Fuck it.

I undid one more button of my white shirt, revealing more of the black, lace bra I was wearing underneath. Halloween costumes need to be faithful to the original versions, right?

And I think I did a good job, since all I saw in the mirror now was the legendary Mia Wallace.

I still have to add a bit of fake blood around my nose, but I'm pretty much ready. I've already straightened my hair and put some gel on it so it wouldn't fall apart.

Even though it's literally almost November, this evening was incredibly warm, kinda like in summer. As I said, I'm wearing a white shirt that's unbuttoned at the top, but just showing the skin there and only a bit of my bra. I also let it open to demonstrate my belly button piercing, so only about two buttons were done in general. And I liked it.

I decided to wear black, high-waisted shorts along with it and the-same-colored fishnet tights.

The outfit ended with black heels, just like Mia wore in the movie.

Looks like that (obviously) busted my confidence, but the ironic part is that I usually just don't feel like wearing them. Honestly, recently hoodies and sweats sticked with me more than the 'all eyes are on me' outfits. I guess that's because of all the rainy, fall days.

I watched my carmine nails in the mirror as I spread the fake blood around my nose. I rarely did matching nails to my lipstick, but tonight I had to. I really got into this whole Halloween thing.

I suddenly heard my phone vibrating, and I figured out it's Maxine texting me she's already somewhere near my house. The plan was for her to arrive at my place, so we could hang out a bit before the party and then Alex would pick us up.

He was the one to invite me to the party. Originally, my plan was to stay home and watch scary movies, but he said that some friend of Alice's is throwing a huge party and that it's more fun than watching old horror films. I, kind of reluctantly, agreed to go.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a shy person if we're talking about parties, but sometimes I just preferred to stay at home. I almost never attended any Halloween celebrations, and the term huge, means probably with the whole bunch of popular people I don't know, wasn't very inviting either.

But I decided to move my introvert ass and go have some fun. I did it mostly for Alex, because he's a great guy and I don't want him to lose interest, however dumb this might sound. I cared about him.

Going back to reality, my assumptions were right. I ran downstairs to open the door, revealing Maxine, or more like young, wild and free version of herself.

She wore some loose but cool clothes, her hair was braided and a bandanna decorated her forehead. I won't describe much here, just know that she gave off the vibe of smoking weed everyday and singing The Beatles' songs in the 70's.

"Holy shit," she mumbled, looking at me from head to toe, and up. "Who are you and what have you done to the good side of Elektra?"

I grinned and rolled my eyes, letting her inside. "You don't look too bad yourself. Actually, fucking awesome." I said sincerely, now doing the same thing she did to me.

"Yeah, I didn't really feel like anything fancy," she replied. "But you, oh my. Sexy on legs. Johnny's gonna lose his shit when he sees you-"

"I'm not going with Johnny." I interrupted her.

"With who, then?" she frowned.

"Alex." I casually replied.

She sighed. I guess that's because Maxine and Johnny don't really like Alex. I'm still trying to figure out why they don't, but I do. I truly do.

"I don't even know if Johnny's gonna be there." I added. That's true.

And even though I'm going with Alex, I can't help the feeling of pity that I won't see Johnny. Oh man, he really found the way to my heart and mind by being the greatest friend I could've ever imagined.

"I see." she murmured in response and only raised brows at my answer, not making any particular expression. "You know, I'm glad you found yourself a guy, but something feels goddamn off about this man."

We moved to the kitchen now and I asked Maxine if she'd like something to drink, as a warm-up. She nodded.

I opened one of the cardboards and pulled out a bottle of tequila and two glasses. Back in Poland we used to do this all the time before going to parties, or just for fun.

"Well, I mean, he's extremely sweet," I replied, trying to control the big smile dancing around my lips. "I'm sure you'll like him once you spend more time at the party together."

"Did you spend enough time to know if he's actually worthy?" she asked and I gave her a judging look. "Elektra, I just don't want your heart broken again."

