Shut Up And Kiss Me (gxg)

24. F*ck Halloween

       WHEN HALLOWEEN SNUCK UP ON me, two weeks later, I was completely unprepared.

      "Please, please tell me that is not what we're wearing."

      "Haven't you heard?" Skylar tossed me a wicked grin—and an unappealing jumpsuit. "Orange is the new black."

      "I'm not wearing that to your party. Absolutely not."

      "Don't be difficult! It starts in fifteen minutes. Everyone is going to be here soon."

      "I am so not dressing up in a prison costume!"

       Skylar's grin turned as sharp as a wolf's. "Who says it's a costume?"

       "Why did you say it like that?"

       "Like what?"

       "Like . . . in a really suspicious way."

       "I don't know what you're talking about."

       "You just did it again! You said it all suspiciously."

       Skylar flashed me a smirk through the mirror on her dresser. She was already wearing the orange jumpsuit, her pink-and-violet hair tied up into a high ponytail. Somehow, it made her look both sexy and dangerous.

       Or maybe she was sexy because she looked dangerous?

       I was starting to wonder if I had a skewed sense of attraction.

       "Put it on," Skylar ordered. 

       I looked down at the orange material clutched in both my hands. Was this a real prison jumpsuit? I wouldn't put it past Skylar.

       "Come on," she said pleadingly. "Ever since you started dating Aaron, you've been so boring." 

       "But—"

       "Tick-tock," she said, tapping an imaginary watch.

       "Fine," I groused. "Fine." 

       And, ten minutes later, when the guests started arriving, I was downstairs with Skylar—dressed in a prisoner costume.

       "I just don't think orange is my colour," I was arguing as I opened the door, letting in a stream of people.

       "Yes it is," Skylar hissed, before smiling at a senior whose name I didn't know. When he walked into the kitchen, all testosterone and muscular shoulders, she continued, "You have the kind of tan skin colour that makes you look good in all colours. I, on the other hand, look washed-out in all shades of blue and green."

       "That's a lie and you know it. Remember when you had blue hair in ninth grade? You pulled that off so good."

       "Oh! I forgot about that. I guess I am perfect."

       I laughed at that, and the doorbell rang again. This time, it was Lila Bard.

       She was wearing a sheer, gauzy violet dress, with petals curling out around her thighs. The pastel colour was bright against her deep brown skin—she looked ethereal, with her flowers braided into her hair and crystalline wings fluttering at her back.

      "Lila," Skylar said, a little breathlessly. "You came."

      Lila didn't say anything—she just pulled Skylar in for a long, deep kiss.