New update! Also, to the reviewer who doesn't want a lot of non-Caskett couple-y stuff; relax. You know that Caskett is endgame but there needs to be a little angst or else this fic will get real boring real fast.
October—Halloween
Halloween was approaching fast and Kate's parents had finally given her permission to throw their annual Halloween party, sans parents. Well, sans guest's parents; Jim and Johanna would still be there to supervise but they promised Kate that they would stay out of the way and not embarrass her. Kate knew that that was the best she was going to get from them.
By the fifteenth, she'd already made the guest list and started handing out invitations to all her friends; most of which RSVP'd on receipt. But there was still one more person who she hadn't yet invited…
Kate took a deep breath as she made her way toward Josh Davidson's locker after lunch. He was leaning back against it as he talked to his friend, Jason, and kept pushing his long black hair out of his face. Kate smiled remembering what Castle called it; the pretty boy locks. She shook off thoughts of her school clown friend and forced herself to be cool as she approached Josh.
"Hey, Josh," she greeted, nonchalantly. Josh turned to her with a half-grin.
"Hey, Cathy," he greeted, nodding at her.
"I, uh, actually prefer Kate," she corrected, "but that's not important. I just wanted to know if you wanted to come to my Halloween party this year…" she handed him the invite, which was shaped like a jack-o-lantern. Josh took, it sending a look and an amused grin to his friend, before smiling back at Kate.
"Maybe," he said, "but I already got invited to like six parties so I don't know if I'll be able to make it. I'll try to swing by, though, alright?"
Kate smiled widely. "Okay," she said, her eyes sparkling. "Thanks! I hope you make it!"
Josh grinned. "So do I," he said, coolly, before heading off with Jason. "I'll see you later, Kat!"
Kate didn't even realize that he'd gotten her name wrong again; she was already over the moon.
x-x
On Halloween night, Lanie and the boys showed up early, after trick-or-treating, to help Kate decorate. She wasn't even in her costume when they arrived; instead, she was buzzing around her apartment, making sure that she had everything ready for the soon-to-arrive guests.
Food? Check. Candy? Check. Punch? Check. Bobbing for apples? Check. Ring toss? Check. Pin the tailbone on the skeleton? Check. Scary music? Check. Kate raced around her entire apartment, checking things off on her internal checklist until, finally, Lanie stopped her.
"Girl," the shorter girl said, "you need to calm down! You have everything you need for a good party except…"
Kate's eyes widened. "Except what?" she asked in a panic.
"Your costume!" Lanie exclaimed. "Why ain't you dressed yet? The party starts in like half an hour."
"But there's still so much to do," Kate said, "and I haven't gotten the piñata ready or—"
"The boys can handle that," Lanie interrupted, "but you don't want your guests showing up to your costume party with you out of costume, do you? Now, come on; the boys have the piñata covered. Don't you, boys?" Lanie asked, sending them a pointed look over her shoulder.
"Of course!"
"No problem!"
Castle gave her two thumbs up and a goofy grin. Kate sighed.
"Alright," she relented, allowing Lanie to guide her into her room.
x-x
Lanie walked out of Kate's room twenty minutes later with a satisfied smirk on her face.
"Where's Kate?" Javier asked, munching on a snickers bar from his candy bag. "The party's about to start."
"She'll be right out, Soldier Boy," Lanie said, smirking at his camo suit and makeup, "but first she has to fix the olive branches into her hair."
"What's she gonna be," Kevin, who was dressed like a murderous doctor, asked, "Lady Liberty?"
Castle snorted, shaking his head. Lanie rolled her eyes.
"Noooo," she retorted. "You're just gonna have to wait until she comes out here." She turned back towards Kate's bedroom. "Girl, are you ready yet?"
"Be right out!" Kate replied, appearing moments later.
Castle's jaw dropped as he took in her appearance. Kate had on a long, silky light blue dress that got darker as it reached the bottom, making her appear as if she were wading in water. There was a small slit up the side that reached mid-thigh and the sleeves, which stopped at her elbows, were split open and hanging from her arms. Her long brown hair was up on top of her head and there were fake olive branches in them, making it look like she was wearing a halo. On her feet, she wore simply golden sandals and she wore some heavy eye shadow and lip balm, but otherwise she wore no other makeup. Her hands, however were laden with silver bangles. She grinned when she noticed Castle's reaction. The "zombie clown" was practically drooling.
"I take it you like it, Castle?" Kate laughed and Castle snapped out of his stupor, trying to play cool in front of his friends.
"Yeah," he said, acting nonchalant, "it's pretty cool."
Kevin and Javier snickered. Kate laughed. "Thanks," she said, "that means a lot."
"No problem," Castle replied, beaming, "so who are you supposed to be, anyway? Athena? Hera? Eros?"
