Max's POV
It was October 29th and life was about as normal as ever. The only weird thing was that I had been secretly dating Victoria Chase for about a month now. In fact, she was in my room with me in that moment, trying on her costume for the upcoming Vortex Club party. She had decided to go as a cat. But not like a normal cat, you know? More like one of those cats you see in anime that all the boys fawn over and all the girls hate. Except, I definitely did not hate Tori in that moment. She looked fucking gorgeous as hell.
"It's going to be the best Halloween party we've ever had," she was saying, standing in the middle of my room as she shamelessly pulled her skirt down to reveal her fancy, black underwear. Her skin was practically perfect and the fact that I was suddenly seeing so much of it at once was making my heart go into overdrive while my decision making ability slowed to a crawl. "You're still going to come with me, right?" She turned to me, a small smirk on her face when she saw that I was looking her up and down. "Enjoying the view?" She asked, taking a few steps towards me. She was just wearing a blouse now, her dark green eyes piercing through me as she drew closer.
"I… You… What?" I asked, trying to keep my eyes locked with hers. She chuckled, placing her hands on my shoulders, running them up and down my arms. I swallowed her, trying to remember what the hell I was supposed to be doing.
"You're allowed to touch, you know," she said softly, her voice low and alluring as she leaned closer to me. "You can do whatever you want." I let out a nervous laugh, trying to ignore the way my insides were boiling. We hadn't done anything crazy before. And by crazy, I mean sex. But she had definitely tried to talk me into it a couple times. She wasn't pressuring me or anything and I wanted to do it too, but we'd only been dating for a month now.
She must've seen my hesitation because her gaze softened, her gentle hand reaching out to touch mine, taking it and pressing it to her lips. She kissed my palm, watching me with glimmering eyes. My legs felt like jelly and my insides turned molten as she watched me.
"You're beautiful," I whispered, feeling satisfaction break through my hormone induced stupor when I saw the blush form on her cheeks. She smiled at me, intertwining her fingers with mine.
"Not as beautiful as you, Maxine," she replied, making me giggle.
"You're so cheesy," I teased, feeling like my cheeks were burning more than they ever had, shoving her playfully. She laughed, rolling her eyes at me.
"You started it," she replied, wrapping her arms around my waist and pulling me so close that our hips were pressed together. I gasped a little, blushing as she leaned in closer to me. There was a moment of her just staring into my eyes, silently asking me for permission to keep going. She never pushed me farther than I wanted to go and I knew that I could always say no. So I closed the gap, kissing her as passionately as my clumsy, incredibly foggy mind would let me. I wrapped my arms around her neck, taking in the smell of her lavender shampoo and the sweet taste of her lips. Tori always made me feel so strange. It was like being around her made me insatiable. I started to lose myself, the heat in my core pushing me closer to her, reviving the curiosity I always felt when I thought about how it would feel to memorize every inch of her skin.
Right as I was about to explore that curiosity, there was a loud knock at my door, making me jump a little. Victoria sighed, pulling away as she leaned her forehead against mine. I smiled softly, running my fingers through her short, soft hair.
"Maybe if we stay quiet they'll just go away," I whispered, getting a small, mischievous smile from the beautiful woman that had her arms around me still.
"Max!" Chloe called through the door. "I know you're in there and I'm not afraid to just open this door, so get your hand out of your pants and open the damn door!" I groaned, reluctantly letting go of Victoria.
"You might wanna get your pants back on," I told her, making her chuckle.
"Fine, but only because I know you hate saying that," she teased, picking up her skirt and sliding it back on. I just rolled my eyes, unable to stop smiling. Chloe and Taylor were the only people that knew Tori and I were together, so it wasn't like I was afraid of Chloe seeing me with Tori, but I definitely wanted her to be fully clothed. When I was sure that everyone had clothes on, I opened the door to see Chloe holding a bundle of torn clothes in her arms, grinning at me in a way that always told me that she had a plan that I might not like.
"Can I come in or are you… preoccupied?" She asked, taking a peek past me. I felt my cheeks heat up as Chloe spoke, trying to pretend like what she said wasn't true.
"Just a little," Tori said, the smirk on her face making my skin tingle. "What do you want, anyway? What is all of that?" Chloe walked past me, setting the bundle of clothes on my bed, turning to Tori with a massive grin on her face.
