"Right…" Melissa nodded a bit, sinking into her thoughts momentarily. As she thought about it more, she started to set up a plan mentally, wondering if he'd be up for it. "Let's say you did want to dress up, I doubt you'd want to go trick-or-treating, correct? Because I'm not sure we'd actually be allowed to."
Lucas shrugged a bit. "We could hand out candy or go to a party or something. Do you know if any of our friends are going?"
"I don't think so… but a party? You'd actually consider going to a party?" Melissa asked, not seeming to believe him. "That sounds really odd, coming from you."
"If you wanted to go to one, I'd go with you…" Lucas shrugged again and toyed with his spoon a bit.
Melissa looked him up and down, reaching out to rest a hand on his. "Hey… are you okay?" She asked softly, gently running her thumb over the back of his hand.
Lucas looked back up at Melissa, seeming a bit confused. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" He asked.
"I-I dunno… you seemed off to me. But if you're alright, then never mind." Melissa shrugged, still holding on to his hand. "Anyways, I don't even know if anyone is having a party. I'd rather just spend the night with you."
"Sure, sounds good to me. I guess we would just hand out candy, then?" He asked, starting to fidget with Melissa's fingers.
Melissa nodded, pausing as she thought more. "Unless… you know Brett, right? My cousin?" She asked lightly, feeling a small smile pull up when he started fidgeting with her hand.
"Yeah, I know Brett. What about him?" Lucas asked, finishing off his ice cream and pushing the cup aside for now.
"Well, his brother is married, and he has a younger daughter. If you wanted, we could take her trick-or-treating through the neighborhood. Just for the sake of getting to go." Melissa offered, coming to the end of her own ice cream.
Lucas nodded a bit. "Sure, if you want to. I'm fine with that." He smiled softly and kept toying with Melissa's hand.
Melissa finished off her own ice cream, smiling up at him. "I think you'd like her, she's super sweet. And, she's not super princess obsessed, like I was at her age."
Lucas laughed softly. "Yeah, I like kids. And I don't remember having a car or dinosaur phase when I was little… I just liked dogs and drawing. And baseball."
Melissa kept up a little smile, holding on to him tightly. "That's probably another reason I liked you so much. You weren't like the other boys your age." She added in a light tone.
"Mhmm. I was a lot quieter, too." Lucas smiled gently as well. "Claus was definitely the loud one of us."
"Yes, yes he was." Melissa laughed lightly, starting to get up from her seat. "I think I was somewhere in between… I liked who I liked, and was kind of loud with them."
Lucas nodded a bit, getting up as well. "I would've been overwhelmed if I didn't live with Claus, honestly. We sort of did the finishing each other's sentences thing, but it was actually just Claus finishing all of them because I didn't talk much and he had a habit of interrupting me."
Melissa gave him a little smile, grabbing their trash to throw away. "I remember that. If I hadn't been so intimidated by him, I probably would have tried to say something about it."
Lucas gently kissed Melissa on the cheek, humming softly. "He was always a bit much. I learned to live with it. We cared about each other a lot, of course, but he was a bit of a bully. To me, at least."
Melissa nodded a little, returning the kiss before starting to walk off. "He really did care? I'm just asking, because everything I've seen, and everything you've told me doesn't seem like it fits together with him caring."
"Yeah, he did. He just wasn't great at showing it." Lucas sighed softly. "He protected me from bullies when he noticed them, tried his best to comfort me when I was upset by something, and let me bother him at night after I had nightmares. He wasn't a huge fan of the last one, but he tolerated it."
Melissa smiled lightly, coming back with empty hands. "So he didn't like making a big deal out of it?" She suggestion, carefully taking his hand in her own.
"Nope. He couldn't bear the thought of the general public knowing that he cared about his brother." Lucas laughed. "He liked his cool, tough guy appearance or whatever. Everyone already knew I was a pushover, so I didn't care as much."
"Mm, I just don't understand why you have to not love someone to be 'tough'. That's probably one of the stupidest things I've ever heard." Melissa rolled her eyes a bit, keeping up her smile. "You can love someone, without looking weak. I don't think you're weak, and you still love me."
Lucas smiled softly. "Well, it's nice of you to not think I'm weak in general. That was definitely the general consensus when Claus was around." He took Melissa's hand and led her out of the shop. "I know he and I missed a lot of days of school near the end."
Melissa gave him a soft look, gently pulling his arm over her shoulders. She kept her fingers intertwined with his, looking up to him before speaking again. "Does it bug you to talk about him?"
"Um… a little bit, but I feel like you deserve to know this stuff anyway. Obviously it hurts to think about him. I miss him." Lucas sighed softly.
"Then we don't have to keep talking about this. If you're not comfortable doing so, I understand. Just tell me." Melissa insisted in a soft tone, leaning up and kissing him gently.
"I'm fine to talk about it… what all do you want to know?" Lucas asked softly, returning the kiss. "I knew him better than anyone."