I'm Addicted to the Thrill

We all stopped working. The decorations were up, and the food was all basically ready for that night. The girls and I all looked at one another and started laughing.

“You have a costume for tonight, right?” asked Madi.

I paled at the idea. No one had mentioned costumes, and the last time I had worn one was in college during my freshman year. The look on Niki’s face bothered me.

“No. Do I have to wear one?” I asked sheepishly.

A smirk formed on the face of my dear friend. This girl was so bent on making my life more difficult. Niki pulled my hand and started to drag me out of the house. The other wives and girlfriends started to laugh at us. Apparently I would be getting no sympathy or help in this situation.

“Maybe a bunny. Oh or a maid. Genie?” babbled Niki. She kept rattling off potential costumes for me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that we likely wouldn’t find any costumes the day of Halloween.

She paid the cabbie and pushed me through the doors of the costume store. The costumes were limited this late in the game. I almost walked out since I wasn’t going to find anything that I liked.

“May I help you?” asked the one worker who appeared to be there. Niki talked with him for a moment while I looked for something to wear to tonight’s party.

“How about a stewardess?” I spoke up finally in the conversation with what I would be wearing.

My companion raised an eyebrow at my offering. She proceeded to shrug and let the clerk lead us to find an outfit for the night’s festivities. Perhaps it was just the fact that I was finally letting myself be pushed by Niki, but I was really beginning to have fun.

-x-
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Patrick’s POV
I knocked on the door rapidly. Niki kept texting me to tell me to confront the Halbrooks. She was pushing for things to end up perfect between the two of us. Dani’s parents were likely to hate me for this gesture though.

“What are you doing here?” asked Mr. Halbrook.

“We need to talk,” I said walking into the apartment that wasn’t really mine to enter.

He grumbled about it but did nothing to stop me. Hope was sitting there chatting happily with her roommate’s mother, but she made haste to leave when she saw me out there in the living room. I wanted to get this meeting over with.

“Talk if you must,” sighed Mr. Halbrook as his wife joined him by the door.

“Dani stayed with me. Dani does like me. I make her happy, and she hates upsetting you. I have never personally done anything to you. Your daughter and I had our fights, but she and I are fine now, “ I told them. “She says you’ll like me, but I can’t see that happening.”

They stood their quietly. Eyes darted towards each other in a shared nervous glance. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to let nothing out.

“Ellie is our only girl. She’s my sweetheart. Someone like you is going to corrupt her,” sighed Mrs. Halbrook.

I wanted to laugh. She didn’t know her daughter wouldn’t need me to corrupt her. Then I thought of my sisters. It was now making this conversation much harder to not see their side of the story.
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-x-

I walked into the party excited about the night in general. Everyone seemed happier because of the win. I was excited to be a part of it. All the tensions from Patrick and I had faded, and people were actually not giving me the cold shoulder and talking to me.

The fact that he had gone to my parents about the issue of us was pushed from my mind. My parents were unhappy that they had been ambushed, but I wasn’t sure that they had really minded the chat. They seemed to be liking Patrick more, and it made my life easier on that front. Or at least I was hoping that them liking him would making my life easier.

“Drink up! It’s time for fun,” shouted Jonny. A cheer rose from those in attendance. It was amazing how the guys could make it seem like there were at least twice the number of people there as there really was.

I adjusted the hat from my costume and took a sip of the beer in my hand. I had come separately from Patrick and looked around for him. I wanted to see him before I passed on to my next drink. It was just going to make things easier for the two of us. I was hoping that he was somewhere around here that I could find easily. How hard could it be to find someone in this house? Apparently for me, impossible.

I ended up in the one room I had spent the most time in at the Toews home: the kitchen. It was like I always ended up in there when I was at the house. It was just something that drew me in. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I had always loved to cook. Maybe it was because I was meant to spend time there. Who knew?

He ended up finding me on my second drink. Liquor had never been something I could handle too well. I knew people who drink three or more beers and be fine, but I wasn’t one of them. Honestly would slip, things that shouldn’t be done occurred, and my life generally ended up a lot worse. I had abstained from drinking for so long that now it seemed like just something to do for the fun of it. None of the people here would judge me as badly.

“Dani! Finally!” smiled Patrick when he found me. His eyes took in the blue fabric and the short cuts of the costume. “You look… really good.”

I smiled at him. He sat with me in the kitchen. Here we were in the same place that we had fought over his drinking. Just this time I had a drink in my hand and wasn’t telling him to stop this same action.

“Thanks,” I grinned. “Guess what.”

“You’re drunk,” stated Patrick. He shook his head as he spoke.

“That’s not it, silly,” I giggled.

I moved from sitting in my own chair to sitting in his lap. Someone told us to get a room as they walked into the kitchen. I waved them off then turned my sights back on Patrick. Yeah, drinking wasn’t my strong suit. Perhaps I should have stuck with a ginger ale for the evening.

“So are you going to tell me your secret or are you going to take off without telling me?” he said. I laughed at the airplane humor. That was what must have tipped him off that I was far gone.

I leaned in closer to him and gave him a quick kiss before pulling away. He raised an eyebrow at the gesture. He wrapped one are around my neck and used his other hand to motion for me to keep going. I took a deep breath in.

“I love you,” I whispered.