"I'm glad you ask, Sticky Vicky," she replied, picking up a torn up t shirt.
"Never call me that again," Tori deadpanned, her arms crossed over her chest, but she didn't faze Chloe in the slightest.
"But you just hate it so much, I can't help myself," she said, grinning at the blond. I sighed, rolling my eyes and walking over, picking up a pair of torn jeans.
"Chloe and I are dressing up as zombies for the party," I said, admiring the tears and holes in the old clothes. It was almost like Chloe hadn't been the one to make them in the first place they were so perfect. Maybe that's why they were so perfect. I looked up to see a slightly disgusted look on Tori's face, her nose scrunched up a bit as she looked at Chloe and I from across the small room.
"You can't be serious," she said, her response causing my heart to sink just a little.
"Oh, we're dead serious," Chloe cut in, her grin growing wider at her joke. I had to hold in my giggles when Tori scoffed and started heading towards my door.
"Well, I'm going to finish getting ready for the party tonight," she said, giving me a little look before she reached the door. "You two weirdos have fun, I'll be trying on my acceptable costume. Come get me when you're done getting your Night of the Walking Geeks costumes ready." I hurried towards her before she could open the door, grabbing her hand.
"No kiss?" I asked, putting on my best puppy dog face. I saw her soften a little, throwing a quick glare at Chloe before looking back at me. She leaned down, meeting my lips for a quick kiss, but I pulled her in before she could get away, wrapping my arms around her neck. She gasped a little, but I kept going, biting and sucking at her bottom lip a little before pulling away, a little breathless. She had this hazy, shocked look in her eyes, like she hadn't expected me to kiss her like that in front of someone else. "I'll see you soon, ok?" She nodded, pressing her lips into a hard line as her cheeks went pink.
"Yeah, see you later," she said, slowly turning around and opening my door, walking out and going to her room across the hall. I closed my door when I saw her enter hers before turning around to see Chloe smirking at me.
"Hot damn, Super Max," she said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked at me. "You really did a number on her, didn't you?" I blushed, giving a shrug before going back to where the clothes were sat in a pile on my bed.
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking the clothes over and trying to act like I hadn't totally just made the pressure in my gut much worse.
"You know exactly what I mean, you saucy little hipster," she said, ruffling my hair a bit. "You totally got her thinking about you in that special way." She said the last part with a lilt in her voice that made my heart race.
"Shut up and help me decide what kind of zombie I wanna be," I said, grabbing a pair of black jeans. Chloe picked up a ripped up a blue flannel with fake blood stains all over it.
"Alright, but then I'm getting all the hella dirty details," she said, making me groan in embarrassment.
"Fine, just stop talking about it for now," I replied, grabbing the flannel out of her hands. She chuckled and shrugged, but her smirk hadn't gone anywhere.
"Alright, Maxipad."
When Chloe and I had finished getting ready, we walked to Victoria's room and I knocked on the door, feeling kind of nervous. I knew that she wouldn't be the biggest fan of being seen with me in the first place, let alone while I was dressed like a zombie. I had decided to only go with a little bit of make up cause I didn't feel like putting a huge amount of effort into looking like a dead person.
"Door's open," Tori called through the door, her voice surprisingly calm sounding. I opened the door to see her standing in front of her mirror which was to the left of the door. When I saw her, my heart leapt up into my throat, making it hard to breathe. She was wearing her cat costume which was basically a black bikini top with spandex shorts and black tights along with some cat ears. I swallowed dryly, feeling my knees go a little weak. She looked over at me, grinning as she did a little twirl, giving me the full view. "What do you think?" But Chloe spoke before me, making Tori's smile fade into a sneer.
"Meow, kitty," Chloe said, grabbing my shoulder and shaking me a little. "Holy shit, you really hit the jackpot with this one, Max."
"Nobody asked you, Price," Tori retorted, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, you obviously left our poor little friend here totally speechless," Chloe chuckled, squeezing my shoulder. "I was just helping her out a little."
"Holy shit," I muttered, my mind moving way too slow again.
"See? Read her mind, it's called crazy friendship powers," Chloe said, leaning against the doorframe. "So, are we ready or not? I wanna get hella wasted tonight."
