Chapter 4: The One Where People Try to Set Me Up.
Even though I’m 21 years old, Halloween is still my favorite holiday. I don’t care for Valentine’s Day and Easter, I have very mixed feelings for Christmas and my birthday is pretty much just a regular day. Halloween is by far the best holiday, it has all the criteria of great holidays: no gift giving, decorations, the possibility to dress up as anything you want regardless of your age, and candy.
But sadly, in the last 3 years, I haven’t done much for Halloween; I was either working or right in the middle of midterms and getting dressed as a sexy-(insert any kind of job here) wasn’t a possibility. So, you can imagine my excitement when I was invited to a Halloween party, and that said party fell on the day right after my last mid-term exam. The great thing about my schedule this semester is that I don’t have classes on Monday, which is why the party took place on Sunday the 28th. It’s always a little disappointing to have a Halloween party on a day that isn’t the 31st, but considering that the 31st is a Wednesday this year, it wasn’t really an option.
The whole week that preceded the party, I went through all the costumes ideas on Pinterest, yet I couldn’t decide what I wanted to dress up as. My indecision resulted in me, standing in front of my wardrobe on Sunday evening, trying to figure out a way to turn my regular clothes into a costume. I could dress up as a teacher, or a sexy-teacher even, but I feel like that’s a boring costume to wear to a party where 90% of the people are also education students. I finally decided to dress up as a Captain in the Royal Canadian Navy since I had a boat captain hat a home and I could just wear black pants and a white shirt and be done with it.
At 9, punctual as usual, I knocked on my friend’s front door. Standing on the front porch, I could already hear every word of the music playing inside. A very creepy clown, which I assumed was my friend, opened the door.
-Aren’t you scared the neighbors will call the police? I asked him.
-I told them we were having a party, he answered while lifting his mask so I could hear him better. I said we would be loud until maybe 11, and then try to quiet down after that.
-Good!
The hallway was decorated with fake spider webs hanging from the ceiling, and big spiders stuck in them. My friend had gone all out for Halloween: the living room was decorated from floor to ceiling, with a table full of Halloween themed drinks, and another one for food. Looking around, I realized I was one of the first guests to arrive. Only one vampire was sitting on the couch, nibbling on a cookie shaped like a severed finger.
One thing I love about Halloween is guessing who is hidden under the different costumes. Five minutes after I walked in, the doorbell rang again and a steady flow of monsters, zombies, sexy-nurses and sexy-cops, superheroes and people dressed in clever costumes made their way into the living room. The party started. We were dancing, we were drinking (pumpkin juice, obviously), we were eating so much candy all of our dentists would’ve past out at once if they knew just how much. About an hour into the party, the doorbell rang again. I barely heard it over the loud music.
-Who’s missing? I asked my friend, looking around the room. I thought everybody was here already!
I saw a few of my friends exchange knowing glances.
-I invited someone else, said Christian. I figured you would like to meet her.
-Me? Why?
And then it struck me. This was a set-up. I barely had a second to get over this new piece of information because the person I was being set up with walked into the room. I saw many people glance at her, then towards me. Oh crap! This wasn’t just a set-up, it was a planned set-up and everybody in this room knew about it. Everybody but me.
The room got both really quiet and exceedingly loud at the same time. People were chatting and laughing to make it seem like they weren’t spying, but it was just so obvious,
With the level of awkwardness in the room, and the many people staring at us, we both didn’t really have a choice but to talk to each other.
-Hi, she said. Cool costume.
-Thanks. You too.
She was dressed as Supergirl, with fake muscles and all.
-I’m Steph, she said.
-Clara.
Moment of silence. This was beyond awkward.
-So, did you know this was a set-up? I asked her.
-No, they told me when I walked in.
-Same, they told me when you walked in.
She laughs.
-Well, this is awkward.
-You think..!
We spoke for a while. She was nice, although a little self-centered for my taste. When she got more comfortable around me, she started telling me about all the places she had traveled too, all the cool people she had met in her life, etc. Maybe she was trying to impress me, but all it did was annoy me. Finally, she stopped talked about herself and asked me questions.
-So, you’re an education student?
-Like everybody in here, yes!
-That’s cool. And, are you single?
-Yes. If I wasn’t, this set-up would be even weirder, don’t you think.
She nodded. I have to admit that she was really pretty. With dark eyes and long auburn curl that fell over her shoulders, she was really nice to look at. After a few drinks, she started getting a little handsy, and I have to admit that I didn’t stop her. It was nice to have all of the attention of a cute girl.
And then Supergirl kissed me, and the room cheered.
In the middle of a Halloween party, while inappropriate songs were playing like in any party full of University students, and every person in the room had been following the progress of the set-up from the corner of their eye, I was being kissed by a stranger dressed in a superhero costume. It felt like a huge projector had lit over our heads to help everybody see better. Worst kiss of my life! Not so much because of the girl, her kissing skills were fine, but more because of how this was happening. I felt like I was the entertainment of this party, and I didn’t like it. I slowly but firmly pushed her away from me, and the spell broke. The set-up had failed and, for me at least, the party was over.
Truth or fiction? ;)
Images obtained from:
https://www.homeheartcraft.com/resources/halloween%20hallway%202.jpg
https://gcn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/everything-needthrow-epic-queer-halloween-party.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/26/b3/4f/26b34f4d2de0ab266f085c9a1495e555.jpg