91. Dress-Up Parties

I've always loved Halloween. You get to dress up as something you're not, take on a new identity for a night. I bought a hideous ankle-length suede vampire costume and splurged on a $20 pair of fangs. These weren't just any fangs. They came with these plastic balls I had to boil and melt and then pour them into the fangs and fit them around my canines until it dried and hardened. They fit perfectly. And they looked eerily real. They weren't the tacky long ones, or the plastic ones that cover all your teeth. They were barely longer than my real teeth, and came to the perfect point. They came with a coffin case.

Once my teeth were perfected, I grabbed the scissors and went to town on the hideous suede getup, cutting it to mid-thigh with a slit up my hip. There was a tacky netting on the top, which I cut off and added a plunging neckline.

I pulled on a pair of fishnets and popped my fangs in and voila: sexy vampire. I'm usually not one to put the sexy spin on my Halloween costumes because I don't like to show a lot of skin, aside from cleavage (this year I thought about going as Dora the Explorer), but I felt like living in NYC warranted a dirty costume.

The week before Halloween, Maleah and I showed off our costumes at a monster bash at Crash Mansion, hosted by a group Maleah volunteered with. She went as a sexy Cleopatra, and looked even more naked than I did in my vampire get up. The scene wasn't as hopping as we'd hoped, so we downed our free drinks, shook our asses on the dance floor, and peaced out before 1 am.

Then we headed to the Crocodile Lounge, and we kept our jackets buttoned up because, surprisingly, everyone else was saving their costumes for the next weekend. I kept my fangs in because I kind of liked them.

We met up with Alexa and a few of her guy friends, one of whom looked like Tony Parker, but less gigantuan. Light brown skin, light eyes. Yes, please! I felt him watching me as I leaned over the bar to buy a drink. I gave him a sideways glance and flashed him a hint of fang. His eyes lit up. I grabbed my drink and pulled Alexa along to the ladies' room.

"Dude, who is that guy?" I asked, nearly piercing my lip with my fang.

"Which one?"

"Umm, the sexy light-skinned one, who else?"

"Oh, that's Duncan. He's one of J's friends, I just met him tonight. But yeah, he looks good!"

We touched up our makeup in the cloudy mirrors. I glanced at Alexa. And by glanced I mean I checked her out. She was hot! Yes, this is the same Alexa I ended up moving in with when I moved to Brooklyn. She's Dominican with the prettiest face attached to a body any girl would die for. Lucky bitch. Duncan would probably be all over that.

Oh well, I didn't need another guy to add to my boy drama, so I enjoyed my drinks with my girls and flashed Duncan one more fang-peeking smirk on my way out the door.

The next weekend we went all out. Alexa maneuvered her way into a skin-tight dominatrix outfit, complete with leather whip and spike-pointed black heels. Maleah and I resorted to our costumes from the week before, which was probably a party faux pas, but we didn't give a shit. We started the night at a pre party at a friend's apartment near Times Square, then we cabbed it to a venue called Espace for Perez Hilton's Halloween Bash.

I can't say I remember the whole night, but I do remember seeing Perez and then bringing home a Justin Bobby lookalike with a British accent. Yum. (No, not Cayden. And no, we didn't have sex. I'd still only slept with Will at that point.)

I saw the missed calls from Will on my phone and immediately felt guilty. While he was probably doing something low key like refusing to wear a costume to a house party in Oklahoma, I was at Perez Hilton's party and then hooking up with a random stranger. I couldn't do it anymore. I had to end it with him. And I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to tell him I met someone. That was the only way he was going to let go and move on.

Now I just needed a someone, so I wouldn't be completely lying.

Just then, I received a text message.

"Hey, do you want to grab a drink after work tomorrow with me, J, and Duncan?"

Why, yes, Alexa. Yes, I would.



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