By the time we made it back down to the party through the now-miraculously unlocked stairwell doors, I was wearing a much-too-tight Bill of Rights costume and Emily was wearing my much-too-big suit. Her hair was wild from what we’d just done, and her lips looked swollen and pink.

She slapped my ass through the costume and squeezed hard. “I knew you’d look good in this.”

I laughed. “Well, I know I’ll be the last one to get stabbed if this turns into a Halloween massacre, at least.”

“Is it even Halloween anymore? What is it, two in the morning? Three?”

I looked around the empty building where less than a tenth of the original crowd still lingered. It was in the deep stages of the aftermath of the party. People lounged in corners, clearly far too deep into their drinking. Some still danced, but it was to music over the loudspeakers now instead of from the live band. Others simply sat and talked.

It felt more personal and far less crazy.

I dragged Emily by the hand through the fog and past the witches huts I’d had set up. I found us a relatively quiet spot and gave the universal signal for “want to dance?” I tucked my arm behind my back and extended a hand, which I’m sure had a much less compelling effect when I was wearing her goofy costume. Still, she smiled and took my hand, letting me pull her in close.

“This isn’t exactly romantic, slow dance music,” Emily said.

“Well, well, well.” Steve emerged from the hut beside us and dusted straw off bare chest. He was wearing a leopard print kind of underwear. The girl who emerged behind him wore the same print on her scantily-clad frame. “Do I detect a costume swap?”

“What happened to Jenna?” Emily asked.

The girl behind him crossed her arms and glared. “Yeah, Steve. What happened to Jenna?”

He gave her an easy smile. "My sister is fine, thanks for asking. Come on, Tarzette. We need to leave these two lovebirds to keep awkwardly staring at each other. It looks intense."

Steve dragged the girl away before Emily had a chance to call him on his lie, if she was even planning to.

“Tarzette?” she asked me. “Does he really think—”

“Probably.”

Emily clapped her hands to her mouth. “Oh crap.” She said. “Weren’t you Lilith’s ride?”

I cringed. “I mean, she could’ve called a taxi if she was really ready to go, right?”

“Lilith doesn’t do taxis.”

“Do I even want to know why?”

“Probably not. But we need to find her. She is not pleasant to be around when she’s in a bad mood.”

I gave Emily a skeptical look. “If you’re trying to convince me that the version of Lilith we normally see is her in a good mood, I’m not buying it.”

We eventually found Lilith glaring at a computer screen in an office to the side of the room where the party was held. The door should’ve been locked, but the broken window said Lilith didn’t really care about that minor detail.

“Uh,” I said as we stepped through. “This was your handiwork, I guess?”

“Uh, no,” she said dryly. She didn’t look up from the screen at either of us. “It was like that when I got here. No idea what happened. Must’ve just been a big gust of wind that blew my shoe right through the thing.”

“Lilith,” Emily said calmly. She was walking toward Lilith over the crunching glass at her feet like Lilith was a wild animal. “We got locked in the stairwell, or we would’ve come back to the party sooner. Please don’t be mad.”

“You got locked in the stairwell and thought maybe her vagina was the lock and your penis was the key, and it took you a few hours to figure out that wasn’t working?”

“We didn’t sleep together,” Emily said.

“I’m sure there was no sleeping. Too much penetration for anyone to fall asleep. Right?”

“What exactly are you doing on that computer, anyway?”

“Trying to hack it so I can destroy William’s stupid company.”

“Since when do you know how to hack?”

“I don’t,” she snapped. “But I know how to guess stupid shit William would use as a password.”

We eventually managed to drag Lilith away from the computer, and while she wasn’t kicking and screaming, she was giving us looks that rivaled any horror movie villain. If anyone was the person to stab you in your sleep, it was Lilith. I made a mental note to do something nice for her down the line, if only to avoid the whole knife to the face thing.

Driving the car in the costume was difficult, but I managed. I guessed if we got pulled over I’d probably have a hard time talking myself out of a ticket, but considering I was nearly naked beneath the costume, I didn’t exactly have a choice since Lilith was in the car.

After I dropped off Lilith, I took Emily to her apartment and walked her to the door.

“Thank you for tonight,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I definitely didn’t expect, well, this.” She gestured between the two of us.

“Sometimes the unexpected parts are the most fun.”

She nodded, but her eyes looked a little sad. “Let’s hope so.”

I gave her a bit of a confused kiss goodnight, and walked back to my car with her last words playing on repeat in my head. Making a deal to break up with a girl I was rapidly falling for was confusing enough, but trying to decipher her own feelings about the arrangement might as well have been like reading hieroglyphics for me. I guessed the best I could do was try to stop worrying and just enjoy the time I had. After all, I’d had plenty of practice at doomed relationships. This was just the first time I knew when and why it was going to end ahead of time.