Jac Naylor and Zosia March were sat at a quiet table in the corner of the bar, this was one of the very rare occasions that Jac was found in Albie's. Somehow Zosia had convinced her to come for a drink after work. It had been a hard day hell, a hard week and for once, she couldn't find a reasonable excuse to decline the offer. They were both sat nursing a glass of white wine, away from a few of the others who had the same idea.
'So, what are you being for Halloween?' Zosia asked what Jac thought had to be the most stupid question she had ever heard.
'What?' She glanced over at her with steely eyes.
'You know, what are you going to dress up as?' Zosia asked with a small grin, she had tried to imagine Jac dressing up for Halloween in the past and she couldn't quite picture it but now that she had Emma she thought maybe Jac would get in the Halloween spirit.
'You're kidding, right? Why would I dress up?' Jac scoffed with a roll of her eyes before taking another grateful gulp of her wine. Jonny had Emma tonight and she knew he would have Halloween covered. He would probably enjoy going out in the freezing cold weather to knock on strangers doors, Jac felt grateful that she had escaped it this year.
'It's Halloween! It's fun!' Zosia exclaimed, waving her arms about in the air. She had an excited look on her face like she'd been planning the night for months, which she probably had. Jac just rolled her eyes again.
'It's just another stupid holiday that Hallmark can benefit from, and it's for children! I never did it as a kid, why would I wanna start now?' Jac huffed, leaning back in her seat.
'What?' Zosia exclaimed, the volume in her voice just a little too loud. Jac shot her a look and she grimaced, speaking at a more appropriate level. 'What do you mean you never did it as a kid? You never went trick-or-treating? You never got to dress up?' The look on Zosia's face was one of pure horror and Jac couldn't help but twitch her lips in amusement at that.
'Look, it wasn't a big deal. I got over it. Plus, it did my teeth a whole world of good.' Jac shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, turning her body so she was face-on with Zosia's. 'I don't know why any adult would willingly want to dress up for Halloween.'
Zosia shook her head from side to side almost violently, her mouth still gaped open. 'No. No way! You have to come to this party with me tonight. We can go and find you a last minute costume now!'
Jac looked at Zosia like she had a second head growing out of her shoulder. 'You cannot be serious! Not in a million years.' She shook her head adamantly but seeing how excited Zosia looked at the prospect of finding her an outfit and dragging her to some stupid party almost made her cave in. Almost.
'Please, Jac! It will be fun. You don't know know what you've been missing out on all these years!' Zosia whined petulantly, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout and looking at her boss with sad eyes.
Jac sighed heavily and shot a glare at Zosia. 'No.' She crossed her arms over her chest and arched her eyebrow at her in challenge.
'Please!' Zosia was practically bouncing in her seat, she could see the desperation in her eyes and Jac's resolve was crumbling.
Jac threw her head back and shook it from side to side, not believing what she was about to agree to. 'Fine!' She groaned. 'But, there are gonna have to be rules!' She warned and it only took half a second for Zosia to jump up in excitement, a squeal leaving her lips before she grabbed for Jac's hand and pulled her up from her own seat, their wine now forgotten.
'C'mon, this is going to be so fun!' Zosia's smile was from ear to ear and Jac let out another groan, she was regretting her decision already.
–
They spent a good 45 minutes dashing around ASDA looking for a costume to wear, typically all the good stuff was gone but Zosia managed to find a red cape and some plastic fangs. She reckoned Jac would look quite as a vampire, she had the paleness down already.
Jac followed Zosia around the store with a look of pure annoyance and exasperation on her face, this was not what she had planned. She was originally just going to have a quiet night in, with a book and a glass of wine with a 'no trick-or-treaters' sign up in her window so she could be left in peace. What was happening now was more like a nightmare. She couldn't believe she had actually agreed to this.
Zosia paid for the basket full of items before heading back to her apartment with Jac where she predictably had her costume all ready and laid out.
Jac snorted as soon as she saw it. 'Dorothy, really?' She looked at her with judgmental eyes and shook her head, of course, it was bloody Dorothy.
'What? There's nothing wrong with Dorothy!' Zosia exclaimed with faux-hurt. Jac was waiting around in the living room whilst Zosia got ready. It only took her about five minutes to get ready, she was already wearing all black so she slung the cape onto her back and tied it around her neck and held the plastic fangs in her hand, there was no need to put them in just yet.
Anyone who took one look at her would be able to tell she made next to no effort but she didn't care, the only reason she was even going to this stupid party was for Zosia's benefit. She would be surprised if she lasted more than five minutes before walking out and going back home again. Parties weren't her thing, especially costume parties.
Zosia spent a little longer getting ready, taking the time to do her hair in two neat plaits that lay either side and her make-up to compliment the blue and white chequered dress that was just a little too short, but what the hell. She accompanied it all with a small brown basket with a toy puppy head sticking out the basket. She was pretty damn proud of the whole ensemble, even if she said so herself.
Zosia pushed open her bedroom door and walked through to the living room. 'Ta-da!' She twirled around with a big smile as she held her arms out to the side, clearly presenting her costume to the room and its one occupant.
'Wow,' Jac exclaimed, her eyebrows rising and her eyes widening. Pure thoughts Jac, pure thoughts. 'Going for slutty Dorothy, nice.' She smirked, her eyes travelling up and down the length of Zosia's body just to take it all in, being careful not to allow her eyes to linger for too long.
