Beside You

Chapter 16

After we leave the ice rink, Calum, Luke, Micheal and I pile into one car to drop me back off at my apartment.

I reach over to the seat next to me and gently pull Luke's hand into mine. He squeezes it in response. Calum turns around to talk to us. "Hey, Paisley, are you coming to the party tonight?" Party? I don't know what he's talking about. I shake my head. "I didn't hear about any party." I explain. Calum's face shows a confused expression as he turns to Luke. "You didn't invite her?"

Luke shrugs and looks over at me. "Paisley's not much of a partier."

"Well," Calum begins. "I'm having a party at my house tonight. You should come. Ashton and Bryana will be there, and so will Luke." He winks. I'm not a huge fan of parties, but it could be fun to hang out with Ashton and Bryana again. "I'll also be bringing a sexy lady of my own." Calum remarks. I roll my eyes.

"What's her name?" Michael asks loudly. 

"Sophie. We met downtown a few weeks ago. She's super hot."

I ignore the guys' conversation. I look over to Luke and shrug. "Let's go, Luke." He looks at me, surprised.

"Are you sure?" He asks. I nod. "Why not?"

"I'm just surprised you wanted to go."

I look to Michael in the driver's seat. "Why aren't you going?" I ask him.

"I have a hot date with my PS4 tonight." We all laugh as Michael pulls in front of my apartment building. Luke walks out behind me, placing his hand on my waist. I feel my skin reacting to his touch by the goosebumps raising on my arms.

"I'll pick you up at nine o'clock tonight. Wear a costume. It's a Halloween party." My mind begins to spin as I realize I only have a few hours to get a costume.

"You're not messing with me, like Regina George in Mean Girls, right?" I question.

Luke laughs and kisses my forehead. "I guess we'll see." With that, he returns to the car and the guys take off.

Once inside my apartment, I grab a granola bar and pull out my phone, looking up ideas for cheap Halloween costumes. After a good thirty minutes of finding absolutely nothing, I call Jess.

She picks up after the second ring. "Hey, girl! What's up?"

"I need your fashion help. Can you come to the apartment?"

"On my way." She hangs up. I don't know where Jess was at, but hopefully she isn't leaving anything too important just to help me with a stupid costume.

Fifteen minutes later, Jess still isn't back and all I can think about is how stupid I'm going to look at this party. I can't think of any cute costumes and all the girls there are going to be dressed super sexy. I sigh and pull a pillow over my head.

Five minutes later, I hear the door open and Jess plops down next to me on the couch, wearing a gray t-shirt and jean shorts. She is never that casual, where was she?

"So, what's the fashion emergency?" She questions. Her hands are tightly clasped together and she has a big, toothy grin spread across her face. She is obviously excited for my little project.

"Luke invited me to a party tonight and I don't know what to wear..."

"Oh, that's it? I can just lend you-"

"It's a costume party." I interrupt. She nods her head in response.

"That's a different story. Let's go shopping."

"Is that really necessary? I read online that there are a ton of homemade Halloween costumes you can make-" Jess grabs my hand and pulls me out the door with her.