Artifice

Prince Charming

"Give me a second."

"You know him?" Chloe looked at me surprised.

Standing up, I didn't really have a plan of what I would say or do. I couldn't act angry over him announcing that he wasn't looking to date anyone.

He was leaning against a wall pretending to listen to what someone beside him was telling him, his eyes glancing back and forth between his friend and myself as I walked over to him.

"Hey man, can I talk to you later?" I heard him say and his friend nodded, leaving him alone.

He was dressed in a blazer designed with golden patterned lines, underneath a black dress shirt and black jeans.

"Prince Charming?" I approached him.

"Just Harry." his lips curled into a dimpled smile.

"So do you expect me to think that you being here is another coincidence?" I asked.

"Yes, unless you're the real stalker here." He said in a witty tone. "Are you here alone?"

"No," I looked around the room completely forgetting Lizzy and Liam were here also. "I was with my roommate and her boyfriend but they've seem to have disappeared."

"She tends to leave you quite a lot." I faintly remembered the second time we saw each other when Lizzy vanished and he took me home.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I went to check it. Seeing that it was from Chloe I looked across the room at her confused, then opened the text.

*He's hot!*

"What are you reading?" Harry leaned to me and I quickly put my phone back in my pocket.

"Nothing. So what brings you to this frat party on Halloween?" I asked.

"I have some friends that go here. It was either this or visiting my sister and help her pass out candy." He took a drink from his cup.

"Getting drunk over spending time with your sister? You're a monster." I said in a joking manner.

"I'm not actually drinking alcohol." He tilted his cup so I could see inside. "It's soda."

"Why not?"

"See all these people around us?" He pointed to the crowd. "Most of them will wake up tomorrow hungover and have to somehow manage getting to class on time in the morning. I rather not be one of them."

"I thought you didn't go to school anymore and you just worked for your dad?" I recalled him saying.

"You're right, I was implying any responsibilities not just going to school." He cleared his throat and stood up straight. "I see you're doing the same."

"Yeah I have to get up early during the weekdays." I stated and he nodded.

"Pirate?" He looked up and down my body.

"Gypsy." I corrected him and he almost spit out his soda.

"What kind of gypsy get up is that?"" He laughed and I grew embarrassed.

"I actually like it," I lied.

"You're lying."

"You're right." I admitted. "But you're the last person who should be taunting anyone's costume tonight."

"You're right. I look like such an idiot amongst people wearing white sheets over there heads and ugly masks." He pointed at someone that wore a mask that looked to be of a troll, it was hideous. "After Halloween two years ago I stopped trying really."

"What happened two years ago?"

"I dressed up as Miley Cyrus, her infamous VMA costume. You know the one that she wore when she rubbed her crotch with that foam finger. It was simply horrendous, I never thought putting tape over my nipples or putting my hair up in little buns would hurt so much. Plus my tongue was so dry by the end of the night from taking so many pictures with it out, I had to drink two glasses of water before going to bed." He said and I leaned back laughing, picturing it in my head. "After that I never really saw the point of trying. I hated it."

"You will need to show me proof of that one day." I said and one of his eyebrows raised.

"One day, yeah?" He asked. He quietly hummed amused by something.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing.." He looked around then stopped. "Want to go for a swim?"

"Swimming?" I looked at him as if he was crazy. "It's freezing outside."

"They have a jacuzzi. Inside."

Oh true.