A Little Bit Older

Halloween came quickly and I had to admit I was excited. I’d finally decided to just dye my hair and now sported a head of dark red hair. I had considered going for a more natural red-brown tone, but decided against it for the hope of added ‘sex appeal’ as Meghan termed it. It had been a while since I’d dyed my hair anything outside of the ‘typical’ spectrum of hair tones and figured it was time for a change. I had done the platinum blonde look a few years prior when it had been popular and was always a fan of the obviously unnatural hair tones.

Michelle and I had gone dress shopping together to find the perfect dresses. She was going as an evil witch, having no idea what Brian was going to be because she’d given up on couple costumes years ago. We found her black dress that reached just above her knees, had spaghetti strap and a plunging cowl neckline, with an overall form-fitting cut. Mine was harder because I wanted to get as close as possible to the actual character’s dress. Finally, I’d found a strapless, deep red, floor length dress with a thigh high slit, that was adorned with small sequins to give it that glittery look. I had the perfect pair of ruby red heels to pair with it – mostly because you can’t be named Ruby and not own a pair of ruby heels.

We’d had a lot of fun shopping together and somehow I’d also come home from that trip with a new set of lingerie, a cute silk pajama set, and the best strapless push-up bra I’d ever worn – like boobs to ears good. All in all, the whole event had made me ten times more excited for actual Halloween. I hadn’t even intended to go all out but Michelle and Meghan were both in the boat that I needed to pull out all the stop to get this to go off without a hitch.

Johnny and Lacey had gotten put in charge of hosting the party and from what I understood it was going to be the regular Avenged crew and then many friends from other areas of the music industry and then some. Johnny and Lacey got stuck with the dirty job because they didn’t have any kids or pets which made their house the easiest to clean up the next day. Michelle and Brian was a close second but they had recently adopted an older dog from the pound and Michelle was worried about frightening him with the rowdiness of a Halloween party.

All in all, it was my first Halloween back home in a long time and it was turning out to be a pretty big deal.

“I still can’t believe you did this to your hair.” Matt groaned watching me from the bed as I slowly removed my curling rings. They were easier curling iron and made the curls a bit more consistent.

“Hasn’t grown on you yet?” I asked with a slightly sarcastic tone.

“It looks great, that’s the problem! I just want to touch it all the time now. I didn’t think it was possible for you to look any better than you did and you proved me wrong.” He laughed as he said it and I couldn’t figure out if he was being complimentary in a romantic or friendly way. I had taken to reading way too much into everything he said as of late.

“I knew I would.” I responded trying to pretend that his words were just words between two friends.

“I’m going to look so stupid next to you dressed as a fucking rabbit.” He complained with a pout. He was a giant baby sometimes.

“This is what you get for making shitty suggestion. At least I’m not making you wear bunny ears. Count your blessings.” I lectured before spraying my hair that was now fully out of the curlers.

“I mean, I am. You should be thanking me for my shitty suggestions because we’re going to have the coolest couple costume now because of it.” I rolled my eyes at his logic as I started to touch-up on my eye make-up.

“You get no credit for this.” I said calmly before swiping on my lipstick.

“You’re mean.”

“You wanna know a fun fact?” I asked turning around on my heels abruptly and staring at him.

“What?” He asked eyeing me over suspiciously as I walked over to him and placed my hand gently on the side of his face.

“I don’t care.” I smiled and hoped that he wouldn’t be able to see how hard my heart was beating. I was trying to take Meghan’s advice and be my usual self which meant smart comments now and again and treating him the same way I always had. I kept having a fear though that he’d see through my act and call me out on it.

“That’s not nice.”

“I know.” I said sassily before turning away from him and walking into his closet where I had left my strapless bra and dress.

“Ruby!” He groaned and I could hear the bed shifting as he got up to follow me. Ignoring him, I opted to just start changing. I didn’t expect him to follow me, but I guess this would be a good sign.

“You should really start getting ready. We should be leaving in less than 20 minutes.” I chastised him as I dropped my shirt to the ground and quickly let my bra follow.

When he walked in, I had already managed to fully undress myself except for my underwear. I tried to act nonchalant. I was genuinely surprised that he’d followed me this far and didn’t leave the room even though I was barely dressed. Thankfully my back was facing him otherwise, I'd be utterly mortified.