"Oh, no," Tori said, shaking her head. "You are not coming to the party. No way, I refuse to be seen with you." Chloe put her hand to her heart, feigning hurt as she stared at Tori with wide eyes.
"Victoria, darling, you wound me," she said, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and leaning forward a little. "But I'm afraid that I'm not going to let you steal my best friend from me for the whole night. So either I go with you both because you say I can, or I crash your precious party without a second thought. Or better yet, maybe I steal Max away myself and we go have some real fun." Tori scowled, crossing her arms under her chest, exposing even more cleavage. I honestly can't believe I survived that, I was almost sure that I had actually died of shock.
"You wouldn't dare," Tori challenged, her dark green eyes glaring into Chloe's soul. Chloe just glared right back, her eyebrows raised.
"Try me, Chase," she practically growled. I managed to let out what I guess was sort of like a laugh and stepped between them, trying to salvage this very strange situation.
"How about we just all go to the party?" I suggested, trying to get my fuzzy brain moving again. "Chloe probably wouldn't even wanna hang around us tonight anyway. She just wants to go dance and drink and stuff, right Chlo?" The two broke eye contact for a moment, looking down at me then back to each other. Chloe took a step back, shrugging and grinning a little.
"Yeah, I wouldn't wanna get in the way of your guys' nasty Halloween fun times, anyways," she said, getting a scoff from Tori, who just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, just don't even breath next to me tonight, I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I actually stand to be near someone like you," Tori shot back, but Chloe didn't seem fazed. She just chuckled, running her fingers through her purposefully messed up hair.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't want to breathe in all the gay pheromones you two will be putting off anyways," she retorted. Tori's face was getting red and it looked like she actually wanted to beat Chloe into a bloody pulp.
"Ok, ok," I laughed nervously, taking Tori's hand and pulling her away from Chloe. "You guys really don't need to fight, ok? There's enough Max to go around for everyone."
"What's going on, guys?" Someone asked from behind Chloe. We all turned to look at them at once, seeing Kate standing there in a bunny onesie, the hood with rabbit ears pulled back so we could see the curious look on her face as she watched us. We all paused, looking at each other then back at Kate, Tori and I letting go of each other's hands immediately.
"Oh, uh nothing, cute stuff," Chloe said, turning around to face Kate, her arm over her head as she leaned against the doorframe. "We were just discussing the guest list for tonight's Vortex Club bump and grind fest. But what are you up to?" Kate was blushing a bit, struggling to keep eye contact with Chloe as she spoke. I had to bite my lip to keep myself from smiling as I bumped Tori's arm to get her attention and nod towards the shorter girl.
"I was just going to see if Stella still wanted to do a movie night and then I saw you and wanted to say hi," she muttered, but she was smiling nervously, looking up at Chloe with an embarrassed look in her eyes. Chloe chuckled nervously, shoving herself off of the doorframe and scratching the back of her head.
"That sounds pretty rad," she replied. "Maybe, if you want to, I mean, you and I could hang out a little. Or maybe you could come and hang with Max and I."
"I thought you were going to the Vortex Club party," Kate said sheepishly, looking over at Tori nervously. Tori suddenly looked very tense, her brows knit together as she avoided Kate's gaze.
"Yeah, but you could come along with us," Chloe said, smiling excitedly. "It would be fun. You could invite Stella too if you want."
"Oh, I…" Kate paused, looking away again, her features tight with nervousness. "I don't know, I'm really not one for parties and stuff."
"What? No way, I totally had you pinned as a party animal," Chloe teased, getting a confused blush from Kate. "Well, I mean, 'cause you're dressed as a bunny. You could totally tear up the dance floor, I'd bet my life on it." Understanding flashed over Kate's features and she giggled, putting her hand over her mouth.
"I wouldn't if I were you, you'd be a real zombie in minutes," she replied, meeting Chloe's eyes again. I smiled, feeling warmth grow in my chest at how happy Kate looked as she talked to Chloe. Chloe looked just as happy, her eyes sparkling a little.
"Tell you what," Chloe said, leaning forward a little, her hands in her pockets as her bangs hung in front of her left eye, a smirk on her face. "We go to the party for like ten minutes. If you hate it, I'll buy you dinner. If you love it, then we dance all night." Kate blushed again, looking at the ground, but she was smiling which was a good sign.