I knew what she meant, but at the time I was thinking a lot about it, too. I'm having a hard time trusting anyone that much to date again, but he seems really nice. In fact, I can't help being more sure in that matter every time he makes me feel butterflies with all the loving things he says or does..

"What about Johnny?" she suddenly asked.

"What about him?"

"You know, he's pretty nice and I think you really like to spend time with him." she said and winked at me. I rolled my eyes while shaking my head.

"I'm still wondering," she continued. "How you are not dating him yet-"

"Maxine!"

"What?" she argued, throwing her hands up in the air. "I don't know if you could be more blind in this case."

Maxine believes that every single time me and Johnny are in the same room, you can feel the love in the air all the time and she can't understand how I don't see that. Well, neither can I understand how she sees that.

"We're just best friends and best friends only," I simply replied, pouring liquid into the glasses. "Besides, I don't even look at him in the other way." I briefly stole a glance at her.

"So, Alex is your type of lover?" she asked. I nodded.

"Zdrowie," I said before we clicked the glasses. Maxine replied the same thing and soon after the burning drink was traveling down my throat. So you'd know, Zdrowie in Poland is like cheers here.

Maxine seemed a little lost in thought, her brows furrowed, but fortunately she broke the silence not long after.

"Wanna make a bet?" she asked with a mischievous smirk.

I looked her in the eyes, "Over what?"

"That tonight, at the party," she started slowly. "something will happen between you and Johnny, which will make the walls of your friendship shake. Not in a bad way, but will prove you wrong and make me right of what we've just talked about."

I looked at her like she was crazy. "What are you, telling fortunes for living now?"

"C'mon," she encouraged. "25 Dollars."

I snorted. What would be the thing to supposedly happen? For sure not that we'd be too drunk and slept with each other, because we once already did it but Maxine doesn't know.

It really is a secret of ours. Though 'til this day I don't even know if me and Johnny actually did it.

Anyway, well, I don't think it would happen twice, so what I only saw now were 25 dollars in my pocket. But I have to be extra cautious of Maxine tonight, 'cause she's incredibly stubborn and would use every opportunity to prove she's right.

I'll prove she's wrong. There is no 'love in the air' or me feeling differently for Johnny than a friend would.

I agreed to the bet so we shook hands.

Finally, we heard the second doorbell. All of a sudden, butterflies took over my lower stomach.

It must be Alex.

I stood up from the chair, all smiling, and basically ran to the door. I still caught an image of Maxine rolling her eyes in the background, but I was too focused to finally see him.

In the doorway I saw my Vincent Vega, all dressed up in a black suit. He even agreed to dye his hair black for this night. His light blue eyes looked up at me. He held a bouquet of.. red roses?

"Hey Elektra," he started with a smile. "Ready?"

I also greeted him, trying to compose a smile on my face. I took the flowers, giving him a reassuring half-smile.

"Yeah, just gimme a minute."

I rushed to the kitchen to meet Maxine again, who has apparently poured herself another shot of tequila. She looked up at me worryingly.

"What happened? Why are you disappointed?" she asked in a whisper. I forgot how she can read through my expression like no one else. I carefully put the roses on the table.

"I'm gonna explain to you later," I replied. She nodded, standing up from the table.

Maxine greeted Alex as I took my phone, cigarettes, my jewelry and a jacket if it got cold. We all packed into the car the first thing I did was go through the radio, looking for some cool song so the ride wouldn't pass in awkward silence or something.

Although I didn't have to worry about that, since Maxine gets very talkative once she's already after some shots. But, to be honest, that's when you have the best conversation with someone, right? Especially with her.

I couldn't help but still glances at Alex while he was occasionally turning around to Maxine or just looking at the road. His, literally, ocean eyes shone tonight, perfectly contrasting with the black hair and suit. He wasn't the type to wear earrings or rings, or just jewelry in general, but he looked elegant. Very.

I bit my lip.

