Alex’s POV:

I pushed through the crowd in my living room once more. It was the weekend before Halloween and I was throwing a party at my house for anybody that wanted to come. The party was already a few hours in and I still hadn’t seen Mickey anywhere. So, while I usually would have had much more to drink, I was too focused on finding her to actually enjoy myself. I know, I know, I shouldn’t have been set on only her, but she was coming with Rian. Rian was always on time!

Maybe she convinced him to be fashionably late for once. The only thing was that it was already a little later than coming in ‘fashionably late’. Most people here came at that time. Mickey was not included in that group of people. But she told me that she was going to come, and I trusted that. If this had been weeks ago, I would have long given up on her presence. She wouldn’t do that anymore, right?

When I finally pushed all the way to the front door, I still hadn’t found her. Nobody around me had either seen her or Rian, so I just knew they weren’t here yet. Part of me was a little nervous, wondering if something had happened to cause them to not show up. Although I trusted Rian completely, I hadn’t ever been to a proper party with Mickey. Maybe she loved her pre-party drinks and insisted she’d drive. With that car of her’s, it couldn’t end up all too well. But Rian wouldn’t let that happen. So, I was just praying that they maybe got stuck in traffic that was non-existent.

Coincidentally, just as I was about to make my way to the back of the house again to check if they hadn’t entered while I was looking somewhere else, the front door opened and the two people I was looking for came walking in. Mickey was strangely holding a duffel bag, and it did not look like part of her costume. I didn’t even know what her costume was unless she thought that wearing a trench coat was good enough. Rian was wearing some police officer costume, which nearly made me burst out with laughter. It wasn’t that he looked weird, because he obviously made it look a little off to be funny, but because he was the one coming in with Mickey. We all know Mickey’s relationship with the law.

“Sorry we’re late,” Rian apologized as he pushed the door closed again. “It’s Mickey’s fault.”

“Excuse me!” Mickey gasped with a click of her tongue, pushing one of her two pigtails back. “It was my parents’ fault!” She proceeded to turn to me and explain what happened, “I was all ready to go. I told them that I was going to go with Rian, that he was driving, and that your parents knew about the party. But they hated my costume and forced me to get changed into something else.”

As soon as she took off her trench coat, I felt the excitement run through me. She was wearing long brown boots that showed off her legs until the short denim skirt started way too high up her thigh. Her midriff was completely exposed as a blouse-like shirt was tied just barely over her breasts. She looked fucking amazing.

“This was the costume her parents didn’t want her to wear,” Rian clarified with an eye roll when he saw me practically drooling. “She changed back in the back of my car.”

“Hence the bag, it has my other boring clothes in it,” Mickey added as she held up the bag a little more and opened it. She first pulled out a cowboy hat and put it on her head before shoving the clothes to the side a bit and revealing a few heavy glass bottles. “Don’t ask me how I got it, but you asked and I delivered.”

“I was joking when I said that…” My mouth opened wide when I saw she brought four bottles of different sorts of alcohol along. Just a couple of days before, I had joked that my parents weren’t willing to buy the strong alcohol for me, but wouldn’t freak out if somebody else brought it, and so told Mickey to take something along.

“I don’t joke when it’s about alcohol,” she told me seriously and pulled out the bottles, handing me one by one. “This is when the real party starts.”

“Well, umm, thanks?” I looked at the items seeing some Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, and something I couldn’t identify because it was at the bottom of the pile. “I think you’re going to make many people happy with this.”

“I know. Anyway, I’m going to familiarize myself with this crowd and see how far I can go tonight.” She pushed past, throwing her bag where many coats were desperately clinging to the hangers, and disappearing into the crowd I was trying to find her in just a few minutes before.

Rian let out a little chuckle. “Are you sure you guys are dating? Cause that sure as hell was awkward if you are. She totally just left you to ‘familiarize’ herself with the crowd.”

“I know,” I seethed, not needing another person to just tell me she totally abandoned me while I was looking for her for hours. “I don’t blame her for acting like this, but sometimes I just--”

Some random guy from school came from behind me and put his arm around my shoulders. He was still laughing about something somebody else had said and already smelled quite strongly of beer. “Bro… Mickey’s looking hot tonight!”

I nodded softly in agreement, trying to shrug his grip off me. Something told me that he wasn’t going to be my favorite person that evening. Maybe it was the fact that he was hanging off me, but it could also be the fact that he was complimenting my girl. Who knew?

“You think I’d be able to get some tonight?” He asked as a rhetorical question. It was more like he was stating that he was going to sleep with her rather than inquiring to see if it was a possibility.

Rian interrupted before I could say anything. “I heard she’s actually been seeing somebody recently. So, no luck.”

“Ha, yeah right.” He shook his head to show he didn’t believe a word and gave me a manly slap on my chest. Before leaving the scene, he looked down at my arms and took one bottle Mickey had given me. “Nice.”

It took everything in me not to turn around and stop him. I wasn’t going to be that host. Everybody enjoyed my parties, I always enjoyed my parties. There was no need to be an asshole this time. I didn’t need to be known as that one guy who lashed out for ‘no reason’. I just wasn’t sure if I was mad because other guys were noticing her, or because I wasn’t sure how Mickey was going to react. I wanted to trust her, but I just wasn’t sure.

Not even a second later, Jack came bouncing up. “Dude, your girlfriend looks fucking hot!”

Rather than saying something about how she wasn’t my girlfriend, I embraced the term. If I wanted to fend off all the other guys, I needed them to know she was mine. I didn’t need any of that ‘but it isn’t official’ bullshit. I had used that excuse before to get girls to sleep with me, ruining the potential relationship they could have had with another guy.

