The Brofvloski children weren't sure what to expect on their doorstep when Lilah had come ready in costume. Staring to decifer it while she gave them no hints. She wore the cow-print sweater and matching pants with black chucks she'd hinted she owned. But added with a fake tinsel halo and some impressively built angel wings on her back made of carboard and rows of craft white feathers.

"What're you supposed to be?" Adam asked in his brown leather jacket and felt fedora, matching with the rest of archeologist wear of the famous fictional character. He tried his hardest to study Lilah's costume as to not offend her, but the complete lack of clues and buzz of kids trick or treating up and down the sidewalk behind her was making it hard.

"I'm a 'Holy Cow'!" Lilah presented, still with empty reactions. "Like the expression? Holy cow?"

"Oh, that's cool. I'm Indiana Jones."

Ella jumped on her fuzzy slippers. Kept warm by her matching white onesie with ears on the hood and the light face paint her mother so graciously applied for her. "And I'm a bunny!"

"For the third year in a row.." her brother muttered. Lilah giggled.

As Lilah stepped into the house with her pillowcase ready, she eagerly waited on the itinerary Adam had insisted he had all under control. Lilah was a much more go-with-the-flow person and slowly gathered that Adam couldn't stand that way of living.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Meet up with Liam and Noah at their mom's, hit the houses, and round back to the community center after a few hours."

"I'm gonna win the costume contest," Ella confidently declared with her fuzzy mits on her hips.

"For most unoriginal costume, sure." Adam sneered and Lilah continued to giggle as the jokes went right over the six-year-old's head. Right as Heidi came downstairs to meet with the kids one last time before they were on their way.

"Oh, you guys are so cute!" Heidi pulled out her phone and kneeled to their level. "Squeeze together for a picture, come on."

"Mom, we already took a bunch." Adam complained as the girls had him in the middle of their happy group hug.

Heidi snapped more than enough photos as the girls smiled and Adam half-did so out of obligation. Kyle entered from the kitchen behind as he slipped his orange jacket on for the night, ready to high-tail out of there with his wife as soon as the kids were gone. They agreed to get some light drinks with their friends before meeting their kids at the community center after their night out.

Kyle didn't wait for Heidi to stop taking photos before being a buzzkill. "Lilah, does your dad know everywhere you're gonna be?"

When Heidi had finished, Lilah nodded assuringly. "He's gonna pick me up from the community center."

The father of the house looked over at the boy as the kids were already passing through the front door. "And Adam, remember everything I said!"

"Yeah, whatever!" His voice was cut off by the door slamming behind them. The trio was gone in a snap, and Kyle rolled his eyes. His wife on the other hand couldn't get enough of his cute pout whenever he was antagonized by his own son.

She pinched his shoulder. "Let's go get a beer, tiger."

The Holy Cow happily walked alongside the little trick or treaters' gang as they made their stop at the next house on Des Los Mexicanos. Finally breaking free from the adults when the Donovans' mother had taken several more photos when they'd shown up to pick up the boys. The two brothers were equally antsy to get a move on while the night was young and the candy was plenty full. Liam was proudly sure he was a shoo-in for the community's costume contest for the single-costume award. Having spent weeks planning and tayloring his costume to mimick to perfect Creature of the Black Lagoon look-alike suit and mask. He was a sucker for classic horrors, a bit of a nerdy obsession he didn't always love indulging on publically. His brother went forth with the simple Scooby-Doo onesie he was proud to be his costume. The older kids pitied the younglings for being so simple-minded and less creative.

"Thank you," the kids chorused when receiving candy from another resident. They headed back on route as they made room for another group of kids coming up the path for their turn.

"You think you'll win anything?" Lilah asked Adam.

"I don't really care." Adam said. He was proud of his costume but wasn't gonna lose his marbles over a dumb contest. "It's lame, anyway."

Lilah swung her pillowcase over her shoulder, glad she took her dad's advice on it. "I think I have a chance." The girl was offended to hear a scoff come out of the redhead. "What?"

"No offense, but I didn't get your costume until you explained it."

"Well, you're not a judge," Lilah said, twitching her head as to make her tinsel halo jiggle. "It's punny. Punny always wins."