After something like 15 minutes we were finally at the house. It was obvious there's a party inside, since there were people standing in groups outside and a parking full of cars. Colorful lights danced from windows, but some other were just black, like there wasn't any light in that specific room. The mansion was huge.

Not long after we were walking to the main door, passing people smoking everything that can be smoked. I grinned every time I recognized a costume from some movie, automatically having respect for people who wore them. I felt like with some I could be friends.

We entered the building and I immediately saw that Alex wasn't joking with the term huge. It looked like a party they show in movies, means a lot of people walking around, talking loudly and drinking. I somehow only knew them by sight, none of them seemed more than that.

My left arm was connected with Alex's right as we made our way to less crowded space, Maxine right behind us. She actually sped up a little, offering me a cigarette. Of course I took it. She lighted mine and then her's.

We were about to collapse at one of the couches when my eyes suddenly noticed a man standing across the room.

I easily figured out he is dressed up as Count Dracula, by seeing red strains of, what I hope is, fake blood going down from the corners of his mouth. His slightly pale face contrasted with only a small bit of lightly smudged black shadow around his eyes. Damn, even if I knew the man I still probably wouldn't recognize him. It's like he perfectly fitted into the role.

But, hold on. For some reason these features seem familiar.

I fixed my gaze on the skin of his chest, showing thanks to the few undone buttons of his black, fitting shirt.

I went up, to the neck, then to a sharp jawline, and once again eyes. This time I gave it a good look, and of course I've seen them before. Many times, actually.

Johnny!

I felt my face lit up as well as my soul. I could never ever mistake these brown, almost black orbits with anything else. Right, it's Alice's friend party! Johnny is also Alice's friend, so it's pretty obvious he's here.

Suddenly he turned his head to the side, like on cue looking right into my eyes. He frowned, but then his face lit up the same as mine.

He recognized me.

His grin fell as his gaze slide down my body. It was replaced with his lips parting, or more like jaw dropping.

The guy that stood next to him, the one Johnny was talking to before he looked at me, seemed unbothered by his completely absent interest in the conversation they were currently having, as he kept talking. Johnny's attention was on me.

I caught a movement of his chest, looking like he breathed out erratically, and somehow I was also able to read his lips, which muttered only a short word.

"Fuck,"

The mesmerized look in his eyes almost even tickled my body. At the same time I wanted to hide and stand there forever, letting his gaze wander. I felt so incredibly appreciated, for some reason.

Jesus, get a grip!

Johnny snapped out of the trance as the conversation guy put a hand on his shoulder. The man told him something to which Johnny smiled, and then nodded, still stealing glances at me.

Then they both proceeded to leave the room. I saw Johnny cracking a smile at me and winking with his left eye. I giggled shamelessly as he muttered,

"Be right back,"

slowly, so I could read his lips since the loud music barely allowed me to hear anything at all.

Alex volunteered to get the drinks so we would properly start the so-called party. Within 10 seconds he was out of my sight and I wondered how long it'll take him to find the bar.

I must admit that music here wasn't so bad and the vibe is pretty nice, actually. Me and Maxine were sat on a comfy couch in, what seemed to be, the living room. It was an open space, tho.

There was a stereo and I saw earlier that speakers were placed mostly in rooms' corners. People were all over the place, some looking at the strange paintings on the walls and the other simply talking.

I looked behind me, through the window, and saw that there was also a pool party happening here. Blue light coming from illuminated swimming pool beautifully contrasted with the scary darkness of the night, showing even more people drinking and playing in the water.

Maxine was currently getting stoned beside me, as she said that recently it's been her favorite thing to do. I declined her offer and stayed on cigarettes. I don't think it's the right time of the night to get stoned. Not yet.

"Ms. Wallace," suddenly a deep, male voice started, making me tear my gaze off my phone I was quickly checking something on. I immediately recognized the voice and my head snapped up. "Am I right?"

