I licked my lips. I wanted to take a snapshot of the moment, because I knew it was a crossroad. Two paths forked out in front of me. One was safe. It led to the future I’d been carefully building for years. It led to the thing I’d been dreaming about as long as I could remember. It was the smart choice—the obvious choice.
The other was dangerous. It followed a guy I still didn't really know. It was the impulsive path and the reckless one, where nothing was guaranteed and nothing was set in stone. But when I thought about the path that led to art school, I pictured a plain, boring door. When I thought about the one that led towards Ryan, it felt like I’d be walking into the kind of fantasy life I only saw in movies, where every day was electric with potential.
Maybe there was a third choice. I didn’t have to marry myself to one path or the other. I could have fun tonight, and I could stop worrying so much about what might happen in a few months and just focus on tonight.
“Excuse me.” A man and a woman walked up to stand beside us. It was Bruce Chamberson and his wife, Natasha. “You were one of the artists who worked on the decorations, right?” he asked.
I’d barely spoken with Bruce, but somehow, seeing him inside his own building made him all the more intimidating. “That depends,” I said slowly. “Do you like them?”
He scanned the ceiling and the room with a look between disgusted and confused. “For what they are, sure.”
Ryan leaned in to whisper in my ear again. “From him, that’s a compliment.”
“Thank you. But where’s your costume?” I asked him.
He grimaced and looked down at his perfectly normal suit. “You know that commercial with the guy in the suit? The one where he says he’s mayhem?”
“You’re him?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be… sabotaging things? You know, getting in character?”
“No. I’m not him. I was just wondering if you’d seen the commercials. Always thought those were funny. I don’t wear costumes, I think it’s childish.”
His wife, Natasha, gave me an amused smile. “He’s great at parties, isn’t he?”
I grinned. “Reminds me of a friend of mine, a little bit.”
“What are you, a newspaper?” Natasha asked.
“I’m the Bill of Rights. It’s a long story.” I took in her costume. She had small pillows taped to almost every inch of her body. “What are you supposed to be?”
“I’m accident prone.”
I frowned in thought as I tried to dig out the wordplay, but Ryan's chuckling laughter drew my attention. "What? Am I missing the joke?"
“No,” she sighed with a smile. “Like, literally. I’m very accident prone, and Bruce said this was the perfect excuse to dress me in a way where I couldn’t hurt myself. What was it you said?” she asked him.
“For one night of the year, I can take you out and know you’re not going to crack your head or break an ankle when I take my eyes off you. Everybody will think it’s a costume.”
“But you’ve still been watching me like a hawk,” she said, then she got on her tiptoes and gave his chin an adorable little kiss.
He cupped hers in his thumb and forefinger and kissed her forehead with an unapologetic shrug. “I’m overprotective.”
She smiled at me. “He’s just lucky I didn’t really have a costume I was excited to wear. He’s also lucky I love naps, and I always wondered how comfy this would be. Lay down anywhere and you’re automatically in a bed. It’s perfect.”
I laughed.
Ryan cleared his throat.
Bruce dug in his jacket and tried to hand Ryan a cough drop.
“I don’t have a cough,” Ryan said. “When someone clears their throat while making eye contact, it usually means you’re doing something wrong, like interrupting a man who was trying to convince a woman to dance.”
Bruce looked from Ryan to me, and then nodded seriously. “Just one question, then. Have you seen William? He was supposed to be here by now.”
Ryan groaned. “No, I haven’t seen him, and I’m not thrilled to hear he’s missing.”
“That makes two of us,” Bruce said.
“Why?” I asked.
Ryan sighed. “When you can’t find William, it’s usually because he’s doing something stupid. I also invited my roommate, Steve, and he’s basically William minus the subtlety. The two of them missing at the same time is a recipe for bad.”
"You're right about William, at least. He has a history of trying to pull stupid pranks on Halloween, too. Good luck."
“You too.”
Bruce and Natasha left, and Ryan turned his attention back to me. He looked around the party and then gave a quick shrug. “You were saying I needed to put something in you. Why don’t I start with a little alcohol?”
“I would allow that.”
We grabbed drinks and headed upstairs to an area where a balcony with a glass wall overlooked the party below. There were tables and more Halloween decorations set up, as well as some old-fashioned TVs playing classic, black and white horror movies.
“Nice touch,” I said, pointing to one of the TVs. “What is this room for, anyway? I don’t think it’s exactly normal for an office building to have… whatever this is on the top floor.”
“It’s William’s fault. He wouldn’t budge until Bruce agreed to plug a party venue in at the top of the building. He claimed it would be for schmoozing new clients and that sort of thing. I have no idea if they actually do that, but it does make for a good holiday party spot.”
“Rich people,” I said slowly as I looked around the room and tried to imagine having so much money that you could afford something like this in New York if you didn’t use it all the time.
He nodded and gave a distracted smile as we took a seat near the corner. The music wasn’t as loud up here, and I didn’t have to raise my voice to be heard anymore.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
He shook his head, but then shrugged. “I mean, not wrong. No. But every time I’ve had anything close to feelings for a girl, it only takes two or three days for all the romantic ideas to fade away.”
