Chapter Seventeen: Halloween
I met Patty at that party, and it changed my life.
Barry Aitken felt he had very little to complain about in life. He had a good, steady paying job that he didn't mind going to each day, a kick ass apartment and bachelor life, and good friends. His family was relatively normal, a fact he appreciate more and more each time he saw Victor and his family, and he had never had any serious health problems. Overall, he really couldn't have been much more content.
He figured this was the reason he didn't really care one way or the other how things turned out. All the good things in his life had culminated into making him a very confident person, and because of his confidence, he had little fear about taking risks. In the end, he didn't think much could turn out badly.
It annoyed people, sometimes, he knew. His last girlfriend had broken up with him because he didn't really care one way or the other whether or not she was cheating on him (she was, mostly for his attention). His mom and dad weren't too fond of the behavior either; they were always asking him what he was going to do with his life, but Barry couldn't be bothered to think much further than the next day.
As far as his friendship with Victor went, Barry didn't really think his personality was a hindrance in any way. Victor was such a dreamer, so single-mindedly focused on the future and getting what he wanted, that Barry was good at grounding him; making him realize what was going on right in front of his nose. Simultaneously, Victor was one of the few people Barry respected enough to actually listen to his rambling views of how life would turn out.
If you asked Barry, though, life wasn't supposed to turn out any particular way, and Victor was going to learn this lesson the hard way.
Lately, Victor's vision of his life in years to come was becoming more tiresome than usual.
"Patty and I will be married," he'd blather, "and I'll have gone to business school. I'll be able to take over Uncle Michael's business and run it so smoothly. And then eventually we'll have a couple of children. Girls," and at this he would always grin idiotically.
He'd only met Patty once, but from what he'd ascertained, she was a lot more practical than Victor ever was or would be. She probably didn't fantasize listlessly about the next ten years. For that, he held her in a regard he held very few individuals, particularly ones he'd only just met.
Plus she had great legs.
He smiled to himself and waved across the apartment at Margie, one of his best friends from high school. She was dressed as princess or a fairy or something; he didn't know what.
This Halloween party was one of the more brilliant ideas he'd had as of late. It had, of course, been a spontaneous idea that he had set to work on immediately. The entire thing was inspired by a late night conversation he'd had with his sister awhile ago about the wild parties their parents used to throw. Hell, he'd thought, I could do that.
So he did.
The door opened again and he looked over to see Victor entering the apartment, his arm around Patty's shoulders. He was dressed as Dracula, all in black with a cape, fake teeth, and even a bit of fake blood dribbling down the corner of his mouth. In complete contrast, Patty was wearing a shimmery, old white dress with blue wings coming out of the back and a silver halo above her head. Together, they looked ridiculous, but didn't seem to notice or care. Barry grabbed a couple of drinks from the cooler and made his way over to them.
"Hello, folks," he said, tossing Victor a beer and then gesturing to Patty to see if she wanted one too. She smiled, but shook her head.
"Hey, Bar," said Victor. "What are you supposed to be?"
"Ringmaster of this circus," he said. Despite having the foresight to plan a party, getting a costume had waited until the last minute. He grinned and bowed dramatically.
Behind Victor and Patty, some more people slipped in the still opened door, only two out of three of whom Barry recognized. He waved generously to all three, though.
"Do you do this every year?" asked Patty. She was still smiling genuinely enough, but behind it he could sense some abject discomfort to her surroundings.
He shook his head negatively. "Do you not like crowds?" he asked.
Victor raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Patty, curious.
Patty shrugged. "They're alright," she said, and didn't elaborate. Barry simply smiled. The fact that she was making some effort to socialize in the midst of Barry's chaotic apartment was proof enough for him that she was pretty serious about Victor.
He punched Victor on the shoulder, and left to go socialize elsewhere.