"Deal," she muttered, causing Chloe to straighten to her fullest height, grinning like a fool.
"Sweet," she said, looking over to Tori and I. "Are you two ready or what?" Tori and I looked at each other, the both of us having a small debate with ourselves. Did we go to the party together or separately? Neither of us had any idea how much attention we'd attract if we went together, but we knew that we wouldn't be able to stay away from each other all night. People would see us together at some point, that much was certain.
"I'm ready if you are," Tori said, surprising me a little, but her expression stayed at a trained neutral, watching me carefully. I nodded, trying to contain the smile that played on my lips.
"Sounds good to me," I said, following Chloe and Kate as they walked to the exit of the dorms. The four of us walked together until we found Taylor and Courtney waiting outside of the gym. They gave us all suspicious looks, especially Chloe. But she just brushed them off, too busy making Kate laugh with stupid jokes.
"Vic, what took you so long?" Courtney asked, sounding irritated as she watched me. I avoided her gaze, resisting the intense urge I felt to take Tori's hand.
"Yeah, and what are you doing with these freaks?" Taylor added, her slutty nurse costume showing off a hell of a lot of skin. Sometimes I wondered if Halloween was just an unspoken competition between all the attractive girls to see which of them could show off more skin without getting in trouble for it. I definitely thought Tori was winning at this point, even if I was a bit biased. Tori looked tense, her hands balled into fists as she looked at her friends, her jaw set firm against her other features. I knew that this wasn't easy for her, but I knew that it was something that had to happen, at least for now. It was just hard to watch. I knew that she never meant any of the insults she threw my way, especially since they had become infrequent and almost weak, half spirited attempts to show people that she still hated my guts.
"I was just walking, Christ," she said, making her way over to them. "Smell you later, Lamefield." She threw the comment over her shoulder, not even turning to look at me as she walked away, her hips swaying in a hypnotizing rhythm that made me feel like I might've been drooling. It kinda hurt to watch her walk away like that, but it wasn't like she wanted things to be this way.
"Come on, Super Max," Chloe said, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and pulling me towards the main entrance of the party. I barely had time to see Tori and her minions walk through a back entrance, probably into the VIP section of the party. I followed Chloe and Kate after that, smiling and laughing with them. It was really something to watch Chloe put the moves on a girl, but she was different around Kate. It was like she wanted to flirt with her but was holding back for some reason. Maybe I'd ask her about that later.
When we walked into the party, I was pretty sure that I would go deaf from the pounding music around me. They were playing really loud, dubstep music with a spooky vibe to it, fog machines covering the floor with fake smoke until I could barely see it, but it was cool to watch the way my feet made the fake mist swirl and disperse. It was kinda Thrilleresc, especially with Chloe and I dressed like zombies. The thought made me smile and I was surprised to find that I was actually looking forward to the party. I wasn't used to that. Everyone was dressed up, even people I never would've expected to be dressed up. Most of the girls were dressed similarly to Tori and her friends, though, leaving little to the imagination as people danced together.
Chloe lead Kate and I to what I was guessing the bar and she ordered a drink for herself, sipping it eagerly. When she lowered the beer from her lips, she let out a satisfied sigh, smiling at us both.
"Now we can party," she declared devilishly, her lips pulled up in an impish grin.
Most of the night was spent dancing and I think I had a drink at some point, but it didn't do much. Kate, Chloe and I all danced together, the atmosphere strangely contagious. I had never thought that I would enjoy a party so much, especially one that was so loud and crazy. Luckily, the music, alcohol and lights blurred everything until I was pretty sure that the world had begun to spin unevenly, leaving me dizzy and disoriented, but I loved it. I felt like someone had set fire to my blood and I was forced to dance until the flames had faded, leaving me exhausted and motionless. I just hoped that time wouldn't come until later that night when I was wrapped in Tori's arms.
I'm not sure how long we'd been dancing before I felt someone wrap their arms around me from behind, a familiar form pressed against my back. I leaned into the warmth, glad that it was Tori when I looked up to meet her eyes. She smirked down at me, leaning down to kiss me. I wondered how many people could see this and then realized that I really didn't care. I Turned around, facing Tori fully to kiss her again, wrapping my arms around her neck as we danced.
