Greg, Mary, and Jordan stood and gawked at the Romanian castle stuck into a nearby hillside. Greg gave the driver ten euros and the little car sped away, leaving the three alone on an old stone road in the middle of a dense forest. They could see the castle, just not a way to it.
"Greg, call him, we're probably in the wrong place." Greg's fiancée, Mary, couldn't wait to see their friend Stephen, she was anxious, nervous. Her cousin Jordan felt nervous too, but more so because she hadn't seen Stephen in years.
"I can't get service." They decided to walk through the woods in the general direction of the castle.
"He said there was another road that lead right up to..." Greg was interrupted by a scream from Mary. He looked back and saw Stephen in full cape and fangs with a massive grin on his face. Jordan jumped him, hugged him and screeched. Greg laughed:
"Steve, that's the shabbiest costume I've ever seen." He went down to his friend and shook his hand between Jordan's arm and leg. Jordan released him, he hugged Mary.
"Sorry for scaring you, Mary." She was a little shaken up by his sudden entrance.
"That was a cheap scare, you had months to plan..." He let go of her long, thin body.
"Let me show you my new home." Stephen put his arm around Jordan's waist and took them through some shrubbery and out onto a path.
"This is unreal, man..." Greg's mouth hung open as he took in the white stone, the spires, the whole feel of it.
"Let's go inside, Leah will get mad if we stay out too long. I'll show you the outside later." Jordan itched at the name, she knew it was his girlfriend.
They went into a sort of living room he had set up. The castle looked modern enough inside, very European, not at all like the museum castles they'd seen in France and England. It was so massive it still had rundown parts, crumbling walls, rooms that were worthless for various reasons.
"Everyone, this is Leah. Leah, this is Mary, Greg, and Jordan, some of my oldest friends." Leah kissed each on the cheek, smiled.
"The drive up is nice, yes?" The girls nodded at the immaculate French woman. She was stunning, Jordan thought she was probably older than Stephen, maybe even in her thirties. Mary was uncomfortable with how well dressed the woman was. She thought her breasts must be fake, they were too perfect.
"Stephen, the gourds?" An older man appeared in the room, Stephen nodded and the man disappeared.
"We're growing pumpkins, kids! Everyone will carve a jack-o-lantern. These Romanians haven't caught on yet. Anyway, I have to go down with Glad and make sure they take the right ones. Be back in a few." He left the room, Leah offered them a drink. She brought back wine, poured everyone a glass.
"So, Leah, Steve says you're a journalist?" She nodded.
"Yes, but not this last year...I've lost myself, too much fun." She referred to her year living with Stephen.
"How did you meet Stephen?" Jordan wanted to know if she had staying power, was going to find out as much as possible about the woman.
"I was at a festival in another part of Wallachia, doing research for a travel column. I saw him playing with the children first -- I was curious, why an American was in rural Rumania. He talked to me, pretended he was fluent in French -- he knew enough to make me laugh. I still don't know how he tricked me into coming to his castle." Leah smiled to herself.
"Do you work for a French paper?" Greg wanted to figure her out too, whether she was about his best friend's money or what. She shook her head.
"No, I worked for an Austrian paper. They fired me because I haven't been back." Stephen returned with two pumpkins.
"Glad put the others in the kitchen -- you want to carve a pumpkin with us?" Leah smiled, declined.
"No, no, I won't be carving your pumpkins tonight. It's nice to meet you all, I have a little work to attend." The girls giggled, Leah pecked him on the mouth before she left. Stephen set the pumpkins on a table.
"She's too French for Halloween, wouldn't be caught dead celebrating an American holiday."
"We'll celebrate Halloween with you." He hugged Jordan. The foursome talked about back home, rehashed all the old stories, what had transpired the few years since they'd seen each other. Greg got him alone first while the girls dug out their pumpkins in one of the massive kitchens.
"So, you sick of your hundred million dollar castle yet?" Stephen smirked at his best friend.
"This isn't America, I don't know the language, have to be nice and invite everyone in, give people presents...but hey, the taxes are ridiculously low." Greg laughed.
"I can't fathom the taxes on some hundred million dollar pad in New York."
"I'll move back eventually, but every thing is near ideal right now. Everything should be right with you -- you're gonna marry our Mary this summer, right?" Greg nodded. Mary was always something between him and Stephen. She never exactly dated Stephen, but there were the times when he and Mary weren't together that he thought Stephen might be moving in between them.
"I'm happy for you, buddy. All I have is Glad and the Romanians." Greg was curious.
"What about Leah? She's a dime, man."
"She misses the city, her career and all that. I'm gonna have to send her home. She's too French -- too much to handle."
"I see. Jordan practically broke out in tears when Mary told her about Leah."
"I haven't really spoken to her since I saw her at Mary's party a few years back."
"Steve, she's loved you since high school, you know that. Just don't make her cry this time." Greg knocked his friend on the shoulder, they went into the kitchen.
"You two are making a mess in here, Marina is going to have my balls if she sees this." They had orange pulp all over the table, their hands, smocks, a little on the floor.
"Who's that?" Jordan was younger than them. Stephen still thought of her as the Freshman cheerleader he took to a couple school dances; the girl he had a thing for but couldn't be with.
"Marina is Glad's wife, she doesn't speak any English and she hates me."
"No one on Earth hates you, Stephen." Mary smiled her flirty little smile at him, he wondered whether Greg knew what they had done in Italy...
"Glad loves me, he takes care of the outside. Marina and her daughter, Marica, keep everything right on the inside." The two men watched the girls finish their pumpkins. Glad came up to say that Greg and the girls' bags had arrived. Greg and Mary insisted on going down and bringing the bags up. When they left, Jordan sat silently on her stool and watched Stephen.
"Hey Princess, you like my castle or what?" She shook her head, her face flushed whenever she was alone with him.
"Sorry, your princess is in another castle." He laughed.
"I still think about you all the time, JJ." She pouted.
"You haven't called me or sent an email in forever. I was surprised when Greg and Mary invited me to come, worried..."
"I don't use the Internet or have a cell, but I guess I could've written you. You don't even know how you broke my heart last time I saw you..." She stood up and leaned over the counter toward him.
"I remember the last time I saw you, you weren't very friendly toward me. I thought, 'Gee, my Stephen's all rich now and he doesn't want to talk to me.'"
