AN: HOLY POOP IS THIS ONE LONG. These chapters keep getting longer and longer. Which is a good thing I hope? Also it's the Halloween chapter! And I got it up in time for Halloween! Yay! This chapter - similar to the last - is a little more adult. So bare that in mind before going right into it. Other than that, I don't think there's much else to say, other than enjoy!

"Congratulations," it was the first time Gustavo seemed genuinely happy towards the girls, and it was both flattering and a little unsettling. "The boards all love your Christmas video, you've finally got a name, and next week starts work on your first solo single. This all calls for a celebration!"

The excitement on the girls' faces grew and they began to cheer loudly, but were immediately halted as Kelly warned "You may want to wait until he tells you what kind of celebration he has in mind." At this, the girls deflated.

"I want you girls to go out to an industry Halloween party. Big movers and shakers of the music industry will all be there, but more importantly-" Gustavo paused for dramatic effect "-so will the paparazzi. We need to get your girls seen."

"The boys will also be there!" Kelly added, a cheerful ring to her voice. "So Callie and James will have a prime opportunity to pose for the paparazzi!"

Callie let out a whine "Do I really have to spend my first Hollywood party with him? Can't I just spend this first one with just the girls?"

"Of course you can't!" Was Gustavo's immediate reply. "The whole point if for you to be seen with James! You get press, we get album sales!"

Kelly nodded "He's got a point. And it would be a big help to the boys' album sales, too."

"Why do the boys need our help with album sales?" Callie questioned, crossing her arms over her chest "Aren't they the biggest name the record company has right now?"

"And who says we even want to help them?" Auden added, leaning on Callie's shoulder with her elbow.

With a blink, Brooke responded "Uh, we do. They're actually super nice and I like them all a lot."

"I'm just saying that we should have been consulted." Auden retorted, nose in the air.

Delia then interrupted "Well I, for one, am delighted to be given this opportunity, both to promote our own band but also to assist in maintaining higher record sales for other groups here at Roque Records."

"Does she come with an off switch?" Auden asked. Callie shook her head.

Raising her hand, as though she was in a high school classroom, Brooke then questioned "So, since it's a Halloween party, are we supposed to like, wear costumes?"

"Of course!" Kelly replied. "And we'll have someone take you girls shopping, since I'm assuming you didn't bring costumes with you when you moved to LA."

"That won't be necessary," Delia started, before realizing all of the other girls were staring at her. "For me, at least?" she tried.

"When did you have time to go costume shopping?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Delia merely tilted her head to the side. "I fail to see how that's relevant. I have a costume prepared so I, personally, don't require a shopping trip. But I do hope you ladies have a wonderful time."

"O..kay…then…" Kelly was a little off put by Delia's nature, but then, she always had been. "If Auden, Brooke and Callie want to come with me we'll get you all taken care of!"

After stopping at a few thrift stores and costume shops not far from Roque Records, the girls all had purchased their costumes for the night's festivities. After going home and doing their hair and makeup, that night they all stepped into the club sporting very different looks.

Auden's hair had been tied into a loose braid, which she'd placed over her shoulder. It sat on the black open vest she wore over a long sleeved, manila colored shirt that she paired with a pair of fairly tight fitting denim pants and black boots. She wore a loose hanging belt, and had her phone in case that looked like a plastic gun, and was proudly telling anyone that if they've seen a Wookie to send it her way.

Brooke's hair, meanwhile, was curled and placed into low pigtails, a small red ribbon tied around each. She wore a black lace dress under a red silk cape, and despite the black kitten heels on her feet she swore up and down that she was Little Red Riding Hood.

Callie hadn't actually done much to style her hair other than add some mousse, and then hairspraying her natural waves into place. In a black leather catsuit and tall black boots she deemed herself Marvel's Black Widow, even if Auden argued that "Black Widow wouldn't show that much boob".

