​🇮​​🇳​​🇻​​🇮​​🇸​​🇮​​🇧​​🇱​​🇪​ - ᵐⁱᵏᵉ ʷʰᵉᵉˡᵉʳ ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ᵛ ⁻ ᵐᵃᵖˡᵉ ᶜᵘˡ⁻ᵈᵉ⁻ˢᵃᶜ ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ᵛ ⁻ ᵐᵃᵖˡᵉ ᶜᵘˡ⁻ᵈᵉ⁻ˢᵃᶜ ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐘𝐍𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 as the costume's white apron spins around with her. She stops and looks at herself excitedly in her bedroom mirror, adjusting the black ribbon in her hair before smiling widely.

Finally, she was ready.

She quickly exits her room and races down the hallway into the kitchen, where the rest of the family is waiting. Billy is leaning against the kitchen counters in his leather jacket and pants, looking annoyed while Max is standing beside her mother, who's sitting down at the table with Neil. She's dressed all in black and seems to have some sort of mask and fake knife in her hand.

"How do I look?" Ashlynn asks enthusiastically, giving another spin.

Billy crosses his arms and looks her up and down, unimpressed. "What are you supposed to be exactly?"

Ashlynn rolls her eyes and plants her hands on her hips. "Alice from Alice in Wonderland, duh. Who else would I be?"

Billy scowls at her and rolls his eyes as Susan smiles fondly at her step-daughter. "That's such an adorable costume, darling. I absolutely love it. You look wonderful."

"Thank you, Susan." She smiles shyly at her step-mother, who smiles back at her warmly.

"You know, I think I can tie that bow in the back for you."

"Oh, no, that's okay. I'm sure it'll be fine." Ashlynn attempts to protest but Susan's already getting up from her seat.

Her step-mother walks over to her and quickly ties the white ribbon on the back of her dress into a proper bow before turning Ashlynn around and placing her hands on her shoulders affectionately. "There. Now that's much better, right?"

"Right." She smiles back.

"Okay, well then." Max says suddenly, walking away from the table and grabbing an orange jack 'o lantern basket from the dresser by the front door. "We can just go now."

"Don't you girls need someone to watch you?" Neil offers but Susan luckily comes to their rescue.

"I'm sure they'll be fine, Neil. After all, they're both thirteen now. I'm sure they can handle at least one night out. It's Halloween!" She squeezes Ashlynn's shoulders affectionately. "Let them have a bit of fun."

Whether Susan can sense Ashlynn's discomfort or not, she's grateful for her interruption nonetheless.

Max stands over by the door and leans against it as she waits for permission to leave. "So can we go now or what?"

Susan smiles fondly at her daughter. "Of course, Max. Now, you go with Ashlynn and you two girls have some fun, alright? Be back by ten thirty, sounds good?"