"Punny is dumb, man," Liam decided to chime in, turning around ahead of them where he walked with the young siblings. His cocky voice being muffled by his massive mask made his confidence funny. "My suit is latex and rubber foam, just like the real costume in the movie!"

"Dude, it could be made of real gills, and it still would be stupid," Adam snorted.

"Well, Indiana Jones is overdone."

"Indiana Jones can never be overdone."

"There's Remi!" Lilah had halted the boys before they made their way up the path of the next house. Seeing a group come opposite way in their direction in a sugary chatter lead by their family friend. Remi couldn't contain her excitement in waving to Lilah.

"Why didn't you trick or treat with them, again?" Adam waited on Lilah instead of going on ahead with Liam and the others to the house.

"Lilian said I'd have to be part of the group costume, and you'd already asked." The brunette girl gave a short excuse before going to say hi to her friend. Despite Lilah's excitement to see Remi, Adam's small smile confirmed to himself that the feeling was mutual in actually enjoying spending time with Lilah.

"You look so cool!" Remi enthused. "Holy Cow, I get it!"

"Thank you," Lilah giggled, then gesturing to the girls. "I love your Pixie Hollow costumes."

"Jealous?" Lilian modeled her Tinker Bell wings each way with a flick. "My mom made them."

Despite how hard Lilian had been on Lilah compared to the other girls, Lilah shrugged it off. Some things weren't worth tripping over when Lilah knew her new position amongst the group of girls was maybe hard on Lilian too.

"Yeah, I like them a lot. You look really pretty."

The blonde girl's stone face softened, having no choice but to concede to the compliment. "Thanks..you too."

"Are we still gonna hang out at the costume party?" Remi asked, dressed as the blue water-talented fairy, Silvermist. "Y'know, when you're done with bozo one and two over there?"

"For sure, I've never been to a costume party."

She was a little taken aback by Lilian's sudden gasp. "It's worse than I thought. We got to get this girl glamorized."

"See you, Lilah!" Willa waved as the girls parted. Remi too smiled as they were off and Lilah's group had already come back from the house. Adam handed her a chocolate bar he got on her behalf.

"I like your wings better, anyway."

In a different form of celebration, a relatively stacked but chill bar of adults shared a couple of drinks and a few laughs. Kyle and Heidi had unsurprisingly been the last to arrive amongst the small group waiting for them at Skeeter's of Stan and Wendy, and Tolkien and Butters. As the only pair with children amongst the few, they were willing to take a few jokes over their tardiness.

Tolkien was off duty for the night and Butters closed the restaurant early for the holiday. As the adults let loose while planning to get no more than mildly tipsy, others had plans of going way beyond that.

"Alright, don't hesitate, chums." Tolkien returned to the corner table with a round of bourbon shots.

Kyle stuck with the beer he babysat. "C'mon man, we've got the kids to pick up."

"I didn't say they were for you," Tolkien teased though his creeping grin was unavoidable. "But there are two of you and I'm pretty sure the kiddos only need one designated driver."

Heidi just waved off the offer, settled comfortably with her husband's arm wrapped over her shoulders and their chairs so close intact they may as well be sharing a seat at that cozy table. Wendy took the shot seeing as there was no risk for her tonight, and Stan followed her seeing as to why not. Butters had been the first to grab one, being much more into drinking as an adult than he had been as a pretty innocent kid.

"And I suppose we'll be driving you four, too." Kyle commented.

"Get off your high horse, man." Tolkien sneered though it was all in good fun.

"It's not a high horse, dude. Halloween is when kids are most susceptible to being stupid."

Stan had easily swallowed the shot while Wendy shook her head from the hard liquor. He waited for her to catch up before shooting his best friend a compliment. "Good thing your kids are smart, then."

Kyle's worried frown didn't surpass his wife as he squeezed her shoulder. "Maybe them.."

Wendy's brows twinged, knowing what he was implying. "Don't be mean, Kyle. She's a nice little girl."

"I'm not saying anything, I counsel her." Kyle defended, mostly speaking to his wife who offered him the biggest warning glance. "She may be a good kid, but I still have yet to make sure Cartman isn't giving her ideas. We all know how good of an actor he was when we were kids."

"Honey, we can't be sure of that." Heidi said, pretty certain she didn't want another night of the Cartman debate.

"Yeah," Butters burped out his bourbon breath, still a bit of a lightweight after all these years. "I don't know about Eric, but even your kiddos like her."

