The Heart is a Muscle

Chapter 39

On the day of the Halloween party Jenny arrived early to help me get ready. She hadn't told me what she was dressing me as and told me to trust her. I wasn't sure I did.

She starts pulling out a load of stuff from a bag, like Mary Poppins. I am not sure how it all fitted in.

"Ta da" She holds up a black outfit. I am not really sure  what I am looking at.

"Eh, what are you dressing me as?" I lift up a thin piece of black material.

"Catwoman! I have got you a tail and ears and everything." The outfit consists of a black leotard, high waste leggings and a mask, ears and tail. I guess it could have been worse.

She cracks open some prosecco and hands me a glass.

"I think you should either pull your hair into a high ponytail or have it loose and wavy. Either way will work."

"Yes , Sir!" I laugh at her as she pulls out her Wayne Wig and plops it on her head.

"What time is Andrew picking you up?"

"7pm. Just enough time to head up to the party." I take a sip of my prosecco, suddenly realising that Luke must be somewhere. "Where is Luke?"

"He is just at my house. He left work early yesterday to get the train so was wanting to finish up some work today. He is going to get ready and come and get me here at about 6:30pm so we can go to the pub for one before the party," She smiles broadly. I can get tell that despite the distance, her and Luke are getting pretty serious. Most weekends they seem to be seeing each other, either in London, here or somewhere in between.

Jenny decides she is doing my make-up and goes to grab my make-up from the bathroom. She goes to town on dramatic eyes, smokey eye shadow, curled dark lashes and winged eyeliner. She also opts for bright red lipstick, something that I never wear.

"Is this not a bit much Jen?" I am not sure about the lipstick in particular. She shakes her head.

"Nope, its perfect". She uses the make-up to give herself a five o'clock shadow. I can stop laughing at her when she is dressed in her wig , hat, jeans and black t-shirt. It's made even funnier by the fact that she still has a full face of make-up on, so a beard along with big, made up eyes.

I get myself dressed and pull a pair of black heeled boots from my wardrobe to wear with the outfit. I look at myself in the mirror, not really recognising the person that looks back at me. The big waved curls Jenny did to my hair along with the make-up and the tight, figuring hugging outfit isn't really something I would ever normally wear, but I can't deny that it didn't look good.

As I walk back to the living room Jenny wolf whistles at me. "Check out sexy Catwoman. God Andrew is going to be falling at your feet tonight." She rubs her hands together excitedly.

The buzzer goes, announcing that Luke is here to pick her up. She quickly  says her goodbyes and starts to head out to meet him before quickly turning back. "What are you doing till Andrew arrives?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Just waiting I guess."

"Right, well just come with us to the pub. Tell Andrew to meet us there." She grabs my had to pull me out the door, only pausing long enough for me to grab my bag.

****

The pub is full of people in fancy dress. I can see a couple of witches, a pumpkin, someone who looks like he's dressed and George Michael in his 'Faith' video and even a bottle of mustard and ketchup sitting in the corner.  I am amazed to even see old Charlie McCullough in the corner dressed up in what looks like a outfit similar to Danny from Grease! He looks hilarious.

Luke gets us all a drink and we grab one of the last free tables.  I wouldn't neccessarily have recognised Luke beneath his Garth wig and glasses had I not known it was him. He looks just as hilarious as Jenny and together they are even funnier.

Luke tells me about how work is going, and general about living in London and more about the area he lives. Jenny is going back down to stay with him in a few weeks and they tell me that they are going to do lots of festive things as it will be the start of the Christmas markets and the lights being switched on. Luke sits with his hand on her thigh the whole time we are chatting and Jenny constantly rubs his arm, or hooks their arms together, snuggling into him. They are very sweet together.

We are almost finished our drinks when Andrew arrives. He hadn't told me what he was dressing as and I am amazed to find myself face to face with him as I exit the toilet. He is dressed as The Hulk; head to toe covered in green face paint, topless and has big fake Hulk hands.

"Oh my god! Andrew! Are you not freezing."

He nods. Its thankfully a dry night but freezing cold nonetheless.  "I have a fleece in the car but I didn't want to get any of the body paint on it before the start of the night". I laugh at him.

"You know you could probably have bought a whole suit that would look like the Hulk rather than going practically naked yourself?" I can't stop laughing at him.

"What, and keep this body under wraps?" He smiles wickedly at me. "Anyway, never mind me, look at you, you sultress. Jesus woman, you are going to make a lot of people jealous of me tonight." he lifts my arm up and spins me round. His eyes rake up and down, taking in my whole outfit.

He places a hand at the base of my back and pulls me in closer to him."You look incredibly gorgeous Evie" he whispers in my ear. I feel myself blushing, my cheeks likely matching the colour of my bright red lipstick.

We have one more drink in the pub before Andrew drives us up to the hall. The glow from inside eminates out the tall windows, flashes of red and green disco lights sparkle out into the darkness outside. Immediately upon exit of the truck you can feel the deep vibrations and thump of the party music inside.

The hall has been fully decorated out for Halloween, with fake cobwebs, pumpkin bunting and the tables are covered in orange and black tableclothes with fake little ghosts and pumpkin lights sitting on top. In the corner there is halloween activity section; colouring in for the kids, dooking for apples and treacle and jam pancakes hanging on string which you have to try and get down with the least amount of mess (impossible).

In a small room opposite the entrance a makeshift bar run by The Ship has been created. Trestle tables have been set up with an array of soft and alcoholic drinks, all served up in halloween designed paper cups.

Apart from the Halloween theme, its just like all the old hall parties we used to come to when we were younger, with our parents when we were really young and then alone as teenagers. I had my 18th birthday party in this hall, which turned out to be a rather messy afair.

I feel Andrew's hand on my back as he directs me to a free table at the far end and Luke and Jenny follow us over.  Andrew and Luke head off to the bar for drinks and return not long after with two rounds of shots, immediately setting the tone for the night ahead.