Things went on like that for a while, the heat in the gym building and building until it was almost too much to take. The four of us eventually walked outside to get some fresh air, all breathing heavily and surprisingly sweaty, but incredibly giddy as we stepped out into the cold night air. Chloe had her arm wrapped around Kate's shoulders and was whispering something in her ear that made the shorter girl giggle and blush. Tori pulled me close to her, pressing herself against me as she tried to catch her breath.
"I'm sorry I teased you about being a zombie," she slurred out, her eyelids looking heavy from the drinks she'd had during the party. I giggled, shaking my head. My drink had worn off a while ago, having been sweat out on the dance floor.
"Don't apologize, it's a silly costume," I replied, having a hard time holding in my giggles at how sleepy Tori looked. She grinned down at me, pulling on a hand full of my shirt to pull me closer.
"If by silly you mean sexy, then yes," she gushed, making me laugh.
"On a scale of one to ten, how drunk are you?" I asked, watching her carefully. She scoffed, rolling her eyes, swaying just a little.
"I'm not that drunk," she protested, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm just a little tipsy. I was just trying to have a little fun."
"Well, luckily for you guys," Chloe cut in, taking out a baggy with two little rolls of paper in it, holding it out in front of us. "Shit's about to get hella fun." Kate's eyes widened, watching the baggy like it was something that might hurt her.
"What's that?" Kate asked. Tori gasped, grabbing for the baggy, but Chloe pulled it away before she could get a hold of it.
"How did you get that?" Tori asked, her eyes wide and excited like a child who'd just found someone with their favorite candy in hand and was offering it to her. Chloe grinned.
"Your dear friend Presshit gave it to me for free because he was too high off his ass to ask me for money," Chloe replied, turning to Kate when the shorter girl took her hand.
"You're not really going to smoke that, are you?" She asked, looking nervous, almost childlike in her concern. Chloe's features fell a little, her brows furrowed.
"I mean, that's what it's for," she replied. "You don't have to smoke it if you don't want to. You don't even have to come with us. But, I mean, do you really wanna pass up the chance of seeing Victoria tripping balls?" That got a small smile out of a Kate, it was even a bit mischievous.
"I suppose you have a point there," she said, looking a little less nervous. "Ok, I'll go with you, but I don't wanna smoke anything." Chloe smirked, wrapping her arm around Kate's shoulders and pulling her close to place a kiss on the shorter girl's cheek. Kate blushed, giggling as she looked at the ground.
"That's the spirit, bun bun," Chloe said, nodding to her truck in the parking lot. "Think you can drive, Max? I'm still a bit buzzed from the drinks." I shrugged, catching her keys as she tossed them to me.
"Don't see why not," I said, leading everyone to the truck. We piled in, Kate sitting on Chloe's lap because of the lack of room. Tori had her head leaned on my shoulder, giggling at almost everything she saw as she tried to distract me from driving, her hands messing with everything they could find on my body.
When we finally got to the lighthouse, it was a relief as well as a bit creepy. It was dark and there were some clouds that covered the moon every now and again. Chloe and I had been up here at night hundreds of times, but it was always so much creepier on Halloween night for some reason. Chloe got out a flashlight that she always kept in her glove box, leading us towards a small spot that we always used as a fire pit. After grabbing some firewood and getting a fire going, Chloe brought out the blunts again, lighting one of them and taking a long, almost insanely huge drag. Holding in the smoke for a moment, she grinned at me, blowing it in my direction when she finally let it out, coughing a bit.
"Damn, it's been way too long since I've had one of these," she said, handing it over to me. I had smoked before, but it had been almost three months since then. Being so unsure made me cough after my first hit, making my eyes water as I handed it to Tori. She grinned like a child on Christmas, taking a drag that was almost as long as Chloe's. I yelped in surprise as she grabbed the front of my shirt, putting her lips to mine as she let the smoke out into my mouth. I breathed it in, feeling a shiver of warmth go up my spine at the mixture of sensations. Chloe laughed, grabbing the weed from Tori and taking another drag.
"You two are fucking gross," she said, blowing smoke into the air towards the moon. I chided myself for not bringing my camera along with me, this would've been the perfect time and place for some amazing shots.
"Don't pretend like you're not just as into hot girls as I am, Price," Tori retorted, making me giggle as my cheeks heated up a little.
