Things Money Can't Buy

Chapter 11

~*~

It was finally the day of the Halloween party. 

The past two weeks had been fairly uneventful. Even though my department was moved to the same floor as Jason, he'd been pretty busy recently because of a major deal that he signed. 

We hadn't talked much lately. Other than him asking me to get his coffee almost every day, claiming that his assistant was 'busy' when she usually wasn't, it was pretty quiet between us. 

I learned not to question the coffee thing. By this point, I wasn't even the newest employee at the company anymore as I'd been working there for over a month, so that wasn't even a valid excuse anymore to rationalize his behavior. I had absolutely no idea why Jason insisted on me getting his coffee, and my supervisor, Dan, was just as baffled.

Eventually, it just became a thing that was a part of my work day. My days consisted of paperwork, paperwork, interviews, employee complaints, paperwork, getting Jason coffee, and more paperwork. There wasn't any winning with him, so whenever he sent those messages asking me to get his coffee, my response was just an eye-rolling emoji to show my annoyance.

He always got me a caramel latte, though. As usual, his solution to everything was bribery. I didn't really have a choice in listening to him, considering he was in charge. While the bribery was annoying, I guess it was a free perk.

Maddie and I were getting ready for the party at her apartment. She insisted on doing my makeup, and I was more than happy to let her do it. She had a side gig of doing people's makeup for events because of how talented she was. 

I liked how makeup looked on me. Unfortunately, I wasn't that good at it, so I usually kept the makeup light if I did it myself at all. Maddie, however, went all out. She curled my long hair, too. It was usually mostly straight with a bit of waviness to it, but she gave me some loose curls.

When I looked at myself in the mirror after putting on my costume, I barely even recognized myself... okay, that sounded cheesy. I recognized myself, but it was a better version of myself. Maddie did an incredible job. 

"If you don't hook up with a guy tonight, I'm convinced that all men are blind," Maddie announced.

I laughed. "Same to you, girl. You look amazing."

And she did. She was wearing her sexy cat costume; she embraced it, doing her makeup to make it look like she had whiskers and everything. As expected, she did a great job and looked incredible.

Soon, it was time to go. Our Uber driver got us there a little after six. 

"Fashionably late," Maddie explained.

"Got it."

As expected, Jason went all out for the party. He must have hired a team of a hundred professionals to plan it.

It was extravagant. The entire floor was decorated to give a spooky feel, and there was even a section made into a small haunted house that people could walk through. Creepy Halloween music was being played by some DJs. The Event Center, where the event was held, was dimly lit and smoky with flashes of lightning appearing every few seconds. There were skeletons hanging from the ceiling, fake witches with broomsticks, fake skeletons, fake monsters, and just a ton of other expensive decorations all intended to set the atmosphere for the holiday. Even the security guards were dressed up as monsters as well.

There was no doubt that Jason loved Halloween.

The Event Center was attached to the main building. It was huge, meant to hold a few thousand people, but it was still packed tonight. Megan and Ian weren't kidding when they said that almost everyone goes to the party.