Laura Kono's Halloween party would be the party that people would talk about for the rest of the year. Her parents had gone to New York and left their delinquent daughter with over twenty leftover cases of champagne from a charity banquet.

Tom went as the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride. It was a fairly easy costume as he already had a black tunic from working the renaissance fair. Boots and black jeans were staples of his wardrobe. The only thing he bought was a black do-rag, in which he cut two eyeholes. To complete the look, he carried his fencing sabre on his hip.

Laura's place was a short drive away just west of Shark River Hills off Gully Road. Tom was unprepared for the Kono's epic driveway. It wound deep into the forest. He drove passed a wishing well, a rose garden and series of finely trimmed topiaries before he finally came to a cobblestone round about in front of a palatial home. Manicured vines climbed the bricks and wrapped around the balcony railing. The fortress glistened with green artificial light against the backdrop of the Glendola reservoir. Costumed folk danced and mingled in front the snow-covered shrubs lining the building. Parking was a free-for-all across the lawn. As Tom slid his vehicle into the sleet, he decided it was safe to assume that he would not be going home that night.

He stepped into a noxious cloud of cigarette smoke as he climbed the front steps. No matter how cold it got, it seemed to Tom that every party had a barrier of social smokers guarding the entrance. One man had an incredible Captain Morgan costume with a black rococo wig and an ostentatious red frock coat. With the hat, the boots, even a bottle of Spiced rum in his hand, he looked like he had just wandered off a movie set. As Tom went up the stairs the Captain challenged him to a duel.

"And what will you fight with, Captain?" Tom asked with a flawless impersonation of the Dread Pirate Roberts. "A broken bottle?"

A woman dressed as Cleopatra smiled, her cigarette poised like that of a Hollywood actress. "He's cute," she said to the Captain.

"Care for a swig of my spiced rum?" Captain Morgan offered him the bottle. Tom thanked him and took a heavy gulp, stifling a shudder at the end of it.

"Atta boy!" The Captain slapped him on the back.

Tom gave the obligatory guy nod and headed through the double doors. In the foyer, he noticed a small coy pond attached to the staircase. A stone woman bent into the water, touching a lily pad. A crowd of party guests walked by, all drinking champagne and cackling madly. When his eyes returned to the statue, she was in a new position. She was not made of stone, but rather a silver painted person standing very still.

Tom felt he needed to find some people he knew. If there were anything worse than being single on Halloween it was hanging out at a party where he didn't know anyone.

In the next room over, monsters and royals danced and jumped up and down to a band that was covering video game music. The musicians shredded their instruments with wicked chord progressions, shaking their long hair as they jumped back and forth in the corner of the living room. The temperature was about ten degrees hotter than the rest of the house. Champagne bottles popped like bubble wrap, going rapidly as the underage bartenders tried to keep libations flowing for what appeared to be at least a hundred people.

Tom went back into the entryway where it was quiet. He hated dancing alone and he thought he might wait for the crowd to thin out before attempting to grab a drink. He was watching the living statue attempt to steal Marie Antoinette's little pink tricorn, when Laura Kono and Alex descended the staircase. Laura wore a ball gown of baby blue tulle, combat boots, zombie makeup and a monocle on a silver chain. She carried a tobacco pipe and a sleek black cane with white tips.

"Welcome, welcome," she said to everyone in the hall. Several of her friends surrounded her and swept her up in conversation. As they cleared out, Tom saw Alex skipping down the stairs, her curls bouncing like springs. She looked around the room, unable to find her friends. The poor thing clearly didn't know anybody there aside from the hostess who had just left her behind.

She was a vision, beautiful as an archangel, her peaches and cream complexion delectably paired with her coral pink floor-length negligee. The silk and lace clung to her body in all the right ways. Tom had no clue who she was supposed to be, but he didn't really care.

"Now tell me, Princess Buttercup, when you found out Westley was gone, did you get engaged to your Prince Humperdink that same hour, or did you wait a whole week out of respect for the dead?" he said presumptuously, bowing with a flourish.

Alex shook her head. "I'm sorry. I don't get the reference."

Tom realized she neither recognized him nor his character. He lifted his mask.

"Oh my gosh! Brash!" she cried, jumping down the last step with a gleeful hop and knocked him back with an overenthusiastic hug.

Brash? Tom wondered where she'd come up with this nickname for him. She never seemed like one to assign playful nicknames. Brash was a decent start for the kid.

"Hey, princess," he said.

"That's Princess Aurora. You know. Sleeping Beauty. It's so great you came. We should dance. Hold on!" Alex amplified her voice as an emo chick in a latex dress walked by. "I love your dress!" The girl gave her the middle finger and Alex squealed with laughter, "That's the spirit, bitch!"

"Are you drunk?" Tom asked.

"Hardly. Oh my God! I love this song!" Alex yanked him and by the arm, leading him into the main party room. The crowd danced to Joy Division, jumping up and down, vibrating like a jar full of bees. The bass pumped in Tom's chest and he moved with the rhythm and energy of the others. Alex head-banged her hair out, sweating, laughing, glistening like string of rose quartz and pearls. Halfway through the song, Tom grabbed her hand.

"Can we talk?" he shouted.

"Let me grab a drink!"

Alex cut through the crowd like a machete, bringing Tom with her to the bartender who poured glass upon glass of champagne. The tender's clear braces with blue rubber bands gave away his age, but he had mastered a quick pour of champagne into a narrow flute. When they had their drinks, Alex guided Tom into an enclosed poolside where white hibiscus floated on the illuminated water. The area was quieter aside from a few smokers around a patio table. A grand glass dome insulated the patio, but the stars were still visible overhead.

