That Little Box That Beats In Your Chest

Rian pulled up to the curb of a house. A big, loud and very full house. Evidently, the party had already begun. Lacey got out after Jack and Alex; they were dressed up as Two-Face and the Joker. When Lacey had seen them, she couldn’t help herself from smiling; only those two could have matching (sort of) costumes and still be straight. Rian had been driving in his Mr. Potato Head costume, which was quite a sight, and Zack had been sprawled out in the passenger seat, with plenty of room for his cape, while Lacey’s had been yanked all over the back seat when Jack and Alex decided to dance along to the radio.

They all walked into the entryway without knocking, and were immediately greeted by a couple of guys that the boys knew from their various classes. Lacey found herself standing alone inside the house with Zack, with a clichéd red cup in her hand filled with an unknown drink that she could only guess had a very high alcohol content. Rian had gone off to find a girl, mumbling something about a ‘Kara’, while Jack and Alex went off to find food. Lacey turned to Zack:

“Wanna follow the music?”

“Sure, sounds good. I thought we were staying in separate rooms, cause of our costumes and all…”

“Screw that. I’m not getting ditched by you too…” she said with a smile. Lacey took Zack’s hand and they both went into what Lacey assumed was the living room, where the stereo was blasting some top 40 song. To Lacey, they all sounded the same, but she found herself tapping her foot, and later on actually dancing, most likely due to the drink she had been offered at the beginning of the night.

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An hour or two later, though Lacey had not been keeping track of the time, she turned to Zack who had been shuffling (his idea of ‘dancing’) and noted his naked torso. She stuttered, momentarily forgetting the reason why she caught his attention in the first place. There was no denying Zack was good-looking, and it was apparent he worked out, but he was way out of her league. Ashamed of her subconscious thoughts, she shook her head, and told him she was going to the bathroom. He nodded.

“I’ll go look for Rian. I’ll meet you back here in 5 minutes, ‘kay?”

“Sure, I won’t be long.” Lacey turned to go look for a bathroom. She figured the best thing was to go upstairs. Up she went, dodging the people sitting on the steps engaged in various ‘activites’, overlooking the chaotic mess of people dancing and drinking. As she got to the top, she wondered if she should ask somebody where the bathroom was. Inwardly cringing at the possible awkward conversation, she figured it would be best if she went looking for it alone. She turned left, and walked down a hallway, and was met with a series of doors. She tried the first, which turned out to be a closet. ‘Not useful’, she thought. The second door was unlocked, so she pushed the door open. She was met with darkness, so she fumbled around on the wall, finally brushing the light switch. As Lacey flicked the light open, she gasped. She was stunned to find people making out on a bed in the middle of the room. But not just any people, but a shirtless Jack and a very flushed Alex. Lacey stood in the doorway, frozen in shock, while the duo rushed to make themselves presentable.

Jack recovered the fastest: “Lacey, this can’t get out. Me and Alex are sort of an item, but we don’t want anybody to know. Promise you won’t tell.”

Lacey nodded, and ran out of the room, bumping into the doorframe as she did so. Opening the door to the right of the room she had just been in, she found herself in the bathroom. ‘Ok, calm down Lacey, just relax. Jack is gay. Alex is gay. Alex and Jack are dating. No big deal. Just calm down.’ These thoughts did nothing to lessen the shock. She sat down on the edge of the bathtub, and put her head in her hands. She could feel a bit of a headache coming on.

Composing herself, she peed and washed her hands, when she noticed that her spandex Superwoman costume had been stained with blood. When she bumped into the doorframe, it must have been enough to reopen some of the deeper cuts. Dabbing at them and at the costume with some toilet paper, she heard knocking on the door.

“Shit,” Lacey muttered. “Occupado! Give me a second!” she yelled out.

“Lacey? Is that you? It’s Zack. I talked to Jack and Alex just now…”

“Just give me a minute,” she growled. Lacey tried to get rid of the blood on her costume, but it wasn’t budging. She found a first aid kit and bandaged up her thigh, but there was an obvious mark on the spandex where she had put some water on there to try to wash the blood out. Sighing, Lacey unlocked the bathroom door, and tried to think of a credible excuse for the state of her Halloween costume.

“Lacey, I’m so sorry you had to find out this way,” Jack murmured as soon as he engulfed her in a hug. “The other guys know, and we should have told you, but we kept putting it off. Forgive us?”

“I just can’t believe the four of you would hide something so big from me. Like, honestly? I thought I could trust you guys, but apparently that doesn’t go the same for you guys…”

Lacey backed out of Jack’s hug, finished her rant, and went downstairs. Zack was following her, but she wasn’t in the mood for talking to him. He would probably just make up some lame excuse, and then just clam up.

“Lacey, wait up!”

“No, Zack, I’m going home, so I can process what just happened, and then find friends who actually trust me.”

“Lacey, just give me a second to explain.”

“Why should you explain? Are you the one keeping this from me? I’d rather hear this from Alex and Jack.”

“Lacey, stop! I want to tell you why.”

“Fine,” Lacey snapped, as she sat down on the front steps to the house, “tell me why the four of you didn’t bother telling me that two of you were gay and dating.”

As Zack started talking, Lacey noticed he was much more talkative than normal. ‘It must be the alcohol’, she thought. “When you sat with us at the beginning of the year, we figured we would tell you later on, after you got to know us. Then, Alex was talking with us, and said he thought you liked Jack. So we figured we wouldn’t burst your bubble. This was so we wouldn’t hurt your feelings. You aren’t very subtle about liking Jack. We noticed, well Alex did. He’s good with that stuff. I’m sorry I kept this from you, and I’m sure the other guys are sorry too. Rian’s gonna be wondering what the hell happened,” he said with a laugh.

“I still would have wanted to know,” Lacey muttered…

“Hey, what’s that?” Zack asked, pointing to the blood on her costume.