Time Warp: Better Act Now (Greg)

Greg was more than happy to take the young and spry Josh under his wing, and like with everyone else he encountered, was not afraid to show his true colours. He fit right into the group and the blonde couldn’t help but notice how Josh was gravitating towards Sean. So no Josh, nobody noticed.

Walking into the shop, Greg sent a wink to the guy behind the counter and started pointing around at the various things, excited about some of the decorating supplies that were on sale. Weren’t the big sales meant to be lower in price after the holiday? Hmm. He wasn’t complaining though

“Of course there’s a theme,” he said, taking a strange mask off the rack, “Halloween. Oh that rhymes!” He laughed and handed the werewolf mask to the other boy and gestured towards his face. “This should cover up all that, no one will know who you ar.” Of course, he was kidding, and he hoped Josh knew that by now. Really, the brunette could wear whatever he wanted, so long as he came to the party.

“What do you think about bobbing for apples? You think this was do?” Greg was on the other side of the aisle already, looking at a large inflated pumpkin which was on sale, a thoughtful hand to his face. The staff member approached then, seeing as they weren’t just a couple of kids being morons – they were actually going to buy something.

“Can I help you?” He asked. Greg looked up and smiled at the guy. “Oh probably,” he said, “but I’m thinking about buying this gadget at the moment.”

Greg beamed, “A masquerade! Now that is a marvellous idea!” He said, glad he had prompted the thought. Yes Josh said it, but technically it was his idea too. “We’ll dress up, maybe have some food, a dinner masquerade!” He laughed at Josh’s next suggestion, not willing to take credit for such a scheme. “People won’t know who we are when they see us, that’s the point, after that I think you’d want to know who showed up, so we can kick out the people we didn’t invite and all that.” He said, trying to explain. He had never hosted a masquerade, or ever been to one, but he could act as though he had.

“Well that settles that,” he said, glancing between Josh and the other guy he was hitting on, and it wasn’t the handkerchief he was looking at. “Do you have any other ideas?” He addressed Josh once again. The clerk retreated behind the safety of his desk as Greg glanced around the remained of the store, passing his fingers through his short hair. He just recently had it cut and it still felt weird now that it wasn’t touching his neck anymore.

“We need more party games,” he found a large pin the tail on the donkey, which he imagined would be a lot of fun when intoxicated. “Food, bobbing, all we need is a couple cute guys and we have ourselves a party,” Greg smirked at Josh, “naturally I’ll invite Sean and we’ll see who else is interested.” He passed yet another look at the clerk, “Maybe he’d be interested?” He asked Josh. The odds didn’t seem to be in his favour as the guy shifted uncomfortably under the stare of Mr. Strickland.

“Aw don’t worry so much,” Greg said, patting Josh on the shoulder in a brotherly way, “it will be fun, you just have to be more excited about it.” Greg knew Josh was a little edgy around people he didn’t know, like when they had first met. Really he had nothing to worry about, Josh carried himself just as well as anyone else at school, he just needed a little push sometimes. The party would be just the remedy, not that Josh would remember much of anything, let alone people by the time Greg was done with him.

“Okay okay wise guy, let me rephrase that,” Greg said, getting the inflatable pumpkin, one that was still in the box of course, “we should kick out the bullies, I can think of a handful of people that would come just to make a mess and cause a fight.” Namely those that didn’t like his and Sean’s lifestyle and didn’t understand protesting. When Greg threw a party, he wanted to have fun. If he wanted to fight he would go to the bar.

Greg was unphased by Josh’s comment. “Girls, right. Daphne will be there,” he said offhandedly. He wasn’t much interested in girls, although Josh seemed to be. It never occurred to Greg to talk about Sean’s sexuality, which had been brought up pretty early in their friendship because Greg was not a shy person. He found Sean pretty attractive, but had decided they were better friends than anything else, even though most people thought they were dating or had dated.

Looking over at the clerk, his questioning only egged Greg on. “He’s right you know.” The blonde could be a little oblivious sometimes. He would’ve hit on the guy even if he wasn’t sporting a hanky. “Does that mean you’re coming?” The young man put a few items on the counter as the clerk shied away, but he was smiling a bit as he rang through the purchases: the inflatable pumpkin, some balloons and streamers, and a mixtape of ‘scary’ music.