'C'mon then, let's get this thing over with!' Jac rolled her eyes, although she had to admit to herself that the joy and happiness that shone from Zosia at this very moment as she was dragging her to the door might just make it all worth it.
–
'This is stupid, I want to go.' Jac grunted after about 45 seconds of being in the crowded room full of ghosts, cats and Pokemon characters. This was ridiculous. In what universe was a sexy cat meant to be scary anyway? She knew it would be like this, and that she'd hate it.
Zosia just rolled her eyes and pressed a red cup of god-knows-what into her hand, she raised the cup to her nose and pulled back with a cough almost immediately afterwards, god whatever was in it sure was strong.
'Stop it, misery guts.' Zosia nudged her shoulder against Jac's a little harder than intended and the red head sent her a glare. 'Drink up then come dance with me!' Zosia nudged her own cup against Jac's before downing the mysterious red liquid in one go. Jesus Christ, she was going to regret that in the morning.
Jac huffed and followed suit, taking a couple of gulps to get the drink down her. She stuck out her tongue in a grimace, placing her cup down on a nearby table. It was disgusting, sickeningly sweet and full of vodka. She was beginning to wish she'd never left Albie's, she was quite happy to just sit there with her glass of wine for the rest of the evening. But Zosia had ruined all of her plans tonight.
She searched the room trying to find the brunette and found her laughing loudly at some lewd joke some bloke had just told her, she could tell already that Zosia was a bit drunker than she was. She wondered how many red cups she had managed to drink in the short five minutes that they'd been there. Jac tilted her head to one side and clenched her jaw, she wasn't happy with the way the guy (who she had never seen) was leering down at her colleague His hands had somehow found their way to her waist and he was bending down to whisper something in her ear.
Jac swallowed hard, she could see Zosia was trying to arch away from him, her bright smiley face now turned into an uncomfortable frown. Jac couldn't take it anymore, she had to do something about this. No one had the right to just lay their hands on something that didn't belong to them.
She marched over towards the two of them stood awkwardly in the middle of the dancefloor. She cleared her throat loudly once she'd reached them and the piece of shit guy looked over Zosia's shoulder to stare at her, he arched his eyebrow with a dumb confused look on his face. 'Uh, yeah? Can I help you? Aren't you a little old to be at this party?'
Jac had to bite her tongue and stop herself from snarling at the idiot stood in front of her, whose hands were still lightly gripping on to Zosia's waist. Jac steely gaze bored into him, challenging him to stay there. Challenging him to challenge her.
'Oh, Jac!' Zosia's eyes lit up as she became aware of her elder's presence and she quickly but forcefully extracted herself from the random bloke's grip and clung on to Jac's side. 'Hey,' she whispered with a small but grateful smile. 'Ready for that dance, now?' She smiled brightly but she knew what she was really saying, she could see it in her eyes. She was saying ugh, please take me away from this fucking creep. Jac arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at the guy who still standing there dumbly, eyes darting between the two women.
Jac wrapped an arm around Zosia's wait possessively, hand gripping a little too tightly to keep her close to her side. 'I would fuck off right now if I were you.' Jac finally spoke, growling at the tall gentleman.
The bloke standing before them just scoffed and flung his arm up, waving them off. 'Fuckin' dykes.' He sneered before brushing through the crowd, looking for his next victim most probably.
Jac who had lost her temper at this point lunged after him but Zosia quickly pulled her back, both hands gripping onto her forearm. 'Leave it, he's not worth it.' Zosia muttered and Jac turned to face her, her eyes searching Zosia's face for a moment before giving a silent nod.
'C'mon, we're going!' Jac huffed out grumpily, now it was her turn to grab Zosia's arm and pull her towards the exit.
'But-' Zosia tried to protest, stumbling as she tried to catch up with Jac's fast-paced walk.
Jac suddenly halted and locked her steely gaze onto Zosia. 'Going.'
Zosia rolled her eyes but gave in, there was no convincing Jac when she had that look on her face. 'Fine.' She finally conceded and allowed herself to be dragged the rest of the way before slamming the door behind them.
Jac finally lets go of Zosia once they were outside, her nostrils flaring as irritation and anger still pulsed through her veins.
'What a prick.' Jac muttered, running a hand through her hair and pushing it away from her face.
'Jac, I'm fine. Seriously. Thank you for rescuing me, though.' Zosia shot a look over to Jac, a small smile quirking up the edges of her mouth.
Jac looked back over and shot a barely visible smile towards her junior, nodding silently. Fine.
'C'mon, let's go back to my apartment. I have more than enough wine there to get us through the rest of the night.' Zosia offered with a hopeful smile.
Jac considered declining the offer and opting to just go home instead, getting an early night and forgetting that this whole evening ever happened, but one look at Zosia and she was done in again. She doesn't know what's wrong with her tonight but Zosia seemed to have some kind of hold over her.
''Kay.' She agreed after another moment with a small shrug of her shoulders. Her whole evening had been turned topsy-turvy so why not just go along for the ride once more. A few more hours with Zosia wouldn't kill her. Surely.
They hailed a cab back to Zosia's place where they collapsed on the sofa and put a Halloween movie on, it was just background noise though as they popped open a bottle or two of wine. The rest of the night was filled with laughter, drunken kisses and a certain red-haired surgeon falling asleep and snoring on Zosia's shoulder. Who could only look down with adoration and wonder.