"Close on the last one," Kate said, "I'm Aphrodite, mother of Eros; goddess of love and beauty."
Castle nodded, but he didn't look particularly happy about it. He stayed quiet, though, for once. Still, Kate could tell something was bothering him.
"What?" she asked, placing one hand on her hip.
"What what?" Castle asked. "I didn't say anything."
"But you're thinking something," Kate said, "I can tell."
Castle sighed. "It's just…I didn't exactly see you as Aphrodite," he admitted.
"Why?" Kate asked, frowning. "You don't think I'm beautiful?"
"You're gorgeous," Castle said, simply, "but that may be the only similarity you have with Aphrodite. She was shallow, spoiled and kind of slutty. You, Kate, are none of those things."
Kate smiled softly at him. He could be a real sweetie, sometimes. "Well, thank you, Castle," she said, "but it's just a Halloween costume."
Castle shrugged but let the matter go just as there was a knock at the front door.
"Let the party begin!" Castle said, grinning.
x-x
Two hours later, the party was in full swing and yet there was still no sign of Josh.
Kate was walking around, mingling with guests, refilling chip bowls, and taking part in the games as she surreptitiously searched for him, hoping that he would make good on his promise—well, assurance-okay, okay, his statement that he might drop in. Kate kept checking the front door to make sure and stopped every once in a while to ask if one of her closer friends had seen him yet. Nobody had.
After a while, guests began to leave, hugging Kate goodbye and thanking her for the invite. It was getting late and they had school the next morning, so this wasn't really a surprise to Kate. However, she was kind of hurt that Josh had not shown up at all. It was nearly eleven and there had been no sign of him. Kate had even checked her cell phone a couple of times to see if he'd called or texted, only to see on Facebook that he'd been to three other parties that night. The latest pic had been on him with his arm slung around some blonde girl dressed as Marilyn Monroe who looked at least three years older than them with actual boobs. She was snuggled against his side, smiling flirtingly at the camera.
Upon seeing this photo, Kate felt her eyes well up with tears and she ran out to the small balcony they had attached to their apartment, overlooking downtown Manhattan. She sat in one of the chairs with her knees pulled up to her chin, her skirt acting as a blanket against the chilly Autumn air. Her arms, however, were pretty much uncovered. Kate didn't care.
It wasn't two minutes later when she felt something large and heavy draped over her shoulders. Kate turned, seeing Castle's towering figure standing over her. She furiously wiped at her tears, sniffling slightly before turning to him.
"What's up?" she asked, forcing her voice to sound normal.
"The sky," Castle answered, "and probably a few aliens and UFO's as well, and I strongly believe that there's a group of space cowboys up there, causing mischief and mayhem while we're asleep in our beds, but that's a story for a different time…what's wrong?"
Kate shook her head. "Nothing's wrong," she said, "why would you ask that?"
"Well," Castle said, looking around, "you still have about a dozen guests in your apartment, all having fun, laughing, and playing games, and yet you're out here, sulking."
"I am not—"
"I saw the pictures, too, Kate," Castle said, suddenly. "I was going to make a status about your awesome costume party and I saw a bunch of photos that he was tagged in from Ashley Sullivan's Halloween party in SoHo." Kate's heart clenched at the reminder and she sniffled again. Castle frowned. "He doesn't deserve you," he said, softly, "but I know that doesn't matter right now because you really like him. But he doesn't deserve the ability to make you this upset. He doesn't deserve the ability to make you self-conscious, especially when you have nothing to be self-conscious about." Kate scoffed, before looking straight at him and pointing to her braces. "Okay, yes," Castle conceded, "you have metal on your teeth, but that's not going to be there forever, okay? And once it's off, your smile is still gonna be just as beautiful as it always is; even more so now that it'll be straight. And you still have those pretty green eyes and that little button nose that always crinkles when I make a bad pun," Kate chuckled, "and that laugh that sounds like music. I love it when you laugh," Castle admitted, "because it means that you're happy and you deserve to be happy. And you deserve a guy that can appreciate your beautiful mind, too. Like, seriously, you're one of the smartest girls I know! You could be, like, the President! I mean, you know, when you get older—I don't think the world's ready for an adolescent US President just yet," Kate rolled her eyes, "and yeah, you can roll your eyes at me, but all of this is true. You're extraordinary, Kate, and you should never have to settle for anybody less amazing than you, alright? Especially a pretty boy who's only interested in one thing."
Kate chuckled. "Oh yeah?" she asked. "And what would that be, Castle?"
"You know," Castle said, looking from side to side before leaning in and saying, in a stage whisper, "boobies."
Kate rolled her eyes and shoved him, before standing up and hugging him around the waist. "Thank you, Castle," she said, leaning into his larger frame, "you're a really great friend."
Castle smiled sadly, but tightened his hold on her. "Always, Kate," he said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
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