Trick or treat; that was the theme of the night, only I wasn't sure which awaited me.

The black tulle from my Halloween costume itched along my midriff. I scratched my bare stomach, leaving behind thin red lines while Matt rushed around his bedroom, getting ready for work. He slept in after a late afternoon nap, and I didn't dare wake him when I changed into my outfit.

"You sure you'll be okay?" he asked, slipping his arms through his usual black shirt.

"Yes, I'll be fine." I placed my hand on his chest before he had time to close the last few buttons and raised on the tips of my toes to kiss him. "You'll be late for work if you don't leave soon." Not that I wanted him gone. If I had it my way, I would spend each second of my day with him. Every moment together had felt comfortable. Matt and I just clicked.

"That's not helping. I'll call in sick." His features clouded with genuine worry, but there was no reason for it.

His friends had only ever been nice to me. The last ten days were proof of that. After the coffee shop mishap, as Matt liked to call it, we had been inseparable and spent at least three of our evenings with his roommates. Liv, Freddie and Dan were fun to be around and treated me like we had always known each other.

"It'll be dead in there. No one goes out for Halloween."

"Stop lying to yourself," I laughed and combed his hair away from his eyes. "Go. Promise I'll be good."

Instead of crawling the overcrowded bars and clubs, everyone decided a house party would be easier. Matt and Zaire, not able to get out of work, would join us as soon as their shifts were over. I offered to spend half of my night at The Speakeasy with them, but Liv insisted she needed help at the house. The house she'd decorated on her own earlier in the week.

"It's not you I'm worried about. I don't trust them not to corrupt you."

"Really?" Placing one hand on my hip for emphasis, I cocked an eyebrow and shook my head. "Maybe I'm waiting for you to get back and do some corrupting."

"What?" Matt burst out laughing and pulled me to him. He glanced down at my scratches and moved us over to his bedside table. He squirted some moisturiser onto his fingers and massaged it into my skin, still laughing at me. "You crack me up."

"Yeah, sounded better in my head."

Matt grabbed his keys, wallet, and phone from the same area as the cream. "You call if you need me. Or Zaire. We'll both come to the house as soon as we lock up. But just shout and we'll be back quicker."

"I won't need to, but I swear," I said in a whisper as I planted a promise on his lips. Matt knew what I was playing at and groaned into my mouth. He dropped his belongings on the bed and gripped my neck below my ears, his thumbs caressing my cheeks.

"Knock, knock, knock," Liv announced as she popped her head round Matt's bedroom door. "Hope I'm not interrupting, but I have a witch to transform." She wiggled a makeup sponge in front of her face and held up a large makeup palette.

Liv was drop-dead gorgeous as a Harley Quinn lookalike. The ends of her bleach blonde hair dipped in blue and red, the suicide squad bombshell's signature colours.

I would put money on the fact Freddie was out there, dressed as a rip off Joker.

"Don't do anything stupid tonight, okay?" Matt squeezed my waist but pointed a finger at her.

"This again? Give over, Mattie. It's a quiet night in, just friends. Chill." She moved back to the door and dragged in a small makeup case on wheels. "We won't harm your girlfriend. Give us some credit."

"I never know with you lot. Just don't, okay."

I glossed over their little argument and focused on the fact she had called me his girlfriend and neither one of us corrected her. We hadn't talked about where our new relationship was going, but over the last week and a half, that's exactly who I felt I was to him.

Liv bent over with her legs straight, her perky arse hanging out the bottom of a tiny pair of sequin hot pants. Her bra was on full show from her gaping t-shirt. I glanced over to Matt to see if he had noticed, but his gaze was fixed on my midriff, his fingers still attempting to soothe the red marks that had appeared below my lace cropped bralette.

"Are they itchy?" He asked and crouched down to cover them with the softest of kisses.

I shook my head, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth. "Not anymore." My hand shot to my cheeks as I attempted to hide my blushing; his gesture feeling too intimate in front of his friend.

He placed one last kiss to my lips. "Bye, baby. Don't miss me too much."

My chest tightened, and I melted on the spot. Matt was truly thawing my numbed heart.

"Yep. See ya." I gave him a two-fingered wave and turned to Liv, my eyes pinched shut as I internally cringed. He gave me a 'bye baby' and that was the best I could do?

Liv waited until he left to mock me. She pushed me down onto his bed and tilted my chin up. "Well, that was painful to watch," she said, stifling a giggle.

I jumped when she attacked my face with her beauty blender; the white face paint she smeared on my skin, cold.

"He really likes you, ya know? None of the others have stuck around this long." She shaded a shimmery charcoal powder in all the areas you would usually use a bronzer and along my exposed collar bones. "He's had a few head cases the last couple of times."

"We've only known each other a couple of months," I replied, my voice strained as she clasped my jaw to apply a deep shade of plum lipstick to my mouth.

"But you've done more in those two months than most couples do and you're always together. You can triple the time." She stepped back and examined her work before starting on my eyes. "You just have to watch him look at you. So cute. He probably hasn't been this happy since–" Liv's eyes widened and she turned away to rummage in her makeup case.

"Since what?" My heart thumped hard against my ribcage, not liking the way her entire complexion paled at her words and she shifted uncomfortably on the spot.

She dismissed me with a wave and filled in my eyebrows with a black eyeliner pencil. "Oh, nothing. Just since moving here. That's all."

With a few more swipes of eyeshadow on and around my eyelids, Liv had finished my makeup for the night. I wandered over to a small hand mirror she had placed on Matt's desk and assessed her handy work.

