All Hallow's Eve
Keywords: All, Eve, Hallow's,
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I was sharing an apartment with sister just off campus and had been racking my brains for a week now, pondering what I was going to do for Halloween. It had been three years now since I followed through on a pact I had made with myself to not let my favorite holiday go by without taking full advantage of it. On this one special day, society sets aside it's social hang-up and actually seems to become more acceptable to those who normally wouldn't step outside what society deems as normal. This essentially allows some of us to express a side of themselves only alcohol can normally bring to the surface.
But here it was just four days short of All Hollow's Eve and no particular parties around the school or off campus was shaping up to meet my particular criteria. I wasn't normally a party kind of guy, often drifting to the edges and clinging to anyone I knew instead of mingling. This all stemmed from a childhood in which I thought I was different and spent my energy shying away from other kids. The solo act continued throughout school and carried on into college where the frat life had no appeal. My sister, despite being outgoing and popular, did me a favor and chose to go in on an apartment together. Costs were tight and my sister, unable to live a solitary lifestyle that I found necessary, had been conspicuously absent most of the semester despite making her classes.
Upon cross examination, it became clear that she was hanging out at a sorority across campus. On the rare occasion that she wasn't in class, working or at the sorority she would stop by the apartment and dig into whatever I had cooking on the stove. Tonight, however, she had brought two of her friends home and the three of us made due with the pizza I had ordered. Fortunately I often lived on the stuff for days and ordered enough for plenty of leftovers.
My sister Katie was a year older and her blond hair and blue eyes didn't hurt her popularity. As I often heard from my friends, her five foot four, petite frame and short bob haircut certainly didn't hurt either. Her friends Laura and Melina, both tall brunettes, had had similar lives growing up in suburbia and shared in being popular as well. I had the pleasure of meeting most of the sorority gals and the rest represented the entire spectrum from tall to short, thin to heavy, athletic to voluptuous. Every creed, color and nationality seemed to be represented and on the extremely rare occasions that they had parties at the house, I was left drooling at the possibilities.
Despite being an introvert, I seemed to be comfortable around the group and thought for sure that some type of relationship would blossom. My best efforts seems thwarted at every turn and I often wondered if the fact that my sister was an honorary 'sister' had worked against me as much as I had hoped it would work in my favor.
The meal had transpired like many other where we had guests and although there were three women sitting at the table around me, my mind continued to wonder, the distraction it seems didn't go unnoticed by any of the three.
"What's up with your brother?" Lisa asked, as though I wasn't sitting there. I would have thought it was only fair considering I was eating silently, not really tuned into the conversation over pizza.
"Not sure." My sister replied without looking at me. "Could be any number of things I guess."
"Should we ask him?" Melina inquired.
My sister shrugged her shoulders and took another bite as I continue to sit there quietly, my mouth full of unchewed breadstick. I was wearing a smirk on my lips as I watched all three picking at their meals.
"I'm sorry." I said apologetically.
"He speaks!" Melina mocked, winking at me teasingly. We smiled at each other for a moment but I knew, in no uncertain terms, that nothing was going to develop between us. I could feel two other pairs of eyes on me now and I turned to find Lisa, seated across from me, watching with an amused look on her face, and my sister, seated to my left, showing an unidentifiable mix of emotions.
"Give it up. What's with the you tonight." Katie asked.
I shrugged, which I'm apt to do, but all three could sense there was more to it. I have to give Lisa and Melina credit but Katie knew I why I was riding in my own world solo tonight.
"Just pondering this weekend and trying to figure out what I'm going to be doing and so far I'm coming up dry."
I turned my gaze down to the my plate and poked at the crust with an extended index figure as though trying to find it appealing once again.
"We're having a party Sunday if you'd like to come." Melina offered.
This revelation snapped my head up where I met her eyes looking for any sign of deceit. Any other time, my sister was spending weeks to talk up events at the sorority, trying to get me to commit. I was getting better about going now and I couldn't think of any reason why she wouldn't have mentioned it. I shot locked on her with a glance but it was her turn to exchange uneasy glances between her cohorts. Her eyes darted my way for a second before returning to her plate.