If they were gonna keep bringing up the same thing again, Kyle wouldn't bite his tongue anymore.

He planted his beer on the table. "You guys don't think that there's even a chance this is a little crossed? Look at her parents, there may be things she believes are right, but for all we know it's Cartman's version of 'right.' Trust me, I hope counseling her will actually help me figure out if Cartman looking after Lilah is the best thing for-"

"Speaking of," Stan ignored whatever puzzle Kyle was laying out at the site of a newcomer walking across the bar floor. With all heads at the table turning to take notice of the recently homeless man coming to meet Kevin Stoley behind the bar.

The silence at the table had been the initial fear that the father was here for a forbidden drink. But seeing Cartman hand something palm-sized to Kevin and the bartender leaving him to wait momentarily changed that idea.

As Kevin passed their table to disappear to the bar's storage room, Tolkien's hand halted him by the arm. "Hey Kevin, what's with Cartman?"

The bartender held up his dangling car keys. "Fixed my engine and drove it over for me. Just getting him a dart as a thanks."

Relieved with the answer, the friends eased back into their evening. Kyle shook his head and just downed the remainder of his beer as he wished the night could just subside to the relaxation he was hoping for.

"We should invite him over."

The redhead hicked a small cough as the last drop of beer almost got stuck. Looking at his best friend and his suggestion in concern though the rest of the table seemed completely cool with it.

Heidi would've been completely cool with it too, if it weren't for her husband's tense nails digging into her shoulder. "Kyle.."

Her husband released his grip quickly, the concern for his night now concern for his wife. "Sorry, baby.."

"Cartman, hey!"

The man waiting for his promised cigarette turned his head from his name called, seeing the familiar voice attached to Stan. He almost didn't believe Stan and Wendy were sitting there with the others until he remembered Heidi mentioning their visit back home.

Caught like a deer in headlights, the man was trapped in an usher over from the tipsy group. Begrudgingly he let his feet carry him over and shoved his hands into his pockets while waiting on Kevin.

"How've you been, dude?" Stan asked once he reached the table.

As if he didn't know from all they probably said behind his back, but Cartman didn't wanna prove them right. "Fine, man. You?"

"Pretty good," Stan enthused, an arm around his fiancé who just politely stared up at her formal rival. Wendy didn't have it in her nature to start anything with Cartman for the sake of protecting their peace.

"Great."

"You should join us."

Both Kyle and Cartman opened their mouths for a moment of protest before Kevin swooped right in. "Hey, guess that smoke will have to wait! I'm getting weird flashes to the past seeing all this."

Regrettable to Kyle and Cartman, and seeing like he had no choice, Cartman took the free chair. Kyle could feel Heidi squeeze his knee underneath the table both as assurance but also as a warning to play nice. Her husband's eyes spoke back to her with a clear but firm answer.

I'll play nice if he does.

Cartman looked around at the group while seated next to Butters. Maybe inviting him to sit in a bar was a bad idea for his sobriety, but he was amongst some of the prissiest ex-friends of his he knew that would slap any alcohol out of his hand. Not to mention the redhead avoiding his gaze across from him was in the professional position of reporting him on behalf of his daughter if necessary.

So, he was stuck sober with these drunk jackasses. Is this what hell feels like?

"Can I get you anything?"

It felt like a stupid test when Kevin asked Cartman as the others waited on him. "Coke and lime...if you slip me anything I'll kick your ass."

"Don't have to tell me twice, daddio." Kevin slapped his back as he went to fetch his order.

Funny how Kyle suddenly caved in reaching for the last shot of bourbon. He threw the shot to the back of his throat as Heidi eyed him in surprise. He was in no way obligated to not drink for his wife's concern, but he definitely wasn't a man that strayed from his plan. Then again, Cartman joining them wasn't part of that plan.

"Alright then, Broflovski!" Tolkien enthused, following Kevin to get another round.

"So, you're working for Kenny's brother, right?" Wendy continued to use her manners.

Cartman settled as he waited on his coke. "Yeah, bit of a hardass but I guess he's the boss."

"Kenny's gonna be in before we leave." Stan mentioned. "Maybe the four of us could hang like old times."

