Man Behind the Mask

A few weeks passed and it was late October. Vivienne, Monica, and Alvin continued to make friends with the Penguins. Jordan was hosting a Halloween party for Friday, since Halloween was on Wednesday. The girls were at Costume World trying to figure out what to be for the party. Alvin didn’t want to do too much; most of the guys said they weren’t going all out like the women were. Monica decided on a Native American costume. That way, Alvin could wear jeans, a flannel shirt, and a cowboy hat. Perfect easy couple outfit.
It was Vivienne who was having a hard time picking out something to be. She couldn’t decide what would be best; a pin up girl, a masquerader, or a genie. Vivienne wasn’t too excited about any of them, but they were the best she could find.
“Wait, Viv, look at this!” Monica called her over to another corner of the store. Vivienne nonchalantly sauntered to her friend. The costume Monica pointed to made Vivienne’s jaw drop for a moment. “Don’t make that face. Its perfect. You’ll look so hot. As if those guys weren’t all over you already. TK, Gronk…”
Vivienne rolled her eyes. “None of them are ‘all over me’ so I don’t know where you got that. But I don’t know about that costume. Don’t you think it’s too sexy?”
“You were thinking of being Betty Page. Don’t you think that is too sexy?”
“I guess you’re right. Catwoman it is!” She looked at it again, “This is a good one. I like it. Much better than being a genie.” The girls smiled, paid for their merchandise, and went on their way.
Vivienne was tired from a long day at work, so Monica went home instead of chilling at the loft. The exhausted woman walked in and immediately plopped down on her bed for a nap. What she thought would be a few hours of peace before doing some housework ended up being a brief half hour. Her nap was interrupted by a knock at the door. Dazed and confused, she stumbled down the steps and groggily opened the door.
“If you could just sign here,” a man with a large box requested. “Thank you. Have a nice day.”
Vivienne was extremely confused, but walked into her apartment and placed the box on a chair. After getting a knife and slicing open the tape, Vivienne revealed her gift: a Halloween themed fruit bouquet. She looked on the tag for a name, but it only said, “from your secret admirer.”
Immediately she reached for her phone. It rang three times until Marc-Andre answered it. “Ok, who sent it?”
There was a short silence. “What?”
“Who sent the fruit bouquet? Three days ago I was talking to you, Jordan, Geno, James, and Eric (Tangradi) about how much I’ve always wanted a fruit bouquet. Now I have one.”
“I don’t understand. Why is it a problem?”
“There was no name on the card. Only ‘from your secret admirer.’ It has to be one of you five. And I doubt it was you or Geno because you value the relationships you are in. So fess up. Who sent it?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. Want me to find out?”
“If you can do that discretely. And while you’re at it, if they are just fucking with me can you punch them in the face? For me? I was sincere when I said that fruit is romantic. The anonymity feels more like mockery than flattery.”
“I really doubt these guys would try to hurt you. Why can’t it be real?”
Vivienne sighed. “You guys don’t even know me. I’ve been in your life for about a month. These guys, even less. And I’ve seen video. Its all over youtube. The Penguins organization is full of pranksters. You especially,” they both chuckled at this. “I can’t be expected to take this fruit sincerely, especially because there is no name on it.”
“Its hard to take you seriously when you say ‘take this fruit sincerely’. It sounds ridiculous. You are looking way too into this. I think you’re crazy. That being said, I will see what I can do about finding out who sent it. But I know I can help you get rid of it.”
“I can do that by myself thanks.”
“Before it goes bad?”
Marc-Andre made a strong point. But she remembered something. “You guys are away. How can you help me? Here’s the deal. You find out, and you can help us eat it.”
“Us?”
“Yea. My secret admirer deserves a portion.”
“What if your secret admirer is me. Can I have two portions?”
“No.” He started saying something but Vivienne cut him off. “U-bup-bup. No. Not even funny.”
She could almost feel his frown through the phone. “Fine. There’s about two hours until we need to get ready for the game. You gonna watch?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Ok. Well, I am going to go sleuth for you. Talk to you later.”
“Good luck! Bye!”
Vivienne thought about what Marc-Andre was saying. Maybe she was reading into this too much. Its just fruit. Its not a scene from Tampopo. The woman shrugged her shoulders and took a pineapple flower from the arrangement before putting the bouquet in the fridge. After devouring the sweet fruit, Vivienne changed her “schedule” to do chores first and then retire for the evening, getting an early start on sleep.
It was nice to have two days off in a row on the weekends. But today was not a weekend. It was a Wednesday; Halloween. Vivienne realized she didn’t watch the game the previous night, so on her lunch she searched online for game highlights incase Marc-Andre quizzed her. There would be another game this evening, but Brent would be in net. But tomorrow the team was coming home. The next game would be Saturday night at Consol. The party was Friday. She could spend the entire day preparing for the game that evening, the Rocky Horror Picture Show late that night, and then the Steeler game on Sunday, which she would be watching at Alvin and Monica’s place.
The day went by quickly. Soon after work was over, Vivienne headed over to Monica and Alvin’s rent-to-own house. The building Vivienne lived in only had a few very young kids, so she never got any trick-or-treaters. That’s why every year the three spend Halloween passing out candy and watching various horror movies. Last year they thought Zombie Strippers would be interesting, but the three were disappointed. It was shitty. This year they picked _____ to watch after the game. Alvin fell asleep about halfway through. Tons of little kids dressed as superheroes, princesses, witches, and zombies came to the house. They even ran out of candy at one point.
The good news about the night was that the Pens won their sixth game in a row. It was a close game, but at the end the boys scored a crucial goal which boosted morale and led to a victory. Vivienne got quite a few texts afterward from a handful of the guys, asking if she saw their assist or save or other contribution. On Marc-Andre’s way home, he called Vivienne.
“I tried, but everyone acted surprised. I don’t know who sent it.”
“No one owned up?”
“Nope.”
Vivienne made a whiney, whimper noise. “But I wanna know who its from.”
“I did my best, Viv,” he said with a fake sigh. “Sometimes, even a super hero can’t win every battle.”
“Alright, well thanks for trying. See ya Friday?” Marc-Andre confirmed he would be at the party, and then they said their goodbyes.
Monica looked at Vivienne confused. “Who needs to own up to what?”
“My ‘secret admirer’ sent me a fruit basket from Edible Arrangements, but I don’t know who my admirer is.”
Vivienne saw her friend smirk a little. “I know who it is from. They asked me for your address.”
“Well?! Who?!”
Monica sighed. “It’s a secret for a reason…”
“What reason is that?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t tell me what they were sending. Just that they needed your address. I didn’t know why.”
“You just gave out my address, not knowing what the purpose was for it?! You’re lucky nothing bad happened. What if their intentions were less than admirable?”
“But they aren’t so shut up. You got fruit. Ya baby. Enjoy it.”
“Can’t you just tell me?”
Monica thought about it for a little. “Friday is the party right?” Vivienne answered by nodding her head. “He will probably confront you there. No worries. You’ll find out.”
“That’s two days from now. I can’t wait that long.”
“Neither can the basket. I’ll help you.”
“You and Marc-Andre. I swear…He offered to help me eat it too.”
“I’m your best friend. I call dibs.”
“Nope. I’ll share it with my admirer. If I find out who it is. Until then, its all mine.” She paused a moment and then continued, “Besides, why should I reward you when you wont give me any information?”
“Meh meh meh.” Later, Vivienne returned home.

Notes