"This is a really extravagant party," Tom said.

"Isn't it?" said Alex. "It's like an unofficial coming out party, one for just Laura and her friends."

"Laura's gay?"

Alex rolled her eyes at him. "A coming out party is like an introduction to society."

"Oh, like rich people do for their bratty debutantes."

"Right," Alex said dryly. "Brats like me."

"Oh. I'd apologize, but I'm already assuming that I'm not invited to your ball."

"Nope. I don't think so, Brash. You're not the fancy lawyer type of which Mummy approves," Alex said in her snootiest sounding voice. Tom laughed and had more of his drink. Wherever she was, he wanted to be there too. Suddenly, she said something that caught him completely off guard. "No date tonight?"

"No," he said. "I, uh, don't really know anyone."

"You should have told me! I could have set you up."

"It's fine. Love is a waste of time, a smoke raised with the fumes of sighs." Tom lifted his glass in a toast and finished it in one shot, setting the empty vessel on the patio bar.

Alex nodded, sipped her champagne, and said, "Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes. Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears. A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet." As she finished the quote for him, their eyes locked in a crystalline instant of attraction.

"You memorize Shakespeare in your spare time, princess?"

Alex looked away from him as she kicked off her slippers. She went to the poolside and hung her feet over the edge, her long slip hiked up around her hips. Tom removed his boots and socks and rolled up his pants. The pool was warm like a hot bath and mist came off the surface as their cold limbs entered the water.

"I've always wondered why it was Nathan and not me," he said. "I saved you too."

"Maybe it's as simple as one of you waited with me while the other went to get help."

He watched her sip her champagne, her pretty mouth leaving a faint sheen of gloss on the rim. He wanted to steal a kiss. Even if there was hell to pay afterward, he didn't care. "You can say. It won't hurt my feelings."

"When you're in love with someone who doesn't love you back, you don't just go with the next best thing."

Her words shattered his ego. She set her glass on the patio floor.

"Sorry," she said, biting the corner of her thumb. "Coke turns me into an asshole."

"You know what, princess. I'm an asshole without coke," he said. He grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her face first into the pool. Alex shrieked, grabbed his arm, and brought him with her into the glowing waters.

Tom shouted in disbelief as his head went under. The weight of his pirate costume pulled him down even as he kicked. He grabbed the wall, grinding his feet up against the concrete slope as he pulled himself up. Waves erupted around the edges of the pool. Alex tread water, her curls matted up against her head. Their baptism inspired other guests to jump in. Costumes of cheap imitation satin and bright polyester inflated like balloons across the surface. Joyous shrieks rose off the water like steam.

"You ruined my dress!" Alex cried. "You've always been a pompous ass! You brash idiot!"

Tom couldn't help but laugh at her. Alex watched sullenly as he pulled himself up the edge of the pool and unlaced his wet shirt.

"That's what happens to mean little cokeheads. Even cute ones," he said. He noticed a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, but she hid it beneath the surface of the water. "I'll buy you another one, Alex."

"It's vintage."

"I'll scour every thrift store, every garage sale, every overpriced hipster boutique until your garment is restored to you," he vowed.

"You're the most ridiculous person I've ever met."

"It's all part of my charm."

"A little less of that charm and you might actually be a catch."

"Even for a debutante?"

Alex swam toward the stone coping and tried climbing out of the water. Tom helped her up and got her on her feet.

"Can you waltz?" she asked. He tried not to stare at the beige stripes of her underwear that were now visible through her dress.

"No, but I can figure out some basic footwork," he said. Alex put her hands on his shoulders and taught him the box step. They glided across the pool deck with a subtle spin to their movement.

"There's no debutante ball. Not for me," she said. Her eyes flickered behind her eyelids and she bent at the knees and caught herself. "I need to stop." Tom slowed and kept perfectly still for Alex to rest her head against him. "All this spinning."

He checked her pupils. She had the most unique eye color he'd ever seen: green tinged with hints of gold and silver. Then suddenly, she kissed him, clinging tighter than the wet fabric on his back. He kissed her chlorine-flavored neck, sliding his hand up the small of her back.

The moment abducted both their hearts. Nothing else mattered, not the high schoolers whooping at them, not the college-age kids telling them to get a room.

Tom swept her up in his arms. Even sopping wet, she felt as delicate as a stolen concubine.

"Take me upstairs," she said, and that was all he needed to gather the strength to carry her up a flight of stairs into a random bedroom. A few teenagers were snorting cocaine off a massive gilded mirror, but as soon as Tom shouted, "Cops!" they went running, no questions asked, one inadvertently kicking the mirror and sending remnants of white powder into the air.

Tom laid Alex on the bed and barricaded the door with a chair. He replaced the modern art to its wall where it watched over them from above an empty fireplace. He went to his pool nymph, unpeeling her wet dress, his fingers trailing gently against her back as he brought the garment over her head. By lamplight, he could still make out the soft details of her beauty. He stumbled out of his denim, hurrying before he blinked and she changed her mind or he woke up from what very well might have been a dream. They draped their clothes over the radiator to dry and were no longer the Dread Pirate Roberts and Princess Aurora, but Tom and Alex seeing one another for the first time.

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Music: Muse "Supermassive Black Hole"