"I don't think he's . . . ready for our All Hollow's Eve party this year. Maybe next year."
I looked at all three but couldn't figure out what they were referring to.
"Ready?" I queried. "How exactly does one get ready for a Halloween party?"
Lisa's mouth opened, possibly getting ready to utter some clue but the only sound I heard was my sister verbally stepping in.
"The All Hollow Eve's party isn't your ordinary sorority affair. It's . . . intimate and by strict invitation only I might add." She said, as though admonishing our guests.
They both nodded, as though feeling guilty of some unseen indiscretion and became quiet, finishing off the food that was left on the table.
"You're joking, right?" I asked incredulously. "How exactly does one prepare for a Halloween party?"
"It's complicated." Lisa tried to explain, but it was clear that I wasn't going to let a perfect opportunity like this just slip away since I didn't already have a plan in place.
"In addition to it being a party there is some role playing that goes on." She further tried to explain, suddenly struggling with finding the right words, her hands turning as though trying to mold the right phrases in front of us. Eventually, she exhaled deeply as though frustrated.
"Well?" I prodded, eager to find out exactly what I had to do in order to qualify. I wasn't sure why I suddenly needed to be at this party but as much as my sister resisted, I only insisted.
She continued to stammer and the only thing that came out was, "We'll see."
That seemed to satisfy the three of us at the table who looked at one another with wide smiles of satisfaction although there was something else coming from Lisa and Melina that I couldn't identify. It was better than an absolute 'No' and I knew that with four days left I could hammer away at her reluctance and ensure my invite. The only problem, I knew, would be finding her. I couldn't get to her in class, but I was often in the coffee shop where she worked and would hound her until she finally gave in.
"I said, we'll see." She responded, reading the sly grin on my face and knowing exactly what you happen next.
The rest of the evening was uneventful and I was once again alone in the apartment with only my books to keep me company this evening.
My eyes were getting tired and the thought of hitting the sack was interrupted by the ringing phone. Living in a college town, I was used to it going off at all hours of the day and night and had become accustomed to unplugging it and relying on my cell phone for any emergencies that might come up.
"Hello?" I said.
"It's me. You've been formally invited to the party on Sunday. Be here, at the sorority at 4 p.m."
"Starting early?" I asked.
"Yes. We always start getting ready in the afternoon and knowing your discomfort for being out in daylight 'in costume' you can get ready here, the girls have volunteered their room. I assume you were planning on getting dressed up for Halloween again this year?"
I didn't want to sound too excited so I stopped for a second as though pondering my answer. "Yes."
"I suspected as much."
With nothing else to say, she was going to hang up but she must have sensed my apprehension.
"Did you tell them . . . what I was planning to wear?" I stammered.
"Of course I told them. I tell them everything!" she replied, knowing she was just getting me fired up.
When I didn't reply, she let me off the hook.
"Don't worry about it. Just bring your costume and assorted accessories and be here promptly at 4 p.m. I know you're never late for anything, but if you're not here promptly at 4 p.m., the bus is leaving without you."
"Bus?"
"Figure of speech. Just bring your stuff and be here at four."
She hung up without another word. I dropped the phone back in the cradle and did my happy dance in the kitchen, relieved that my plans were set and that they were with a group of people with whom I liked to party. I reached up, unplugged the phone, set the deadbolt, switched off the light and called it a night.
I had managed to keep my heat in the game as the week wound down towards the weekend, but my heart wasn't really in it. It was especially bad as Saturday ticked away and I was forced to blow off my studies and just crash out in front of the television. I tried to sleep in Sunday morning as late as possible but the butterflies in my stomach sprang to life the minute I came away and there would be not more rest today. I got up, ate leftover pizza around noon and wiled away the hours as they passed excruciating slow. Three o'clock finally came and I got ready and packed a large shopping bag with everything I would need tonight for my costume. As was often my habit, I climbed into my car ten minutes earlier than necessary and found myself parked in front of the sorority house fifteen minutes before my appointed time.
"Strange." I commented to myself. The house looked much like it always did, only a front lawn full of colorful, fallen leaves giving any hint that it was fall.
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Keywords: All, Eve, Hallow's,