I was met with the famous half-grin of a certain black-haired man. Only now I realized that the hair was combed in a way where it hid the, almost completely, shaved sides of his head. That's probably why I didn't recognize him in the first place. He just looked different.

I stood up with a smile and greeted him in a quick hug. I whispered in his ear,

"I hope you won't suck all my blood."

"Oh, I will try my best, but I can't promise anything. You truly look delicious tonight." he replied with a stupid smile and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Hey, man." Maxine spoke up with a tired voice, making me turn my head to look at her. Her eyes were already half-closed as a satisfied smile crept onto her lips.

Johnny chuckled, "Hi, Maxine."

I sat down on my previous spot while he took one on the armchair next to me. Not long after we started making a small talk, he pulled out a cigarette and put it between his lips.

I was ending my second one since I got here. I find cigarettes so calming, but also like the nicotine is pouring buckets of optimism into my brain. It's hard to explain, but it feels good. Steady.

"So, are you two here on your own?" Johnny asked, lighting his cigarette.

"Why, you wanna buy us some drinks?"

He grinned beautifully, "We'll see about that."

"I'm here with Alex, and Maxine just shambled after us."

"Hey, I feel offended." she blurted out, making herself more comfortable on the couch by laying her head on the opposite armrest.

Johnny's smile fell for a second when I said Alex, and a thoughtful, almost even sad look overcame his gaze as it dropped to the cigarette.

Fortunately a moment later a small smile returned on his lips, putting me more on ease.

"Right!" Maxine exclaimed like she just remembered something, popping herself up on elbows and trying to keep her eyes even a bit open. "Can you explain now why you were so disappointed earlier?"

Johnny shot her a puzzled look.

"Well," she began explaining. "Alex brought her flowers when he came to pick us up. But!" she raised her pointing finger up. "I could clearly see she was disappointed and she didn't tell me why. That's why I'm asking her now."

"I wasn't disappointed. He just-" I tried to say but was interrupted.

"What kind of flowers?" Johnny asked, glancing between Maxine and I.

"Uhm.. Red roses, I think." she answered.

Johnny's brows shot up and he let out a short, mocking chuckle. "What an idiot!" he scoffed. "You hate red roses."

"Ooh, that explains a lot." Maxine's head fell on the armrest, just for her to rapidly sit up again. "You see? He knows you sooo well. I won't ever believe it's not love."

"What?" Johnny asked, confused.

"Nothing, don't listen to her, she's stoned." I replied quickly. "Let me finish. I wasn't like, very disappointed, he just didn't know I don't like red roses-"

"Hate." Johnny corrected and I shot him a murder glance, making him sink into the armchair more and me smile.

"Johnny knows, tho." Maxine muttered so quietly I could barely hear it, shrugging her shoulders.

"Of course I do. I'm Dracula. I know everything" he countered, trying to play his manners as the legendary vampire. "In fact, I even know the best place you can buy newborn babies for dinner-"

"Johnny!" I yelled through the music, laughing.

"What?" he returned the grin. "That's what Dracula does-"

Already a bit tipsy, well, you can safely say dizzy (but not too drunk of course), I watched people take a shot of vodka one by one as they finished telling a truth or after doing a dare.

We sat in the circle in some room upstairs, which seemed even bigger than downstairs and had a lot more rooms. It was maybe 10 people here, most of them I knew.

Alex's back was resting against a white, expensive looking sofa. I sort of leaned on his chest, his arm around my shoulders. Next to me sat still half-stoned Maxine, Johnny sitting on the couch, and few other people who I met just tonight. They were pretty nice and actually cool to talk to.

"Johnny!" A girl dressed as Lara Croft yelled. "Your turn. Truth or Dare?"

He's been drinking too, but not much more than me. If anything, we were still conscious enough to see what's happening around us.

A brave smirk slid onto his lips as he leaned forward a bit, setting his elbows on his knees. "Dare."

Maxine sit up suddenly, "I've got an idea!"

She turned around and started exchanging looks between me and Johnny with a mischievous smirk planted on her face.