Kyle thought it would be exclusively the three of them as he tried to eye Stan, but he couldn't say anything with the invitation already out there. He looked to Cartman who seemed distant about the idea too. After his eyes flicked to Kyle once, he bore an awkward smile so uncharacteristic of the douche of a kid he once was.

"We'll see."

The four kids still had some ways to go that evening but were well on their route to nearly filling up their bags and pales. As they cut into Main street momentarily to walk around the park and head for another residential area, Noah had gotten the idea to start eating some of his candy on foot and throwing the empty wrappers back into his sack. Ella picked up on this idea as well and started munching on her own.

Their focus on their candy however was making it difficult for the older kids to get them where they needed to be. Adam spun around on a heel and got the other two to stop when the younger kids were falling behind once again.

"Will you dumbasses stop eating and keep up?"

Ella was mid-chew when she stuck out her chocolate tongue at her brother. Liam removed his mask to yell at his little brother to get a move on but frankly Scooby-Doo was too indulged with his candy to even care. The kids had no choice but to let this be the single rest point of the night. The older three gathered on the park bench facing the quiet street while their siblings sat on the frosty grass below.

"Great. Not only is mom gonna shit a brick for Noah eating candy before she checked the bag," Liam started, planting his own pillowcase down. "But we're gonna be late to the community center party."

Lilah agreed with a silent nod. As much less annoyed as she was with Ella and Noah, she didn't want to disappoint Remi for being late.

Adam freed his head from his fedora, letting the chilly October air bite at his scalp after sweating profusely under the felt. "We're gonna have to cut off Dark Meadows."

"No way, dude!" Liam shot up in a drastic protest. "We're not passing on all those rich houses! That's where we get the king sizes!"

"Well, I'm not walking all the way over there at this pace just to be late!" Adam retorted from his best friend being so pissed as he too got up.

Lilah just sat in between the feuding boys. Not really caring where they went as she'd been having a great Halloween as is. But the boys' bickering wasn't the only thing keeping her attention as she looked down her far right in the direction they were initially heading. Seeing some kids also going down Main street to get to their next block of houses. Two of the tall boys were familiar despite it being a group of maybe five or six. It was hard to tell by their dark costumes but it was more obvious as they got closer and their chatter became more clearer. All boys in the group wore matching skeleton bodysuit costumes and face paint as they swung their bags of candy along. The two sixth-graders leading the group were definitely who Lilah initially thought they were as Dylan and Asher soon saw who they were approaching.

Lilah got up as her heart started to go miles per minute. "Adam.."

"Hey, look!"

Lilah's warning was surpassed as the sixth graders had already reached the smaller kids and surrounded them. Getting the bickering fourth-graders to halt as they realized the wall of taller kids were their usual tormentors.

"Are you fourthies allowed to walk this far alone?" Dylan asked. "I thought mommy and daddy would have to hold your hand."

Asher and the other boys snickered, Ella and Noah got up sensing the threats from the unfamiliar older kids and backed up into their siblings.

"We're just passing, Dylan. Back off." Adam warned.

The blond boy ignored him, instead catching an eye of Lilah's more than confusing costume. "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

Too afraid to even look at him, Lilah withered as Liam stepped up. "You numbskulls wanna move? We've got places to be."

"So do we. We don't have enough candy, yet."

"Let's cut through the park, guys." Adam hurried along his group.

"So you're gonna share with us!" Asher laughed, grabbing the bag of the last kid trying to make a getaway. That of the little bunny who gasped and gave a mighty tug back to keep her precious stash.

"Hey! That's mine!"

Adam was quick to drop his own bag and step in front of his sister to shove Asher back. Unintentionally shoving him into some of the others and only angering more of the sixth-grade boys. Liam grabbed Adam's bag before a kid could make a swipe for it and swung it to Adam. Who's first instinct was to use the bag itself to hit a kid who tried making a grab for him and Ella as Liam shielded his brother. Adam's group stood their ground despite the sixth-graders trying to close in on them.

"Grab both the little babies' bags." One of them snarled.

With Ella and Noah in enough trouble as is, Lilah wouldn't let them get hurt. She stepped in front of the others before Dylan could try and get to the little kids as her foot swung up in a moment of no thinking. The rubber of her shoe met the poor boy's crotch so hard his scream may as well have been mistaken for a much younger little girl. But, with the attention off the little ones and now on Lilah, the sixth graders went after her in defense of their friend.