Taking the bags, Greg left the store hoping Josh was in tow. He was smiling like an idiot, looking at the receipt which had the clerk, or Bailey’s, phone number written at the bottom. “I knew I’d sweet talk him into it,” he was saying to Josh. They had a bit of a walk ahead of them back to dorms.

“So are you helping me set this stuff up?” Greg smiled a Josh. He wasn’t interested in Josh either, he had his own opinions who he should date, but that seemed a bit out of the question now.

“Halloween is one of my favourites,” Greg said, tucking the receipt into his back pocket, “why, you don’t like Halloween? I just scored a number for its cause.” The blonde liked parties, that was for sure, but he was a pretty happy go lucky guy in general. He didn’t judge or hold grudges and the most offending he did was for the Radicals, and since he was entitled to have his own opinion, if that opinion offended others, it really wasn’t his problem.

“By anyone else, you mean Sean?” Greg asked pointedly, raising his eyebrows. Josh was certainly throwing the blonde through a loop. He seemed interested with women and at the same time, strangely obsessed with his best friend. Perhaps he was bi-curious? Maybe he was just reading too much into this. “He’s not going to be in our room, but you could leave him a love note if you want to,” he said, placing the bag containing the pumpkin in Josh’s hands, “he’ll be glad the decorations will be done anyways.”

He was going to ask Josh about Sean if he Josh didn’t freely say something about him soon.

Greg managed a smile. “Better than Christmas anyhow.” He said with a nod. Anything was better than remembering his godforsaken family. He had dealt with their traditions for so long, why couldn’t they indulge him, hell even love him as their son? He hadn’t seen them since coming to college. But enough about that.

Fiddling with the receipt in his pocket, Greg pulled out the prize and handed it to Josh. “Don’t throw it away or anything. See, right there,” he flicked the paper where Bailey’s name was, “that’s his name and number, and he already knows where the party is.” Greg smiled. It would be an even better time now that he had a date. No one who knew him would be surprised that it was a total stranger. Things didn’t get dull that way at least.

“Well if you knew that already, why bother asking?” Greg asked with a coy smile on his face. Josh might as well have asked if Sean was going to be there, then it might not have been so suspicious. He had much to learn from old Greg. “Oh sure he does, he’s just busy being a doctor or something,” Greg said with a wave of his hand. He really didn’t know, it wasn’t something they had touched on. “He’ll be at the party though,” the blonde scratched his neck, “you can ask him for a dance.”

"Just wait, day after Halloween, all the supermarkets will have their Christmas stuff out and ready for buying," he was a bemused smirk. Greg wasn't sure what kind of people were standing around waiting for the Christmas things to go on sale. He got tired of looking at it, who wants to buy tinsel in November? "I think I'll leave some coal in strategic places in the super mall, maybe a few of the guy's dorms," he said with a nod. That would teach him who the Grinch was.

A very not-Jewish Grinch.

Greg laughed as he started to unpack things from their never ending boxes and plastic wrappings. "I know, I was only teasing you," he said with a wink, shaking his head as he continued laughing. Sean wasn't in med school, but that didn't stop Greg from telling his tall tales until Josh spilled his true feelings. Which would come out eventually.

He sighed, but was still smiling. "People usually dance with people they like," he said, the inflatable pumpkin unraveling in his hands comically, "you like him. He'd probably dance with you over Karen any day." He said with a genuine smile. He wasn't playing cruel this time, he was trying to be encouraging and perhaps even play matchmaker, which would be nice to have under his belt.

"I'll be dancing with Bailey anyways, don't want Sean to feel left out do we?" He asked before changing the subject. Greg wasn't going to keep pushing the subject, or Josh might shy away from him completely. "I still haven't decided who should get the beers and coolers, obviously not you, you're too young." He said, wiping his hands on the sides of his shirt. "But you could help with other things if you want, snacks are always good." Greg wasn't known for planning killer parties for nothing. If everyone pulled their weight, this would be successful.