I thought I looked extremely fucking stupid. I love Halloween but I could never seem to scramble together a good costume. Frank had made a small suggestion about matching costumes. That had made me so happy, Andy never wanted to do matching costumes with me. There were so many different options for couples costumes that I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to do an overly-cliche one. I also didn't want to do one that would be super romantic because I don't know if I'm at that point with Frank yet.

And that's how we got to be a vampire and a vampire victim.

I looked at Frank as he smoothed out his cloak, smiling in the mirror to show his fake fangs. He even got the nice ones with just the fangs that glue onto your teeth, not the dollar store dencher versions. He used red lipstick on his bottom lip and smeared it to seem like blood. He looked so nice as he ran his hand through his little fauxhawk.

I was wearing a cute grey dress that was ripped a little on the neckline and skirt and had a little bit of fake blood splatters on it. There were two red dots on my neck like a vampire bite. On top of that, I had some makeup on to make my face look paler and some red and purple around my eyes to try and make myself look dead.

I just felt so stupid standing next to Frank. He looked good, so good. He was attractive and confident and perfect. And the whole vampire thing? Everyone's gonna love that, it only makes him hotter. And then there's just me as a little dead person following him around in the shadows.

"You both look so nice," Jamia said when she walked in.

"I know, doesn't he look nice?" Frank asked, gesturing to me.

I blushed as I looked down.

"Okay, but you two are dressed so cool," she said. "I didn't know we were doing the kind of cool, spooky, sexy costumes. I'm dressed as a fucking bee!"

"You look cute," I said quietly.

"Thanks, Gee," she said, sitting next to me on Frank's couch.

"Well, are you all ready to go?" Frank asked.

I nodded nervously and he held out a hand. I looked at it and the way it didn't shake, it was confident and caring. I took it gently and stood up. We got into one of Frank's cars and drove to Lindsey's house. We got early to help set up but as we went in, the anxiety started settling in. It was just us, Lindsey and Bert here but I knew that people were going to be coming soon.

Lindsey handed me a bowl into my shaky hands and gave me instructions but I couldn't hear what she said. Frank gently took the bowl from me, resting a hand on my shoulder. He set the bowl onto the counter and grabbed a water bottle, bringing me out onto the back deck.

"Just take deep breaths, Baby," he said softly.

I took in a shaky breath and nodded.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" He asked.

I sniffled and shrugged my shoulders.

"We don't have to stay, you know," he said. "We can go now. We can leave early. We don't have to stay the whole time, we can leave whenever you want."

"But what if you don't want to leave?" I asked.

"You come first, I'm okay with leaving whenever," he said.

I nodded, feeling a bit more relaxed knowing that this wasn't like one of Andy's parties where I'd be stuck there the whole time in the corner being ignored by everyone.

"It's gonna be okay," he said.

He took off his cloak and wrapped it around me when I shivered, immediately warming me up. It smelled like his cologne and that made me smile.

"What do you want to do?" He asked.

"I think I'm ready to go in and help," I said.

He nodded and stood up, holding out a hand. I took it so he could help me up. We went in and helped to set up the snack table before people started coming in. I gave Frank his cloak back and fixed my dress.

"Hey, sweetie, you need anything? A drink? Snack?" Frank asked.

"I'm okay," I mumbled.

"I'm gonna grab you a pizza slice, I don't want you to be hungry," he said.

He was gone for a moment before coming back with a plate of gooey cheese pizza. I smiled, taking a few bites as I sat on the couch. People were laughing and dancing. It was a lot better than any of Andy's parties, I was also talking and laughing with my friends.

"Okay, so, would you rather eat a bee or go bungee jumping?" Bert asked.

"Bungee jumping, obviously," Lindsey said.

"But that could go bad," Frank said. "What if the bungee cord breaks? Then you're just dead. Eating a bee you'll get stung but you won't die."

"How many bungee cords actually break, though?" I asked. "You could be better off doing that, you won't have to get hurt at all."

"You're not afraid of heights?" He asked.

"I am but bugs also creep me out, I am not voluntarily eating a bug," I said.

Frank smiled and held my hand. I looked down at it with a small smile as my heart seemed to do a little flutter. I leaned close to Frank's side and he wrapped his arm around me.

"You need anything?" He asked. "Water? Snacks?"

"I'm okay," I said.

"You sure? It's not a problem," he said.

"I'm really okay," I said.

Frank smiled and brushed back some of my hair before kissing my cheek.

"Hey, baby," someone said.

I looked up and cowered back when I saw Bob and Brendon. Frank stood up, standing in front of me. Jamia took my hand, bringing me towards the front door. There was a bit of arguing from inside as we went to the car but Frank was following us out pretty quickly.

"I'm sorry, Gee," Frank said.

"It's okay," I said.

I was scared, that was true. But it wasn't the same crippling fear I used to have with Andy or his friends before.

"Stay out here, I'm gonna go kick them out so you could go back in safely," he said. "It's your party, you shouldn't have to miss it because of them."

"No, it's okay," I said. "I think I've already had a lot of fun for the night at the party. I think it would be nice to just spend the rest of the night alone with you."

Frank smiled. "That would be nice, but don't leave on account of them."

"I'm not," I said. "It's kind of nice to have the option of leaving a party whenever I want. I think I've had enough social interaction for the day, I'm ready to go home."

"Okay, I'll take us back," he said.

"You two can go, I think I'll stick around a little bit longer," Jamia said. "I met a guy and I'm gonna see if he'll take me back to his place."

"Alright, call me if you need me to pick you up," he said.

Frank opened the passenger seat door for me and I got in. He gave Jamia a hug before walking around to get in and drive us away.

"Thank you for coming with me," I said. "I actually had a really good time."

"You sound surprised," Frank said.

"Parties weren't usually fun with Andy," I said.

Frank was quiet like he wasn't sure if I was going to say more but I didn't offer anything up.

"Well, I'm glad that you were able to enjoy the night, I know you were kind of nervous about going," he said.

I nodded and he held my hand as we drove. We got back to his house and we went to his room. We took off our little costume makeup and he took off his fangs. I brought Matcha into Frank's room while we snuggled up on his couch together to watch a horror movie. Matcha, however, went right to sleep on the chair in Frank's room. Frank ran his fingers through my hair and was even starting to lull me to sleep.

"You want to head back to your room if you're falling asleep?" He asked in a voice that was hardly above a whisper.

"I'm not falling asleep," I denied, blinking a couple times and sitting up.

Frank smiled and wrapped his arms around me to pull me close. I rest my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes.

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course, I'll get the couch," he said.

"You can sleep with me too," I whispered.

Frank nodded and stood up. I giggled as he picked me up and carried me over to drop me on the bed. Frank turned off the TV and crawled into the bed with me. He wrapped his arms around me and I pressed my forehead against his chest. There was such a sense of security with him wrapped around me that seemed to really put me right at ease.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," I said.

"I did too, I'm really glad that I got to take you," he said. "And you looked super cute with your costume. You're always so cute."

I blushed, snuggling up closer to him.

"You're so perfect, I'm so glad that I met you," he said.

My lip quivered as I hugged him tighter. Frank ran his fingers through my hair and started to hum gently. My eyelids got heavier as I fell asleep in his arms. It was calming being with him. There wasn't the usual anxiety I have sleeping in beds with other people. The fear of being caught off guard or entirely exposed to someone else freaked me out. I didn't feel that with Frank, though. I was completely safe here with Frank as I fell asleep in his arms.

~~

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