Alexa Hoffman - Outcome

"Hmm, well, I enjoy Playstation." Laughter filled the car as she looked at me just before pulling into my driveway.

‘Well, I don’t think I would have pegged you for a video game fanatic, but I guess it’s possible."

"Hey, when you have a younger brother who gets cooler stuff than you do, you’re bound to start taking it over, you know?" She nodded, turning to me.

"Listen, I’m sorry you didn’t have fun. Maybe we’ll have to try something more along the lines of what you enjoy next time." I smiled, nodding.

"Okay." I figured there wouldn’t be a next time, so I didn’t worry. I’m sure after tonight Haley thought I was even more of a geek than she did before.

"Sleep well, Andi."

"Thanks, you too."

"Oh, I plan to hit the pillow and die."

"Please don’t. You’ll get me out of the tutoring business." She grinned, and pushed me on the shoulder.

"Get out of here." I smiled, and opened the door.

"Drive safe."

"Will do. Bye, Andi."

"Bye."

I closed the car door, and hurried to the house, so unbelievably excited to be home. I craved a shower to get the stench of party of me. With one last look over my shoulder, I saw Haley’s tail lights as she headed down the road.

I flopped down on the couch, exhausted after trials, not even enough energy to shower and change at the dojang. The stiff material of my dobok rubbed against my skin, rubbing it the wrong way as the cold air helped chafe my sweaty skin. I stood, pulling the ends of my ti tighter around my waist, forever thrilled with the golden reminders of my advancement in Tae Kwon Do, three vertical lines representing each degree of my black belt. I’d earned those after eleven years, and was damn proud of them.

I sighed heavily, so tired, and headed for the stairs.

Ding Dong

"Honey, can you get that, please? We’re really getting the trick-or-treaters this year," my mom called from the kitchen where she was washing dishes. With a low growl, I headed for the front door, the huge bowl of candy waiting on the small table just inside the door. I grabbed it and opened the door I’d just closed five minutes before. I pasted a smile on my face, always enjoying the kids and their wacky costumes. I wondered what the craze would be this year; Pokemon, I heard He-Man was coming back.

The door swung open, letting in a whoosh of frigid air and moisture, and I looked at the four smiling M&M’s that looked up at me.

"Trick or treat!" they yelled in unison. I chuckled, then seeing familiar blue eyes, raised a brow.

"Aren’t you a little old to be doing this, Haley?" A round of giggles brought the human candies to their feet from kneeling, hands extended with bags open for their treat. "So what’s the trick?" I looked at the other three, trying to figure out who they were. Meghan’s dark skin, though painted orange to match her M&M color gave her away. So, I imagined red was Kelly, and Heather took the green. My eyes found the blue candy, and I grinned, shaking my head.

Meghan looked at me, grinning. "So, what are you? The Karate Kid?" Another round of giggles. I rolled my eyes.

"So do we get any?" Haley asked, nodding toward the bowl in my hand. Deciding to play along, I grabbed a bite-sized Snickers, and looked at Heather, putting a very sweet, but extremely patronizing look on my face.

"Okay, now you can only have one, okay? Make sure your mommy looks through all your candy to make sure none of it is poisoned." The candy bar dropped into her bag with a small thunk. I was surprised to see just how fat all their plastic grocery bags were. They each thanked me in turn, then turned and headed down the sidewalk to the street. I watched them, a smile on my face that I couldn’t contain. At the end of the sidewalk, the blue M&M turned and waved, then disappeared beyond the light of the porch.

* * *

I smacked my lips with pleasure as my head hit the pillow, so soft and wonderful after a long day of sparring and trying to make students who were trying for the next belt, better than they ever thought possible. My trials were in January for my fourth degree, and I was nervous.

Without another thought, I escaped to the darkness of sleep.

For a while.

Ring… ring… ring…

"Wha, no, I don’t wann, shit!" My eyes popped open remembering suddenly that my mom was on the late shift, and praying that nothing had gone wrong. "Hello?" I nearly barked into the phone.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" I jerked away from the loud voice, staring at the receiver in my hand like it was a snake.

"Who is this?"

"Star child, of course." The words were slurred, but I could tell the speaker was trying her best to keep them straight.

"Who?"

"Anli, it’s me." My brows drew, but then it hit me.

"Haley?"

"Uh huh." I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I glanced at the clock; two-thirty four in the morning. "Anli, I need a fav, fa, favor." Sounding like her tongue had grown about four sizes too big, I chuckled.

"Okay. What’s that?"

"I didn’t mean to get so thrunk. My ma and pa, don’t wanna see them like that." I chuckled again. Wow, some seriously great blackmail material right here. "Please, pick us up an find me a bed?"

I glanced at the clock again, closing my eyes with a silent groan. I just want bed! With a sigh I agreed. Luckily mom and her best friend, Sandra, carpool when they both work the nightshift, so I had the car.

"Thanks, buckaroo." Haley managed around her apparently monstrous tongue.

I hung up the phone and flicked on my lava lamp on my nightstand, sending out a bright, orange glow to the room as I got dressed in a pair of flannel pants and a sweatshirt, pulling on shoes as I headed downstairs. I could see the snow coming down as I opened the garage door, a small drift piled against the large door. I always loved to plow through those, making nice, readable tracks in the snow.

The dome light popped on when I unlocked the door, and climbed in. Brrrr. Quickly I got the engine going, and turned the heat on high, though it probably wouldn’t warm up until I got to the house where the party was. The night was so still as I drove down the streets of my neighborhood, the houses dark and quite except for the occasional porch light or upstairs lamp. I ran a hand through my hair, which I imagined was sticking up in interesting ways as short hair tends to do, and thought about where I was going. Why me? Out of all the people at Winston that must have a car, Haley called me.

