Sasha

I waited, nervously, at a table on the patio of a local restaurant. Trace was always the "fashionably late" type and I loved it. I loved how he took his time. I always knew he was attracted to me but he had this laid back mystic that never allowed me to know what he was really thinking.

My finger drilled taps on my phone screen, when I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, from behind.

"Long time, no see, beautiful." He never apologized for his lateness, which I never took as an insult.

I stood up and was immediately wrapped into his long, tattooed arms. He gave me a small, innocent peck on the lips and then we took our seats.

"I was a little surprised to see that you wanted to catch up since you never replied to any of my texts." He took his sunglasses off and placed them on top of my phone and slide them off to the side.

I rolled my eyes but played along. I didn't want to ruin things by letting him know that this was basically a blind date for me.

"Text messages? You never texted ME back."

"Oh, no way! Of course, I texted you back. We had some great times in the Big Apple." He winked at me, motioned for a server and ordered us a couple of drinks.

"So, Trace...What's been going on? It's great to see you!"

At that point, our server had placed two shots of Crown Royal in front of us. He held his up, in the air, and motioned for me to do the same.

"Cheers to us sitting right here, right now." We clicked glasses and downed our throat burning shots.

"So..."

"Oh! Well, I was engaged for a brief moment and that obviously went to shit. Other then that, life has been great! Just got off of tour, so things have been pretty slow." He made eye contact with our server, again. "Hey, Miss Ashley! Can you bring another round of shots?" She smiled and nodded.

"So, how have you been? What made you move back here?"

"I've been okay, I guess. Completely sober from hard drugs. Had to get my head on straight, you know? And as for coming back, I don't know. It just seemed like the right time."

Our shots arrived and we continued to talk. Eventually, we closed our tab, which Trace demanded on paying for, and we got up to leave. He walked me to my car and lightly pinned me against it.

"I really am happy we met up today." He leaned in closer.

"Oh, really?" I went in for a kiss and felt butterflies in my stomach. For the first time, in weeks, Zack was a complete non-factor.

As we broke away from our kiss, Trace looked me in the eyes and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"So...Brian, my cousin, if you've forgotten..."

"Oh, I remember." He smirked.

"Is having a Halloween party tomorrow. And I was wondering if you'd like to go with me."

"Won't your ex be there?"

"Yeah....is that a problem?"

"Fuck no! I just can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees how gorgeous you are in a room full people. The guy is a douche."

I, playfully, slapped his chest and he grabbed my hand and held it.

"Meet me at my house at 9pm tomorrow?"

He nodded and opened my car door for me.

"I'll text you my address. I'm sure you'll be late."

He gave me a sweet, smirk and shut my door for me.

-------------

I woke up and stayed in bed most of the day, trying to contain the butterflies in my stomach from the night before. Then, I realized that I had not even seen the costume Becca had grabbed for me.

I gave Becca full reign over picking my costume this year. I always procrastinated and ended up wearing a pair of devil horns or something. Luckily, she had my size and measurements, memorized.

My bedroom door went flying open, and Becca came waltzing in with my costume covered up by a bag.

"Oh my god! Let me see it! Is that a head dress poking out?"

She unveiled my costume and I fell back on my bed and looked at the ceiling. Akasha, from "Queen of the Damned."

"It's so hot. You're going to look like a model in it. Just like Aaliyah!" She hung it up on the back of my door and admired the clothing. "It was so hard finding the right cup size for those huge jugs, though."

I let out a deep sigh and sat back up.

"What now? There's no way you could hate this costume. It's so sexy and you love the movie!" She had thrown her hands up in the air and then proceeded to roll her eyes.

"And Zack loves the movie, too."

"Sasha, this costume was like $500 after all the custom measurements."

"I'm sure. Thanks! But it's going to be so awkward. He's totally going to be checking me out all night."

"So fucking what. Let him. Let Megan, too. This is a celebration of you, possibly, moving on with Trace AND not being a drug addict. You deserve to have everyone checking you out. Besides, they'll probably be staring at me in my costume anyways." She flipped her hair and stood crossed armed with a smile.

"And you are going as?"

"Pamela Anderson! But, like, bikini Pam with a big, fluffy hat."

I threw a pillow at her and laughed. Why did I care so much about my costume? I had a chance at getting to spend time with Trace. I also, was getting a chance to show my brother and Zack, that I didn't give a fuck.