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It gave you a sick sort of glee, pulling up to the party on the back of another man’s motorcycle. What’s more, you had your arms firmly wrapped around that other man’s waist, and you and he were even wearing matching Halloween costumes tonight! It was perfectly cute, romantic even, but you couldn’t stop thinking about what the look on Jason’s face would be if he were here to see you right now.
Of course, you had floated the idea by Jason when you had gotten the invitation a few weeks back. The daughter of a friend of a friend of your mom’s had reached out about the house party she was throwing Halloween night, and though you didn’t really know her very well, you didn’t have any other plans- and after how hard you’d been working lately, you deserved to have a little fun. So you’d told Jason about it last you’d crossed paths, and the smug bastard had laughed at you. You tried not to dwell on the specifics of what he said (you were trying very hard to convince yourself it didn’t matter that much to you anyway), but it was something about costume parties being tacky and childish, especially for someone with his particular tastes.
You, naturally, made sure he knew that you didn’t want him to come anyway, and you were actually already planning to go with somebody else. You recalled the surprise in his eyes when you said that and smiled to yourself as you remembered his flimsy attempt to save face before the two of you had to part ways.
So that was how you ended up at this random costume party with Thomas. He’d been easy to convince- he also didn’t have plans, and he already had quite an impressive Chucky costume from a prior year. It had honestly been fun to throw together a “bride of Chucky” costume after learning about that. You and Thomas walked into the party together, your hand rested casually on the back of his shoulder as you stepped through the doorway, and you couldn’t help but feel proud of how good you must look right now.
That pride, though, turned to regret shortly afterwards as you took in the room. The space had all the traditional features of a typical Halloween party- music, drinks, dancing, lots of people who had put varying amounts of effort into their costumes. But you didn’t realize just how college this party was going to feel. The party space was a simple, albeit quite large, living room with the lights shut off and a couple of cheap store bought strobe lights affixed to different parts of the ceiling. Light streamed in from the attached kitchen, where you could see several cases of canned beer, apparently bought in bulk, and two large kegs full of what you strongly suspected was jungle juice. There was a DJ table toward the back of the room, behind which stood some red-faced guy in a dinosaur onesie, drunkenly calling for the crowd to put their hands in the air.
Maybe you could have found something else to do tonight. This would have all been fine, maybe, if you were five years younger with less of an idea of what you wanted out of life. But as you and Thomas made your way to the kitchen to find something to drink, you wrinkled your nose and thought about how you’d really developed more of a taste for fine wine.
But still, you came out to have a good time, and you fully intended to have a good time, out of spite if nothing else. So you mingled, and you danced, and you drank your cheap beer. And it was fine, if you tried not to think too much. People were quite impressed by your and Thomas’ “couples” costume - many of them were eager to listen to Thomas talk at length about what went into putting them together, and most were too drunk to notice or be offended by your standoffishness. You were just finishing up one of those conversations when you saw him come in.
His head was covered by a dark tricorno hat, and he was wearing a Venetian-style eye mask, but still you knew who he was immediately. It was in the way he carried himself as he stepped through the front door and strode out onto the floor, and it was in the color of his shocking blue eyes when he lifted his gaze to meet yours. Even in the low light, even from across the room, you would recognize Jason Mendal’s eyes anywhere.
And the world seemed to stand still for a moment- the crowd, the music, the flashing lights all fell away as you looked across at each other. It was honestly infuriating how easily he could take your breath away. You needed to steel your nerves to avoid betraying vulnerability. Even in a place like this, he was beautiful to behold, and it felt beautiful to be beheld by him.
“You should go talk to him.” Thomas’ voice came from behind you, breaking you from your reverie.
“What?” you said, turning your head in his direction, a slight edge to your voice. “Who on earth do you mean?”
“Jason,” Thomas said. “That’s him in the mask there, right? You’ve been staring at him.” It wasn’t an accusation, merely an observation.