I began to leave the city lights behind me, the party at an old farmhouse that belonged to somebody’s grandparents, that was out in the middle of nowhere, no lights, very few street signs. Why in the world was I doing this? It was nearly three in the morning, I was cold, tired, and damn near lost. I glanced at the paper where I had hastily written out the address and directions a very drunk Haley had given me, and looked to see if I could connect the dots somewhere with the landmarks I had been given in lieu of actual streets.

"Haley, you are so dead if I die out here." I muttered as I slowed the car down when a building popped up out of the darkness. Okay, that must be the barn with the white sign over the door. Well, at least I’m on the right track. She said to look for a massive bonfire, and I’d have the place.

The snow continued to fall at an alarming rate, looking like we’d have quite the white blanket by morning. With only my headlights illuminating my way, it was incredible, like flying through space in hyper drive as the white flakes flew at the car, bouncing off the windshield, only to be replaced by another as they disappeared into the night.

I drove on, the heat finally beginning to kick in, so I turned on the radio. Grimacing, I quickly changed the channel from my mom’s station, cow dung, USA. I just wasn’t a fan of country music. No one can have that horrible of a life all the time. I mean, your wife left you, your dog died, but crapped on the rug before he did. I don’t buy it.

Switching through, I landed on the beginning of some song that I didn’t recognize, so I left it. As long as it wasn’t Britney Spears or rap, I was cool with it. Well, and there was no twang. The woman began to sing of undying love and desire, the power of it all and how it took over her body. Rolling my eyes, a smirk made its way across my face as I changed the station yet again.

Up ahead I saw something glowing, and a smile replaced the smirk. Looks like a bonfire if I’ve ever seen one. And it looked so warm. There were few cars there, yet tracks everywhere. Everyone seemed to have the same idea of getting home. As I got further into the yard, I saw four figures huddled together, and I couldn’t help but chuckle, knowing they were the drunk quartet that I was here for.

I pulled up beside them, and pulled to a stop, rolling the passenger window down, and leaning over the seat.

"You ladies need a lift?" They looked up, and puffs of white breath blew out as they smiled in their excitement. I wondered if the cold had sobered them up at all.

"Hey." Haley yanked open the front door, and the other three stuffed their costumed selves into the back seat, trying to fit with their huge M&M costumes making them all about twice their usual size. It was quite a sight. "Thanks, buddy," Haley slurred, half her face still painted blue, the other side, who knew what had happened to the make-up. I didn’t really want to think about it.

"No problem. Everyone in?" I looked behind my shoulder to the back seat to see the other three chocolate candies huddled again, well, as best they could. I turned back around before busting out in a full laugh, and got us heading home.

I turned the radio up a little to absorb the silence, and the heat up to warm up my cargo. If only I had one of those nifty little pine tree things hung on my rearview mirror; the stench of alcohol was palpable. Everyone behaved for the most part until Kelly decided she really liked the song on the radio, and decided that the need to sing along, loudly and badly, was just too overwhelming for her. That in itself would not have been so bad, but when the other three chimed in, I wanted to pull over to the side of the road and leave them for snowmen.

Glancing over at Haley, I saw her mouth open wide, eyes squeezed shut as she added her own wail. She looked at me, her mouth slamming shut, and the cutest, most innocent grin replacing the notes.

"Hi."

"Hello." I smiled back.

"How are ya?" Chuckling, I nodded.

"Doing okay. How about yourself? Did you have fun at the party?" I glanced at her again, not daring to take my eyes off the icy streets for minute. I had been driving for exactly five months, and didn’t feel real comfortable in this sort of weather.

"I did. Shush!" she yelled, startling me, but her buddies all stopped their warbling, looking at her with stricken eyes. For just a moment I almost felt bad, but for just a moment. My ears had stopped ringing. "Some guy thought I was a peanut M&M, and wanted to know how many licks it took to get to the peanutty center." She began to giggle. "I tol’ him that I wasn’t a Tootsie Pop." This, apparently, was quite funny for her as she erupted into a fit of laughter.

I bit my lip to not laugh and encourage her silliness; she was doing quite fine on her own. She seemed a little more sober then when she’d called at two-thirty, but still pretty gone.

"Okay, Meghan, home, sweet home." I looked back at the three Stooges to see all three sound asleep. "Shit." I turned to Haley. "Stay." The night was freezing as I hurried to the back door, pulling it open, and having to catch Meghan before she fell out onto the street. I strained under her weight. She definitely didn’t look like she weighed this much. "Meghan?" With a groan I pushed her back into the car, lightly slapping her cheeks to wake her. Dark eyes opened, her orange make-up mostly rubbed off to reveal her smooth, dark skin. She looked at me, the whites of her eyes nearly glowing in the darkness of the car. She smiled, big and sloppy.

"Hey,"

"Hey, there. Come on, you’re home."

"Oh, yay!" She clapped her hands together, pushing herself up on shaky legs, using me and the car for balance as she nearly fell on her butt on a patch of ice. I helped her to the front door, grabbing her purse from her to dig her house keys out.

"Here you go, Meghan."

"Oh, thanks, lady." She smiled again, taking the keys from me, trying to find the right one. Finally, miraculously, she did, and got the door open, nearly falling inside the house. At that point I didn’t care. She was at home and safe. Let her get her own ass to bed. I hurried back to the car to drop off the rest of the girls.