“Wow,” I said with a half-smile. “It’s a good thing I never came close to falling for you, or that would be a little disappointing.”
He licked his lips and his eyes met mine. Even from across the table, I could almost feel a spark of energy pass between us. “Right. It’s a good thing you never had feelings for me. Because then I really wouldn’t know what to do.”
“You’re going to have to elaborate,” I said. “I know women are supposed to be good at reading between the lines on this kind of stuff, but I’ve always been horrible at it. Also, I feel really weird having a serious conversation like this while I’m dressed as The Bill of Rights. I just thought that was worth noting.”
He hardly seemed to hear me. The look on his face was deadly serious, and seeing him look at me that way made my mouth feel dry and my stomach feel fuzzy and warm.
“It has been a lot more than two or three days, Emily. None of my feelings are fading away. They’re only getting stronger. I tried not to lead you on because I was so sure it’d happen, and now… Now I’m just sitting here wondering why I’ve waited so long to take what I want.”
I bit my lip. His gaze was magnetic. It sucked me in and refused to let me look away.
I couldn’t think. I could hardly breathe. Paris seemed distant and silly and unimportant in that moment. Deep down, I knew I’d regret it later. I knew Paris and my future would come rising back up. I knew all of that, but I couldn’t stop my pounding heart from doing the thinking and the talking.
“Well,” I breathed. “Whoever this girl is. You’d better go to her, then. It sounds serious.”
The corner of his mouth inched upward in a hypnotizingly slow way until he was showing just the faintest glimmer of a smirk. “You’re right.”
He stood up, pushed his chair in, and waved to me as he started walking away from the table and back down toward the party.
&
nbsp; I frowned and sat up straight. Wait, what? I stood from my chair and involuntarily took a step toward him. Before I had time to have a mental meltdown, he turned around and his smirk widened into a grin as he walked back toward me and reached for my hand.
“Sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t resist.”
“What? Giving me a heart attack?” I let him take my hand in his, and there was no mistaking the way his fingers felt against mine. It was soft, perfect, and full of intention. The music thudded from downstairs, sending small shockwaves through my chest. My head felt light, almost weightless. The only thought my brain seemed to have room for was to wish with all of my being that I was wearing anything other than a ridiculous Bill of Rights costume that didn’t make me look like a giant, rolled up newspaper with a face.
“I warned you that every relationship I’ve ever been in has failed, right?”
I tried to keep a straight face as I answered. “Who says I’m willing to be in a relationship with you? We’re just holding hands.”
“Yeah, but we’re not even using protection.”
I laughed. “Wow. You’re right. I think I can already feel the missed period coming. This is more serious than I thought.”
He slid his hand around the back of my costume and gave a slight squeeze as he raised an eyebrow. “I think I just fondled your rights, too. So, yeah, you could say it’s getting very serious.”
I bit back a smile. I’d never felt this kind of energy before. There was an unstoppable gravity pulling us together, and now that I noticed it, I realized it’d been there from the beginning.
“Bad news,” William interrupted.
Ryan stepped to the side and turned to see William, who was standing a few feet from us with a worried expression on his face. He was dressed plainly, to my surprise.
“William,” Ryan said tightly. “You’re kind of interrupting something.”
William gave him a look like he was crazy, then he grinned at the sugar in Ryan’s baby carrier. “Sugar daddy? Nice. And Emily is… Yikes.” He cringed. “Competing for the least sexy costume award?”
I put my hands on my hips, which probably didn’t have the same effect when I was dressed like this.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said quickly. “You uh, wear that well, even if you do look a little bit like a dick in a condom.” He burst out in uncontrollable laughter at his own joke.
Ryan watched him impatiently. “She’s the Bill of Rights, dumbass. And at least she wore a costume.”
William turned to show us his back, which was covered in nickels that had apparently been glued to his suit.
“Nickelback?” Ryan groaned.
“Ding ding. Now come on, I need you two on the roof. It’s a surprise.”
“I’m actually pretty happy right here,” I said.
William waved me off. “Nobody asked the history nerd.”
“Careful,” Ryan warned.
“Ohh, what’s this?” William asked. “I think I’m starting to smell a little something and it smells a lot like love.”
Ryan looked like he was a few syllables away from giving William a black eye. “If I go to the roof with you, can I push you off?”
“So much violence. But yes, you’re welcome to try. I doubt you’ll want to when you see the wonderful little surprise I whipped up, though. Come on.”
“Are we really going up to the roof with him?” I asked.
Ryan sighed. “William is like a dog. You can give him a scrap of food and he’ll stop begging, or you can try to ignore him and he’ll ruin your meal.”
“I can hear you, but you’re also not wrong. I had a plan ‘B’ if you tried to ignore me, and it wasn’t going to be nearly as pleasant.”
We followed William, and the whole time, I was replaying those last few moments with Ryan. I’d felt something there. In his touch. In his eyes. Everywhere. I’d let it soak into me and instead of feeling scary or wrong, it just felt right.
Ever since I’d seen him again for the first time in so many years, I’d been trying to stop myself from listening to my feelings. I finally thought I was ready to open up to them and let this happen.
