Halloween Treat

This one's for the Halloween 2020 Contest. Your votes and Comments, as always, would be much appreciated.

This is a bit a slow burn, and a little longer than what I normally write, too. I hope you enjoy it!

GABE

I really loved the fall, it had to be my favorite season. With the heat of the summer over and the days a little cooler, but with no snow to shovel and the trees turning to rich shades of red, yellow and orange, it felt like the most perfect time of the year. And I also enjoyed the fun of picking out a pumpkin to carve, for the trick or treaters to enjoy when they came around later.

Hoping they'd be the right size for my nonna's front porch, I hauled two big, fat pumpkins out of my car trunk that I'd been lucky enough to find at the Farmer's Market before they were all gone. And now I just hoped I had the patterns she wanted to carve them, still stuffed in my jean's pocket.

And later, ready for movie night, I had two Halloween classics; Young Frankenstein and Shaun of the Dead all set to watch, when I got back to my condo. Now all I had to do was carve these two up, have a quick coffee with my grandmother, see if she needed anything and then I could go.

Never that big into parties, especially anything where I had to dress up and look goofy, I was looking forward to just kicking back with a couple of pizzas and some cold ones, and having a few laughs with my brothers.

But then I noticed the sleek, little red Toyota parked out in front of her house, and figured she had company.

No surprise, since Nonna just loved to have people around, especially family. And I liked to drop by for coffee and to check on her as often as I could, especially since my grandfather died suddenly with a heart attack a few years back, leaving her on own.

I'd just finished sweeping away some leaves that had blown onto her front porch, and had barely set foot in the house, when Nonna threw her arms around me and pulled me in for a couple of big smacking kisses on both cheeks. She looked past me smiling, when she noticed the pumpkins I'd left on her porch. Then, making me feel like I was still a little kid, she patted my cheek like she always did. "Oh, good, you got nice big ones. You bring them in after and carve them up, okay?"

I smiled back at her, looking like she always did in her apron, standard black dress, and with her silver hair up in a neat little bun. "Sure, Nonna."

When I noticed her best friend Margherita sitting at the table in the dining room that was normally reserved for company, of course I went and gave her a kiss on each cheek, too. "How you doing, Mrs. Mancuso, you keeping okay?"

But then I got an eerie feeling when I noticed the sly smile she shot my grandmother before she answered. "I'm doing fine, thanks. And you're looking good, Gabe." When I looked back and recognized the devious twinkle in my grandmother's eye, my spidey senses started tingling, sure they had to be up to something, though I had no idea what. And knowing these two, I was almost afraid to find out.

I figured out pretty quick though, when I looked past my nonna and recognized Margherita's granddaughter Lianna walking towards us.

But, Holy smokes she was hot, and way prettier than I remembered. And I've got to say she looked pretty cute dressed up in a sparkly pink ball gown, with all that thick, honey-blonde hair curling down her back.

Nonna followed my gaze over her shoulder and her face broke into a smile when she saw Lianna standing in the doorway in her Princess gown. "Lianna, you remember my grandson Gabe? And I'm sure you remember Lianna, Gabe. Isn't she beautiful, all grown up?"

We both rolled our eyes, trying not to laugh as it dawned on us that this was a set up. I just nodded and said, "Hey, Lianna, good to see you again."

I could see the amusement in her eyes when she nodded back and replied, "Yeah, you, too."

Margherita explained why she was in the big, poofy dress. "Lianna's got a costume party tonight and her dress was a little big, so your nonna offered to take it in for her." Then she heaved a dramatic sigh, shaking her head. "And she's still got no one to go with, so I'm hoping she won't have to go on her own."

Though I knew full well what she was hinting at, I didn't say a word, because I had plans for the night that didn't include escorting anyone to a Halloween party, no matter how pretty she was.

Then I watched as Lianna stood patiently in front of my grandmother, who was busy tugging at her dress to see where it needed altering.

My nonna worked all her life as a seamstress from the time she was a kid, until she retired only last year. But she still liked to feel useful and insisted on working on anything we needed. So I knew darn well if I had my pants hemmed at a tailor and she ever found out, she'd not only be hurt, but she'd give me an earful, so I brought her anything that needed sewing, just to keep the peace.

