Rattlebones (bxbxb)

Eve of Blood

Five million dollars sits heavy inside my stomach for the next few days, like a roast beef sandwich, or maybe a pound of potato salad. I didn't regret eating Eugene's letter, I knew that money could drive people to do horrible things, but what I did regret was eating the whole damn paper in one bite. 

My delicate stomach couldn't handle consuming such atrocious things.

Eugene and Iggy give me the cold shoulder until Saturday, the day of Rainbow Lewis's Halloween Party, and they only communicate through a series of grunts and nods with me. 

I guess I didn't really blame them, if it had been me, I would have been just as upset and most likely exacted my revenge on them.

 "I can't believe you ate the whole thing, Brown," Eugene tells me, sounding wounded. "We could have bought a mansion and a vending machine that spits out Poptarts."

"We could have bought a pug. Two pugs," Iggy adds in from where he's digging through his closet, looking for something for us to wear to the party. 

"Oh, come on," I tell them, and I stand in the middle of the room, my hands on my hips. Eugene referred to it as my Dictator pose, and it usually meant that shit was about to go down. "I know that you're both upset about the money, but it doesn't really mean anything, does it? At least we have each other and our friendship."

"I could have bought an island," Eugene leans his head back and groans from where he's sitting, sunken into a deep beanbag chair. "A nice, peaceful island with hot babes and coconuts."

"Hey, Darcy? Can you try this on?" Iggy announces, and he comes out of the closet carrying something frilly and dark. "I've been saving it for a rainy day, and I think the Halloween party's the perfect place to finally bust this bad boy out."

"What in God's name is that?" I question, and I stare down at the thing in his hands. It appeared to have several large bows on it, miles of fabric, and several intricate pieces. It was as if a magician, Ariana Grande, and a drunken French aristocrat had created a love child together.

"Oh no," Eugene sighs from his seat, "Vita's breaking out the cosplay again."

"Shut up! This shit cost me over two hundred dollars!" Iggy hisses, his face bright red as he clutches the outfit to his chest. "I was going to wear it, but I'm too tall to play the character."

I carefully take the costume from him and I hold it up. It consisted of a blue vest, shorts, and several layers of striped trimmings, like a fruity little cake. Ridiculous. But when I look back up at Igor, he looks so hopeful that I immediately feel a stab of pain go through my heart.

"Get out of my way," I growl after a moment, and I storm past him, costume in hand. "I'm only doing this once!" I shout back at him. "After that, you're going to have to get Eugene to model for you!"

"Yeah, and I'll fucking own that shit, too!" Eugene calls, and I slam the closet door closed behind me.

For the life of me, I couldn't understand the purpose of dressing up in silly costumes for one night. Halloween was supposed to be a celebration of death and to offer up food and drink to lesser gods. Not some farce involving candy and pumpkins.

So why did I feel so compelled to put on Iggy's costume just to make him happy?

"What's so great about this party anyway? Everyone's been talking about it for months." I tell them through the door, and I put on the outfit with a bit of difficulty, the striped shirt, then the vest,  plus knee-high stockings and boots. Had Iggy really spent two hundred dollars on this thing?

"This is Rainbow Lewis's party, man," Eugene sighs. "He's going to have free beer and the hottest people from high school there. If I hadn't died, I would totally be going with Alina Blake right now. Her dad owns like five Mustangs and ten Kentucky Fried Chickens."

"Didn't you make out with Alina's brother last year?" Iggy questions.

"Yeah? And?" Eugene replies.

I open the closet door once I have everything in place. My white boots squeak when I walk, and they're about half a size too big for my feet. 

Iggy turns around, shocked into silence at the sight of me. Honestly, I had never seen him blush so hard in my entire life. It was almost as if the oxygen had promptly left his body. 

"Dude," Eugene breathes, and he looks me over. "I've never seen someone look so fucking cute in my entire life. This can't be real. Can I squeeze your face?"

"No,"  I reply bitterly, my arms crossed. "Can we just go to the party before I change my mind? I feel like a fancy parrot in this thing."

Iggy continues to say nothing even when Eugene claps him on the back. I think he must have been in shock or something. Was he even breathing properly?

"It's party time, boys," Eugene tells us, and then he smirks. "Let's go tear it up."