I Believe in You

Halloween 2014

"Meghan! Hurry up! We're going to be late!" My roommate Chloe called from outside the bathroom door.
"Fashionably late!" I called back.
I met Chloe on August fifteenth when we both moved into Tranquility Hall at River Valley University. I had just graduated from Central College with my pre-med degree and chose River Valley to complete my medical degree. Chloe chose the university to finish her law degree.
Chloe's twin brother lived off campus in a large house with four roommates who were hosting a Halloween party that we were surely going to be late to. I dressed in a floor length greyish blue princess dress in the style of Princess Emma from Once Upon a Time with my long cocoa bean hair into a princess bun with two curls framing my face.
I opened the bathroom door to find Chloe dressed as Athena Goddess of War with her honey butter hair falling in loose curls around her shoulders.
"Are you ready to go?" She asked her grey eyes raking over me.
"Yes, ma'am." I answered teasingly.
"Come on." She laughed.
We took my blue 2010 Chevy Malibu to her brother's house in Springfield just outside of Savannah.
The two story house was decked out in scary Halloween decorations and many party guests littered the lawn blending in with the decor.
I sighed.
"Are you okay?" Chloe asked looking at me as I parked the car in the alley next to the house.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. It just takes me a minute to warm up to big groups of people. I'm working on it." I chuckled nervously.
"Don't worry. You're going to be fine." She assured me.
I smiled and nodded at her.
We got out of the car and walked together to the house.
Inside pop music played loudly. I could feel my heart pounding as Chloe and I made our way through the sea of people towards the kitchen where a much smaller group of people stood talking.
"Chris, this is Meghan Bishop." She introduced me to a tall man with shoulder length honey hair and grey eyes dressed as a modern day devil.
"Hi." I greeted the man extending my hand to him.
He took my hand and kissed the back of it.
"It's a pleasure, princess." He teased.
I smiled slightly and shook my head.
"Ah!" He exclaimed suddenly looking at a young woman dressed in a skimpy she-devil costume.
"Chloe, Meghan this is my girlfriend, Lucy." He introduced us.
"Lucy this is my sister Chloe and her friend Meghan." He beamed at her.
"It's a pleasure." I said smiling at her.
"Yeah, whatever." She sighed barely glancing at us.
I glanced at Chloe and could read the disapproval on her face. I touched her shoulder and steered her over to the soda cooler so I could pick up an unopened Sprite can before leading her to the beer.
"Looks like you need one of these." I said handing one to her.
"He always does this. Picks the trashiest most stuck up girl he can find." She complained opening the beer bottle.
"Some men just do that." I sighed.
"Do you have a brother?" She asked.
I nodded as I took a drink of the soda.
"He's twelve and my sister just turned eighteen." I answered.
Chloe glanced back at Christian and gagged at the sight of him with Lucy's tongue down his throat.
"Why don't we go out back? Get some air?" I suggested.
Chloe nodded and hurried out the door. My eyes were on her back as I followed promptly bumping into a man trying to enter the house.
"Oh my... I'm so sorry." I stuttered awkwardly flushing bright red.
"No. It's my fault." He answered his voice appealingly masculine.
I looked up at him to see his light brown eyes locked on my face.
He was dressed as Captain Hook also from Once Upon a Time but his hair was an almond cream color.
"I'm Conrad Hawkins." He smiled at me.
"Meghan Bishop." I said shaking myself from my daze.
"Do you know any of the other guys that live here?" He asked.
"Oh. You live here. I... No. I'm Chloe's roommate." I answered flustered gesturing to her.
She stood by the fence watching us with a smile on her face.
"Oh. Chris's sister. She looks pleased with herself." He chuckled as he lead me towards her across the much less populated backyard.
"She convinced me to come out tonight. I just moved here from Atlanta. My dad is Georgia's district attorney." I answered.
"Really?" He asked kind of looking at me.
"Yeah. It's not that exciting. He's been doing it all my life. We don't know any different." I chuckled nervously.
"Are you following in his footsteps?" He asked.
"No. I'm going to River Valley to finish my last year of my medical degree." I answered.
"Me too." He said smiling at me.
"Hey, Chloe." He said absently as we came to a stop next to her still looking at me.
"Hi, Conrad." She answered looking between us.
"I'm going to leave you two alone to get to know each other." She winked at me and walked away.
I shook my head as I watched her go.
"Seems she can tell we're smitten." He said causing me to blush.
"It's easy to be smitten when someone's costume so perfectly matches yours." I remarked smiling at him.
"Fair enough." He smiled back taking my hand in his gently and pulling a pen from his pocket.
He wrote his phone number on the back of my hand.
"Perhaps you'll give me a call and we can meet for coffee and find out how compatible we are out of costume." He winked at me.
"I think I'd like that." I answered smiling shyly at him.
"Tomorrow's Saturday. We could meet around noon at the coffeeshop on campus?" He suggested.
"I guess I don't need this then." I giggled flashing him his number on the back of my hand.
"I'd rather you keep it. For safekeeping." He said  causing me to smile at him again.