And speaking of showing boob, nobody even knew Delia had that much boob until she donned a low cut, green corset body covered with fake leaves over nothing but green tights – wearing green heels and green gloves that were also covered in leaves, her long red hair merely curled with small pink flowers pinned throughout.

Giving Delia the once over again, Callie couldn't help but ask again "And you just – had that with you?"

And Delia gave the taller girl the same answer as every other time she'd inquired about it. "Yes."

Ignoring the other two, Auden turned to the blonde next to her and asked "And you're sure you're cool with sober driving?"

Brooke smiled and nodded warmly "Of course! I wasn't going to drink much any way. I'd rather make sure you're all safe and taken care of."

"Did someone say safe?!" Came the cry of Carlos, throwing his around Brooke's middle, enveloping her in a hug from behind. He was dressed in full Superman garb, down to a fake muscle suit under the costume. "As protector of this planet it's my duty to ensure everyone is safe from danger!"

"What about the danger of alcohol poisoning?" Brooke laughed, shaking him off of her shoulders.

"Speaking of Posion!" he then turned his attention to the redhead "Why didn't you tell me? I could've been Batman instead! We could've taken squad selfies!"

Hands on her hips, Callie answered before Delia had a chance to "And apparently she just had this Poison Ivy costume laying around…"

"No she didn't." Logan replied, wrinkling his nose up and shaking his head. He'd simply torn up some clothes and had Katie do some monster movie magic with makeup to have him appear as a zombie. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere."

"Where do you think you might recognize me from?" Delia inquired, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"The Facebook page for last year's ComicCon." He replied simply. "You and a friend went as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy and your photo got featured on their page."

"You mean to tell Delia brought a fucking cosplay with her to California?!" Auden asked, throwing her hand on Logan's shoulder while laughing uproariously.

With a shrug, Logan surmised. "Seems that way. After all, she would've had to bring it all the way here for ComicCon."

Wanting to escape the conversation at hand, Delia pointed out "My apologies, but am I the only one who's happened to notice that Kendall and Auden are wearing the exact same thing?"

"Awww…" Carlos cooed, moving to pop up next to Kendall "It's like a couple's costume!"

Kendall rolled his eyes "It's a freak coincidence, is what it is."

Decked out in full vampire gear, James shrugged "Not that freaky. Everyone loves Star Wars."

"If it was a couple's costume, wouldn't Auden be dressed as Leia?" Logan asked.

"Oh no," Auden shook her head "If one of us is dressing up as Leia, it's Kendall."

"But we're not a couple!" Kendall cried "And this isn't a couple's costume thing!"

"Is this a lover's quarrel?" Callie mocked.

Kendall let out a frustrated groan, muttering about having to change before wandering to sit over at the bar.

As seven pairs of eyes followed him until he sat, they all turned back to each other awkwardly as they realized there really wasn't much else to see there. After a moment of awkward silence, James finally suggested "So, should we start, you know, actually dancing or something?"

Auden was the first to reply. "I'm down."

There was a murmur of agreement as the group gradually made their way to the floor, dancing to the music, Kendall eventually joining them after his previous petty meltdown.

About 90 minutes later, Logan, Brooke, Callie and Delia were the only ones still hanging out and dancing like they had been. Deciding it time for a break, Brooke let the others know that she was just heading over to the bar to have a quick sit.

Carlos, Kendall and Auden had been doing shots for the better part of the last 45 minutes. While Auden was able to hold hers well and Kendall was doing alright, poor Carlos had bitten off more than he could chew already. "BROOKE!" he cried upon seeing the blonde sit down next to Auden. "I'm so…so…so happy you're here."

"How many has he had?" she asked Auden

Auden paused, mentally calculating, before replying "About 9 shots, I think? We thought he was doing…ya know…better…"

Carlos dramatically threw his head onto Kendall's shoulder. "Kendall…Kendall…listen…I love you, man. You're my best friend. You and James and Logan, you're like…like…the best. I love you."

Kendall snorted, petting Carlos' hair like a pet cat. "I know man, I know."

