Big Shot | ✓

28 | killer

A party on Halloween was usually inevitable, even if it fell on a Sunday this year. But a party on Halloween the day after Clemson won a gritty, gory game against a nasty conference rival might as well have been the rapture. People had been partying since after the game last night, but the party everyone wanted to go to was tonight. Everyone might have even included Reid Donahue, who's perfect chaos play yesterday elevated his deity status even higher on campus.

So needless to say, I felt pretty good being the person he chose to text.

REID DONAHUE: are you going to the cardellas tonight?

I was brushing my teeth when he texted me, and I could faintly hear the sound of Cardi B from my all-female hip-hop/R&B playlist coming from my room over the water running, where Mara was already getting ready.

ME: yep. Are YOU?

REID DONAHUE: maybe. tbd. don't have a costume

I bit down on my toothbrush as I typed, deleted, and retyped several responses that could have been perceived as flirty.

ME: well i'll be there if you decide to be social lol

He didn't give me an actual response, just thumbs up on my last message, and I forced myself to put my phone down. I finished brushing my teeth and applying some skincare for the night ahead.

I liked Halloween for a lot of reasons. It gave you the ability to step out of your body, and in the wise words of Cady from Mean Girls, "It's the one time of year everyone can dress like a total slut" - and enjoy it.

I left the bathroom to rejoin Mara in my room, who'd been jamming to Enough by Cardi B as she got ready. I looked down at my phone again, with Reid's message still open on the screen. Did I risk a double text? Try and coerce him into going? I wasn't even sure what I thought would happen, but it felt like stepping into an alternate universe, where the lines between us started to blur. The gravity here pulled me toward him in a way I couldn't fight.

Thankfully Mara captured my attention before I could do anything. "Do you like, actually know these guys? Because I don't know anybody that does. It's all just a friend of a friend of a friend."

"Yeah, sort of." I shrugged. "I've been to a few parties there over the years, so I've met them once or twice."

The Cardella Twins - Kevin and John - lived on a cul de sac at the other end of town, backed up against the lake in what was by far the biggest house on the entire street, with a long winding driveway and big oak front doors. Their family had money, and so even though they were from New Jersey, they owned and lived in the Lake Hartwell house full-time - and probably would even after they graduated.

They weren't athletes, and they weren't in any frats, but somehow their parties were the most sought after by the athletes, the frat bros, and pretty much all levels of the social hierarchy at school. There'd been a rumor going around since sophomore year that they single-handedly supplied pretty much the entire campus with Adderall, Xanax, and a plethora of other party drugs, but it was just that - a rumor. I'd only been in the same room as them a few times, but it was really easy to tell that they were the full-blooded, stereotypical New Jersey Italians, all dark haired and dark eyed and definitely could have had mob connections - but that was just another rumor.

"What's my character's name again?" Mara asked as she slipped into a shiny dark green one piece with a plunging neckline.

"Jade," I replied as I tried to figure out the scanty pieces of my own costume. There was so little fabric that it was hard to tell the top from the bottom.