"Hey, you're only allowed to be into me," I whined, pulling her in for another kiss. She smiled against my lips, only pulling away when Chloe started talking.
"We all know that I'm as gay as a unicorn that shits skittles and dances on rainbows, but at least I don't flaunt it in front of you guys," she protested, taking another drag.
"Oh, right, 'cause Chloe Price, the resident gay king, totally wouldn't be all over any girl that wanted her," I teased.
"Yeah, like Kate," Tori said, a devilish grin on her face when Chloe started coughing and sputtering after another drag. Kate froze, her eyes wide before burying her face in her hands. I couldn't help laughing, even though I felt bad for the poor girl.
"Hey, let's not tease Kate too much," I suggested, taking a drag as I watched the two girls sitting across from me.
"Yeah, she's probably not even into girls," Chloe added, having gotten control of her coughing fit. Kate looked up at her, her brows furrowed.
"What makes you think that?" She asked. We all froze, looking at Kate in surprise as her cheeks got even redder. She laughed nervously, lowering her gaze.
"Wait, you like chicks?" Chloe asked, looking hopefully at the small girl who was sitting next to her. "I thought Christians were against all that."
"Most are, but it doesn't bother me," Kate said nervously but matter of factly, pulling her knees to her chest as she looked into the fire, like she was trying to focus on something that wasn't embarrassing for her to admit. It was pretty obvious that there was more to it than she was saying, but none of us pushed her, waiting for her to speak again. "But I've never told anyone about that, so don't tell anyone." She threw a glance at Tori whose grin fell a little, nodding. I took her hand, kissing her fingers.
"Don't worry, we won't say a word," I reassured her, smiling when I saw Kate look a little less tense.
"Yeah, I won't tell anyone," Tori said, smiling as she took another drag. Chloe was grinning like crazy, her cheeks pink as she looked over at the shorter girl.
"Same, my lips are hella sealed," she said, wrapping her arm around Kate's shoulders protectively, kissing the side of her head. "Wouldn't want people giving someone as awesome as you shit about something that's none of their business." Kate smiled, looking at the ground as she blushed even harder, if such a thing was even possible.
We kept smoking and laughing after that, eventually starting to tell scary stories as the night went on. By the time Chloe was telling one of her best stories, I was totally wasted, my stomach grumbling as I thought about how amazing a twelve stack of chocolate chip pancakes would be. Kate still hadn't smoked, but I could tell that she was just a little contact high from being around the smoke for so long. She didn't seem to mind though, watching Chloe with a dreamy look in her eyes as the blue haired girl told the story about the time she'd supposedly seen a ghost in her bathroom mirror. Tori was stiff beside me as I leaned against her, trying to act like she was completely unfazed by the normally chilling tale. It didn't really scare me anymore since I'd heard it so many times, but Tori was surprisingly easy to scare. It probably didn't help that we were in the woods in the middle of the night and all pretty high.
"And then, before I could even move a muscle, the shadow in the mirror spoke, it's deep, dark voice echoing around me as I shivered in fear," Chloe continued, holding her hands a little over the fire as she stared Tori dead in the eyes. "'Chloe,' it had whispered, looking like it was reaching around me to grab my throat. 'Your soul is MINE!'" She shouted the last word, making Tori jump, squealing as she wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my hair. I laughed, patting her shoulder as Chloe burst into laughter, her bloodshot eyes filling with tears. "Holy shit, Vicky, you should've seen your face!" Kate was laughing too now, watching as an angry Tori glared at Chloe.
"You're a piece of shit, you know that?" She snapped, still holding me tight as she shook a little. "Ghosts are scary as fuck, you shouldn't be messing around with that stuff."
"Oh, come on," Chloe drawled, getting control of her giggles. "You don't actually believe in that crap, do you?"
"Why not?" Tori shot back. "I've seen them before and they can really fuck shit up whenever they want. Not only that, but they float around all creepy like, making noises and shit and nobody believes they're real, so that just pisses them off more and they mess up more shit." I held in my giggles, looking at the ground as I covered my mouth. It's not like I wouldn't have taken her seriously, it was just that her acting so freaked over a story was unreasonably funny in that moment.
