The sound of thunder interrupted Dana and Katie. Katie reluctantly pulled away from Dana, Dana chasing after Katie's lips in response. "Was that thunder?" Dana nodded, looking up to the sky. "Why does it start storming whenever we kiss?" Katie pouted turning to Dana. "Maybe it's a sign."

Dana shrugged. "Yeah that or we just live in a town where it happens to rain a lot," she suggested shrugging nonchalantly. Katie sent her a disapproving look making Dana's shoulders rise in defense, "It could happen. Haven't you ever seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose?"

"So now you're comparing us to a horror movie. Wow, why don't you tell me how you really feel?"

Dana couldn't help but laugh at the sarcasm in Katie's voice, and Katie couldn't help but smile at the sound of Dana's laugh. Dana hated it her laugh, but Katie had discovered how much she loved that sound. Katie would have lost herself in Dana's laugh and eyes if the door below them hadn't opened and Zach hadn't walked out.

The mini-Mason, dressed in a Kid Flash costume, looked around calling for Dana, but turned to walk back inside after failing to see her seated beside Katie on the low roof. Dana leapt off of the roof and onto the deck nearly giving Zach a heart attack as he collapsed to the ground with a shriek. Dana couldn't contain her laughter as she extended her hand to help Zach back to his feet.

Zach was barely on his feet when Katie hopped down from the roof and startled him again. Dana stopped Zach from falling a second time, catching him before he could reach the ground. "Where did you two come from?" He voice broke. "And are there more of you?" He spun around, his head whipping back and forth.

Dana laughed at Zach again. "No," she shook her head, "it was just us two. We were sitting on the roof talking." Dana explained to him.

Zach adjusted himself, attempting to literally shake the incident off. "God I hate Halloween."

"Let's go, kid." Dana smiled, ruffling Zach's short black curls, and led him inside. Katie followed the two inside before sneaking away and finding something besides Dana to occupy her time.

Katie was talking to a few people when Jesse wrapped his arm around her from behind. "Hey babe, where've you been?" Katie almost gagged, smelling the obnoxious amount of alcohol on his breath.

"Jesse," Katie pushed Jesse off of her, "you reek!" She whined at him. The people she was talking to awkwardly dismissed themselves and left Katie to fend for herself. Jesse was attempting to kiss Katie's neck, but she continuously pushed him away and slapped his wandering hands away from her.

Several people saw Katie struggling with Jesse, but they ignored the situation. Dana, obviously, would have run to help Katie if she had seen, but Zach and Marissa had Dana's attention in another part of the house. Dana wasn't aware of any kind of struggle until she heard Grace yelling at Jesse.

Dana, along with Zach and Marissa, ran to find the source of the yelling. They arrived in the room just in time to witness Mason tossing Jesse out of the door, and Eddie lying on the ground with Grace by his side attempting to help him. Dana ran over to Grace, asking what happened.

"Jesse's an ass is what happened!" Eddie answered, standing up with Grace's aid. Eddie used the back of his palm to wipe blood from his nose. Grace then proceeded to examine Eddie to ensure he was okay. "I was talking to Grace when out of nowhere, he attacked me." Eddie further explained.

"He's drunk," a mousy Katie spoke. She was timid all of the sudden and her voice was barely over a whisper.

"Well thank you, Sherlock. We wouldn't have been able to solve that one on our own without your brilliance." It was clear to everyone that Eddie became cynical when angry.

"Eddie!" Dana scolded him. Eddie's dark eyebrows were furrowed in anger. The only time he would relax them in the slightest bit was when Grace would say something to him or reach to wipe the blood away from his face.

"No, it's okay." Katie's mousy tone spoke up again, "I'm sorry guys, I'll go try to get Jesse to calm down and take him home." Eddie didn't break his glare with Katie as he watched her walked out of the door with Dana following soon after.

Dana walked out to witness Katie sigh and sit on the front steps. Dana jokingly followed suit, sighing then sitting next to Katie. Katie felt herself smile slightly at Dana. "What happened?" Dana's quiet voice broke through the silence.

Katie shrugged at first before answering, "I don't really know. Jesse was trying to be handsy with me, but I kept pushing him away. Then he spotted Grace and the next thing I knew, he had hit Eddie out of nowhere."

"So, is it like a tradition for you and Jesse to go to one of Grace's parties, one of you get wasted, you two break up, and then someone gets punched?"

Katie chuckled slightly. "Well I guess I can still say no to that. We didn't break up."

"Oh I know that, but the night is still young and I am still hopeful." Dana shot Katie a smile that caused Katie to shake her head in the most adorable way, according to Dana.

"What time is it anyway?" Katie asked.

Dana glanced at her phone. "Uh, about three past twelve."

Katie chuckled slightly to herself again. "Well I guess it's true then; nothing good happens after midnight."