You rolled your eyes. “Don’t be silly.”
Thomas shrugged. “It isn’t a big deal, I’ll be fine.” He seemed characteristically aloof, his voice casual and even. “I’m happy to people watch and help myself to the free drinks. You can do whatever you want.”
You paused for a second, a little surprised but ultimately relieved that this wasn’t going to be messier than it needed to be. “Okay, great,” you spoke finally, turning back toward the real object of your desire. Jason was still there, still staring at you. “I’ll be finding my own way home then, if it’s all the same to you.”
You didn’t listen to hear whatever Thomas responded to that; you were already making your way through the crowd, soon finding yourself face-to-face with Jason.
“Mr. Mendal,” you said to him, smirking, “I’m surprised to see you here. I don’t believe I told you the address of the party I was attending tonight.”
“Well, kitten,” he responded, his voice sultry and smooth as top shelf liquor, “it wasn’t difficult to figure out. I’ll have you know I have the pulse on everything that happens in this city. You can’t escape me so easily.”
“Wow, it sounds like you went to quite the effort to see me, didn’t you?” you shot back with a little laugh. “Did the man with a ‘pulse on the entire city’ somehow not find a party he could actually get an invite to? Or did the poor baby really need to come to this one?” Your last question dripped with sweet venom, and you saw something falter in his eyes. You’d clearly already gained the upper hand here, and it felt lovely.
“Seriously, Aimeé, I-”
“It’s Tiffany tonight, actually,” you cut in, not letting him finish.
“Tiffany?” Jason took a step back from you to take in your outfit, then glanced back at the far wall where Thomas was standing, now leaning against the wall and scrolling on his phone. You watched the expression in Jason’s eyes change, grow darker. “Ah. Bride of Chucky, then,” he sneered. “A child’s toy. I somehow doubt that that little boy there is really whose bride you want to be.”
You raised an eyebrow, daring him to explain himself. “Oh? And how would you know that?”
He scoffed. “If you’re going to be someone’s toy, you have far better options.”
A sly grin crept onto your face as he spoke. “Thankfully, I’m not actually anybody’s toy, or anyone’s bride for that matter, and I can do whatever I like with whomever I want.” You moved your face nearer to his, looking him straight in the eyes. “And like you said, I do have options.”
“You… You infuriate me, Kitten,” he said, not breaking your gaze. “I would’ve come here with you myself if I had known that you would come with that… that immature child of a coworker you have.” You were aware of his choosing his words carefully, as if trying to maintain his composure. Yes, you had him right where you wanted him.
“Are you sure you’re not the toy here, Jason?” you asked, sarcastically feigning innocence. “You can’t seem to tell when it is you’re being played with.” His eyes widened with surprise. He was speechless. Now it was the time to go in for the kill. “Now, perhaps if you’re a good boy and apologize, I would be willing to play with you some more.”
You watched the emotion in his eyes switch from shock to embarrassment, then to frustration. He looked down and cleared his throat. “Fine,” he muttered, sounding petulant but defeated. It was adorable. “Aimeé, I am very sorry I didn’t want to come to this party with you, leading you to bring a far inferior date. I would gladly accompany you next time.”
“Good enough,” you responded, rolling your eyes. “Would you care for a dance?” You offered your hand to him, and he took it.
“Of course,” he said, “One dance. But afterwards…” He leaned in closer, so that he could whisper in your ear. “I am quite confident I could throw you a much better Halloween party back at my place, for just the two of us.”
You clocked his innuendo and responded in kind, pressing your body up against his. “I’ll hold you to that,” you purred cheekily. “I hope I’m not disappointed.”
“You won’t be.”
The two of you moved against each other under the flashing strobe lights, in rhythm with the music, and you couldn’t wait to take him away from here. You were very much enjoying this game of cat-and-mouse the two of you had going on. And though you’d already caught your prey for tonight, you knew that your Halloween festivities were far from over.