"She's got a point," Kate interjected, staring blankly into the dying flames. We all stopped and looked at her, the look on her face making my heart race as she continued to speak. "But the dead aren't the only spirits that we should be afraid of. There are demons out there who wear the guise of the dead, waiting to destroy another one of the living that let it into their souls." I swallowed dryly, feeling Tori going completely still beside me.
"Why would a demon want to destroy someone who's alive?" Chloe asked, her voice cracking and shaking a little. "Don't they need us alive to communicate with the rest of the world?" Kate looked up, glancing at all of us before a grin tugged at her lips. I could've sworn that the fire reflecting in her eyes was actually coming from inside of her in that moment, making her eyes glow red for a second.
"Such foolish, mortals," she said, her voice deepening. We all froze watching as she stood, walking off into the woods without a word.
"Kate," Chloe shouted after her, getting to her feet. "Don't go! Wait for me!" She ran after the other girl, the two of them disappearing into the darkness. Tori and I sat there for a moment, totally frozen in fear.
"What the fuck just happened?" Tori asked, her voice shaking and she had tears in her eyes when I looked up at her.
"I'm sure they just did that to scare us," I said, trying to sound reassuring, but I could feel my heart racing inside my chest and the blood pounding in my ears as the darkness got closer and closer around us the smaller the flames became. "Maybe we should head back to the truck, just in case they come back here to scare us." Tori just nodded as I stood and reached out to help her up. She took my hand, shakily getting to her feet. She was shivering, but I wasn't sure if it was from being scared or the fact that she wasn't wearing hardly any clothes. I took off the torn up jacket I'd used for my costume, wrapping it around her shoulders before taking her hand and smiling up at her. "Don't worry, I'm sure they're just messing around." She nodded, worrying her lip as she looked around us.
"Let's just get out of here," she said. "I'm freezing my ass off."
"Maybe that wouldn't have been an issue if you'd worn something that actually counts as clothing," I teased, holding back a bout of giggles when she shot me a weak glare.
"Seriously not the time to pretend you're funny, Caulfield," she hissed, but she was squeezing my hand like it was a lifeline. "Just lead us back to the truck so we can get out of here."
"Alright," I said, smiling a little as we walked back to the truck. It felt like the walk took us thirty years, but we finally got there. I searched my pockets for the keys, cursing as it took more and more time for me to find them.
"Please tell me that you still have the keys," Tori whined, wrapping her arms around herself, rubbing her arms for warmth.
"I think I gave them back to Chloe," I replied, getting a groan from Tori as the leaned back against the truck, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"This was such a bad idea," she said, looking up at the sky as the moon was covered by the moon. I looked her up and down, unable to ignore the growing warmth I felt inside my chest and stomach as I looked her over. She really was beautiful, beyond beautiful, honestly. She was practically transcendent in this light. I stepped towards her, standing in front of her as I ran my fingers up her sides. She let out a shaky sigh, her eyes closing for a moment, like she was enjoying the sensation of my fingertips against her skin.
"We could always get in the back and try to relax a little," I suggested, looking up into her dark green eyes as she looked down to watch me. "Watch the stars, take advantage of the silence." She smirked a little, her eyes sparkling.
"You know, you're pretty smart for someone so lame," she teased, leaning down to kiss me. I leaned closer to her, pressing my chest to hers as I took the jacket from her shoulders and let it fall to the ground. She reached up to cup my cheeks, pulling me closer as she bit down on my bottom lip, making me moan softly. I felt the slight heat from earlier rising in warmth and pressure. I moved my hands up, slowly moving them up and under the bikini top that she called a costume. She gasped softly, pulling away a little. "Max -" She gasped my name, wrapping her fingers around my wrist and lowering my hand a little.
"I'm sorry," I said, feeling slightly panicked that I'd gone too far. Well, at least until she started moving my hand down more and more until she pressed it to her crotch. My eyes widened and I'm pretty sure that my eyebrows were up in space when I looked up at her. Her eyelids looked heavy, her eyes locked with mine as she gave me a nod. I swallowed dryly, wondering if we should really be doing this. Would it be taking advantage of her since we were high?