“You can’t do this.”

“Do what?” I asked innocently grabbing the bra to go with my dress and putting it on.

“You’re a terrible liar.” He wrapped his arms around my waist. His arms felt warm against my bare skin and I was 98% sure I’d been caught. “You can’t be so sassy and adorable. It’s not fair.” He breathed out pressing his lips to the lobe of my ear and I could feel them heat up quickly.

“Help me zip my dress?” I asked pulling away from him and grabbing my dress. He did things like too much for me to know what he expected from me. Was this how he acted with all his female friends? I mean, most of his female friends were dating his friends so probably not…

He conceded to my demands before he finally left me alone to go get ready. We’d promised to get to the party early to help set-up and I couldn’t handle being this close to him without knowing what was going through his mind. Luckily, with the boys staying over that night, I didn’t have to worry about too many more situations like this.

We left shortly after that and made it to the Haner household early to help them set up. Before long, the party was in full swing and I was being whirled around the house being introduced to people by Matt. He was loving every second of showing me off and I didn’t blame him because when I saw myself in the mirror, I wanted to show me off. Michelle had been a star and helped me pick out the perfect dress and wearing it, I felt like a bombshell.

“You look beautiful!” Valarie exclaimed when she finally caught up to me. We hugged and I complimented her white lacey dress – she had come as an angel complete with wings and the halo.

“Are you and Paul excited to be going up to see his family tomorrow?” I asked as we walked together towards the kitchen to grab a drink. I wasn’t on sober duty for the night but was limiting myself to only one drink. Matt and Valarie had a shared rule that if someone had more than two drinks, they weren’t allowed to hold the boys. So, I’d agreed with Matt beforehand that he would stay sober to both drive us home and carry the boys in to the house and I would stay mostly sober so that he wouldn’t feel left out.

“I’m kind of nervous actually! I’ve met his mom but this’ll be my first time meeting his dad.” She confessed.

I pulled her into a slight side hug before shaking my head, “No, don’t worry. You’re perfect and I’m sure his dad will love you.”

She laughed and thanked me for that before following up with, “How are things with Matt?”

“It’s kind of weird. He hugged me when I was getting ready and I was half dressed which was unexpected. Good sign though I guess?” I asked and she nodded in agreement.

“No that’s really good. Besides, I’ve been watching him introduce you to everyone tonight. He looks so smitten – like genuine relationship smitten and not fake dating smitten.”

“I mean, I feel like people partially thought that before though.” I joked and she nodded.

“No true, he’s pretty good at acting when he needs to. But I think it’s genuine.”

Once it started getting later, the party began to segregate itself. People stopped wandering around the living room and kitchens socializing and began to congregate in a few spots. All the kids were playing in the basement and watching G rated Halloween movies. It was more than just the 3 normal boys because, apparently, a lot of guests had kids so they basically had a make-shift babysitting space. The older kids watching the younger kids and so on which was the most effective form of childcare I could imagine for a Halloween party. Although as the night passed and the kids started falling asleep, most of the women ended up down there drinking cocktails and enjoying the girl time. The guys passed most of the night sitting on the back deck listening to music and playing beer pong.

By the time that I started to feel sleepy, I found myself curled up on a beanbag with Theo in my arms. Val was holding a sleeping Cash and talking with a few women who I only recognized by face. Meghan had been fluttering around the party the whole evening and had finally settled upstairs with Zack playing drinking games. River was sleeping in a pill of the “older” kids who ranged from River’s 4-years-old up all the way to 10-years-old. The few hand-full of kids in their early teenage years had slipped out when they noticed all the women arrive and kids getting sleepy. They were smoking weed in the backyard or whatever it was that teenagers were into these days.

Matt came downstairs eventually and gave me a small wave. I smiled back and he went over and talked to Val who proceeded to pass him Cash. I guess that meant he was ready to go. I slowly stood up and carried Theo over to Val who agreed to hold on to him until Meghan came to find him. I picked up River from the pile of sleeping children and then Matt and I slowly started saying our goodbyes to everyone. All in all, it had been a great night. But I was beyond ready to take my dress off and change into some pajamas and rest.