Just then, a waitress put another shot in front of each of them, including Brooke. "Oh, no, thank you." The blonde replied, pushing the tiny glass back towards the woman dressed in all black. "I gotta drive." And to her surprise, in the time it took her to say that one sentence, the other three had already downed another shot. Suddenly angry, she turned to Kendall and Auden, "You two let him drink more?!"

With a slight hiccup, Kendall answered "Well, yeah. He's a grown up. He can take care of himself."

"He needs to be cut off. I thought you guys were looking out for each other!" she chastised, moving to give Carlos the cup of water she'd been sipping on before joining them.

Carlos, however, had no interested in the water, opting instead to gently claw at the ends of Brooke's pigtails, giggling. "You're hair's so pretty. It's just like your face, only it's hair. It's…sooofffttt…and…and bouncy…and…I wanna eat it…I just wanna eat your hair."

"NOOOO Carlos!" Kendall cried, swatting at his friend's arm. "You can't do that! You'll get a hairball!"

"Hairball?" James asked, as he realized he probably picked the wrong time to join his friends at the bar.

Auden shook her head, rolling her eyes as she muttered "I don't even fucking know" before taking another sip of her gin and tonic.

Slipping into the seat where Brooke has sat just moments before, James then asked "Hey, Auden, you're a girl, right?"

"I mean, last time I checked…"

Ignoring her comment, he began to rant about his current situation. "Is there something wrong with me tonight? No girl I've tried to approach has been interested! And I can't ask Callie cause we're 'dating' and I don't wanna make that any messier than it already is…"

"You wanna know what your problem is?" Auden asked raising an eyebrow. James had nodded eagerly, as she sat her drink back down, before swiveling on her stool to look him in the eye. "You're not funny. You're not cute. And we're not friends. Now leave me alone."

With a dramatic huff, he sneered "Well you're no help." Before getting up and storming off, giving a toss of his vampire cape, causing it to twirl behind him.

So focused on his dramatic exit, and because of the fact that even in heels she was still ten inches shorter than him, James didn't even see Delia until his body collided with hers. "Jesus Christ on a cracker." She muttered, blinking down at the ground, trying to refocus from the impact.

He smiled, though was genuinely surprised as he greeted "Oh hey Delia, didn't see you there!"

"No kidding." She muttered, as she went about readjusting her costume, though personally James hadn't seen anything wrong with it. It's not like her boobs fell out or anything. And why was that the first thing he thought of? He shook his head, it was a weird night.

"Oh, hey, can I ask you something?"

"Certainly."

"Why aren't girls throwing themselves at me tonight?" he asked, a whine in voice. "I mean, I'm still me! I'm still handsome! I'm still famous! Is there something in my teeth?"

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him, asking "Wait, you really don't know?"

"No!" he cried, his voice high with a new found panic. "Know what? What's wrong?"

She bit down on her lip a moment. She was always so skilled in using the proper verbage in any situation without any prompting. However, this seemed a little more delicate than her usual daily conversations. "They likely assume you aren't interested because they assume you're interested in men."

"What?!" he cried, shocked. "Why would they just go ahead and assume that?"

"The ascot." She stated plainly, as though it was the most obvious fact in the world.

Immediately he began clawing at the fabric in an attempt to get it off. "Well if that's all…"

"Stop stop stop stop!" she cried, reaching to grab his forearms in an attempt to stop his clawing. "You're going to ruin the fabric."

"Well then you take it off!" he retorted, his voice a little meaner than he'd intended it.

It didn't seem to deter the girl much at all, as she agreed, "Fine." She glanced around before finding an empty barstool, which she grabbed and dragged over to where they'd just been standing. "Help me up." It was an order – not a request – as she climbed onto the stool, kneeling on it so she could be eye level, as she began to undo the ascot.

He had done as he was told – holding her by the waist in an attempt to hoist her up. His hands still resting on either side of the redhead, he rolled his eyes. "And you're sure it's the ascot?"

