"Come on, MC! You've got to go with me!" Tara tugged on MC's arm, who was trying to back away from her friend.
MC shook her head, pulling her arm out of Tara's grip.
"How can I go to a costume party without a costume ? Besides, you dropped this on me today, the day of the party?"
Tara pouted and sighed dramatically as she slumped into MC's office chair.
"So? I have some stuff at home, and we can dress up together-"
"- No , I can't and won't do that to you. But you can go and have fun."
Tara sat up, frowning.
"But I can't go alone-"
"-So you can invite someone else, someone who likes going to parties."
"But I want to go with you MC. Pretty please?" Tara pleaded, looking at her with a sad expression.
As much as she wanted to go home after work, take a long shower, and gorge herself with candy and snacks, she caved and nodded to Tara.
She squealed and grabbed her hands, the sad look on her face long gone and replaced with excitement.
"I'll send you the invite! Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"
(TIME SEPARATION)
When the clock struck five o'clock, MC and Tara parted ways to go home and get ready for the party.
MC looked over the invite on her phone, chuckling at the dancing jack-o-lantern stickers on the flyer.
The flyer said the party would start at eight o'clock, so that gave her an hour to find a costume, and two hours to get ready and arrive.
And off she went to the mall in search of a costume.
(TIME SEPARATION)
' Are these all of my options? ' she thought as she skimmed through the shelves at the costume store.
Either she dressed as a sexy cop or gave up and wore a onesie of a cartoon character, and MC didn't want to do either one. Not to mention, the prices were crazy expensive in comparison to the quality of the costume.
She was about to turn around and text Tara that she couldn't find a costume after all, and that's when something caught her eye.
It was a cute makeup set of sparkly eyeshadow and half pearls. She picked it up, read the price, and figured it fit in her costume budget.
' Huh. This will work '.
(TIME SEPARATION)
After sprinting back home and taking a quick shower, MC was finally getting ready for the party.
She dug around her closet and found a cute teal skirt and a flowy white top with a lettuce hem, and she paired it with strapped high heels.
MC wasn't very good at creative makeup, so she tried her best to draw a few scales on her face and arms. Unfortunately, some were different sizes, so she covered them by blurring them with sparkly glitter.
She walked to her mirror and posed at different angles, gaining more confidence in her costume.
MC almost left her apartment without the finishing touch; the pearls. She placed little ones in a teardrop shape in the middle of her eyebrows, and she placed five on her upper eyelids.
She looked at herself in the mirror again as she spritzed some perfume on the back of her neck.
' I look pretty '.
(TIME SEPARATION)
"MC! You're here!" Tara squealed, looking MC over. She just stood there bashfully as Tara took multiple selfies at different angles.
"I thought you said you didn't have a costume?"
"You're right, I didn't. I found this makeup pallete at a store, and I-"
"-Yeah! You look great too!"
MC looked at Tara questionably, and she realized that she drank some kind of alcohol to make her act a little woozy. But, she was still Tara.
Tara pulled MC along and into the house until they were in the backyard. Loud music boomed from the speakers set up, and there were many people in costumes and makeup dancing and laughing.
MC winced when she felt someone step on her foot, and she accidentally shoved into someone.
Tara was about to say something, but then a girl dressed as a doll placed a hand on her shoulder, speaking into her ear. Tara blushed, and she bit her lip at the girl before turning back to MC.
"You stay here, I'll be right back-" Tara called back to her.
MC stood there dumbly, holding a thumbs up to her as she disappeared into the crowd.
As soon as Tara left, MC scanned for a way to leave the dance floor, unfortunately out of luck.
The only way out was to push through the crowd.
As MC squeezed in between groups of people, a guy dipped his head back, breathing in drunkenly. MC wrinkled her nose at the smell of sweet fruit punch and alcohol, and she knew she should stay away from any open drink bowls or pitchers.
MC felt like her throat was drying up, so she approached the rather messy drink and snack tables by the house in search of a bottle of water.
She pulled one out of the cooler and took a sip, sighing. She was left by herself.
She rested her back against the fence by the pool, watching the crowd move in rhythm to the music like a wave.
MC spotted a few couples here and there, holding hands or dancing together, or the stray who would be all over each other, too drunk or horny to care if others saw them.
