The Good Life

Alex

This Halloween party was actually fun so far. We weren't doing anything but talking and drinking like always, but we were in costumes. You would think we'd be sick of having one every year but it never got old to us. It was like thanksgiving or Christmas in costumes. It got old to Izzy which is why she and her friends went out to eat tonight instead of partying with us.

Jack and I were dressed up as vampires and Bass was a shark. It was Jack’s idea to dress up as vampires. If it were up to me we would have been literally anything else, but these costumes were pretty nice.

"He looks so adorable! Where did you get his costume?" David asked while tickling Bass's leg.

"I had to order it online. They didn't sell it anywhere else and I didn't like the ones in the stores." Jack told him.

"I wanted him to be a lobster so we could carry him around in a large pot, but Jack didn't think it was funny." I said.

"He would have looked so miserable in that. Especially if he started crying." Jack said.

"Yeah he looks so cute in this costume. Look at his fins and his little tail." Cass gushed and I handed him to her.

"Sharks are supposed to look scary not cute." Oli said and I laughed.

"We should put some of our fake blood on him." I joked and Jack rolled his eyes at me.

Oli, Rian, and I walked into the kitchen to grab more beers. Austin wasn't here yet, he said he was coming over later with a plus one. I guess that meant he was dating someone new. I grabbed three bottles from the fridge and handed them each one.

"I wonder what Austin's new guy looks like." I thought out loud.

"I bet he's dating a girl this time. I think he's going to take a break from dudes, we're too crazy." Rian said and Oli agreed.

"No girls are crazier than guys. Jack is definitely the sanest person I've ever dated."

"Okay but Alan is crazy and he's a guy so it's tied."

"No but Alan doesn't count. He didn't start off acting that way, he was a pretty decent guy when I met him."

"He cheated on Aus and now he's dating the guy he cheated on Aus with so he's always been messed up." Oli said.

"Okay fine whatever, I still think guys are easier than girls and I bet you Austin is going to walk in with a guy." I told them.

"Put your money where your mouth is, Gaskarth. I got ten dollars saying he walks in with a chick." Oli betted.

"Oh I got ten on that too." Rian added.

"Okay ten dollars says he walks in with a guy." I said.

"You better hope it's a guy or else you're going to be out of twenty dollars." Rian said and I rolled my eyes. I had no cash on me but I didn't need it because I was certain I was right.

"I'm going to use you twos money to buy me lunch for this week."

"Whatever." Oli chuckled. "So if you and Jack ever got a divorce you would date another guy?" He asked.

“I don't think I would date anyone else after Jack. I feel like once I've been married once I won't want to do it again."

"Yeah I told Hannah that the other night. If we ever divorced I probably wouldn't remarry. It seems weird to marry someone new at this age." Oli said.

"Cass and I are never divorcing. We'll sleep in different beds if we start to have problems." Rian said and Oli and I laughed.

"Nah if things get really bad I can't see myself staying in that relationship. Alex if we get divorced at the same time let’s just marry each other." Oli joked.

"I'm down. I think we would make great husbands. Everything would be the exact same except we'd have rings on our fingers." I said.

"You two would divorce literally after a week. You're both stubborn, opinionated, assholes. You would actually probably kill each other before you could divorce." Rian chuckled. He was probably right.

"What's all this talk about divorce?" Cass asked as she walked in with Bass.

"I was planning on leaving you for your sister." Rian joked and she rolled her eyes at him. She became even more annoyed when Oli and I laughed.

"You know I was going to go change Bass for you, but not anymore." She smirked as she handed Bass over to me.

"What? I didn't do anything to you!" I complained.

"You laughed." She said over her shoulder as she grabbed a beer from the fridge.

I huffed and ignored Rian and Oli laughing at me as I took Bass upstairs. I wanted to ask Jack to do it instead of me, but he would have said no. Well he would have asked why I couldn't do it and I didn't have a reason not to.

"Why can't you be potty trained?" I asked Bass. "Yeah I know, you're only a few months old." I answered for him.

We made it to his room and I placed him on his changing table. I had to remove the shark costume first and then the onesie he had on underneath. I opened his diaper and he immediately started crying.

"Hey I'm doing you a favor. You think I want to clean up your bodily fluids? I should be the one crying." I told him.

"Alex! Be nice to him!" Jack scolded and scared me as he walked in.

"Oh my god how long have you been there?"

"I just walked in. I wanted to make sure you didn't need help getting his costume off."

