Wicked Temptation / l.h ✔️

16

~Delilah's POV~

I got out of Luke's car and heard Tate follow suit, as he had hitched a ride with us. Being as clumsy as I am, I somehow managed to hit my head against the roof of the car as I went to get out, causing me to yelp in pain. When I finally got out after a moment of trying to recover from hitting my head, I slammed the car door shut and then realized after the locks clicked that my skirt had gotten stuck in the door.

Tate snickered when he rounded the car and saw the situation I was in, an amused glint in his eyes. "God, you're such a klutz." He said, and I felt my face burn in humiliation.

"It's not my fault!" I exclaimed, tugging at the door handle like that would suddenly make the doors unlock. Luke seemed to notice that I was taking a while to group up with him, Kailee and Juliana, as all of them were standing a few feet away at Juli's car that she and Kailee had come in. "What's taking so long? Hurry up so we can go already." Luke said impatiently, and Tate and I exchanged looks. I was embarrassed to have to say the words that were on the tip of my tongue, but Tate just looked amused, as if this were funny to him.

My voice was quiet and filled with embarrassment when I answered him. "I'm stuck in the door." I mumbled, feeling my face burning as Tate guffawed next to me. The confused look on Luke's face just made me feel even more embarrassed, his blue eyes peering at me with the most stupefied look on his pretty face. "Did you just say that you're stuck in the door?" He asked in an amused voice, trying his best to hide his mirth from me, but I could easily see it on his face. Just like Tate, he seemed to find my predicament funny, especially when he looked down and saw my skirt really was stuck. For a moment I just stood there, watching as he rolled his lips into his mouth to try to stop the amused smile from growing on his lips.

However after a few seconds, Luke began to guffaw in a similar manner as Tate had, though Luke's laughter had a different sound to it—more carefree and booming, the type that caught your attention.

"S-Stop laughing at me!" I exclaimed in embarrassment, furiously tugging at the door handle even though I knew that it wouldn't open since it was locked. He gave a few more chuckles and then pressed a button on his car keys, unlocking the doors for me. I yanked the door open and made sure my skirt was okay after I pulled it from out of the door, but thankfully it wasn't damaged at all. There was a little bit of dust on it, though that wasn't a big deal because I just had to brush it all off.

When I had my skirt all brushed off and fixed back into place I shut the car door again, this time being sure not to get my skirt stuck. I couldn't even imagine how dumb Luke would think I was if I accidentally got my skirt stuck again. The thought alone was enough to mortify me, making it hard to look at him in fear that he already thought I was dumb for ever getting my skirt caught like that in the first place. The five of us began to walk towards the Party City that Juliana had insisted we go to, since that was usually where she liked to shop for her costumes. I had no qualms with this, but Tate usually would complain about it until he gave up. This year, he had surprisingly not complained even a bit about it, which was unusual for him. It was odd, but I assumed it was probably just because he knew it was futile to argue about it by now anyway.

We entered the party city and Juliana and Kailee almost immediately split up from Tate, Luke and I, which surprised me quite a bit. I had assumed Kailee would try to stick by Luke's side for as long as possible today, but he was left with us. Kailee and Juli generally liked to wear more revealing costumes, which was something that I could only ever imagine having the confidence to do.

Sure, I liked to wear skirts and crop tops a lot, but for some reason it felt different to me than if I wore a sexy costume. My clothes I usually wore weren't worn or picked out because of their sexiness, simply because none of them felt sexy to me. They just felt natural, and normal. Wearing a revealing Halloween costume, though, was different. It was made for purely the sake of looking sexy, and I didn't know how to do that. Being "sexy" just wasn't in my nature. That was why I often just picked out regular costumes for Halloween.

Tate and I walked to the opposite side of the store—the side that had more normal costumes—and Luke just quietly trailed along behind us, not saying a word. I couldn't help but to slightly glance at him over my shoulder, concerned that he might have been bored, but I couldn't really get a read on how he was feeling because he just looked like he always did. He suddenly looked at me and my face warmed as our gazes met, making me jerk my head around quickly. I guess I had been staring a little bit longer than I'd thought.

"Hey, Dell, look," Tate called from a little bit away from me, making me realize that he had walked off. I looked over at him and furrowed my brows, narrowing my eyes slightly, "What is it?" I asked him, entirely uncertain. I walked a little bit closer and my eyes widened when Tate grinned mischievously and held the clothes out like he was trying to imagine it on me. "Your new costume, if I play my cards right." He said. I just gaped at the costume before I suddenly heard a set of footsteps and then the warmth of a body behind me, causing me to look over my shoulder. Not to my surprise, it was Luke.

However, his blue eyes were locked on the costume in Tate's hands and there was a smirk on his lips. "Damn. If I see you in a costume like that, I'll have to take back every bad thing I've ever said about you, bubbles." He remarked, glancing down at me.

My face burned and I looked away immediately, staring at the costume again. It was a rather tiny fairy costume, consisting of a very short sparkly green skirt with a cropped green corset that was strapless and would probably make me suffocate. The costume came with a pair of sparkly white wings, too. I couldn't help but to burn up at the thought of me ever wearing such an outfit in front of another person. "Tate!" I scolded, pushing it back when he tried to hold it up in front of my body. "Put it back!" I told him, causing him to pout. "You never venture outside of your weird costumes. Last year you went as the fucking Cookie Monster!" He complained, though he reluctantly placed the fairy costume back where he had found it.

Behind me, I heard Luke snicker. "Seems about right for her." He said to Tate, and they both laughed whilst I was frowning in humiliation.

"Stop making fun of me!" I exclaimed at the two of them, giving them an angry look. Maybe it wasn't as threatening to them as it felt like I was being because both Tate and Luke just exchanged glances, looking amused. "You know, I'm starting to see now I didn't have the wrong idea by calling you a square." Luke said, and I knew he was saying this for the sake of provoking me but I still let it get to me. "That's not true! I can be...you know, cool..." I said, furrowing my brows a little. Was cool even the word I was searching for?

Luke smirked. "Oh, you can, can you?" He snorted, and Tate watched on with a glint in his eyes that I was a little bit scared of. "Then you won't go as something stupid when Halloween comes?" He asked, raising a brow at me. Even though I was meant to be proving to him that I could be cool and not childish, I hesitated, biting my lip. When Luke rolled his eyes, I already knew what was coming before he even went to open his mouth.

"I'll go as the fairy!" I blurted before he could say anything, desperate to prove him wrong. I didn't want to be called a square all the time. It's just a costume, anyway. What's the big deal?

At my words both Luke and Tate high fived each other, grinning victoriously. And even though I was supposed to be the one proving to them that I could be cool and have fun, I felt a little bit like they had just been the ones that won out of us.