30 // Cinnoman Toast Crunch vs. Ted Bundy

"HEY, guys, do you think I look like a stripper?" Eva asked, throwing her gaze over her shoulder to the floor-length mirror hung up on the wall, posing a hand on her hips. Her mouth pursed as she sized herself up, humming thoughtfully, eyebrows pinched.

I blinked, meeting her gaze, and nodded. "Yes, definitely."

A devilish grin broke out across her face, her usual cherry stain temporarily replaced with a vampy black, and she pumped both her fists in the air championship-style. "Awesome!"

I snorted and rolled my eyes but failed to suppress the quirk that found my lips. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Eva took Halloween as a holiday bestowed from the gods, and was devouring every opportunity to be sexy-anything. Her poison of choice this year was sexy-devil, which consisted of more lingerie than actual costume, all red and black fabric with too many cut-outs for the cold October night. Which was exactly what she was going for.

Savannah giggled, closing the ballerina-pink gloss she had glittering on her lips. To the exact opposite of Eva's sexy devil, there was Savannah's conservative angel costume, with an ivory flowing dress down to her knees and blonde hair cascading down her back in beachy waves. It was almost ridiculous how in character they were, especially tonight, as Eva had stuffed condoms into my backpack while Savannah was packing water bottles.

Stretching my arms above my head and cracking my neck, I lifted to my feet. Despite the fact that it was nearing ten and night had completely devoured the sky, my veins were buzzing with anticipation. Excitement for the night to come was flickering in my stomach, licking up my ribcage and sparking in my lungs, knowing that it was my second chance at a drunken midnight rendezvous with Tyler. Every single teenage rom-com I'd seen in my life had prepared me for tonight- and this time, I was not going to let it go.

"Tyler's face will be mine tonight!" I pumped my fist in the air, eyes to the ceiling in determination.

Eva's face mimicked mine, her hand closed in a fist. "Tonight we will come, and we will conquer!"

We both nodded to each other, a moment of pure understanding that surpassed any verbal communication, and Savannah burst out laughing, shaking her head at us. "All right, well, we should go. Don't want to be late for apparently the most important night of your lives."

Before I could say a word, Eva dropped to her knees and threw her hands underneath Savannah's bed, only to come back up with a ridiculously large, clear bottle between her fingertips. Her heavily lashed eyes were sparkling and a mischievous grin curved on her face as she cradled with bottle in her hands. "I think we're set for vodka," she chirped.

"What? When did you put that ther- oh, just remember to keep hydrated," Savannah said, warily eyeing the bottle, to which Eva was too busy memorized with to hear. "My sister said she'd drive us back and she'll never forgive me if anyone throws up in her car. I'm pretty sure she loves that thing more than me."

I clapped her on the back and cast her a reassuring grin. "She definitely does, so we'll keep it a throw-up free zone."

Savannah paused for a moment, eyes shining with apprehension, but then nodded her head. "All right, okay, senior year Halloween party, let's have fun!"

We all clambered into Savannah's sister's car, who gave a sneer at Eva's costume and earned a heated glare from the tanned girl for the rest of the drive. The blonde's sister looked nothing like Savannah, with mousy brown hair, thick-rimmed glasses, and a permanently up-turned nose, she was less than entertained by the idea of Halloween, which worked out for us to get a free ride. Although hearing her continually put down the holiday one after another was getting difficult as I had to restrain Eva in the back seat, who was struggling beneath my arm, ready to pounce even if it cost everyone their lives.

When we finally pulled up to Tyler's house, I grinned. The windows glowed underneath the dark sky and shadows danced across the panes, echoes of all the people inside. While the last time had been just two breaths from disastrous, there was a part of me that felt that tonight was going to be different- that my luck was finally going to change.

"Let's go, I'm sure Brianne is so busy, so we don't want to take up any more of her time, because it's a Saturday night so she obviously has so much to do," Eva drawled, defiantly crossing her arms over her chest and pointedly looking away from the brunette in the driver's seat, who was sending back sharp daggers in glare form.

Savannah shot a wary smile at her sister, hands clapped together. "Thanks for driving us, Bri! I really appreciate it!"

The older girl rolled her eyes and just as Eva opened her mouth to say something else, I pushed open the car door, grabbed Eva's wrist and dragged her outside. I did not plan on walking, thank you very much. Eva grumbled but still allowed herself to be tugged out, keeping her smart remarks to a low mumble under her breath.

I was glad I'd brought a jacket, since summer had died along with the leaves, and the oncoming gold, orange, and red also meant a poignant nip in the passing breeze. I shivered as it crawled underneath my sleeves and wondered how Eva was able to stand so calmly with her skin exposed to the bite of autumn.

She noticed my look and impish grin found her face. "I had like, four shots when you guys weren't looking. I'm pretty buzzed. I feel nothing."

Just as I was about to say something, Savannah's hands were on the smalls of our backs and pushing us towards the door, eyebrows knitted. "Well that's reassuring, now let's go in. Before you guys catch hypothermia!"

