Sam hated Halloween. It was just a month-long reminder of all the crap he was trying to escape.
Jess, of course, loved it. Which was why he had allowed her to artfully dribble fake blood on his face and rattiest sleep shirt and drag him to a Halloween party.
"Great costume Jess," Andrea, the one who had invited them to the party, gushed as soon as she saw them, decked out herself in a black, faux-leather cat suit.
Jess smiled, and Sam had to admit that she did look great; the blue patterned dress of her Dorothy costume complimenting her eyes and her red-sequined heels making her legs look even longer than usual.
"Thanks. Great party, Andrea," Jess said, looking around the house excitedly. The sorority house was completely decked out in Halloween splendor, fake cobwebs, mini-skeletons, and black, somber tablecloths setting the tone quite well.
"Thanks. You guys are just in time for the contests," Andrea grinned, "We're doing a costume contest, of course, as well as bobbing for apples and cauldron quarters!"
She giggled, beckoning them into the main room, "Come on."
Sam sighed as Jess took his hand, giving him a clear "Behave yourself" look as they followed Andrea, who situated herself in the middle of the crowded, noisy room.
"Alright, attention!" she projected over the babble of the party, climbing up on a chair, "Listen up!"
Everyone fell quiet gradually, turning to look at her.
"Happy Halloween, Stanford!" she whooped, and everyone cheered and clapped, "Alright, as head of Kappa Alpha Theta, I welcome you all, and am now officially kicking off our contests! First up, the costume contest! Girls on my left, guys on my right! I'm judging, winner gets a case of beer!"
Everyone cheered again, and Sam smiled as Jess winked at him before going to stand in line. Sam hung back, as did some others with plain costumes, to let the ones who had really gone the extra mile for Halloween take the floor.
It was a close call, in Sam's opinion, but a guy dressed as a cactus and a girl dressed as unicorn ended up winning, and he clapped politely with everyone as they were announced.
"Oh well," Jess said, returning to his side, and he leaned down to kiss her.
"I think you look great, babe," he said, and she giggled, wiping at the fake blood that had smudged off his nose and onto her cheek, "Oops."
"You're a mess," she chided with a smile, and he had to refrain from kissing her again with much difficulty.
"Next up, bobbing for apples!" Andrea announced, and several people groaned.
"Oh shut the fuck up, they're floating in vodka!" she laughed, and the cheers rose up again.
Several of the sorority girls entered from the kitchen, each carrying a wide bowl filled with floating apple pieces.
"Contestants, line up, if you please!"
Several people shuffled forward, and the girls put down the bowls in a line on a table.
"Three rounds, and the winners from each round get..." she trailed off dramatically, and several people in the audience shouted.
"BEER!"
"Bingo!" she laughed, "First person to get eat five pieces wins! No hands, no help! Ready set go!"
Sam had to admit, it was pretty amusing to see people dunking their faces in bowls of vodka for the alcohol-saturated apples, and a guy dresses as a cowboy ended up reigning triumphant.
"Come on, we're going for it," Jess demanded, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him forward.
"Jess, I can't, the fake blood-"
"Did you see the chick with the indian war paint digging her face in? No one's going to drink this stuff, Sam, all they care about are the apples. Come on!"
Begrudgingly, Sam found himself pulled in front of one of the bowls, Jess next to him and a girl dressed up as a playboy bunny on his other side.
"On your mark get set go!" Andrea said in a rush, and Sam grimaced as he took a breath before dipping his face forward into the bowl.
He was pleasantly surprised to find it was vanilla vodka, the taste of it soaked through each apple surprisingly good. He managed to get a piece almost right away, and he tilted his head back to tip it into his mouth, crunching on it quickly. The alcohol burst over his tongue, and Sam was pretty sure these things were as potent as taking a shot.
He managed to get three and was chewing on his fourth when Andrea called it, the playboy bunny next to him raising her hands above her head victoriously.
Sam congratulated her before turning to Jess, grinning with a pleasant buzz humming through his system.
Her bangs were damp with vodka, and she was grinning, still munching on an apple piece.
"How many did you get?" she asked, "I only managed three, that was hard!"
"Four," Sam answered, taking her hand as they picked up a couple napkins from a near-by table and wiped their faces.
"See?" Jess said, leaning into his side and giving Sam a rather lovely view down the front of her dress, "Halloween parties aren't so bad."
Sam just smiled, wrapping his arm around her and leaning down for a kiss, uncaring of any fake blood still left on his face, "Could have been worse."
"Pft," she breathed, but accepted the kiss anyway, dipping her tongue in his mouth and Sam groaned.
"Any chance we can skip the rest of the party and you let me into Oz instead, Dorothy?" Sam murmured, hand discretely sliding under the hem of her dress and Jess giggled.
"Those apples really went straight to your head, huh, big guy?" she teased, both her hands rubbing gently on his chest and Sam smiled.
"Alright, cauldron quarters!" Andrea announced, and Jess bit her lip as she watched people crowding around each table where a fake cauldron was being placed and quarters handed out.
"Mmm..." she said thoughtfully, looking back at Sam, "I guess you've put in your time, Toto, let's go."