⋆ ⋅ ☆

"Why'd you dress as a princess when you know you are my queen?" Cesar asked as Cora strutted down the sidewalk, the two meeting in front of Ruby's house.  A large grin adorned his face, energy seeping into Cora's bubble.

"Smooth," Cora bit her lip.

"Shut in!" Cesar yelled as Cora closed the door behind them, following her man into the room.  It wasn't long before she could sense all the tension in the room.

"But I thought you were with Oscar," was the first thing a worried Ruby said.  Cora furrowed her brows for a split moment, before ultimately realizing this much be another ploy to get at Olivia.  Then, she rolled her eyes.

"Good to see you too," Cesar said, sounding equal as unpleased as Cora felt.

"Yeah, hey," Cora added, ruffling Ruby's head of hair only enough to make him agitated.  "Miss you, peluche."

Ruby took no time swatting away Cora's hands.  "No, it's fine. It's just—" Ruby sighed.  "Take a seat. Any seat."   He quickly jumped when Cesar tried sitting down on the chair to the left.  "Not the love seat.  And don't block my scented candle."

Cesar settled for the seat on the far right of the couch, Cora standing behind him, draping her arms over the head of the couch and resting on his shoulders.  Cesar smiled like a puppy, absolutely enamoured with her touch.

"Are we not going to talk about your guys' killer costumes?" Andres said, earning smiles from Cesar and Cora.  Andres sat in the middle between Monse and Cesar.  "I mean, Julius Cesar and a princess.  Charming and yet fitting."

"Gracias, Andres," Cora flashed her BFF a toothy grin.

"What do you think?" Olivia came out of the bathroom wearing a cowgirl outfit.  Cora smiled at the brunette, immediately thinking of something to say seeing as everyone in the room was quiet.

"Looking good," Cora said, a small blush settling on Olivia's cheeks from the compliment.  "Save a horse, ride a cowgirl."

Ruby turned to Cora with wide eyes, completely confused at why she would say something like that.  "That looks nice," Ruby finally said.

"So, when are we going out?" Olivia asked.

"Never. Trick-or-treating in Freeridge is a no-go," Ruby quickly said.

"Why?"

Ruby sighed.  "You might wanna sit down.  I'll be brief," he started talking once Olivia sat down next to him.  "In 2012, Prophets rolled up on us.  Glocks to our heads and snatched our bags," Olivia looked to the other five in disbelief, but Andres and Jamal didn't notice because they were on their phones. Cesar and Monse softly nodded.  "2013; we were kissing pavement all night.  Caught in a drive-by.  That night, we lost our candy and perhaps our innocence."

"Wow, I had no idea that happened to you guys," Cora added.  "Where was I that year?" she thought aloud, though she really didn't expect an answer.

"That was the year your mom tried to take you to Anaheim," Andres reminded her.

Cora shuddered.  "Just when I had erased that woman from my memory."

Ruby nodded, sadly.  "Here the trick-or-treat threat level is always red."

"That blows," Olivia said. "So we're stuck inside?"

"Brentwood," Jamal looked up from his phone.

"Scary movies, artisan pizza, and most of all, new experiences," Ruby was going on about how great it was to spend the holiday inside.

"You're right.  We should go out," Cesar chimes in, slightly surprising Cora.  "I'm feeling like this could be our last Halloween trick-or-treating.  And frankly, it's feeling a little cramped in here. You feel me?"

"I vote for Brentwood.  It's safe, rich, and I bet they've got full-size candy bars," Jamal added.

Cora smiled at him, clearly able to see he had some Wikipedia page pulled up on his phone whilst he stood next to her. "I can roll with that."

"Shut-ins are tradition.  And I ordered the pizza.  Did I mention it's artisanal?" Ruby insisted.

"Why can't we go somewhere else?" Olivia whined.

"Brentwood," Jamal whispered.

"There's gotta be other places,"

"Brentwood," Jamal said again, Andres covering up a laugh with a cough.

"How about Brentwood?" Olivia suggested.  It was insane how much they ignored Jamal.

"I'm down."

"Good call, Olivia."

"It's a bad call," Ruby whined. "It's a great idea.  It's just Brentwood's super far and we would have to take public transpo, which sucks."

"You've never been on the train," Cesar said with furrowed eyebrows.  Cora stifled a laugh.

"Sorry, guys, but I don't know how we'd even get there," Ruby ignored Cesar.

"All good," Jamal looked up from his phone again. "I got us a hook-up."

⋆ ⋅ ☆

Ruby's grandmother was chuckling as the six kids took turns practically jumping outside the car. "Buena suerte!"

"We don't need luck," Ruby leaned down to look at his abuelita through the window of the passengers side.  "It's Brentwood. Nothing bad happens here."

"How about OJ?" Cesar asked, taking Cora's hand into his own.  "No offense, Jamal."

"Oh, I'm good," Jamal said, looking around. "We don't claim him."   Cora let out a loud laugh.

"So, we should be ready around ten o'clock," Ruby continued talking to his grandma.

"Good for you, but I have plans," she said before taking off, leaving the six kids alone.

"We are not in Freeridge anymore."

"We've got lots of ground to cover, so to maximize candy efficiency, let's divide and conquer, then split our booty," Ruby said.

"Great idea."

"Olivia and I will go this way. Meet back here around ten?" they all nodded.  "Later."

"You wanna trick-or-treat together one last time, hermana?" Andres asked Cora.

"You're gonna make me cry thinking about it," Cora sadly smiled at her oldest friend, wrapping her arm through his.

"Jamal!" Cesar and Monse both yelled at the same time.  Cesar and Monse were having a hard time getting along ever since the rumours about them hooking up this summer came to light.

"On second thought, I'll go with Ruby and Olivia."

"On third thought, you should go with Jamal and Monse," Ruby insisted.

"On fourth thought, we're good," Monse said, linking her arm in Jamal's. "Come on."

"I don't like this," Cora leaned into Andres and whispered.

He nodded.  "I get what you mean.  Let me try and make it better," he squeezed her forearm slightly before clearing his throat and speaking louder.  "On another thought, I'll go with Monse and Jamal so I don't end up fifth wheeling."  Andres winked at Cora.

Cesar shrugged, turning to his girlfriend. "Alright then."

"Fifth wheeling?" Olivia asked.

"You know," Cora said, ignoring the warning look on Ruby's face. "Cesar and I, you and Ruby."

Oh boy, was it going to be a rough night.

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[ CORA AND ANDRES are the ultimate brotp i miss them sm 🧍‍♀️ ]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
1,160 words

TRANSLATIONS
abuelita — grandmother
peluche — teddy (bear)

PUBLISHED december 2, 2021
EDITED never