Of course, that would all be easier if William Chamberson didn’t have the world’s worst timing.
Hailey stopped us just before the elevators. She was dressed as a peanut butter jar, and honestly might have had me beat for the least sexy costume at the party. She had what looked like an almost perfect replica of a giant plastic jar of peanut butter encasing her body, except where her face stuck out of a narrow little window and her arms and legs poked through.
“Wow,” I said.
“Wow to you, too.” She pointed to my costume. “That’s pretty awesome. The Bill of Rights? Is that a play on words, or is it just kind of like… ‘Hey, I’m the Bill of Rights?’”
“It’s what happens when I get so caught up in wondering if I can do something that I forget to stop and ask if I should. What about yours?”
Hailey glared at William, and I saw the most adorable mixture of love and irritation in her eyes, like she wanted to be upset with him but she couldn’t, because whatever he’d done was so perfectly him. “It was supposed to be a team costume. I’d be peanut butter and he was going to be a basketball player.”
“Peanut Butter jam?” I asked. “Nice.”
“It would have been,” Hailey said. “But somebody said they kept getting wedgies from their basketball shorts and bailed on me at the last minute.”
William crossed his arms and tried to look indignant. “No man should have to endure that much fabric going up his ass crack. I’m sorry. Ask The Bill of Rights,” he said, nodding toward me. “I bet there’s something in there about that. The founding fathers would’ve mentioned some sort of inalienable right to freedom from wedgies.”
Hailey gave me a look that said, ‘pray for me.’ She reached for William’s hand. “Come on. I bribed the DJ to play peanut butter jelly time when I give the signal. I need you to be there to dance backup for me.”
William dipped his chin and growled appreciatively. “I knew we were soulmates. I bribed the DJ to play Nickelback. I was just going to stand at the front of the crowd and point to my back. A gentleman would let you go first, but…”
She rolled her eyes and grinned. “You can go first. I can see you’re excited.”
William seemed to remember we were standing there, and he suddenly gave us a little shove toward the staircase. “Use the stairs to get the roof. It’s part of the surprise. Go, go. I’ve got a wife to seduce, and you’d better get out of here so I don’t accidentally seduce the two of you, too.”
“Why do I feel like we’re walking into some kind of trap?” I asked him.
“Because we almost definitely are.”
“Okay, have fun. Make lots of babies. I call dibs on naming the first one! Good luck!” William slammed the door behind us, and my heart sank when I heard the lock click.
“He just locked it,” I said.
Ryan checked the door and sighed. “Yeah.”
“Why don’t you seem surprised?”
“I’m going to be totally honest here.” Ryan looked uncharacteristically nervous, and somehow, it was a mouthwateringly sexy combination. “William and Steve have been trying to set us up since the get-go. You know the whole robbery thing?”
I felt my stomach sinking as my brain started connecting the dots. “Yes…”
“The two ‘robbers’ were William and Steve. I didn’t find out until you left to make the call.”
"But you let me keep thinking it was a robbery. Do you have any idea how many self-defense videos I've watched on YouTube since then? I even made an anonymous post in an online forum talking about my experience, for God's sake!" I was somewhere between pissed off, confused, and oddly enough, relieved. "I could probably fight my way off a pirate boat by now."
“That kind of sounds like a good thing?” he said slowly.
I jabbed my finger at him. The normal self-consciousness I
felt was being overwhelmed by a mixture of embarrassment and anger. “Don’t try to turn this into a good thing. I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t you just tell me?”
“At the risk of sounding pathetic, I was worried you would think I put him up to it if I told you. And then I thought I’d find a better time, but I was probably just kidding myself because I was worried you’d want nothing to do with me if you found out.”
“The elevator. That’s why you were acting so pissed at him, and why you responded to the firefighter on the intercom the way you did.”
He nodded, but said nothing more. He didn’t try to deafen me with excuses or change the subject. It looked like he was just willing to wait and accept whatever my feelings were on the matter. Easier said than done, considering I didn’t even know how to feel.
“So why keep going along with his scheme just now?” I rattled the doorknob a little more angrily than I planned.
“Well, for the first time, I didn’t think I’d mind it if William tried to force us together.”
I closed my eyes. Even though part of me wanted to reach out and hug him because I knew what he was saying was sweet, he’d still betrayed my trust. I started tearing off my costume, because on top of already feeling like I was the village idiot for not seeing what was happening, I looked like an idiot.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting out of this stupid, freaking, costume—urgh!” I lost my footing when pulling my legs up and out of the suit and rolled down the stairs. My world spun, and by some miracle, my face never caught one of the steps, and I was sent bumping and bouncing down until I thudded into the wall at the bottom. My knees and elbows stung a little, but I thankfully didn’t seem to be hurt.
Ryan rushed down and skidded to his knees beside me. He ran his hands over my arms and legs, eyes intent on finding any injuries.
“I’m fine,” I said, shaking him off and getting to my feet. I finished stripping out of my costume, which unfortunately left me in a skin-tight, beige-colored bodysuit that probably was almost as ridiculous as my costume itself. I slammed the costume to the ground and jabbed my finger at him. “And don’t even think about laughing!” I said.
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