Nonna's old pin cushion sat on the table as she stood with a few pins between her lips, making the adjustments to Lianna's dress, first pulling in the waistline, since she had a tiny little waist and I could see the dress looked a little loose on her. Then she adjusted the bodice and my eyes flared when I saw her perky breasts being pushed up at the neckline, giving me a nice show of cleavage.

Once nonna had pinned everything in place, she stepped back, looked her over and asked, "How's that? Not too tight?"

Lianna took in a breath and let it out, which had her breasts swelling, and me fighting back a groan, as she nodded and said, "No, its fine."

I'm not sure when she'd grown into such a beautiful woman, since I'd known her since she was born and always thought of her as a kid -- at least until now. I was almost thirty, and had to be four or five years older than her, which would make her about twenty-five. And she really seemed to have blossomed since the last time I'd seen her. Could be while I'd been off at college going for my engineering degree, or when I'd been working out of town that she'd matured into an absolute babe.

But I knew one thing, no matter how attractive she was, there was no way I could ever ask her out. If I even so much as suggested we go for a coffee, I knew my nonna would be doing a happy dance and offering to make her wedding dress. And considering how close knit our families were -- since our nonnas knew each other from when they were kids back in the old country -- if anything ever went wrong between us we'd never be able to live it down. So no matter how pretty or how hot she was, it was never going to happen.

Once nonna was satisfied with the adjustments, she nodded and told her, "You go upstairs and change and leave the dress in my sewing room, and after we eat I'll take care of it. It won't take long."

After Lianna pressed a kiss to her cheek and thanked her, before I knew what was happening, nonna and Margherita were hauling an absolute feast out of the kitchen. As I helped them find room for it all on the table, I shook my head, wondering why she'd gone all out. "Nonna, I thought you said this was just going to be coffee."

She just laughed and patted my cheek as she put down the platter of homemade pizza, beside the bowls of pickled mushroom and eggplant that she made every year. "It's just a snack, to go with the coffee and biscotti, nothing much."

The thing about Italian grandmothers is that nothing makes them happier than feeding their family. Oh, and apparently helping their grandkids find their perfect mate, judging from this little scheme she'd hatched with her friend.

I chuckled when I saw Lianna walk back into the dining room, looking over the table, wide-eyed. "Maybe we should have waited to measure my dress until after I'd had lunch. Wow, that's a lot of food."

I nodded as I looked over the spread. "No kidding."

I noticed too, that even just in body hugging jeans and a sweater, she looked amazing. Her red ribbed sweater really showed off the perfection of her breasts, and she had to have the tightest ass I'd ever seen. Nonna was right she had grown into one hell of a beautiful woman. A woman I knew I could never get to know, especially considering that she was practically family.

Nonna took our plates and gave us each a big slice of piping hot homemade lasagna, handed them back, and with a wave of her hand told us to help ourselves to the mountain of food on the table. And there was just so much to choose from: salad, grilled veggies, pizza, homemade salametti, sopressata, capicollo and three different kinds of cheeses, olives, pickles, and of course a big round loaf of crusty Calabrese bread that was on the table at every meal, along with a carafe of full-bodied red wine, that she made every year with the help of her sons and two brothers.

All I knew was I wouldn't need anything else to eat today, not after feasting like this.

Lianna and I were smirking at each other across the table as we ate, which drew my attention to her long-lashed hazel eyes, a golden brown in the center ringed with green, so pretty and unique that I knew I'd never seen a color quite like them. And I decided pretty quick that really liked the way they lit up when she smiled.

Glancing over at me proudly, my nonna cleared her throat, patted Lianna's hand and started boasting, making me roll my eyes. "You know Gabe's got his engineering degree, and now he's got a really good job with the city as a building inspector, and he already got a promotion, too."

Lianna nodded, looking across the table at me. "Wow that's great, Gabe. I know a degree doesn't come with a guarantee of a job anymore, so I'm glad it worked out for you."

Then it was Lianna's turn to be embarrassed when Margherita piped up and turned to look at me. "And my Lianna's just passed the bar exam, and wants to go into family law. She graduated top of her class in law school. So, she's a very smart girl, with a good head on her shoulders."