"Well, that's not necessarily true." Katie's eyebrow rose out of confusion. Dana looked up at the sky and explained, "Your constellations – the big and little dippers – they're right in front of us. It's the fall so they're close to the horizon." Dana traced the constellations with her finger. Katie smiled to herself and rested her head on Dana's shoulder, and then interlaced her fingers with Dana's.

☼ ☼ ☼

Eddie was now sitting on Grace's kitchen counter. Grace walked over to him with a small first-aid kit. They had failed to notice the cut in Eddie's forehead before. Somewhere between Jesse's punch and Eddie hitting the ground, Eddie must've hit his head on something that caused it to bleed.

Eddie had his legs spread slightly as he was lightly drumming the counter in between them with his hands. Grace found a spot in front of Eddie, surprising him. She reached up without speaking and wiped the blood off of his forehead with gauze.

Eddie's drumming paused as soon as Grace stepped front of him. He studied her face as she continued to tend to his small wound. He couldn't help but want to kiss her. He had been talking to Grace, in a strictly platonic way, for a while now. They had become good friends, but Eddie couldn't help the urge her had to kiss her whenever he saw her. He was a hopeless romantic, and he had fallen for the wrong girl – and he knew that.

Grace reached into the first-aid kit and retrieved a Band-Aid. She placed the bandage gently on Eddie's forehead. "Well the good news is it's just a small cut. Nothing a Band-Aid can't fi-" Grace's words were cut off my Eddie's lips. At first, Grace was reluctant, but then she kissed Eddie back. Grace tangled her hand in Eddie's short, and now messy, hair. Eddie hopped off of the counter, due to his height advantage over her, and picked her up and put her in his place instead. It wasn't long before their kiss became heated.

"Eddie?" A voice snapped Eddie out of his thoughts.

"What?" Eddie asked with apologetic eyes, gripping onto the counter in an attempt to distract himself from his daydream.

Grace couldn't help but smile at him. "I said the good news is you'll survive." She released a small laugh.

"Oh...right." Eddie's breathing was slightly irregular, and his heart raced. Grace turned to close the first-aid kit. Eddie regretted speaking before any words even escaped his mouth. "Grace," he clenched his jaw in regret, "what...what would you do if someone kissed you?"

Grace tilted her head slightly, questioning him. "I don't know. It depends on who it was that kissed me."

Eddie's breathing was still slightly off, and he began to stutter. "W-What if it was a friend? Not Jesse. A guy, obviously, but not Jesse."

Grace smiled at Eddie's awkwardness - she found it oddly charming. "I don't know." She smiled again, this time somewhat teasingly. "I guess he would just have to kiss me, and then we would both find out." Grace left Eddie to return her first-aid kit to where she had found it.

Eddie wanted so badly to chase after Grace and kiss her. But he didn't. Eddie was more hopeless than romantic. He wasn't like the guys in the movies. He wasn't the type of guy to sweep girls off their feet. Eddie was more awkward and shy than those guys; he wasn't cool. Eddie sighed to himself, realizing the kind of guy he was and the kind of girl Grace was.

She needed someone who deserved her – someone suave, and cool, and mysterious – but that wasn't Eddie. He just wasn't her Prince Charming.

Eddie remained on the counter, sulking in his own thoughts. Zach entered the kitchen with the intent to find something to snack on, but rerouted his objective when he spotted Eddie. Zach grabbed an extra water from a bucket full and reached one out to Eddie. Eddie's eyes followed Zach's arm up to his naïve face. The corner of Eddie's mouth lifted as he accepted the water. Zach turned and hopped on the counter, plopping next to Eddie.

"You okay?" Zach asked him. Eddie nodded, lying to both Zach and himself. Eddie didn't open the bottle of water in his hand. He fiddled with the bottle, but he had no intention to drink it. "You know," Zach spoke up again, "I get how hard it is to catch feelings for someone and think they want someone else."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Eddie slouched, lying once again, and placed his elbows on his knees before running a hand through his disheveled hair.

"We're dominoes." Zach stated blankly. Eddie twisted his head and furrowed his eyebrows. "This town? Our high school? Even our own friend group – we're all dominoes. Each of us falls for someone who falls for someone else and it creates this huge effect where everyone is unhappy and pretending like they're okay. You're allowed to not be okay."

"Zach," Eddie sighed, "I appreciate the analogy, but how is that supposed to cheer me up?"

"Because," Zach shrugged, "dominoes don't fall forever. It's an initial reaction and after we're all done, we're able to take a step back and realize that while we were running ahead someone was chasing after us this whole time."

Eddie inhaled deeply and sat up straight, analyzing Zach's words. "There's just one problem with that theory. When this is all done – no matter how it plays out – in a line of dominoes, someone is bound to get hurt."