ℑ 𝔥𝔬𝔭𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔥𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔪𝔢

Chapter 4: Sebastian

"Jesus, Cam, you sure this is a Halloween store?" I tug at the edge of a plastic bag displaying an image of a promiscuous-looking model in a sexy nurse costume.

"You should get that one for Lola." He winks at me and I punch his arm, scowling.

"Ow." He feigns hurt and rubs his bicep gingerly, pretending to inspect it for damage.

I roll my eyes and push past him, looking through the Freddy Krueger masks. We're looking for something to wear to Cameron's buddy Matt's party tonight and so far every costume Cam has picked out has been a bust.

"You sure you don't want to-"

"We are not being Phineas and Ferb." I yank the plastic bag from his hands and shove it back on the rack behind him.

"Well, saw-ree then for making a fucking suggestion. Zombies?"

"We were zombies last year."

"Fine. Mummies?"

"With what? Toilet paper? No."

"Jesus fuck, Seb. Pirates?"

"... Actually, pirates could work."

Cameron smiles to himself, pleased. We head towards a stack of pirate hats in the back of the shop and I pull a white flowy shirt from the rack. It looks pirate-y enough and I grab a second, tossing it to Cameron. He catches it, nodding in approval. I think I have a red bandana at home. I definitely remember seeing Audrey wearing one so I leave the rack of bandanas and scarves untouched.

"Is a sword cheesy?" I flip one in my hand.

"Yeah. Definitely." Cameron pulls the sword from my hands and pushes it back onto the rack, he grabs and pirate hat, balancing it on his head, "What shoes are you gonna wear?"

"Man, I don't fucking know." I wave him off and we both walk toward the front to check out.

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"11 times 12?" I pull my shoes on.

"Uhhh," Camila taps her pencil on the counter, "120? No. I32?"

"Perfect. You do the dishes tonight, 'kay?"

"Come on," She whines, "This is so unfair, you're literally going out tonight."

"I might not be back tonight, but I'll get you Yoghurtland or some shit tomorrow ok? Bye, mom!"

Camila waves me off, "I'll tell her, she's in the shower."

I close the door behind me and barrel down the stairs toward Ethan's fucked up green Kia and swing open the passenger seat door, but instead of an empty seat Cameron looks back up at me, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Cameron shakes his head mockingly, "First come first serve, big guy." He nods towards the backseat laughing.

I search the front seats, locking eyes with Ethan who shrugs sympathetically, "Let's just go, man."

I grumble but slide into the backseat next to Marty who looks up from his phone to nod at me. I nod back before shutting the door and settling into the ripped leather of the backseat. Ethan pushes the car into drive and we cruise along the road.

"Pre-game?" Cameron leans back from his seat to pass me a bottle of fireball. I accept it and take a swig, grimacing at the burn that it leaves in my throat. I pass it over to Marty who takes a small swig, muttering about how awful it tastes.

"Can I have AUX?"

"Sure, man." Ethan passes back the end of a phone cord and I connect it to my phone, scrolling through my playlists, "What do you guys want?"

"Kanye." Marty blurts.

"Are you serious? I am not supporting that fucking nutjob. SZA."

"Dude, what are you? A teenage girl going through a breakup?" Ethan laughs from behind the wheel.

"Oh, shut up. Like you don't listen to SZA." Cam grumbles, slouching into his seat.

"No other ideas?" I keep scrolling.

"Kendrick."

"Oh fuck, yeah that's good."

"Damn, yeah ok."

"Alright."

I select a playlist and PRIDE blares from the shitty Bluetooth speakers, shaking the whole car. Before long, it feels like a regular Friday night, and I close my eyes, leaning against the window and smiling to myself.

Ethan turns the music down, shouting to be heard over the speakers, "Do you guys have room back there for Chris?"

"Yeah yeah sure." I unbuckle and slide over to the middle seat as Ethan pulls the car into Chris' driveway. We can see his dark silhouette as he hops over the bushes that line the edge of his front yard. He sprints over to the car and slides into the seat next to me, panting.

"Dude, you good?" I clap him on the shoulder laughing.

"I'm fine, just trying to get out before my mom finds another thing for me to do." He rolls his eyes before buckling his seatbelt.

Cameron passes back the Fireball for Chris who takes a couple of swigs and wipes his mouth on the back of his hand before passing the bottle back up to the front. Cameron and I are in our pirate costumes, Chris is a skeleton or something, with a skull painted on his face, and Ethan is Rick from Rick and Morty. He's matching with Marty who, naturally, because of their name similarity, is Morty. We slowly roll around to the front of Matt's house and park across the street, all of us making our way over. We're a bit late, having arrived at 10 so there're already drunk and horny kids spilling out of the front door, mingling on the porch and his front steps.

The music is blaring and Cameron leans over to say something that I don't quite hear, but nod at anyway as we file into the front door. Cameron spies Matt surrounded by the rest of their buddies and saunters over, taking half of the guys with him. He pulls me over and Matt and I exchange a greeting before Ethan and I wander towards the beer pong table.

It's already got a couple of players, but after a few minutes, we're at the front of the line and quickly descend into a competitive frenzy of drinks and ping-pong balls. After Ethan's devastating loss, we find the rest of the guys hovering around Matt's kitchen island arguing about their fantasy football teams.

"Guys, I'm telling you, starting Rodgers over Mahomes is the smart play this week." Matt raises his eyebrows.

"Are you kidding me? Mahomes is up against the worst defense in the league! You'd be insane not to start him." Chris shakes his head, gesticulating wildly

Marty cuts him off, shoving him to the side,"Hold on, hold on. What about my dilemma? I have McCaffrey listed as questionable, and I don't have a solid backup. Do I roll the dice or look for a waiver wire gem?"

Ethan leans back onto the counter and shakes his head, "McCaffrey's been a letdown all season. I say cut your losses and pick up someone hungry for points."

I zone out as they all descend into the argument again, people watching and feeling the alcohol start to work in my system before Cam shoves my arm, "Yo, are you listening? The door."

I glance over to the front door where he's looking. Outlined by the dim colorful lights is Lola.