After I'd congratulated Lianna, we both sat and smiled as the grandmothers basically tried to sell us on each other.

But I gotta say, I was impressed; beauty and brains, and pretty good sense of humor, too. But I remembered as a kid that she always had her nose in a book, and was never into video games or anything silly, like most kids her age, so I always knew she was smart. I can still remember her at about twelve reading a book on string theory and trying to explain it to me, but I laughed telling her it was over my head, while I was amazed that she not only understood it, but was into reading something as complex as that, when she was still just a kid.

It just felt so weird to have our grandmothers playing matchmaker for us, and I knew she had to be as uncomfortable as I was. Guess since I was turning thirty in a few months, the family was starting to think it was time I settled down. And obviously they thought that Lianna would be the perfect match, if this not so subtle set up was any indication.

Still, we just ate and smiled at each across the table, I guess deciding just to enjoy the lunch and let the ladies dream.

After we'd finished, as I was helping carry in the remnants of our feast, I noticed nonna already had some newspaper spread out on her kitchen table ready for the pumpkin carving. She took the half-filled platters from me and shooed me out of the kitchen. "You don't need to worry about cleaning up. Just go get the pumpkins and you and Lianna can carve one each."

I looked over at Lianna, and mouthed, "It's okay, you don't have to."

But she just shrugged and came over and took a look at the patterns I'd set on the table. One was a witch with a big pointy hat, and the other a skeleton, and both pretty intricate. "Wow, those look they'd be pretty hard to do. I usually just go with the easy triangle eyes and nose and a gap-toothed smile."

"Actually it's really not that hard if you tape the pattern to the pumpkin and then poke holes in the paper so you can see where to cut. Let me get the pumpkins and I'll show you."

I noticed when I came back in with them that our grandmothers had made themselves scarce. "Can you believe those two?" Lianna whispered, shaking her head.

"And funny thing is, they don't think we know what they're up to."

But then when she looked up at me and smiled into my eyes, I couldn't tell you why, but I actually felt a little rush of awareness like I don't think I'd ever felt before. And as I stood staring at her lush pink lips, for I don't know how long, I knew if she was anyone else, I'd be pulling her in for kiss right about now.

But I nixed that idea pretty quick, gave my head a shake, set the pumpkins on the table, and got busy and started to cut some holes in the top, to empty them out, before I picked up the tape and began to attach the patterns. Because I knew there was no way I could so much as lay a finger on her, without things going sideways for both our families.

And we both knew if I so much as kissed her, they'd assume that was it and we'd be getting married.

"So, you're going to the party on your own," I asked, as I handed her one of the sharp little poking tools.

She nodded. "Yeah, I was supposed to go with a girlfriend from college, but her boyfriend flew in from Paris and surprised her, so she wanted to be with him for the weekend, instead. Can't really blame her, I'd have stayed home too, if I were her."

I don't know why, but I was kind of glad, by the sounds of it, that she didn't have a boyfriend to take her to this thing.

Then I went to go around behind her to get the bowl for the pumpkin guts, she stepped back and I bumped right into her. So I grabbed her by the hips to steady her and we both looked into each other's eyes and my breath hitched seeing just how gorgeous she looked up close with her smooth porcelain skin, and a dusting of tiny freckles across her nose. And as she parted her lips with her breasts starting to heave, I just could tear my eyes off her sexy mouth. Then my hands, apparently with a mind of their own, not only stayed on her hips, but slid a little lower till I realized I was brushing my thumbs over her tight little backside. And when it dawned on me what I was doing and let go of her, we both just stood and stared at each other, I think a little in shock. By then the air was so thick with sexual tension that you could cut it with a knife, which had me tempted to just go for it and have a taste of her lips.

As I blew out a breath and stepped back, I also started to think that I didn't like the idea of her going alone to this party, where anyone could hit on her. She was just so pretty and had an innocence about her that would make her the perfect target for some creep out looking to get laid. I had two younger sisters that I looked out for, so maybe that's why I opened my big mouth and heard myself saying, "You know if you wanted, I could go to the party with you."

She looked surprised. "Really? I wouldn't want you to feel like you had to, because my grandmother tried to guilt you into taking me."

