Page 24 of Black Hollow: Awakening

“Actually… I have other plans.”

“Holy shit. Did Oscar finally ask you out?”

Will hated lying. He really hated it, but in this situation, he decided it would be easier.

“Yeah,” he confirmed, managing a smile.

“Awesome!” Dan cheered. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

Will shrugged weakly.

“You’ve been so mysterious lately,” Danny complained. “Anyway, congrats! Though I’m warning you, when I’m finally the only single person under this roof, I think I’ll start to hate you.”

Will started to laugh.

“Oh, Danny,” he said after a moment. “About the movie…”

“Hm?”

“Go with the werewolves. Vampires are assholes.”

October 31 | Thursday

Will checked his reflection in the mirror. After debating for a moment whether his eye makeup was uneven or if he was just imagining it, Will decided it wasn’t that important. He brushed stray strands of hair from his face and hitched up his leather pants. The outfit included a matching leather jacket and a T-shirt, but he couldn’t find any shoes that worked, so he had to settle on black sneakers.

He had no idea if Norma’s party was a costume party or not, so he figured this outfit was the perfect compromise. On one hand, he looked like a very cheap version of Blade from Archangels. On the other, he could always claim it was just his style, to get into the spirit of things. Nothing too over the top.

He went down to the living room. Danny was on the couch, watching some show.

“So? How do I look? Is it too much?”

“Great.”

Dan had been off all day. Will figured he was still mad about being left alone.

“What did you decide to watch?”

“Both. I’ll have plenty of time.”

Will bit his lip, uncertain.

“Is everything okay?” he asked after a moment of hesitation.

Dan gave him a cold look.

“You tell me.”

Will stared back, confused.

“You realize I have math with Oscar, right?” Danny said, and Will immediately understood where Dan was going with this. And he felt awful. “So today, I thought I’d be funny and went up to him and asked about your plans together. He was shocked. Had no idea what I was talking about. But I guess you know that.”

Will stayed silent, a wave of panic washing over him. He tried to think of something on the spot, but he really wasn’t a good liar. And lying to Danny was especially hard. Nothing like this had ever happened between them before. Dan knew practically everything about him.

“So where are you really going?” Dan asked curtly, eyeing his roommate. “Or should I not ask and just pretend you didn’t lie to my face?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?”