Inside was very quintessential raging teen party , with red solo cups, sweaty skin, and a catchy melody playing in the background that was easily drowned out by the cheers and cries of too-drunk teenagers. The hallway was already crowded, with flushed faces and swaying knees, and I could see Eva's eyes light up as soon as we stepped through the door.

"Ah man, first party of the year!" she beamed, eyes sparkling.

I was about to correct her when I remembered that I'd been alone last time, and decided to keep my mouth shut. That wasn't something I needed to get into.

There was another vibration in my jacket pocket but I ignored it, already knowing the culprit without even checking the screen. Reese had been bombarding me with texts all night, all that had been ignored, mostly because I didn't want to give Savannah or Eva any questions to who was hogging all my attention. All my friends were in the room- there were no excuses.

The tanned girl was rummaging in my bag and then held up the bottle of vodka, a grin splitting across her face. "Shots!"

Savannah gave a weary glance and followed quickly behind as Eva darted into the kitchen. Tonight, if anything, was bound to be interesting. And so with a low chuckle under my breath, I followed after them, hoping to be of some assistance to Savannah who was probably going to be chasing Eva all night mother bird-like.

Just as I was about to set foot in the kitchen, my wrist was captured and I was tugged back into another room. A disgruntled cry left my lips as I was swallowed into the darkness, the door slamming shut and closing me into the room. Inside I was met with only pitch black and a threatening silence, and so I ripped my wrist out of the person's grasp and posed my arms in front of me, mouth clenched and heart hammering against my ribcage.

"No means no! I do not consent to this! My body, my decision! Touch me- I'll rip your fucking hands off and choke you out with them!"

A light clicked on, and I peeked up to see Reese standing there, head tilted. "Is that any way to speak to your best friend?"

Immediately my face dropped and I narrowed my eyes at the boy who was grinning casually and scratching the back of his head, as if I was the one who was acting crazy in this situation. He was dressed as Spiderman, somehow I wasn't even that surprised, with a tight red and blue suit that seemed to meld to his body. It was times like this that I really wished that he wasn't as athletic, because there was some definition in his general stomach area that I knew some girls would be into, and really, that would just be annoying. Only because of the whole set-up we had. No other reason.

I cleared my throat.

"Why? Why do you always do this? Why can't you communicate like a regular human being? Christ, I almost punched you in the face," I sighed, half-wishing that I'd just taken the opportunity.

His brows were furrowed and a look of irritation crossed his face. "I've been trying to get in contact with you all night!" he complained, looking at me with accusatory eyes. "Why haven't you texted me back? I sent you like, fifteen texts!"

I crossed my arms over my chest, shifting my weight to one hip. "It's not my fault you're like a crazy girlfriend who expects a text back every five minutes. I have things to do, Powers. Stuff. That doesn't excuse kidnapping."

Reese paused for a moment, a thoughtful look crossing his face, and then slapped the back of his hand against his forehead with a groan. "I suddenly understand how girls feel now. It's the worst. Stella, you're the worst boyfriend ever."

I rolled my eyes at him, not even bothering to be undignified by his words. This was all becoming weirdly normal. "Well, no worries, you've officially been dumped then. Now get on with it, what's so important to you that you have to pull me into the closet, you creep?"

"Well, while you were off frolicking-"

"Frolicking, really, you're going with frolicking?"

He continued, unhindered, pointedly ignoring me "I have actually thought of a plan, because I'll have you know, Sandavol, tonight is prime-time. This is lead up to the big game, I'm talking Super bowl is coming and we're in."

I regarded his hands with distaste as they appeared on my shoulders, gripping onto me as he demanded my gaze with a look of pure, unadulterated determination. Pressing my lips together, I shot him a look. "Just making sure- you do know that this isn't a sports movie, Spiderman? You're getting all confused. Why aren't you wearing the mask, anyway?"

"One, this is a sports movie. Two, why would I rob all the ladies here from seeing my beautiful face?" he asked, a cheeky grin finding his mouth.

"Didn't we talk about the ladies thing? The super serial killer vibe that gives off? Seriously, it's very Hannibal, and very creepy," I advised him, still hyper-aware of the fact that his hands had not moved, and we were standing in a closet with very little space between us.

Apparently personal space was not a thing in the hell that he had been spawned from, judging by the way he was constantly invading mine.

"I- stop, you're distracting me. I'm telling you, I am the man with the plan. And the plan is that you are going to make out with someone. Tonight."

The weak light above did little to illuminate, but with the close proximity it was impossible to ignore the fierceness melded into his amber eyes. For a moment I was taken back, as his words touched the air and I was forced to make sense of them, his grin seemingly demanding it

"Uhh, Tyler?" I guessed, but found myself swallowing as soon as I caught his gaze.

"Not Tyler, literally anyone else. This is the practice match before the big game-

"What do you mean not Tyler? That's the entire point, that's why we're doing this, did you miss the memo?" I asked, unable to stop the bewilderment that seeped into my voice. It was even more unsettling that his grin refused to falter, and his words continued to hang in the stale closet air.

"I mean, not Tyler. Now, wait first- didn't I say for you to dress sexy? What is this? What are you even?"