Lottie Bagland had no idea who the host of this party was, and quite frankly, she was still a little peeved that she was there at all. It was, after all, All Hallow's Eve, an extremely important day for all witches. But her friend Magdela had a wild crush on some guy she heard was going to be there, and Lottie didn't trust her not to drink herself stupid and get into a horribly nasty predicament. She had, after all, known Magdela a very long time.
Her costume was really lame. Magdela had made these plans at the last minute, so Lottie had thrown on one of her sister's skirts, a white top, a shawl and a lot of beaded jewelry, and was pretending to be a gypsy. She didn't feel very successful on any account, and she had a feeling she was being a real downer to the rest of the party.
Resigned, she excused herself from the conversation, still keeping her focus on Magdela at all times, and wandering into the tiny kitchen area which was, miraculously, closed off from the rest of the apartment except for an opening above the stove which gave view to the living room. It was also quiet.
Pouring herself a glass of water and then perching on the counter across from the window, Lottie settled herself down for an indefinite stay. And to think of all the better things she could be doing on this night.
She spent the next fifteen minutes ranting in her head, when the door to the kitchen swung open and she was interrupted by another girl dressed as an angel. Before the girl could ever register that Lottie was there, the door swung right back open and a guy, obviously drunk, came in, leering at the girl. Disgusted, she threw up her hands-
Lottie spilled her glass of water all over her sister's skirt.
The man was standing, frozen, in the middle of the kitchen.
"That's an amazing power!" she exclaimed, jumping off the counter. The girl spun around so fast her halo fell off and her eyes widened considerably.
"You didn't freeze!" she said accusingly.
Lottie shrugged.
"Are you a..." the girl's voice dropped considerably in volume, "...witch, too?"
She nodded, and whispered back, "Maybe we better get out of the kitchen before he unfreezes. He will unfreeze, won't he?"
The girl nodded, clearly still stunned, but Lottie nearly hummed with excitement. Of all the places to meet a fellow witch! She glanced around the kitchen and, seeing as the door was blocked by the guy, decided the only way out was to climb over the stove and out the window that looked into the living room. She boosted herself up and over, and she knew the girl was following. Not bothering to glance back at the other witch, Lottie led the way to what appeared to be the bedroom, the only other silent place in the apartment. The girl closed the door behind her.
"Who are you?" asked the girl.
"Charlotte Bagland," she said. "Lottie, for short."
"I'm Patty Halliwell," said the girl. She stuck out her hand and shook Lottie's. "This is unbelievable."
Lottie shook her head in agreement. "I never expected to see another witch here. Especially considering it's All Hallow's Eve."
Patty leaned back against the door. "Barry's my boyfriend's best friend, and I thought the party...well, let's just say I didn't expect there to be so many drunken fools running around."
Lottie, who had expected nothing less than a fraternity-like atmosphere, sank down on the bed and said, "I'm here looking out for one of my friends. She has a tendency to get herself into situations."
"Hmm," said Patty. She tapped her fingers against the door. "So do you have any active powers?" she asked, lowering her voice again.
"Telepathy," said Lottie, and she hurried on to say, "but I'm not reading your mind right now or anything."
This brought a smile to Patty's face.
"So your boyfriend wasn't the idiot in the kitchen, was he?"
"No," said Patty. "Victor went off with a couple of his friends and I went to get a soda. I don't know who that was." She shrugged. "It's almost one. I'm hoping we'll leave before I run into the ogre again."
"Oh, you've got to give me your phone number before you go," said Lottie, a bit more pleadingly than she would have liked. She hated sounding desperate, especially as she was sitting on the bed of some guy she didn't know dressed as a gypsy. "The only other witch I know is my twin brother."
"Of course," said Patty, fairly enthusiastically. "I don't really know any witches my own age at all."
She walked over and grabbed a pen from the night-stand, scribbling the number down on the back of Lottie's hand. Then she gave Lottie one last smile and disappeared out of the room.
About twenty minutes later, Lottie saw her leave, holding hands with a gorgeous man. She glanced down at the number written out, and grinned.
At least All Hallow's Eve hadn't been a total letdown.