"I'm certain." Was her reply, focus never leaving the fabric still in a knotted mess around his neck. "Though personally, if I was any of your intended victims, you would've had me with or without the ascot."

This took James by surprise. With a slight smirk, he asked "Oh really?" as he suddenly became very aware of where his hands were still sitting, especially as he slowly let them travel a little more south.

"Mhmm," she smirked, and he swore she pushed herself a little closer, but he wasn't quite sure how because she was still kneeling on a stool "I've sort of got a thing for vampires. So this is really working for me."

"Well I aim to please." He made sure the fangs were visible in his smile as he spoke.

His hands were definitely not on her waist anymore – as he was touching tights rather than the corset - as she finally undid the ascot. As she moved her left hand down, the ascot still firmly in it's grasp, her right hand lingered on the now bare flesh of his neck and chest "It's a good thing you're not aiming to please me, particularly," she warned "because I'm having quite the difficult time controlling myself as it is right now. I can only imagine if charm was turned on, well, we'd both be in trouble."

"And who's to say that's not the kind of trouble I'd like to get into?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, letting one of his hands move a little faster, giving an almost full caress of her thigh.

"I'd hate for my cause of death to be Wrath of Callie. You're supposed to be here with her, remember?" she asked, finally moving to get down off the chair. She took his hand to help get down, and he couldn't help but feel disappointed when she dropped it upon standing upright once more. "You really shouldn't be hitting on any girls tonight."

"Right." He replied, pouting a little as he searched the crowd for a sign of the girl he was supposed to be there with. "Any chance she has a thing for vampires?" he was only half-teasing, as he knew Callie really didn't want to spend any amount of time alone with him.

"Now that you've lost the ascot it's worth a shot." Delia playfully nudged his arm with her elbow. "Go see if you can woo your girlfriend."

Callie, meanwhile, wooing someone else entirely. Once Delia had left to follow Brooke, it had left Callie and Logan alone. And while they had been in a group he was able to distract himself fairly easily, now that it was just the two of them, well, Logan was starting to have the same thoughts about Callie's costume as Auden had.

Sensing his unease – but not really wanting to stop dancing (it was a good song playing, after all) – she asked "Hey, Logan, everything okay?"

"It's fine! Everything's fine!" he cried, using every ounce of his willpower to continue staring at her face. Which wasn't helping too terribly much, because, well, she was absolutely gorgeous, too.

She finally stopped dancing, as she replied "That's not something that somebody would say if everything was really fine."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you!" he cried. "There's nothing wrong!"

She crossed her arms over her chest, which had she known the circumstances, she would've realized was a bad decision on her part. "What I want you to tell me is the truth. What's going on?"

"Your outfit is making me uncomfortable!" he blurted out without thinking, immediately wincing as the words fell out of his mouth.

Eyes narrowing, she spat "Oh, a woman who's confident in her body makes you uncomfortable? What kind of misogynistic…"

"Not. That. Kind. Of. Uncomfortable." He interrupted, his head tilting to the side with each word. As the confusion on her face illustrated that she didn't quite understand, he awkwardly gestured to his pants.

Finally grasping the situation, Callie gasped "OH! Oh. Oh, my…"

"See? This is why I didn't want to tell you…" Logan whined.

Callie paused for a moment before getting an idea. It was probably a bad idea. But it was an idea, and she'd had a few drinks, and she was honestly a little horny herself - she was definitely noticing what sixteen year old Delia had as the night went on - so she was going for it. "I mean, it's not a bad thing. We should…explore this…" she suggested, smirking as she began walking closer towards him, like a lioness hunting her prey.

"That is not a great idea!" Logan countered, leaning back in fear.

A slight pout graced her lips, but she didn't stop closing in on him as she asked "Why not?"

"Not that you're not…absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous and that if the circumstances were different…it's just…James…"

Immediately Callie rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I am so sick of James! And I'm sick of pretend dating him!" she pushed herself against Logan suddenly, her lips so close to his that her breath was warm against his mouth as she whispered "I want a distraction, Logan. Distract me."