Reese's hands finally dropped from my shoulders and he took a step back. As his eyes fell up and down my body in a way that was exasperating in itself, I could practically see his weak brain trying to make sense of it. As the seconds passed and the quiet continued, I felt the confidence that I had been harbouring hours before begin to falter.

"It's- look, the cereal boxes, and I have this knife-" I grabbed the large, plastic knife I had stuck into my back pocket, covered in fake blood, "I'm a cereal killer."

When I looked to Reese, he didn't laugh, as I had expected, or well, hoped, honestly, when I'd put the costume on, but just an unsettling look of concern. His brows knitted and his clasped hands were pressed against his mouth. "Stella, I said sexy," he murmured.

"I- humour is sexy! That's a thing!" I protested, feeling the burn of indignation crawl up my cheeks.

"People don't watch porn for the hilarious one-liners, Sandavol. And no one wants to fuck Jeffery Dahmer."

"Black is sexy, I'm wearing black!" Despite the objection, his face looked less than convinced, and I felt a groan building up in my throat. I was hoping that the black skinny jeans and long-sleeved black shirt could be sexy in their own way, they were tight-fitting at least, but apparently not enough so for Reese.

Whatever, I thought it was hilarious. And I spent so much time taping tiny cereal boxes to my body.

He drew a sigh, and then nodded his head. "Okay, that's okay, we can work with this. We've done worse before." I couldn't help but feel as if I'd been phantom sucker punched in the face again. "All right, now, to get on with what I was originally trying to say before you so rudely interrupted me like a million times-"

"Keep talking and I'll Green Goblin your ass."

"I'll be honest, although you might surprise me here, but I just feel- Stella, how many people have you kissed?"

I was suddenly very away of his uncharacteristically serious eyes boring into mine and immediately I could feel myself go on the defense, especially with the implications hiding behind his words.

"I have kissed people!" I insisted with a gasp, a frown weighing down my face, especially with the pointedly skeptic look that Reese was casting me. "I have! Brennan- Brennan Chambers, I kissed him. Once. And yeah, we were both really drunk, and also he bit my lip and I got a fat lip which was like, super weird and kind of less than enjoyable but- hey! That counts! Stop giving me that look! That is kissing experience, okay! I wasn't the one that was bad there! He was!"

There was a distinct burn of humiliation that was creeping up my neck, smoldering my virgin skin in a way that was only further spurred by Reese's pointed doubt. It pissed me off even more that he wasn't even intentionally making fun of me, he just looked sad. As if it was some lost little puppy in the rain.

"I want to believe you, trust me, but Stella, we can't take that chance. You're gonna have to go in and do some reconnaissance. I can't throw a newbie in the front lines and hope they're gonna make it. That would just be bad coaching," he said, punctuating with a tired sigh, as if he truly had been staying up late going over plays and rewatching matches.

"This is my love life! This is not football! I can kiss someone! Seriously! That is the one thing I feel confident, if nothing else. If you keep insisting otherwise, I might punch you in the face. On purpose," I warned him, eyes darkening.

He lifted his hands in innocence, but his gaze refused to back down. "Just make out with someone,  that's all I'm asking. Just to be sure! If you're so good, prove it. Pick any guy that's not Tyler, and just make out with him. Like, five minutes."

I crossed my arms over my chest and grumbled, restraining the temper-tantrum that was simmering in my bloodstream. "But I don't want to make out with anyone other than Tyler," I whined, a pout pushing out my bottom lip.

"We all have to make sacrifices here."

I couldn't restrain the eyeroll that followed, as Reese's face looked more as if he was talking about body parts than misplaced kisses, but still couldn't allow myself to surrender. "This is Tyler's house- what if he sees? Or Savannah? Or Eva?"

A grin broke out across his face, his thumb jabbing towards his chest. "Leave it to me."

As all my articulate objections evaporated on my tongue, irritation replaced them, and I groaned. "But-"

"Stop talking! No buts! Stella, you are making out with someone tonight, I don't care, whether I-"

He paused mid-sentence, his eyes meeting mine, and I could see him swallow the words back down. There was a beat of silence that flooded between us, brimming with something I couldn't quite put into the words. "Whether you what?" I asked, blinking, curiosity causing me to lean forward with piqued interest.

"You're making out with someone," he maintained, nodding his head. "And then you can finally be the star quarterback I know you've always been this entire time."

"You do realize this would be the worst sports movie ever, right?"

"No it wouldn't, Stella, I'm in it."

I was going to need that vodka Eva brought, like, now.

***

hey guys! so, a week late T.T i was so on a roll lately and everything, but i've also been dying of sickness and either in pain/high on cold medication/knocked out by meds, so writing has been kind of impossible.

also this is a very long chapter again ahaha, but! the next chapter- guys, i'm so excited for it. it's been a chapter i've planned since the very beginning, and it's going to be super fun. there's teen drinking so really, you know it's gonna be fun, ahaha.

anyways, i hope you guys like this chapter! i'm still like, floored by how awesome you guys are (188K????) and you are all too awesome. T.T  and 30??? this is a milestone i never thought i'd reach and you guys are such a big part of how i could keep going! and although i've been tired, i've still been reading your comments and they're seriously making me feel so much better, so thank you!!

any predictions for next chap? c: