The early partiers showed up at seven. The hardcore ones tend to show up at eleven or midnight. The bar was almost at full standing capacity despite already having made space for standing bar tables and a dance floor for people drunk out of their minds. The designated drivers of the night were either sitting at the bar and sulking, or relaxing in one of the booths guarding their friends belongings and drinks. Either way they got to avoid the bumping and grinding and snogging going on in front of me.

Dottie had already snapped at a few handsy partiers. Sasha had thrown out a few of them and most of the people here who'd seen him stomp out the kitchen doors wearing black with his flaming chef's hat were wary, to say the least.

We didn't really have a DJ to play the party but usually the crowd coming here was looking for a cheap fun time with no cover charges and no ID checks. I would glance at a few here and there for posterity's sake, but honestly I was enjoying the atmosphere.

The guys were flirting with me in an attempt to get my phone number, the girls were flirting with me to give them free drinks. The drunks were flirting with me incoherently, but I was an expert in that language so I would just hand them another drink and send them back to the dance floor. The designated drivers were trying to flirt with me to lure me over with their sob story of being sober. Atleast the drinks were a hit. Not that all these already drunk people knew what they were chugging anymore.

It was way past midnight now. We were almost approaching one. Dottie was clearly losing her mind having to run around in heels, Miranda had worked for a while and then been picked up by one of Dottie's friend to be taken back home at twelve. Sasha was running around in the kitchen keeping up with the mad case of munchies these horribly costumed people had.

Something that looked like a cockroach walked up to me, slurring every word it spoke. I nodded. "Two taps. Coming up."

I did recognise the thanks as he took the glasses and walked away, sloshing more than half of it on his very brown suit. I eyed a rogue ice cube on the dance floor. All these drunk auras were mixing together. Greens, blues, pinks, oranges but all of them a muddy and dull. It felt like I was looking at the world through a screen with the wrong settings.

The bell dinged, I barely glanced up from the margarita. "Happy Halloween." I mumbled half-heartedly, as I dipped the glass in salt.

"Happy Halloween, Ryleigh."

I barely made out the voice through the throbbing music, but I recognised it. My head shot up and a sharp tingle of electricity shot down. "Trace?" I spoke breathily, surprise taking over. "What... What are you doing here?"

He laughed, shirtless with red suspenders leading down to bright yellow pants and... He was a sexy fireman. "You look amazing." He grinned at me, looking over whatever was visible from the other side of the counter. "The eyes..." He tapped his cheek. "... are a good effect."

The sclera lens weren't actually as uncomfortable as I thought they'd be. "Uh, thanks." Did I dip this glass in salt yet? "You look pretty hot too."

"Thanks." He snickered. "Nice pun too."

"Right..." I... wasn't thinking. My mind had gone blank with the mix of exhaustion and a hot guy in front of me. "Uh, yeah. I'll get to your order in a minute."

"Oh, sure. Take your time. My friends can wait."

I grabbed the shaker, filling it and starting to shake it as I turned to him. "What friends?"

Trace snickered, rolling his green eyes. "Hilarious. They're right here." I turned to look at where he was pointing, seeing a bunch of them standing in the corner talking. They were all laughing.

One of them glanced back to look at Trace, meeting my eyes and immediately turning away. "Uh, you never told me about them." I poured out the margarita, placing it beside the drunk girl heavily leaning on the counter. "Who are they?"

"Oh, yeah." He caught the girl's eyes again, waving her over. I could see some reluctance in her form, but one of the other guys pushed her over. They all walked up to Trace, smiling and waving at me. Two girls, two guys and a Trace. To be exact, one Joker, one Batman, a witch and a... cat? It was the usual lingerie and animal ears combination with drawn on whiskers. She did have a really hot body. I could see abs. Wow.

"Nice to meet you guys." I dried my hands on a rag, reaching over the counter to shake each of their hands.

"Hey, I'm Hansen." The guy dressed as Joker. He actually had a bit of an accent.