Though she'd given me a chance to back out and change my mind, instead of taking it like I knew I should, I just shrugged and said, "It might be fun. So I'm game if you are." Though I'd never admit to her how much I hated dressing up in a costume.

LIANNA

I couldn't believe this was happening. Gabe had to be the sweetest guy in the world and definitely the hottest. And now because of my interfering grandmother, I think she might have just talked him into going out with me.

I'd always had a secret huge crush on him, mostly because he was nice enough to talk to me from the time I was little, and didn't just ignore me like most people did, treating me like a nerd.

But as I looked into his big, gorgeous brown eyes, I felt a little guilty. He probably had plans for tonight, and was only being polite. Though I wasn't really looking forward to going on my own, I hated the idea that he'd only asked because he was feeling pressured.

"Are you sure you don't have any plans for tonight?"

He shrugged. "Not really. I was just going to watch a couple of movies, but they'll keep, and Halloween's only once a year, right?"

"But have you got a costume?"

He looked thoughtful for a minute and nodded. "I think I can figure something out." Then he handed me his phone. "So why don't you give me your number and I'll pick you up later."

I took his phone, and as I added my cell number, I looked at him and winced, when it dawned on me what we were doing. "Just do me a favor, and don't tell the nonnas that we're going to this party together, or you know how they'll get, thinking we're practically engaged."

He laughed. "Yeah, I know. I was thinking the same thing. So I won't say a word."

After Gabe helped me carve the pumpkin into a really amazing witch, and he'd finished his even trickier skeleton, I thought they looked incredible, like works of art. Seems he never did anything half way, and I liked that about him. He could have just taken the easy way out and carved a couple triangle eyes and two mouths in each one, to get it over with. But he'd not only taken the time to stop and pick them up for his grandmother, but took the time to make sure they'd look nice on her front porch for the trick or treaters to enjoy.

"So what do you think?" he asked, looking pleased as we both stood back to admire our handy work.

I smiled up at him. "I think I'm going to have to up my game next year and get some patterns, they look so good."

Once he'd set a couple of candles in them, he carried them both outside to set on the porch, while my nonna and I got the coffee started and put out the sweets in the dining room.

Over coffee, Gabe and I sat across from each other again, and he seemed to be enjoying the cookies. Finally, reaching for another one, he said, "Wow, these are so good. You outdid yourself today, Nonna."

Both nonnas smiled, and my nonna told him, "Actually, Gabe, Lianna made all the biscotti. She's really good in the kitchen, isn't she?"

He flashed me a smile. "She sure is, these are excellent, Lianna," he said, before taking another bite of the almond and cranberry ones that I liked, too.

I tried on my dress before I left, and everyone agreed it fit perfectly, especially Gabe, judging by the way his eyes flared as he muttered, "Wow," looking me over from head to toe. I thanked his grandmother for doing such a nice job and offered to pay her, but of course she wouldn't hear of it.

With our care packages in hand, after his nonna insisted we take something home, we all said our goodbyes and Gabe gave me a sly little wink, to let me know he'd be seeing me later, before he pulled away in his sleek black Audi.

As soon as he'd left, my nonna had barely got into my car when she started up, singing his praises again. "Gee, that Gabe's such a nice boy, and so good to his nonna. He's got a good job, drives a nice car, and he's got his own condo, all paid for, too. And he's a really good looking guy, don't you think?"

I just rolled my eyes. "Yeah, he's quite the catch."

Then she surprised me when her tone turned serious and she leaned in and looked me right in the eyes. "Then maybe you should think about trying to catch him before someone else does."

I laughed and patted her hand, sure that if she knew we were going to the party together tonight she'd be calling the priest to book the church.

But I had a feeling with a guy as good looking as Gabe, with all that thick dark hair, that killer body, terrific smile and all the rest he had going for him, that he'd never look at me as more than sort of a cousin, because I just wasn't in his league.

I remember seeing him, a few years back at a family party with his date, a gorgeous, tall, reed-thin dark-haired beauty that I imagined from the looks of her was probably a model, which seemed to be the type of woman he went for. So there was no way he'd ever notice me as a woman; much less someone he'd be attracted to.