masquerade【janiel】

Alcohol Is My Only Companion ... And This Hot Guy

Joey slowly tied his tie and bent the collar around it. He was looking at himself in the mirror, impressed by his outfit. He thought of wearing a costume, a prince - obviously, but decided against it. If he was a prince he would most defiantly be a prince in distress. He needed his Prince Charming to come and rescue him from his loneliness. Joey was turning 24 soon and he has never had a serious boyfriend, the longest relationship he had was with an English boy called Doug but that didn't work out due to long distance.

Joey sighed and checked his beeping phone, Cat had texted, she was outside.

He took one last glance in the mirror and whispered to himself, "It's show time."

They were going to this big masquerade party that Meghan had heard of in LA, so all it took was a short drive. Joey had always liked masquerades, but had never actually gone to one, it was like Halloween. You could hide your face for one night so the world could never find you. In the car, David open up a large carrier bag.

"I've got the masks, I couldn't find any with string that looked good, so your arms are going to hurt by the end of the night."
Meghan groaned. "Ow."
"That's fine," Joey said, taking his mask from David. "I prefer these kind of masks."
"Better for kissing mysterious lovers." Cat added whilst giggling.
They all laughed. "Oh, please," Joey retorted. "We all know my love life is practically non existent."
"You had that one night stand with Sawyer."
"Wait, what? Why did no one tell me this?" Cat was visibly shocked, but kept her eyes on the road.
"It was nothing, he was 'experimenting'. Woke up the next morning, he said he was a little bi-curious so I said "well, honey, I'm a little bi-furious" and I moved out."

When they approached the party, all four of them were in awe of the grand mansion. They parked the car and entered through magnificent dark oak doors. The party inside was even more incredible then the mansion. Paper faces on parade everywhere, each face a different shade. Joey stood and stared at the sea of smiles around him. The spectacle astounded him. But even as you looked around, there was always another mask behind you.

As he turned to express his amazement to his friends, he quickly discovered that they had all gone off without him. He knew it was pointless to try and find them again. A part of him was actually glad, he wanted to be someone else tonight, without anyone knowing who he is. Who knows, he might pretend to be someone more confident than himself. He might find himself a mysterious lover.

An hour in, the only lover Joey found was the bar. That was until after his third shot of tequila, Joey felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around to find a devilishly handsome prince standing in front of him. For once in his life, irony was working in Joey's favor.

"Care to dance with a prince?" The man spoke was a voice so smooth it gave Joey goosebumps.
"But, how did you know that I'm-"
"There's only one type of guy who would be willing to go to a masquerade party by them self."
Joey laughed, he was even more glad he had lost his friends. "You caught me. I'd love to dance with a prince."

The prince softly held Joey's hand and guided him to the dance floor. The music changed to 'This Masquerade' by The Carpenters. They slowly danced for what felt like forever, talking and laughing.

"You know, I spotted your beautiful green eyes from the other side of the dance floor. They seemed to shine through all the other masks." Joey felt himself blush and looked down at his shoes out of habit. He then looked up the admiring prince and took a risk. He kissed his prince. And his prince kissed him back.

They danced some more, talked some more and kissed some more. But the magic of the night wasn't able to stop his bladder from filling. Joey excused himself from his prince for a moment and hurried to the bathroom.

As he exited he saw a figure hurry towards him, it took him a while to realise it was David.

"Joey!" He exclaimed and hurried towards his friend. "Dude, it's like midnight, we have to go!"
"But-" Joey began but as he looked at the myriad of faces he realised he had lost his prince.
"Okay, let's go." Joey said, disappointed and defeated.