AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The shop of many rooms where we got our costumes must have sold out their entire stock, because in the last ten minutes alone I’d seen four people in the same long, black cloak with their hoods up. Maybe they’d all come as grim reapers and tragically misplaced their scythes. Maybe they were dressed as the creepy cult from Hot Fuzz.3
“Cat,” Byron greeted with a sage nod as he came to splay across the wall beside me, a half-empty cup in his hand. “I see your boobs are still there.”
“They are,” I agreed. “Fortunately all the stares have not burned them from my body.”
“I’m happy for you.”
I gave him a sage nod this time. We both jumped in surprise when the music shot up several decibels.
“Sorry, sorry!” someone shouted. Mason Lindgren. “Wrong fucking way.”
“Tell me he isn’t about to…” Byron laughed, his eyes a little glossy, cheeks a little red. There was also a smudge of lipstick on his jaw I very graciously did not point out.
A hollow clang of wood came from the foyer and then Lindgren was crossing the room with a guitar in his hand. A laugh burst out of me, loud with inebriation. “He is. He really is.”
Byron wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “Please be Wonderwall. Please be a meme come to life. Universe, I never ask much of you, just give me this one thing.”
“There’s no way.” I shook my head, the long white wig clinging to my cheeks, staticky. My head was itchy underneath; another drink and I’d probably rip out the pins and throw the damn thing off just to let my scalp breathe.
Byron and I held our breaths when Mason began to play, and disappointment was instantaneous when it wasn’t the initial chords of Wonderwall but…
“It’s Don’t Look Back In Anger,” I cried, grabbing Byron’s hand, unable to contain my glee. “Oh my god, oh my god.”
“It’s real,” he laughed, crying. He grabbed my arm and for some unknowable drunk reason we both sank to the floor, gasping for air as we laughed too hard. “The ancient frat party lore is real.”
I dropped my head onto his warm shoulder and laughed until my belly ached, and it felt good. All the stress and worries of starting over somewhere new, where I didn’t know the rules and expectations and patterns… it all swept behind laughter.
Another black cloak swept past, brushing my ankles as the tall, hooded person—either a dude or Gwendoline Christie—walked around the coffee table to look out the window. Something buzzed against my hip and I jumped.
“Did you bring a vibrator to a party?” I asked Byron, a furrow between my brows.
“It’s my phone,” he said between hiccupping laughter. “Move, I can’t get to it with your shoulder in the way.”
I giggle-snorted. “That’s not my shoulder, By.”
“Oh, god. It’s so soft. Why is it soft?”
“Moisturiser,” I informed him, leaning back so he could fish his phone from his pocket as Lindgren belted out the final chorus.
“Keep your moisturised bosom to yourself, Wallison.” Byron glanced at his phone, squinted at the text, and the smile fell off his face, comically fast.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, sobering at the dread I watched spill through Byron’s dark blue eyes.
His phone rang, a shrill tone that briefly drowned out Lindgren’s crooning, and my friend flinched.
“By,” I breathed. “You’re freaking me out. What’s wrong?”
His throat bobbed. He angled the phone away from me, rushing to his feet. His hands shook. “It’s Sterling.”
His sister. “Is everything okay?”
“No.” He bolted to his feet, grabbed the wall when he swayed, and I followed in a rush, reaching for him. “I need to talk to her. I’ll tell you everything when I come back. Stay here, watch Honey and make sure that guy doesn’t take advantage of her.”
“By,” I complained weakly, but I didn’t protest when he fled the room, shoulder-checking another black-robed figure. “Great outfit,” I drawled to the robe, my pissy mood and worry spilling out. “Very imaginative.”
The hood turned, too dark inside to glimpse any features, but chances were they looked at me a moment too long because they were ogling the Heaving Bosom.
“My eyes are alllll the way up here,” I said, slurring a little. The fruity vodka packed a stronger punch than beer it turned out.
