pink nights / sally face

halloween party (pt. 2)

sal's pov

my hands were sweaty against the steering wheel. i couldn't drive fast enough, i wanted to be home already. being around y/n was incredibly nerve racking at this point. i still couldn't tell how she felt. she was kind towards me but was it out of pity? was she just too scared to tell me to back off? i felt so fucking confused. i've never put myself out there like that with anyone before y/n. and i knew it was the right thing to do, i liked her too much to hide it but damn ... i couldn't help myself from wanting to know how she felt. i needed reassurance or a cold shoulder. i needed to know for sure.

when i reached home i wasted no time. i ran up the stairs back to the comfort of gizmo. i needed a second to breathe. i was excited as fuck for the party but a party is not my usual scene. i knew tonight was going to push me out of my comfort zone and while i was okay with that, i needed the motivation that i could do it.

i paced back and forth from my kitchen to the living room. "gizmo, i wish you could come with me." i held onto my hair and sighed, "oh god. i feel like if i don't make a move tonight, things will just be awkward afterwards. fuck. why did i play her that song?!" gizmo jumped down from the couch and rubbed against my leg. i then started to realize i was making myself more nervous than i needed to be. if i wanna have fun tonight, i can't psych myself out.

i sighed, "c'mon gizmo." i walked back to my room with gizmo following close behind.

i made a face at the clothes i had laid out before going to the lake. i always felt stupid dressing up. not because i didn't enjoy it ... i just felt like i couldn't. i was always limited to a character with a mask. and i don't know, i guess i should be grateful there's at least one night of the year that i'm not explicitly wearing a prosthetic. at a halloween party, i'm just some guy in a costume. i exhaled sharply and removed my mask before lifting my shirt above my head, beginning to change.

y/n's pov

i examined my reflection, my still warm straighter among makeup scattered across the bathroom counter. i decided to DIY a costume by painting a skeleton on a black mini dress. i had skeleton arm warmers and thigh highs to match. my eyes were caked in a dark smokey eye and my cheeks were hollowed out with heavy contour. i was a skeleton, obviously. the idea wasn't derived from being cheap or even lazy, i just couldn't think of anything that wasn't too ... flashy.

i looked harder at myself and smoothed my dress. this is the best you could come up with? a house party and this is what you wear? what is it? a 2013-tumblr-nostalgia party? i ridiculed myself at the thought of walking into a house packed full of people my age. it made me too self-conscious, the collective judgement of so many staring eyes. and even if the eyes of these party-goers were only imaginary, i couldn't help but feel stupid all alone in larry's bathroom.

i knew ash would tell me that i looked fine and that people weren't going to judge me like i had convinced myself they would and that i didn't need to force myself to go to the party at all if i didn't want to. but then i thought of sal. and i knew no matter how stupid i felt, i couldn't miss tonight. even through the nerves i wasn't able to rationalize the regret of missing my chance to go to my first party with him.

"hey, can i come in?" ash mildly shouted over larry's stereo, which had been playing through sanity's fall's entire discography while we got ready.

i opened the door to see ash in maybe the cutest costume i'd ever seen. "oh my god ash, you weren't kidding- you're really good at costumes."

she smiled shyly, "oh please! yours is cool as fuck!"

i shook my head, "not like yours, the detail is crazy!" ash was dressed as coraline and she had it down to a near-perfect match. she wore an oversized yellow rain coat with striped tights and yellow high top converse. she even had some striped gloves and a pair of glasses with buttons glued to the lenses. it was unmistakably coraline.