Adam had been quick to pull Lilah aside upon her brave decision. Holding an arm in front of her but their best bet right now was to high tail out of there, and high tail out of there fast as the older boys barelled after the two of them.

"I'll meet you!" Liam yelped, grabbing the two little kids and bolting the other way before he could lose sight of them.

Whether it was Cartman's sobriety or the others drinking, they had eased into a pretty free conversation as the night went on. And Cartman could actually kick himself for realizing how long he'd been staying and how recounting memories with the guys was actually refreshing. Even with Wendy and Heidi. When Wendy was tipsy enough she bravely ventured with the story of her schoolyard fight with Cartman in the fourth grade. The pit of her stomach was a rock waiting for his answer, but she was pleasantly surprised to see Cartman cared less about that and actually thought him getting his ass handed to him by a girl was pretty funny in retrospect.

Heidi didn't contribute too much to the conversation but was thoroughly enjoying laughing and listening to all their better memories together with Cartman. She had kept her promise of not getting drunk while her kids were expecting a pick-up as her friends let loose. Not as much as her husband was letting loose though.

After downing his beer and that first shot, Kyle clearly decided fuck-all on having an easy night and started drinking like a fish. Throwing back much more of that bourbon Tolkien kept bringing to the table and getting some rounds much harder than beer. Following Tolkien's observation that only one parent really had to stay sober, Heidi didn't stop her husband while still keeping a responsible eye on him.

"Dude that shit was not real!" Stan was losing his marbles recalling an Airsoft game from when they were ten. The one when they recruited their dads and Stan's Uncle Jimbo to take out some sluggish teenagers getting on their nerves.

It was hard for Cartman to keep his cool when he hadn't belly-laughed like this in so long. Still having that obnoxious cackle right up his sleeve as the table lost their mind but not as much as the ginger man who downed another shot.

The table's laughter from the story transitioned to laughing over Kyle thoroughly enjoying himself as he pounded his fist on the table in a laugh everyone's only ever heard a few times. The airy, throaty laughter Kyle completely lost himself in from the alcohol clogging his brain had him practically spitting all over Heidi's shoulder. This hardly mattered to Heidi with how entertained she was by his drunk snorts.

"It was not-!" Kyle couldn't get through the sentence without a throaty laugh that sounded like a warthog disrupted him. Wendy slapped a hand to her mouth to cover her giggles. "It was not till like...a LIFETIME later I realized why that teen-why that teen..bought all that lotion..! The one YOU were paired with!"

Despite how this evening started for the two of them, Cartman had to smile and agree. "That kid could not get enough alone time beating his meat."

Kyle's hands slammed the table in another howl of joy over Cartman's joke. Causing all others to grab their glasses from the tremors. Still entertained, Heidi cautiously took her husband's arm to keep him in one place and shared a smiling look with Stan. The Space Force sergeant couldn't get enough of it. He doesn't remember the last time Kyle got this blasted, let alone let his tongue slip whatever he wanted out of his mouth like an idiot.

"WHOA." Kyle halted suddenly, his mood shifting like a light switch as his friends waited on his concern. "What time is it..? We gotta..we gotta get the kids!"

"I'll get the kids," Heidi held her husband by the back of his neck, tickling his little hairs as her touch on top of his intoxication felt like heaven to him. "After I drive you home."

"..Too long.." Kyle shook his head. He greedily asked for his wife's hand with a wiggle of his fingers and she obliged with a sweet smile. "We gotta keep on schedule.."

"I can do it."

Heidi looked across the table, least expecting the other fellow parent to step up. "Really?"

Cartman shrugged. "I need to pick up Lilah anyway. I'll just swing them by your place."

Heidi nodded, still holding her loosey-goosey husband who tried holding her at the hips despite his clumsy hands. He was always touchy in the cuddly way when drunk. "Thank you, Eric."

The others said their brief goodbyes to Cartman before he left for the night. By the time Kyle realized he was gone, he sat up to get his wife's attention.

"Are you sure we should let him..?" He hiccuped in her face.

She waved off the alcohol breath he gifted her, sculpting his flushed cheeks with her hands instead and kissing his lips tenderly. She smiled at his goofy grin as a reaction to her sweet touch.

