“Maaaagieee,” Kevin whispered, brushing her hair away from her face.
Maggie snuggled further under the covers, attempting to push him away with a sleepy hand.
“Come on, sweetheart. You’ve got to get up. It’s a big day today. Halloween, you know.”
“Go ‘way,” she mumbled. “Issa holiday. No school. Sleep late.”
“All right, sleepyhead. You’re right. It is a holiday and you don’t have school. But you can’t sleep late. I’ll turn the radio on for you. I’m going to order breakfast. What do you want?”
Maggie mumbled something incoherent. Kevin grinned, deciding to have some fun.
“All right, then. You want an omelet made from tarantula eggs. Fried possum sausage on the side of a big helping of turtle juice. Did I get that right?”
“Mm-hmm,” she murmured, trying to get back to sleep.
Somewhere, obviously in her mind, she thought, she heard familiar voices coming from the radio. What a nightmare, she sleepily considered, as the show became all too well known.
“It’s seven o’clock in the morning, drink my coffee, hurry up, got to, got to, got to get to work on time.”
Maggie was wide-awake then, hurrying to turn off the radio. In her haste, she knocked over the lamp. The noise brought Kevin into the room.
“What are you doing? You do know torture is unconstitutional, don’t you?” She demanded, sitting up in the bed.
“I really have no idea of what you’re talking about,” Kevin said, sitting beside her.
“That!” She sputtered, pointing to the radio.
“Oh. The desk clerk said that program is syndicated from Birmingham. I thought you might like to hear a little of the home-town talent.”
“Kevin,” she said, tone and gaze serious, “don’t ever make me listen to them again. You know how certain people can grate on your last nerve? Well, they do. Little talent is more like it.”
Kevin laughed. She continued to glare at him.
“You’re so cute when you’re angry,” he told her, taking her hand. “I had no idea you didn’t like them.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. However, I will get you back, babe. When you least expect it. Count on it. What did you say you were ordering for breakfast?”
“Nothing special,” he told her, grinning. “Well, listen to that. They are on the ball today.”
He left the bedroom to answer the door. Calling for her, he lifted the lids off the trays, allowing the steam and scent to escape and waft towards her.
“Mmm,” she inhaled. “That smells wonderful. Possum sausage, you said?”
*******
Later that day, Kevin told her to get the door when their costumes arrived, but no peeking was allowed. Maggie playfully pouted, but finally agreed. He was in the shower when a knock sounded on the door.
Opening it, she found the other four on the other side, grinning broadly. She invited them in.
“Where’s Big Kev?” AJ asked, flopping down in a chair.
“Showering. He should be in there for a while. Takes longer baths than I do,” she giggled. “Makes me wonder exactly what kind of beauty regiment he has.”
“Before you joined him, I knew,” Nick said, eyes twinkling mischievously. “But since I don’t want to write anything else for you, I’ll just stop there.”
“What the hell is that?” Howie asked as Kevin began his operatic version of one of their songs.
“I’m not sure. I think he’s trying a new genre of music to stretch his talent.”
“Well, he needs to stop,” Brian said, making a face. The others laughed.
“Hey, do you two still have those horrendous masks?” Maggie asked, an idea forming in her head.
“You have them both, don’t you, Nick?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Go get them. I owe Kevin for a nasty little trick he played on me today,” she told them, her eyes gleaming with the thought.
Nick left and returned in a minute. Maggie grabbed them from him. She turned them over in her hand. Oh, they were absolutely disgusting, she thought. Suddenly, she tossed one to Brian.
“Put it on,” she instructed. “He’ll never expect you or me to do this.”
Brian complied as Maggie pulled hers over her head.
“What are you going to do?” AJ asked, leaning forward.
She put a finger over the mask’s lips, motioning for him to be quiet and for Brian to follow her. They quietly walked through the bedroom and into the bathroom. The steam from the shower hung heavy in the air. Maggie gave the OK sign to Brian with one hand and reminded him to be quiet with the other. She positioned him beside her as she gently pushed back the shower curtain. Kevin had his back to the water, so he couldn’t see them. As he turned around, his eyes were closed as the stream of water hit his face. Turning off the water, he reached for a towel. Brian picked it up, handing it to him. Kevin dried his face, then opened his eyes to see them standing there. He just stared at them for a second, then shock and surprise registered.
“What the fuck?!” He exclaimed, covering himself with his towel.
Maggie felt her composure fading as she tried to stay still. She could sense Brian trembling with held-back laughter beside her. She grabbed his hand and drug him out of the bathroom. As they got to the living room, they ripped off the masks, tossing them to Nick and Howie, who quickly hid them behind some pillows on the couch.
Almost immediately after that, a dripping wet Kevin stood in the doorway. He glared at each one in the room, concentrating on Nick and AJ.
“I don’t know what the hell you thought you were doing, but that wasn’t funny! Don’t ever pull that kind of shit again!” He warned, wagging a finger at them.
Both sat there, looking up at him, wide-eyed and innocent. AJ’s face broke into a crooked grin, making him appear all the more guilty.
“Don’t try to deny it, either. I’ll get you back. Just wait.”
“You’ve really done it now, Maggie,” Nick said, slinging the mask at her. “We now have the wrath of Kevin upon us. Do you know what kind of hell he can put us through? No, you must not because if you did, you wouldn’t have done that.”
“What I want to know,” AJ said, “is how he decided it was us. I mean, you’re way taller than Maggie or Brian and I don’t have a build similar to either one.”
“Probably because you’re the two most likely to do something like that,” Howie told them, trying not to laugh.
The phone rang and he reached over to answer it. He hung up and told Maggie there was a package at the front desk for her and Kevin.
“Oh. It must be our costumes,” she said, still in total control of her emotions. “Hey, Brian, why don’t you go down there with me?”
“Good idea,” he agreed, opening the door for him.
Once in the hall and a few steps from the room, neither could hold back any longer. Brian leaned against the wall, shaking with laughter. Maggie erupted with an honest-to-goodness belly laugh. After they had somewhat regained their composure, they started towards the elevators again. Brian put an arm around Maggie’s shoulder.
“I bet you’re the teacher who plays pranks on the others and always participates in pep rallies, aren’t you?”
“I have been known to do a few of those on occasion,” she confessed.
“I knew it. You’re great, you know.”
Without warning, he planted a wet friendly kiss on her cheek. “I’m glad Kevin found you. You’re good for all of us.”
“I’m glad he found me, too,” she told him, returning the smooch. “And truth be know, you’re all good for me, too.”