November came sooner than I expected. Halloween was a bit of a letdown for me, since I missed out on the usual tradition of having Kylie and Nina over at my house. It was fun with the three of us, passing out candy to all the neighborhood kids. We always dressed up. I usually wore my scrubs, known as the nurse on the end of the street who gave out king sized candy bars. Nina always wore something fantastic and elaborate, usually with feathers or sequins and always a large hat of sorts. Last year she'd been a peacock, in a green gown and a teal cape, heavily sparklified. Kylie, being Kylie, always showed up in something much too inappropriate for passing out candy to small children. Meaning I always bought her a costume in advance for her to change into.

I missed it all.

Grayson told me that normally he liked Halloween, that he liked dressing up and going to work in full costume, but this year he wasn't in the mood. Nor was I. Perhaps we were slowly both healing, but some things were still too much.

No Halloween could take place, however, without candy. We bought a huge bag from the store to split, and faced the consequences of our actions the next week. My face broke out in raging acne from the sugar intake, and Grayson ate thirty-two pieces in one sitting, resulting in vomiting. This occurrence took place on the fifth of November, right around when the giant candy bag began running empty.

"You know what's horrible?" he said weakly, lying in bed to recover from throwing up. "I still have a stomachache. Upchucking did nothing."

"Upchucking?" I teased. "Who uses upchucking?"

"I use upchucking, Jackie, like a proper member of society," he retorted, curling up on his side. We were supposed to be trying to sleep, except he had (apparently) upchucked.

"Poor Grayson," I mused, turning to face him. "Is upchucking as dreadful as it sounds?"

"Stop making fun of my language," he grimaced.

"We both speak English."

"Apparently we don't, because you can't comprehend the word upchucking," he sighed.

I laughed a little. I realized that that was the first time I'd really laughed since my trip to the hospital, but I chose not to make a big deal of it. Instead I told Grayson, "Someday I'll catch you saying stuff like y'all and oh snickerdoodles, then we'll see who is a proper member of society."

He looked up at me quizzically. "Since when are 'y'all' and 'oh snickerdoodles' strictly American?"

"Have you ever heard a non-American say those things?" I challenged.

Grayson looked as if I'd changed his entire worldview. "I suppose not," he whispered, clearly contemplating Americans.

"Exactly my point," I said simply.

His eyes crinkled with a smile and he said, "Go to sleep, Jackie. My silly little American."

"I am not your silly little American!"  I protested.

Grayson leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Night, yankee."

"Oh, shut up," I laughed. "My stupid Canadian."

"Heck yeah I'm your Canadian," he said proudly. I would've swatted him with a pillow had he not already been in pain.

"Since you're such a good Canadian, I bet you can sleep off that stomachache," I said.

He frowned. "How does being Canadian shield me from stomachaches?"

"I don't know, but according to you, you're some of the strongest people in the world."