Tales from the Intermediate (gxg)

Chapter 21

The Party City parking lot was relatively empty for Halloween night, but the store was even emptier. Almost every costume had been bought from the shelves, leaving only a little section in the back with random leftovers that nobody wanted. The four young adults filed in and found this remaining section, which was just a large bin with the costumes all thrown inside.

"Ooooh," Dani said when she picked up a costume of a traditional witch. It was a long black robe with the classic black pointy hat. "I like this one. Witch fits me."

"I don't see any I like," Charlie mumbled as she scrounged through the bin next to Farren who was also stumped, seeing only Mario and vampire costumes.

Dani reached through the bin some more and found the perfect costume for Farren, tossing it to the blonde who caught it against her chest before holding it up. "No fucking way."

She was about to toss it back to Dani before Charlie took it and looked at it. It was a princess costume—a knee-high pink dress with a tutu, accompanied by a cheap plastic silver crown and a feathery wand.

Charlie held back her laughter as she looked up at Farren who was steaming at the thought of wearing such a hideous, girly thing. "I think it's just perfect."

"Exactly, I think that should be your costume, Chase," Dani said, cocking her head at Farren who eyed her evilly. She looked back to Charlie, who urged the costume toward her pleadingly, sighing as she gave in. Begrudgingly, Farren took the costume and walked towards the fitting room.

"I could be Mario, I guess," Matt said, holding up the costume and looking at it with disdain.

"Hmm," Dani hummed as she peered into the bin, looking for a perfect costume for Matt since she delegated herself as the costume advisory council. After pushing a few out of the way, she found the perfect one. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, shoving the costume in Matt's face which almost knocked off his glasses. "You can be fucking superman!"

Holding the costume farther away from his face so he could see it, Matt's face turned into a grimace. "I don't even like DC."

"You'll be our superman," Dani told him firmly, giving his face a soft, demeaning pat before she walked away to the fitting rooms to change into her witch costume, Matt groaning and following after her with his superman costume.

Charlie was stumped. There was nothing she wanted to be. She had never known what to dress up as during Halloween as a child, and so she hardly ever even went trick-or-treating. She waded through all the plastic packages of costumes until she decided to just grab a random one and wear it, no matter what it was. As her fist closed around a package, she lifted it out of the bin and felt her cheeks go red. A burrito. It was a costume of a fucking burrito, a huge tortilla exterior with a hole for her face right where all the lettuce and beans were.

"Well, fuck," she sighed, deciding that there was not anything else she would like to dress up as, so she turned and trotted to the fitting rooms after her friends.

Farren and Dani came out of the fitting rooms simultaneously, facing each other and freezing. Dani looked pretty good in her witch costume with the pointy hat. It was a normal, average costume that suited her and her age. As for Farren, the dress was small on her tall body, coming up high to her thighs in a fluffy pink tutu. The crown was lopsided on her messy blonde head, and she held the fairy wand like she was about to stab it through Dani's eyes.

Matt came out next, and luckily it took all the spotlight away from Farren. The suit was obviously for a younger age group, because the bright blue tights gripped his legs so tightly they looked like sticks. He was wrestling with the red cape around his neck that was strangling him. "What do you guys think?" he coughed once he got the cape situated, putting his hands on his hips and looking in the distance in the classic superman pose. Farren and Dani both just stared at him silently, when Charlie finally came out of her room. The witch, the princess, and superman all turned to the burrito. She stood with her arms stiff out of the large tortilla, some of her brown hair poking through the face hole.