"Please," she breathed, moving her other hand to tangle in my hair. "I need you. Please, Max." I felt my heart thudding in my chest, my knees turning to jelly. It was all so much, the feeling of her chest to mine, the way her eyes were practically begging me to do what we both wanted to happen. I didn't hesitate much after that, closing the gap between us as I slowly slid my hand down under her shorts, begging my heart to stop beating so loudly so that I could hear every sound Tori made as I moved to kiss her neck, feeling a patch of hair against my fingertips. She had her finger tangled in my hair, pulling me as close as I could get as my fingers found a hot, wet spot right between her legs.
I bit down gently on the sensitive skin of her throat, moving my fingers down between her lips as they sunk deeper into the warmth of her core. She whined softly, bucking her hips a little as I teased her entrance, my thumb pressed gently to the bundle of nerves just above it.
"Fuck," she gasped out as I started making circles with my thumb, slowly pressing my index finger inside of her. I smiled against her skin, molten heat building and spilling over inside of me, filling me with excitement. I started thrusting slowly, hoping that I wasn't as clumsy as I felt in that moment as I moved up to kiss her ear.
"Boo, fuckers!"
I jumped, yelping as Tori let out a scream so loud I thought my ears would burst from the sound. I fell backward, gasping for breath as I looked up to see Chloe standing at the treeline, laughing hysterically. Tori shrieked, running over to the taller girl, cursing at her and telling her to go fuck herself.
"Hey, it's not my fault that you guys are such easy targets," Chloe protested, shielding herself from Tori's fists. I got to my feet, grabbing the jacket off the ground and hiding my hand in it. It was dark but that didn't mean Chloe wouldn't be able to see the wetness all over my hand.
"Where's Kate?" I asked, looking around. The girl was nowhere in sight and it was completely silent all around us. Chloe shrugged, looking totally nonchalant as Tori fumed, stomping back over to me and snatching the jacket from my hands, wrapping it around her shoulders again, looking hilariously pouty.
"I thought she was here with you guys," Chloe said, twirling the keys around her finger. "But I guess I was wrong since you two were practically humping like rabbits in the middle of the woods." My cheeks heated up immensely, making me shrink in on myself.
"Shut up, Price," Tori growled. "Just open the damn truck so we can at least wait for Kate where it's warm."
"I don't know," Chloe drawled, crossing her arms over her chest as she smirked over at us. "You guys looked like you were making enough warmth of your own a second ago." Tori made a low, scary sound in her throat, stomping back over to the blue haired girl.
"Give me the keys or I'll beat the living shit out of your stupid punk ass," she threatened, making Chloe laugh as she held her hands up in a surrendering pose.
"Alright, alright, just take a chill pill for Christ's sake," she said, handing over the keys. Tori snatched them from her hand, walking back over to the truck. She unlocked the truck, opening the door.
A scream came from inside the car, making Tori fall backward, screaming bloody murder as Kate fell back against the old seats, holding her stomach as she laughed her ass off. I couldn't hold in my laughter, laughing along with Chloe and Kate as Tori got to her feet, eyes blazing.
"You're a bunch of assholes, you know that?" She growled. "You better take me home before I kill every last one of you."
"Alright, fine," Chloe said as she got her laughter under control. "Kate will drive us back."
"I'm really sorry, Victoria," Kate said breathlessly, smiling bigger than I'd ever seen her smile before. "Chloe and I just couldn't pass up the chance to scare you guys."
"Whatever," Tori grumbled, climbing into the car and crossing her arms over her chest. She was pouty a little, but she didn't look super angry. I got in, sitting on her lap and leaning back to kiss her cheek.
"Don't worry," Chloe said as she climbed in next to us. "I'm sure Max will have plenty of time to finish you off when we get back to the school. Speaking of which, I'm a little too buzzed to drive home tonight, can I stay in your room while you get nasty with Sticky Vicky?"
"You can stay in my room with me," Kate suggested, smiling even though she was blushing quite a bit. "It'll be fun, like a sleepover." Chloe smiled, her cheeks going pink.
"Sure, that would be pretty fun," she replied.
The drive back to the school was full of laughs as Chloe retold the story of how her and Kate had planned and pulled off scaring the shit out of Tori, which was actually pretty hilarious, honestly. When we finally got back to the school, we went to our separate rooms, for the most part. Tori and I just kinda passed out on her couch while watching a movie, but it was still nice. Overall, I'd say that it was a pretty awesome night.