Page 77 of Back To You

He knows how proud I am of him.

But as he lets me go, I take his face in my hands, looking deep into his ocean eyes, and I tell him anyway. “I’m so proud of you, bartender.”

He raises a brow at me, and his lips curve, his smiling making butterflies—the good kind—take flight in my stomach. “Won’t be able to call me that for much longer.”

“Not when you’re a fancy coffee shop owner,” I answer, bringing my lips to his and kissing him softly, not caring that his PDA tendencies—which are just as bad as, if not worse than, his stalker ones—are rubbing off on me.

“You love me?” he asks against my lips.

“Of course, I love you,” I say back, leaning back to see his grin.

“Say it again.”

“No, I just said it.”

“Please?” he playfully begs, his grin fading and his bottom lip jutting out.

I roll my eyes, but I give in like I always do because it’s like saying “no” to a puppy. “I love you."

Chapter 30

Luke

Annie headed over to Drew and Emmett’s early to help set up for the party, so I didn’t get to see her when I got home from my Saturday shift at Lenny's.

It’s not a bad thing though because she wouldn’t have let me leave the apartment if she saw my costume.

The night we decided that this year’s Halloween party was going to be a villain theme, my mind started reeling with all the different costumes I could see Annie in, and all the different costumes I could wear to match her.

She shut down the coordinating costumes that night, and she didn’t change her mind—even when I asked her almost every day for the following two weeks.

She also wouldn’t tell me what she was dressing up as, knowing that I would find a way to make my costume match with hers.

Little did she know, I saw the purple suit jacket and green hair dye she hid in the closet of her old room—the room that went back to being a guest room after I moved all her stuff into my bedroom when she was gone at rotations. I knew she’d be too tired when she got home to argue.

All she said was how she was going to make a mess and not clean it up.

I told her I signed up to clean up her messes the second she let me be her boyfriend.

I put two and two together, knowing the girls watchedSuicide Squadand only one of those characters is known for that purple and green color combo, I figured out my costume relatively quickly.

Going with the version of Harley Quinn that they use in the movie, I picked up blue and pink spray-on hair dye on the way home, spraying one on each side of my head.

I figured no one wants to see me in shorts that show my ass and fishnets, so I opted for a more gender-bent version, wearing respectable-length black shorts with the red and blue jacket I was able to find at a costume store, and my favorite part of the costume being the little change I made to the iconic “Daddy’s Little Monster” t-shirt.

I know Annie will think I look ridiculous, but it’s her fault for not thinking I was serious about us doing a couple’s costume.

I’m getting Rosie ready in her Waluigi costume—Eddie and Mia dressing Daisy up as Wario—when my phone vibrates. Grabbing it from the front pocket of my jeans, I see it’s a text from Annie to grab the cupcakes she put in the fridge, so I make sure I do before I head out the door with Rosie, ready to show Annie how fun couple costumes can be.

***

Because I had to work until 8 p.m., I’m one of the last to arrive. I walk through Drew and Emmett’s front door, finding a dark kitchen and living room, the place lit up with colored lights to give the party a spookier vibe.

Drew and Emmett’s place is perfect for a Halloween party, already decked out in dark colors with gothicdecorations. They added a few more themed ones for tonight, with everything from pumpkin-shaped plates to bat cut-outs on the walls and cloth ghosts hanging from the ceiling.

I say my hellos to everyone as I walk in, getting the whistles and laughs when they see my costume. I say hi to Drew’s brother, Cal, and his wife, Emma, in matching Slytherin robes, before making my way into the living room and find Mateo, Mia’s brother, and the other Cross My Heart guys, Theo and Silas, dressed up as Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Hannibal Lector.

Lacey, Drew’s friend, is dressed as Dr. Frankenstein and her husband, Tyler, is the monster, and Eddie’s sisters, Lucia, Carmen, and Isa are dressed up as three villains from the Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo, HIM, and Sedusa.

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