The blue of my eyes popped against a combination of jet black matte powder and sparkly gold glitter. The winged eyeliner made my eyes look almost cartoon-like, but I didn't dislike it.

"I love it! Thanks, Liv!" I back-combed my hair, messing the dark mass up, and secured my witch's hat in place.

"You're welcome. Let me put this away and we can head downstairs."

***

Too scared the tulle of my skirt would catch under the heel of my stiletto, I bunched the fabric up high and glanced down to my feet as I carefully descended the stairs.

Three identical Harley Quinns burst through the front door and hurried into the lounge, holding bottles of vodka in one hand and vapes in the other, their laughter echoing through the hallway.

I took a deep breath in and followed after them. Everyone was gathered in the kitchen, the patio doors opened out to the garden. Dan, dressed as Batman, lined up shot glasses on the kitchen counter closest to the fridge. Freddie swooped in behind Liv and buried his face into her neck. Surprise, surprise, he wore a cheap-looking Joker costume, matching his girlfriend perfectly.

Scrunching my face up, I restrained a giggle as I found myself in the middle of a DC reunion. Halloween night and I was the odd one out as a witch. I counted four Harley Quinns now, including Liv, a Batman, a Joker, and two Poison Ivies.

"Trix, ma drinking bud," Dan shouted, extending a shot glass of luminous blue liquid. "Come grab a drink with me."

"This one better not be as bad as last time." I grabbed the shot and tipped it back. Mouthwash. That's all I could taste as the liquid slid down my tongue and hit the back of my throat. "You're awful at picking drinks."

"Hey, I'm not the barman. When's he getting back?" He moved forward and skimmed his fingers down my arm and rested them loosely on my hip. My skin prickled on contact and the acrid smell of alcohol on his breath hit me in the face. My personal space felt invaded, and I took a step back.

"Trixie, come meet my friends," Liv called out from the lounge and a wave of relief washed over me. I had never been so glad to be interrupted.

Dan seemed past drunk and not aware of his movements. I checked the kitchen clock. The night was still young. When did he start?

"Soon." I pointed behind me and backtracked out of the room. "Better see what she wants. Catch you later."

Liv sat in the middle of her Harley Quinn triplets - no, quadruplets - and a petite Cat Woman with deep brown hair. This was definitely some kind of joke. Had I missed a memo on a group costume idea?

"There she is. Girls, this is Matt's girlfriend, Trixie." She reeled off their names, but I never took them in as I went to correct her.

"Actually–,"

"Wow, Livvy. Did you do her makeup?" one of the blondes cut in. "You're getting better. That scar looks so realistic.

Dread seeped into my pores and I froze. Liv's words came out muffled. She slapped her friend on the leg and told her off through gritted teeth. Her friend shrugged and walked off, embarrassed. Cat woman looked up and offered a small sympathetic smile. I wanted Matt. Why didn't I just go with him to The Speakeasy?

I excused myself and hide in the downstairs toilet so I could catch my breath again. I was being ridiculous. Of course, someone might mention the massive scar on my face. It wasn't invisible. But for a split second, I had forgotten all about it, and that took me off guard.

Turning the taps on, I drowned out any noise from the party and counted backwards to calm my racing heart. "You are strong. You are beautiful. You are here," I repeated as I locked eyes with myself in the mirror.

I splashed some of the cool water onto my nape and shuffled out of my hiding place, hoping no one had noticed my small disappearing act.

"You look like you could use a drink," Cat Woman said as she held a bottle of beer out to me.

"Thanks." I downed half of it, welcoming the cold liquid as it coated my insides, and suppressed a rising burp behind a closed fist.

"So, you know Matt?"

"Yeah," I replied, following her back into the kitchen.

"He's lovely, isn't he? Always looking out for everyone. So helpful." Her features took on a look of tenderness, almost like she was talking about someone that might have been more than a friend.

"Mmm-hmm, yep. So helpful." I tried not to make my voice sound clipped. I didn't know the girl and knew Matt had been with other people before me. It wasn't her fault I was feeling uncomfortable. Anxiety slowly built up inside me and I was losing control of it. I just wanted to fast forward the night until I was wrapped around Matt in his bed.

An arm hugged around my waist and a chill ran up my neck as that pungent alcoholic smell hit me again. "Another shot, Trix?" Dan squeezed my side and placed a new shot glass under my nose.

I tensed my shoulders and shrugged him off. "Look, Dan. Get the fuck off me. You can talk to me without your hands."

"Wow, Miss Prissy. Just being friendly." Dan's eyes widened as he lifted his hands to block my verbal attack.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled heavily. "Sorry, Dan." I stepped back. "Just don't like being touched." Tears stung the corners of my eyes with the swirling chaos I kept locked away inside. "I'm sorry, okay."

Looking for a new escape and air, I drifted into the garden, but not before swiping a full bottle of red wine off the table near the door. I settled in one of the chairs under the arbour; the twinkling lights still going strong, stronger than my mental state.

"Fucking loser," I half chuckled, half mocked to myself as I swigged the wine directly from the bottle.

If I didn't stop these thoughts from spiralling, I would struggle to claw myself back out of the hole I had dug.

I only moved from my seat in the garden to get another bottle of wine and a blanket to hide under. The sharp burn coated my tongue, my throat, and my empty stomach. Shit, I forgot to eat again. Grateful for the patio heater the boys had set up earlier, I snuggled down deeper in the fluffy throw and closed my eyes.

The alcohol slowly numbed and pushed my feelings down, helping my mental dissociation.

Please hurry back, Matt.

***