"Again, would love to," he reminded, prying her off of himself awkwardly "but there are cameras literally everywhere. As much as I'd love to…explore this…as you so elegantly put it, you really should go dance with who you're supposed to be seen with." He suggested before nodding slightly and backing away, leaving Callie alone on the dance floor.

Back at the bar, Carlos was still obsessing over Brooke's blonde curls. He'd finished talking about them, however, and was no content just petting her hair. Brooke didn't mind this as much as she'd minded his drunk ramblings, so she didn't disturb him.

Unfortunately, Kendall had continued drinking, and was starting to become muddled in his thinking. "Okay. If Carlos is gettin' a hairball…" his words slurred together "…then he shouldn't hafta suffer alone! I'm a good friend! I'm gonna get a hairball too!" he proclaimed, before swiveling in his chair, picking up a straw and poking Auden with it in the arm "Hey Auden. Hey, hey Auden. Lemme just eat your hair real quick."

Without thinking, Auden replied "That's not the part of me that your mom ate last night."

"You…and…my…mom?" Kendall asked, tears suddenly welling in his eyes, before he began sobbing hysterically "How could you do this to me? Right when Carlos has a hairball?"

Auden rolled her eyes, muttering something about 'fucking lightweights' under breath as she went to take another sip of her drink but was stopped by James placing his hands on both her own shoulder and Kendall's. "Have either of you seen Callie?"

"If you can't find her it's probably cause she doesn't want to be around you." Auden replied simply, before finally getting to take another drink.

"OR SHE'S SLEEPING WITH YOUR MOM!" Kendall cried, before sobbing again.

James thought for a moment and decided "No, that's not it." Before taking off again.

Deciding it best to get a drink, just across the bar Delia was receiving her order of a sex on the beach and was about to take her first drink when Logan approached. "Having a good time?"

The man winced before deciding "I suppose you could call it that."

Drinking out of her cute little straw – careful to not smudge her lipstick – she asked "In what ways has it been unenjoyable, then?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." He huffed.

Delia shook her head "If you hadn't wished to discuss it you would've told me that, yes, you were, in fact, having a good time."

He sighed, and had opened his mouth to reply, when a piece of fabric clutched in Delia's free hand caught his eye. "What are you doing with James' ascot?"

Delia had been taking another sip when he asked the question, so she finished it briskly before responding, "Ah! Yes! He'd been wondering why girls were turning down his advances. I'd advised it was probably the ascot and took it off for him – he was incredibly helpless in getting it untied – but I did warn him that he really ought to be spending time with Callie."

"Ugh, thank you!" Logan cried. "It's like those two forget that they're supposed to be dating."

"As if they weren't told that the paparazzi would be looking for them." Delia added

Logan continued "I get not being attracted to each other but can't they at least fake it for the cameras? Or, you know, at least not flirt with other people when they know there's paparazzi all over the place?"

"Has Callie been flirting with others?" Delia honestly inquired.

Logan didn't supply a verbal answer, opting instead to nod wildly. While Delia took another sip of her drink, Logan surveyed the area, pleasantly surprised to see James and Callie standing together again. "Well, at least they're trying."

Delia followed his gaze, noticing the same thing Logan had. A warm, genuine smile replaced the usual fake one she had plastered on at all times as nodded "I'm glad."

Logan noticed this change, and quirked an eyebrow up at the girl. With both the smile and the ascot, Logan ventured that he was starting piece something together "You like him, don't you?"

Delia looked at Logan, puzzled, as she shook her head "I believe we established the fact that I really don't care for anyone last week."

With a roll of his eyes, Logan moaned "That's not what I meant and you know that."

She replied simply, after taking another sip of her cocktail. "In all honesty, all four of you are very good looking, very talented, and very pleasant people to be in the presence of. Any girl would be, hypothetically, blessed to receive the affection of any one of you."

"According to you I'm the cute one." He reminded her, smirking playfully.