It was a weird miracle that Adam and Lilah somehow lost the sixth graders, but by the time they were ahead of them they turned enough corners to really shake them off their tails. Ending up at Stark's Pond of all places which was void of anyone that Halloween night. Despite the beauty of the pond, it had really gone downhill as a park since their parents were little. The water was less clean, and the forest trail led right off of it was often the sleeping ground for some of the homeless. This wouldn't be so bad, except some of those few with addiction were violent and there had been incidents of fights and attacks. Another reason why Kyle had insisted Adam keep a close watch on his sister when passing. But the night was quiet in this part of town, and Adam was sure after laying low the sixth graders wouldn't round back here.

Adam managed to stop and text Liam that they would catch up with him and if he could bring Ella to the party where their parents were expecting them. What started as hiding out at the pond until they were clear from the sixth graders, ended up turning into the two choosing to stay longer and share candy as they chatted by the waterside. When it got dead quiet suddenly, Adam blurted a nonesense question.

"What's your mom like?"

Munching on a gummy as they sat on the ground before the water, Lilah took time to chew through it as to think of how to answer.

"She's okay.."

For being taken away from her, that seemed like a pretty generous answer to Adam.

"It was fun to be around her for a while."

"Then what?"

Lilah squirmed out of her cardboard wings, they'd been bothering her all night. "I got older...I got opinions."

Well, Adam could understand that in some sense. Except that his parents were probably a tad more reasonable.

"One time she left her boyfriend with me for two days and he went through my sock drawer."

Alarm bells made Adam squirm at how casually she said that. "Lilah, that's not okay."

"I know." She wasn't stupid about the ones that were creeps willing to do worse to Sasha's daughter. "I just locked myself in my mom's room. Her window connected to the fire escape if I needed."

"Didn't you ever tell anyone?"

Lilah thought over the multiple times she reached a limit and tried telling a teacher at school. Often using her mother's boyfriends as a reason why her house wasn't safe. Unfortunately, those situations were so common with female students at her school they couldn't bother to care nor decipher which ones were real cases and not girls acting out.

"My school didn't really care. They had too many other problems. I liked their band though."

She seemed to stray off topic very easily like it was nothing. It was scary how normal this was to her.

"Did you tell the police?"

"I don't like the police."

"Did you have any friends?" Adam asked, considering the only good thing she said about her old school is that they let her play a hand-me-down trombone for free.

"Some, kind of at school, more like associates," Lilah spoke lightly. She'd always been a floater when it came to cliques. "I had friends at the park."

"The park..?"

"The same old man Mr. Dowan who would share his bread for the ducks. And the Russian street performer Nikolai. He taught me to juggle."

"You can't juggle!"

Suddenly less soft and more offended, Lilah shoved his shoulder. "I can so!"

"Prove it." Adam started collecting nearby rocks always nested by the pond. He handed them to Lilah. They were a little heavier than what she was taught with but she supposed she had to prove herself one day. While it wasn't effortless, she was able to balance about five tosses of the rocks before letting them scatter to her feet. Nodding to Adam that was all he was gonna get as he laughed.

"Sorry we're gonna be late to the party."

That was the least of her concerns, and unlike Adam's dad, she knew her's would be chill. "It's fine." She sat by him again. "I don't really wanna know what Lilian meant when she said she wants to 'glamorize' me."

Adam hummed in agreement. They'd been plowing through topics despite knowing each other for a while now. Feeling like they had time and all the world on their side compared to any silly conversation they ever had at school or in front of their friends. As Adam contemplated how life had kinda flipped since becoming friends with this unexpected girl, his mind wandered a little far and his eyes suddenly weren't confident when he chose to stare at his boots. Creating circles in the dirt with his finger.

"Have you ever dated anyone?"

The tension she'd been sensing bursted like a firecracker in her heart. Lilah hadn't expected the question but also was smart enough to read between the lines of what that meant. She was more afraid to answer what he probably already figured of her. She couldn't let him know how much of a loser she was, but lying would make her look more stupid.

"No.." she admitted, worried he'd think that was obvious. "You..?"

"No."

Lilah was shocked. Adam was confident, and cool, and unlike a lot of boys she met, had a good head on his shoulders. How hasn't he had any girl?

"Have you..wanted to date anyone..?"