She wondered if she'd get to be with someone like that.
MC felt jealous, but she shook her head and downed another chug of water.
As she finished the water, she noticed someone looking at her.
Wait. At her?
No way.
MC capped the water bottle and turned away from the stranger, though her eyes hadn't left him.
He was very handsome, she could tell even from the distance he was away from her. He had what she assumed to be dyed blueish-purple hair and dusty blue eyes, one covered by an eye patch. He was dressed in what looked like a pirate costume. The hat was jet black with a gold trim, and his shirt was ridiculously ruffled at the collar and sleeves.
She must have stared at him too long, because he made direct eye contact with her.
MC blushed and looked away, and she was tempted to go back inside the house and leave the party, but she stayed.
After what she guessed was a minute passed, she looked back to where the man was, but she didn't see him.
The man left his spot on the opposite side of the backyard.
' Great. He must of thought I was some kind of creep .' She thought.
"So, you bored too?" sounded a voice next to her, interrupting her thoughts. MC jumped and turned to face whoever spoke to her, and her eyes widened when she saw it was the guy she was checking out.
"Huh?"
"This party's pretty lame, isn't it?" He asked again, and MC nodded in agreement.
"Yeah- Uhm, parties aren't really my thing."
The man raised his eyebrows and lifted his eye patch, revealing more of his beautiful blue eyes.
"Hm. But I like them. I throw parties all the time back at my place."
' Wow. He's really talkative.'
The two stood there, MC feeling rather awkward that such a man would come up to her and speak to her. She decided to not give up the chance, and she turned to him again.
"So- Uh, did you come here with anyone?"
She immediately cringed at the sound of her quivering voice, and she imagined the guy arriving here with some pretty girl in a matching costume.
Luckily for her, the man shook his head.
"Nope. I just caught wind of the party from my manager."
' Manager? He doesn't look like the type to work ,' she thought.
The man studied her face for a brief moment, and MC got self-conscious. Maybe she wore too much makeup? Or too little? What if it smudged? Maybe her costume idea was dumb. No one knew what she was either. Maybe the sexy cop would have been the better option after all.
"What's your name? Or should I call you 'cutie' all night?" he asked, gesturing to her.
MC blushed, and she reached up to brush her bangs from her face. The man leaned on the wall, now facing her head on.
"... MC," she said, fiddling with the hem of her blouse.
"And you?"
The man smiled at her.
"Rafayel," he responded smoothly.
MC sounded out his name in her head, and she looked up at him again. Then it dawned on her that Rafayel was the name of the famous artist . It all made sense now. The ridiculously ornate costume, the soft hands, the mentioning of flashy parties-
"Wait- You're Rafayel- The painter-!" Rafayel's eyes widened and he placed a finger to his lips, gesturing her to keep quiet.
MC closed her lips, swallowing nervously. Rafayel looked around to see if anyone heard them, and he sighed in relief before turning back to MC.
"Yeah, I uh, I am."
MC blinked at him before speaking. "I didn't expect you to be at a house party."
Rafayel stared at her for a moment before shifting closer to her.
"Why not?"
"Because I assumed you'd be throwing a party of your own."
Rafayel smiled sheepishly, and he took MC's hand in his. He brought it up to his lips and kissed her knuckles gently.
"But then I wouldn't be able to find you there."
(TIME SEPARATION)
After a bit more back-and-forth playful banter turned to flirt, Rafayel and MC left the party and headed to his house on the other side of town.
(TIME SEPARATION)
They could barely keep their hands off each other on the car ride there.
A maid opened the door for them, and Rafayel scooped MC into his arms as they raced to get to his bedroom.
Rafayel pushed the door open, letting MC inside before joining her and locking it.
"Come here," she said, yanking him towards her by the collar of his shirt.
Rafayel held her waist tightly, pulling her body closer until their hips were flush together.
He kissed her feverishly, already having loosened his shirt collar. He reached up to tweak with MC's top as they kissed. The tied bow at the back of her neck came undone, and before MC could cover herself, Rafayel took her hands, pinning them back to the wall by the door.
" Don't cover yourself. A work of art must be appreciated. "