"And I've only ever dated men who turned out to be gay." She teased "So take that with a grain of salt."

Across the dance floor, James had found Callie "Hey, can we talk, for a second?"

Callie shrugged "I mean, we're supposed to be spending the whole night together…"

"It's actually kind of about that." He admitted. "I know I haven't been the most tolerable person and part of that was because even though you made your intentions very clear, I was still flirting with you. Cause let's be real here, you're smoking hot and the press already agrees we make a beautiful pair."

Callie rolled her eyes as he spoke "Were you going somewhere with this?"

"I was!" James cried, pointing a finger in the air for emphasis "And I don't want to try to flirt with you anymore. It just makes things awkward for everyone. But I do think we could friends. So can we start again or something?"

Surprised, Callie nodded, smiling genuinely at James for the first time that she could remember. "Yeah, yeah I'd like that."

Meanwhile, Carlos was starting to feel sad-drunk. His stomach hurt, his head hurt, and nothing made sense. He sobbed about all of this to Brooke, who was awkwardly petting his head and hushing him with promises that everything was going to be okay. "Brooke," he sobbed "I'm so happy you're my friend. You take such good care of me. I love you so much."

"Shhhh, it's okay. I'm happy we're friends too." Her words were basically on autopilot at this point.

Carlos continued to sob into her shoulder "And I don't just love you in a friend way! You're so nice and so pretty and I just wanna hold your hand and give you kisses…"

"Carlos, sweetie," she continued, her tone just as soothing as before "You're really, really drunk right now. You shouldn't be telling people you love them."

Kendall – who'd been watching the whole ordeal – swiveled his chair back towards Auden, an arm awkwardly jutting out as he drunkenly gestured towards where Carlos and Brooke were seated "That could be us but you playin'" he slurred.

Auden reached out, bopping Kendall on the head a few times, before telling him "You're such a fucking lightweight, Knight."

"Am not." he sneered.

She'd rolled her eyes and moved to stand up, and that was the last thing she remembered.

Auden awoke the following afternoon with a splitting headache, and it wasn't just the usual one she got from over drinking. She moved to get up, but the splitting pain in her head was preventing her to do much more than prop herself up on one of the elbows.

Suddenly, Brooke was sitting on the edge of the couch Auden had been lying on. "Oh good, you're up." She smiled gently "How're you feeling?"

"Like hell." Auden moaned "What exactly happened?"

Brooke's smile faded as she recounted the previous night's event. "You'd been talking to Kendall, and I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but you blacked out. Hit the floor pretty hard. Luckily everyone was nearby, Callie and James pretty much carried you into the car. When you didn't wake up right away you had us all pretty worried."

"I don't know what happened." Auden confessed "Like, I know I'm under aged and whatever, but this isn't new for me. I've never blacked out before."

"Well I guess that's one more shot you'll have to take in Never Have I Ever" Brooke joked lightly, delicately rubbing the end of Auden's leg from over the blanket. "I'm glad you're okay now. I'm sure everyone else will be too. Kendall was really worried. He kept drunk dialing us to make sure you weren't dead."

"That smug son of a bitch," she muttered "He did it. He out drank me."

"He didn't seem very smug." Brooke informed her. "He seemed really genuinely worried. Not everything in life is a competition, you know."

"I know," Auden sighed "I just have difficulty remembering that sometimes."

Brooke nodded, before asking "Do you need anything? I know you've only just woken up, but if there's anything I can do…"

The blonde was cut off by Auden assuring her "I'm okay. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." A small smile spread on her lips as she added "but, thanks. For everything. And for taking care of me when I wasn't behaving like such a big girl."

"I'm just happy you're okay." Brooke smiled. Suddenly her eyebrows raised as she remembered "Oh! I made you some soup! I'm not sure what your personal hangover cure is, but hopefully this will help!"

Auden couldn't help but let out a chuckle "You are literally a saint. Unless it's pea soup. That would make you Satan."