Her throat dried up this time when she felt that question included with his eyes turned towards her. Lilah was pretty sure her heart wasn't nearly racing as much as her brain was with a million questions. Was he speaking hypothetically or did he have an idea in mind? Did this idea even include him? Did he even want to date anyone? Was he implying he's interested in anyone? Was he implying he was interested in her?

Ironic how with all her mother's dating history, it was boys Lilah's age they never had a talk about.

"I don't know.." her answer came as hushed and dry as her throat was.

It was a long minute until Adam stopped beating around the bush and asked the real question he meant.

"Do you like me..?"

As he confirmed both her hopes and fears, Lilah's subconscious spoke for her.

"Yes."

Adam was quick to shoot his eyes up from the assurance and haste of her response. His cheeks hurt as he realized amongst his shock he'd been smiling so wide.

"Me too.."

They both got to their feet and Lilah was pretty sure her limbs were shaking as hard as her heart was.

"Do you, um.." Adam stirred his fists. "Do you know what kids do when they like-like each other..?"

Her cheeks were painted with deep blush, squeaking a small response. "Hug and kiss..?"

There was another minute, maybe more as they let that be and sink in. Fully trying to comprehend in their underdeveloped minds how the hell this was approached and if losing feeling from head to toe was normal along with it.

"Can we try..?"

The girl that he liked considered it for another minute before nodding. And with her go, they faced each other like a stone mountain. Restraint in their feet as they chose not to go any further than their shoes touching as blood rushed to their cheeks and their hearts pounded to the point of breaking. Adam leaned forward by his hips with wide unsure eyes, watching as Lilah backtracked a bit, before inhaling a breath to hold and squeezing her eyes close as if dunking under water. They puckered their lips the only way the movies taught them in anticipation of their move closer.

As least-stumbly and awkward as two young kids could be, they pecked a small kiss. Adam's pale cheeks burned a dark pink and his pupils shrunk with his eyes wide open despite the heavy darkness of the night masking it. Lilah meanwhile couldn't keep her eyes closed tighter enough anticipating her first kiss and now having it. But, the moonglow the little kids were cast in and the water's gentle stirring calmed the situation. Adam was pretty sure this was much rather where he'd like to have his first kiss with a girl over any place at school. Despite losing feeling, and despite the fear of previous rejection still lingering, he was for certain there was no other girl he'd rather share this with.

Adam let Lilah decide when she wanted the kiss to end, and when she pulled back, she just stared. He immediately thought she didn't like it, but soon realized she was just thinking it over.

"I think that's good.."

The boy's teeth widened in a smile that Lilah returned. But as soon as a grin poked through so soon did it fade from him and was replaced with a sudden crushing horror as Lilah reflected him with worried eyes.

"What's wrong?"

It was the little ghost in him reminding Adam of the loyalty he shattered tonight. He'd been trying so hard to act like he didn't care what his father thought of him, but it was just a feeble protest in the end. Adam had always held Kyle's approval up to a high standard.

"Adam, he and I had issues for a long time. And so did your mother before we were together."

And kissing the girl of that man's progeny might just shatter it.

Air seemed to leave Adam quicker than it had when they kissed. That adrenaline of his fear of approval he was used to ranking times ten into oblivion as he was mortified by the gravity of the situation. You can never take a first kiss back. And you can never take a first kiss with Lilah Cartman back.

Lilah still stared on in worry when Adam popped back.

"We..we gotta go. Now."

Lilah watched him make a grab for his fedora and candy, not knowing why he was moving so hastily when he'd been chill only a minute ago. "Did I do something wrong?"

"N-No, it's just-" Adam couldn't subside the panic in his chest. His dad was probably already at the party. Already realizing Ella was abandoned by him and that Adam did exactly what Kyle had told him not to. That he couldn't follow his one big rule because he was too busy kissing the daughter of his dad's enemy.

"..Just don't tell anyone about this."

His answer cut Lilah to the core as her eye loosened a corner tear hidden by the night. Realizing that while she enjoyed the kiss, Adam definitely didn't. And he would be more than humiliated if anyone found out he had his first kiss with the low-life Cartman girl.

"Oh.."

Adam took that as a yes, turning and starting on his way to the community center as he expected her to follow. When that single tear sprinkled into more down her cheeks, Lilah picked up her bag and wings and kept a distance following him behind.

To be continued...