So Keep Your Hands on Your Chest and Sing With Me, That We Don't Wanna Believe

Grace POV
I sat on the lounge, flipping through the TV channels while I waited for everyone. We had just finished having lunch with Riannon’s cousin Chris, and his band, and were getting ready for tonight’s party. Chris and the others were meant to arrive within the hour. Not usually being the kind of girl who spent hours doing her hair and makeup before going out, I quickly managed to slip on my costume, and touch up my eyeliner, and be finished. I looked myself up and down in my full length mirror, satisfied with my costume as Wendy from Peter Pan.

“You sure people won’t think I’m Alice in Wonderland or something?” looking at my white and blue dress, I asked Riannon who was frantically running around searching for missing pieces of her costume. “Uh, I think you look fine”, she stammered, obviously having no idea what I just said. I shrugged and made my way down the stairs, my white stockings getting static from the carpet.

From my spot on the couch, I could see Trixie looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, her Pocahontas costume fitting perfectly. I amused myself by watching her look, step back, sigh, frown, tilt her head to the side, step out of the bathroom, then back in starting all over again.

“You look fine, Trixie”, I smiled at her. She just glared at me, and slammed the door, blocking my view of her. Not before I heard her mumble something like “their accents”.

“This ridiculous!” I heard Riannon scream from upstairs. “Maybe I should just go naked”.
I heard a knock at the door, and stood up to answer. I wondered to myself where Stef had run off to.

I was greeted at the door by five boys. It me took a moment to recognise Chris in the front in his zombie outfit. I invited them in, each entering the small doorway one by one. Josh followed behind Chris as Peter Pan, then Max as Hercules, followed by a half-naked Dan who was dressed as Tarzan, and last but not least, a white and red striped Matt as Wally. I lead the five of them into the lounge room.

“Bloody hell Grace, have you seen my black bra?” Riannon shouted as she ran down the stairs in her robe, not realizing we had company.

“Oh fuck”, she whispered as she ran back upstairs. I looked at Chris who was trying to hold back laughter. Max made eye contact with him and winked. Chris retaliated by punching Max
square in the arm.

“Ouch”, Max groaned, rubbing his shoulder.

“So… Anyways… “, Josh said clearly feeling awkward. “We’re matching”, he smiled, looking me up and down.

“Yeah”, I laughed at the coincidence. “You and Riannon are matching as well, actually, Max. She’s coming as Megara”.

“Excellent”, Max grinned widely. Chris eyed him suspiciously.

“So, where are the others?” Dan asked, looking around the house. Just before I could speak, Stef pranced into the room, in her Anastasia costume. Her mouth dropped a little at the site of Dan, and his perfect body. I nudged her arm a little and she came back to reality.
“So where are we going tonight?” Josh asked, clapping his hands together.

“It’s just down the street, we don’t need to drive. That way we don’t need designated drivers either.”

"Fantastic", he smiled at me, and I took notice for the first time just how cute he was. Even in bright green tights.

It only took another half an hour before Trixie was finally ready, and Riannon would come back down the stairs. By now it had started to get dark. We left a little early, but none of us wanted to be at home anymore so we left.

“Madame”, Max said bowing to Riannon, sticking his harm out to link with hers as we began walking.

“Max is taking this Hercules thing way too seriously”, Josh said next to me. I giggled a little.
We started out walking as a group, but gradually separated as the streets went on. “I thought you said it was just down the street”, I heard Matt complain from behind Josh and I who were now leading the group as the others lagged behind. “Don’t be a baby, mate”, Josh joked.

“We’re almost there” I replied.

“You’re the baby”, I heard him mutter. Nice comeback.

“So who’s having the party?” Josh asked me. Oh, that voice was just beautiful.

“A friend of mine; Sam. She’s a friend of mine and Riannon’s from Uni.”
We entered the party, and all went our separate ways. After about an hour, Trixie was the first familiar face I saw. She sat on a lounge in the living room, surrounded by people getting increasingly drunk by the minute.

“What’s wrong Trix?” I asked, sitting next to her, careful not to spill the contents of my red cup all over the place.

“Nothing. Just alone”, she whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone is starting to pair up.”

I laughed “What the hell do you mean?”

“Riannon and Max. You and Josh. Stef and Dan”.

I nearly spit out my drink. “Me and Josh? What do you mean?”

“Come on, I see the way he looks at you. He’s interested, even if you aren’t.”

“Trixie, even if he was, which I’m sure he isn’t, we met them like, this morning. I hardly know the guy.”

“Whatever”, she said getting off the couch and walking away. “Speak of the devil”, she said before she was out of earshot. I looked around and saw a smiling Josh Franceschi walking towards me, two drinks in his hands. “Here”, he offered a drink to me, and I accepted as he sat down beside me. He smiled at me and I was surprised how easy it was to talk to him. Maybe Trixie was right?