Seeing Shadows (Shadows 1)

"Fine," Jenny acquiesced grumpily. She brightened as she looked around the room. "This places looks amazing! And I love the banner."

"Wait'll you see all the food Caitlin made," Sarah said excitedly. "Plus, she made cupcakes with your face on it!"

"What??" Jenny screeched as she ran over to the table of food. I had tried to recreate her face on red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting using candy, such as red rope licorice for her hair, and royal frosting to draw her eyes and lips.

Jenny literally jumped up and down in glee when she saw the cupcakes. I had to admit that the cupcakes did bear a striking resemblance to her. Well, at least as much as candy and icing could look like a person.

"I love it!" Jenny exclaimed, hugging me. "That must've taken ages! Thanks so much!"

I grinned at Jenny's enthusiasm. "No problem. Nothing's too good for the birthday girl." This was what I needed. A night with friends to forget about grisly visions and feelings of paranoia. Tonight would be a good night.

A knock indicated the arrival of more guests and we all gaped as Grant, Marcus and Simon stepped inside. They were wearing black fedoras, long black trenchcoats and black sunglasses. But the most startling part of their costumes were the white beards that were long enough to reach their jeans.

"ZZ Top!" Sarah squealed. "Awesome!"

Jenny laughed in glee. "You guys look amazing."

The trio looked at me and I raised an eyebrow. "You know the drummer doesn't have a long beard, right?"

Grant groaned. "Leave it to Caitlin to burst my bubble."

"Sorry," I said with an apologetic laugh. "Let me rephrase that. You guys look great."

Simon took off his sunglasses and winked at me. "Grant didn't like it when I told him the same thing."

"Don't be a spoilsport," Grant warned, but he was smiling. "We're using artistic license. It would have been boring for me to not have a beard too."

"It took enough of an effort to convince Grant that Simon and I weren't carrying around our guitars," Marcus added. "They'd probably end up becoming collateral damage by the end of the night with all the drunk people that's bound to be stumbling around."

"I'm gonna be the drunkest!" Jenny announced. "Let's get started!"

"Slow down there, tiger," Sarah said with an indulgent smile. "You need to pace yourself tonight. You don't want to pass out and miss all the fun."

Simon walked over to where I was sitting as the others gathered around the table and started pouring glasses of punch and beer. "A cat?" he guessed with a smile, looking down at me.

"Meow," I deadpanned. "I'm a very boring cat that couldn't be bothered. Hence the lackluster outfit."

Simon surveyed me with a glint in his eye. "I don't know about that. I think your costume rates pretty high."

I gave Simon a disbelieving look. "Did you start drinking before you got here?"

Simon laughed. "Didn't anyone tell you that it's the person that makes the outfit? And you as a person look pretty great."

I flushed. Would I ever get used to Simon's offhand comments that tilted me off-balance? "I'd return the compliment but I could never have been able to tell who the person was beneath all that hair." That was a lie. I could never mistake Simon's blue eyes for anyone else's. Even with the sunglasses on, I'd be able to tell it was Simon. Whether it was the easy grace of his body, his lithe movements, or the unspoken connection my body had to his, I would recognize Simon if he was wearing a paper bag. "But you do look pretty great. I just hope you're planning on wearing it during your show tonight."

"We'll see. I have a feeling I'll be ripping this beard off after an hour." Simon scratched his cheek. "It itches like hell."

I got up from the couch and motioned to the table. "Well, let's dull the pain with a drink."

By the time Simon and I had gotten our drinks, a beer and a glass of Blood punch respectively, more people had filed into the apartment. Pretty soon it was a full house. Some people chose not to wear costumes but plenty others went all out. I spotted one guy dressed up as a roll of toilet paper. He had fashioned a toilet paper roll out of brown paper bags and then wrapped white paper around himself about a foot out. I wondered how much paper he had wasted, and also thought that it probably wasn't a well thought out costume. No one could get near him because of the bulk of the outfit.

There were plenty of girls in scantily clad costumes and I lost count of the number of French maids and sexy witches I saw. I was glad that I hadn't let Jenny talk me into wearing the witch costume. I also saw plenty of people like me, dressed in regular clothes with a touch of Halloween, like animal ears or a clown nose.

Since I was technically one of the hosts, I mingled as much as I could but Sarah was much better at that. She moved around the room with ease, greeting people as they entered and making small talk. I deathly hated small talk.

So my conversations were mostly comprised of nodding and smiling as others talked. I knew almost everyone on a superficial level. I had even invited some of the people myself. People I was friendly with in class or co-workers from Colette's.

But the majority of people had been invited by Sarah, Jenny, Grant and Marcus. Grant and Marcus were sort of honorary hosts since we were all such close friends. I didn't want to think about whether Simon had invited people as well. Since he was in a separate major, I didn't see him at all on campus since the music and arts school was across campus from the business school. The thought of him having a whole other life with people I knew nothing about didn't settle well with me.