“I know she does,” I told Jack with a little annoyance in my voice, “I was just reminded by somebody else.”

“I’d better go find her before you start agreeing with her parents that she should have worn a different costume,” Rian teased.

I just glared at him before dumping the three leftover bottles in his arms so he could take care of them, and did exactly as he suggested. It was all I really did that night. I’d find Mickey, be with her for a short while, then she’d disappear again, and I’d go out looking again. With the constant routine, it almost felt like she was trying to avoid me, like she was trying to get away from me. I thought we had gotten past that point by now.

At one point, I found her outside in my backyard sitting on one of the lawn chairs. However, she wasn’t just sitting there calmly by herself. There was something going on, but I didn’t find out until I was closer to her. Some guys were chanting her on while other people were murmuring about how stupid she was being. It was only when her hands started playing with the knot that kept her shirt closed, that I knew what she was thinking of doing. I was not letting her take off her top in front of all these people.

I quickly rushed up to her and put my hands over her before she could untie it. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“But why not?!” She whined and let her head rest against my stomach. “Guys always get to walk around shirtless. Why can't I do so too?!”

“Because for some weird reason it’s not socially acceptable,” I told her, slowly pulling her hands away, relieved the knot was still intact.

“They said it was fine.” She stood up and pointed at a group of guys that included the one who ‘asked’ me if there was a possibility he could sleep with Mickey.

“Of course they said it was fine,” I gave the evil eye toward the group, only making them laugh. “They want to fuck you.”

She frowned and held onto my arm as she looked at them as well as she said clearly enough for them to hear, “gross, I don’t sleep with high school boys.”

Ironically, right after she said that, her lips were planted against mine. It was quite sloppy and done while I was basically keeping her upright since she was leaning into me completely. If this were in a slightly different situation, I would have carefully pushed her off and told her she was drunk. However, I was being a little bit more than selfish. One, I was savoring the moment because she kept leaving me the entire night before that and I was so happy she finally gave me some attention, even better she was showing affection. And two, I needed to show everybody that Mickey was off limits. So, technically I was kissing her for both the right and the wrong reasons.

“How much have you had to drink?” I laughed softly when she pulled away from me.

“Way too much,” she slurred slightly and bent down to grab two red solo cups, “but I haven’t reached my limit yet. I’ve still got a long way to go.”

“You know, you don’t have to go that far, right?”

“Loosen up a bit, Alex!” She exclaimed, waving both the two drinks around. “This is your party, don’t be a buzzkill. Have a drink!”

She pushed one of the cups into my grip and started downing what was in the other one. I just looked at her, worrying that she would start swaying and falling over soon. But she still looked just as ‘fine’ as before. Yes, she was drunk, but she surprisingly wasn’t too far gone yet. Well, 'surprisingly'… she had a long of experience.

“Come on, Alex,” she encouraged me when she had finished and noticed that I hadn’t downed the cup along with her.

I looked down at the weird colored drink and sighed before taking a small sip. I nearly spit it all out, but quickly swallowed it down instead. “What the shit is in here? This is disgusting!”

“Everything.” She smirked. “It’s horrible, but it does the job.”

“It does the job?” I was about to decline it, but internally scolded myself. Why was I acting like this? This was my party, I never acted like this. I was always prepared to drink whatever came my way. At first, my excuse was that I was trying to find Mickey. But I had found her by now. There was no reason to hold back. So, that horrifying drink ran down my throat easily and quickly.

And that was when I fully let loose. Mickey and I were practically stuck at the hip, constantly around each other. I would drink whatever she would give me, not caring about the hangover that was to come. With neither of us giving a shit about what or who was around us, it led to some great makeout sessions. The rest of the night was a slight blur. I could still remember important details, but ask me about anybody’s costume and I could not tell you.

Eventually, Mickey and I ended up stumbling into my bedroom. Our lips had barely disconnected ever since they had collided together. I was surprised we even managed to make it up the stairs. Somehow our swaying managed to cancel each other out rather than causing us to fall over. Once relieved to see that nobody had entered my room yet and taken my bed, I pushed Mickey up against the door, causing it to close fully. As soon as I had unbuttoned that barely-there skirt of her’s, she stepped out of it and helped me take off my white tank-top that belonged to my stereotypical ‘douchebag’ costume. While I was glad that I didn’t have to unhook a bra in my drunken stupor, I did still have to play around with that knot she had wanted to get rid of herself before. Although it took a little longer than I wanted, I managed to get the clothing article off her.

“Boots on or off?” she asked me in a whisper, out of breath from our nonstop kissing just before.

“Off,” I said dumbly. I couldn’t understand why she would even think of keeping them on until it hit me that there were probably some guys who thought it was sexier. I could only imagine how they could painfully get in the way.

She stumbled over to the bed and sat down as she took them off so she wouldn't fall over while attempting to do it standing up. While she was messing with the zippers, I took my time to kick off my own sneakers and pull off the pants I was wearing. However, as soon as she was done, I pushed her further up, climbed on top of her, resumed our kissing, and used my hands to get both of us fully naked.

One moment she was holding onto my shoulders as I lined up, and the next I looked up to double check if she was ok before going in, to see that she had passed out. I let out a slight annoyed groan in my drunken haze and rolled off her. After scrambling around to get the duvet from under her body, I pulled it over us and fell asleep next to her.

Notes

It's almost been two weeks. Woah. I was on holiday last week... so... I have a good excuse. Now it's back to having to work on school. I don't know what has happened, by my grades have fallen since last year already.

And yes, I totally realize that the title of this chapter is also part of 'It's Almost Halloween' by Panic!. It was not my intention xD

Also, since I'm procrastinating the shit out of everything, anybody want to suggest a story I should read?