I held back a laugh as I gazed up at Leo in his Halloween costume. He was wearing a duck head, but it looked so good/funny with his regular clothes.
"How did you ever think of that," I wondered in awe.
"I wanted something fun and that no one would recognize me in," he admitted, his voice a little muffled.
"Yeah, I never would've guessed that was you if I didn't know."
"Come on, let's get in there. It's freezing out here," Ned shivered, us going through the doors. I was already impressed by the amount of decorations, everyone decked out in costumes. I felt slightly out of place, since no one was my age and they were mostly men, but I stuck with Leo.
"Are you going to be able to eat with that," I asked him as we went over to the refreshments table.
"Probably not," he lowly chuckled. "I think I can drink something through my bill though."
"You want regular punch or this alcoholic beverage. I have no idea what it is, but it looks really cool." I held up the green concoction as he nodded towards it.
"I'll just have that." He took it from me, our fingers brushing in the process. I tried to pretend like I hadn't felt goosebumps form all over my arms. I decided to go with the safer option of red punch, since I had no idea how strong the other was. Of course I would assume it wouldn't be too bad, since this was a respectable party.
"You want to bob for apples," I questioned when I spotted the game starting.
"I don't really want to take my mask off, so no."
"Come on, if you take it off right before you dive in, then I bet no one will recognize you."
"I doubt that..."
"Why would it matter if anyone recognized you here? Don't they know that you're friends with Ned," I reckoned.
"Not really. I've had Ned keep it a secret, so he doesn't get harassed."
"Oh. I guess I didn't think about that. Well, do you want to do something else? We could dance."
"Alright," he agreed, me surprised by how outgoing I felt.
Eventually we made it to the middle of the room, dancing together as we had a great time. More people eventually joined us and Leo had the best moves. He even did a convincing robot, while I was mostly just swaying my hips and jumping around. I didn't know much about dancing, but I knew that I was having a good time. When Leo stopped for a break everyone clapped for him, including me. I smiled brightly at him, hoping that he was doing the same back at me, since I couldn't see beyond his mask. I decided to eventually follow him, since he had gone to cool down. When I found him with his drink though, a woman was talking to him and my heart sank. I could tell that she was interested by the way her body was angled towards his.
"So, what do you really look like under that mask? I'm sure you look amazing since you can dance like that," she spoke, tucking a platinum strand of her Marilyn Monroe wig behind her ear.
Leo just chuckled softly and I could tell that he felt uncomfortable. Of course the intrusive thought crossed my mind that maybe it was because she was older than who he typically dated. I took a deep breath as I pretended like I was being brave like Elsa.
"Hi," I piped up, my eyes on Leo as the lady looked between us.
"Oh, is this your daughter," she guessed, Leo choking from swallowing wrong. "Are you okay?" She was patting his back as he gasped for air, eventually able to compose himself.
"Yeah," he breathed. "I just need some fresh air."
"Okay." She watched him leave as I cautiously went with him shortly after.
