The Boys Are Back in Town by Christopher Golden Page B

swagger—almost laughably so—but there were times when he longed for the kind of clarity of purpose and conscience that he had had in those days.
    Anarchy,
he mused as he glanced around at people throwing popcorn tubs and drink cups down at the field.
Maybe there's something to be said for chaos after all.
    Nick Acosta slid over behind him, his grin tugging at the scar over his eye, his curly hair even wilder than usual. “Willy!” he said. “What you need is a beer.”
    Will gaped at him. “Don't even tell me you snuck a cooler in here.”
    All through high school they had done that for night games, passing the cooler over the fence behind the bleachers. Now Nick just shrugged.
    “Okay. I won't tell you. Want a beer?”
    On the field the whistle blew for halftime. Will shrugged. “Why not?”
    Nick made his way back to his spot in the stands and fished a can of Budweiser out of the cooler. He leaned over to pass it to Keisha, and the beer was smuggled along to Danny, Eric, Ashleigh, and finally Will. There were chips of ice still sliding down the aluminum. He didn't really like beer very much, and Budweiser in particular, but when it was this cold . . . He glanced around and spotted the tray he and Stacy had gotten from the concession. He had completely forgotten it, and Ashleigh obviously had neglected to remind him, so now the remains of the food were cold. But one of the cups was half empty, so he dumped the rest of the soda on the stairs and poured the Bud into the cup.
    Will tipped the cup back and took a gulp.
    “I thought you didn't like beer these days,” Ashleigh said, a bemused expression on her face.
    His upper lip curled as though he'd just tasted something sour. “I don't.” Will glanced at Ashleigh, and they both laughed. As he watched her, a warmth seemed to spread through him. How he had missed that laugh. Ashleigh was a professional woman, an attorney, a mother, and a wife, but in his heart she would always be that girl with whom he had shared everything. He loved her, certainly, but it saddened him to realize that the passage of time could make him forget how much. When she laughed her chestnut hair fell across her face and she squinted her eyes just a bit. Will reached out and touched her hand and she squeezed his fingers.
    “It's so good to see you,” she said.
    Much of the tension in him seemed to drain away. Whatever was happening, whoever was fucking with him, it had already stolen some of the time he should have been spending with her. Will didn't want to lose any more of that time. He wanted to forget all about the bizarre stuff, at least until Monday.
    “You, too, Ash,” he said. “You, too.”
    This time when she smiled he had an image in his mind, of this woman all the way back in junior high school, when she had been skinny Ashleigh Wheeler with the braces.
    “I don't know if you'd be up for it,” she said, “but I was thinking maybe you could come down and spend Halloween with us this year. Take the twins out trick-or-treating.”
    Will nodded. “I'd love that. We had a good time on Halloween, didn't we?”
    “Always. Remember that time you went as Spider-Man and split your pants?”
    He rolled his eyes. “You won't let me forget, no matter how much I try.”
    Ashleigh turned sideways in her seat to face him. “It's when I think about you the most. At Halloween. We really should try to see each other more. Eric tells me all the time that we just have to make the effort. It's weird the turns life takes. I mean, I saw you almost every day for eighteen years. I never thought I'd live anywhere else.”
    “Yeah, this growing-up thing sucks!” Will said in mock protest. Then he softened. “Actually, it's not so bad. I wish I could see you all more. What's that saying? ‘Life's what happens when you're busy making other plans.' That's true, isn't it?”
    Ashleigh frowned. “Not if I can help it.”
    Will took another sip of beer and grimaced. He had thought he wanted it,