"Nah I got it, but if you want to do something about him crying I would love that." I said and he chuckled. He went over to Bass's things and grabbed a pacifier. He brought it over to Bass and stuck it in his mouth. Bass began sucking on it and stopped screaming.

"Thanks." I smiled and went back to changing his diaper.

I put him in a new diaper and Jack helped me put his clothes and costume back on him. Now he looked like an even cuter shark sucking on a pacifier.

"I can't get over how cute you are!" Jack exclaimed and kissed Bass on the cheek. "I have to take a picture and send it to Vicki!"

I picked Bass up so Jack could get a good shot of him in his costume. We heard the doorbell and went to open the door.

Rian opened it as we came down stairs. Austin walked in first and then he bought his mystery new lover in. I moved to the side of Jack to see that the person he brought in was a girl. It was Tay. The new girl that he was dating was my ex Tay.

"Uh I almost feel bad for taking your money, Alex." Rian told me.

"I don't!" Oli exclaimed.

I ignored both of them and continued to stare at Austin and Tay hold hands.

"Hey guys." Aus said shyly.

"Hey you two! Come in so you can tell everyone the great news." Jack told them.

"Great news?" I questioned and Jack elbowed me in the ribs. "Oh yeah that great news." I mumbled in pain.

Austin and Tay walked in and finally let each other's hands go. It was weird to see them together. I almost felt like this was a joke and he was going to say they were kidding and bring the real guy he was dating in.

"Is this the mystery guy you've been seeing?" Cass asked Tay.

"Yeah. We exchanged numbers when we ran into each other at Target and one thing led to another." Tay told her.

"Well I think you two make a cute couple." Cass said.

"Me too." Jack agreed.

I watched as they went into the kitchen to tell everyone else hi. I just couldn't get over the weird feeling of seeing them together. It felt sort of like I was jealous. I didn't want to be with Tay, I just didn't want Austin to be with her either.

"Alex are you okay?" Oli woke me up from my thoughts and waved his hand in front of my face.

"Huh? Yeah yeah I'm fine."

"Okay well go into your wallet and give Rian and me ten dollars each because you lost." He said and I sighed.

"What did you guys bet on this time?" Jack asked.

"I thought Austin would be dating a guy this time not a girl. So I bet them ten dollars that the person he was dating was a guy and not a girl." I told him.

"Wow leave it to you guys to turn literally everything into a competition." He shook his head at us.

"I know. I'm going to try to stop, but I need a favor."

"What?" Jack asked skeptically.

"I don't have any cash on me an-"

"-You're not serious. Why did you bet them if you didn't have the money to pay them?" Jack laughed.

"I was so sure I was going to win. Come on I'll pay you back!" I begged.

"Bass let this be a lesson that betting is a bad habit." He said as he pulled his wallet out. He handed me two tens.

"Thanks." I kissed him on the cheek. "Here you go assholes." I told Rian and Oli as I handed them the money.

"We want your money not Jack's." Rian joked.

"Take it or leave it." I grumbled angrily.

"We'll take it! Thanks for the lunch money!" Oli gloated and I glared at him.

I took Bass into the kitchen where Austin and Tay were. They were both drinking a beer and telling Hannah and about their first date. Tay saw me walk over and she left Austin to come talk to me.

"Hi cutie!" She smiled at Bass. He continued to suck on his pacifier not paying her any attention. His ability to ignore people always made me laugh.

"Hey Mrs. Carlilie." I said sarcastically and she rolled her eyes.

"I was coming to talk to you about that. I sorry that I didn't warn you first. I know it might be a little weird since we've dated and Aus and you are close friends."

"No Tay we dated like twenty years ago. This isn't at all weird to me." I lied. This was enough creepiness for Halloween.

"Cool! Thanks for understanding, Alex." She said and walked away.

"You are a horrible liar." David drunkenly said from behind me.

"What are you talking about?" I played dumb.

"You are so uncomfortable with them dating. I can't believe she believed you." He chuckled.

"Okay fine yes I'm a little bothered by it, but can you blame me? He's like doing things with her that I used to do with her." I grimaced just thinking about it.

"No it’s completely normal… I still think you should tell her the truth. It'll make things less awkward between you."

"No way. If anything that's going to make this worse. And please don’t tell Jack about this, he'll think things are worse then what they are. Let's just pretend this conversation never happened." I said. He probably wouldn’t really remember it anyways since he was so drunk.

“Alright I won’t say a word.”

Notes

I relate with Alex so much on not liking a person but also not wanting them to date anyone else lol