"Ethan Garner." Batman. Clearly close bros.

"I'm Elena." The girl dressed as a witch.

"I'm Gabriella." The barely dressed cat-woman.

"Nice to meet you guys." I met the witch girl's eyes again. "I like your hat."

"Really?" She turned slightly red. "I like your horns. Your eyes look super cool too. A demon, right?"

"Yeah." I ran a hand through my hair. The horns were starting to hurt my head. "It was Dottie's idea."

"Who's Dottie?" Gabriella asked.

I pointed at the girl weaving through the crowd with two trays of empty glasses. "The other demon."

"Oh." Her head snapped around to watch Dottie as she disappeared behind the kitchen doors. I think she liked her.

A tired sigh escaped me as one of the sober people sitting at my bar waved me over. "You guys find a place to sit and figure out what to order. I'm busy."

Trace frowned as I started to walk away. "You're not going to sit wi-"

"No, Trace. I don't have time." I cut him off rudely. This place won't empty out till 4 atleast. I was tired of my costume already. I couldn't actually get tired because I couldn't actually get sleep, but I was tired of this place. I wanted to go home. I wanted my bed.

Trace was still standing where he was when I came back to ring up someone. He smiled at me. "So, are you too busy to have a drink with us?"

"Clearly." I replied curtly, mentally tallying up the total cost of the designated driver and his group of very drunk friends.

"Okay. So should I order?"

"Yeah, sure. Give me a minute."

"Okay..."

About five minutes later, when I'd given the bill, collected the cash, returned the change and already collected a new order. I returned to Trace. "Alright. What are you drinking?"

"Right. Two Halloween Hard Lemonades, one Eyeball Martini, one white wine and one beer."

"Give me a few. I have another order to handle."

"So, does this mean I can talk to you a bit?"

I looked up as I picked out a few glasses, letting myself return his tentative smile. "Sure. Yeah. What's up?"

"You look very hot, by the way."

I laughed easily. "That came up already."

"Right. I'm sorry you're very distracting tonight."

"It brings in the tips."

"I bet it does." He paused, green eyes narrowing slightly. "You, uh, haven't given anyone your number right?"

"Why would I?"

"Right." He shrugged. "Just asking."

"Stop being jealous or I might have to kick you out." Confusion crossed his face. "I don't let boyfriend's drink at my bar because I've had fights break out before."

"Well, that's awful. But..." He held up his hands in a sign of peace. "I'm not going to start anything at your workplace. I'm fine with this." He smirked. "Because the real deal is only reserved for me."

I felt myself to turn red, looking down at the drink I was making. "So, uh, what did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing, really. I was wondering if I'd be the lucky guy to take you home today."

I sighed. "I told you about this, Trace. We all stay here for a short party and then we head home."

"Right." He nodded slowly. "I forgot. But this means you have today off, right?" I just nodded that that, distracted with juicing lemons. "So, you're telling me..." He raised an eyebrow as I looked up. "I can have you to myself for a entire day."

"Not really." I shot him down again. "I like being alone after huge nights like this. I shuddered, placing the prepared drink on a tray. "Just the thought of more socialising after all this..."

"We can be... alone together?" I snickered at that, I could see him shaking his head to himself out of the corner of my eye as I turned away to deliver the tray. "I should rephrase that." He sighed as I walked back to start preparing his drinks. "I mean, we can just relax and take a day off together. I don't have any work for a while, we can just... do nothing together."

"That..."

He continued before I could. "At your place, maybe. It would be nice to finally see it."

"Right." I grimaced. "Sorry about putting it off so much. I was planning to call you over for a very nice dinner sometime after this."

"Sounds good. So... we on for tonight?"

I gave him a sheepish grin. "Don't get mad at me... but no. My place is a mess. And I mean it when I say I want a day to myself. I'll call you sometime tomorrow, but I literally can't deal with people for about 24 hours after..." I had to pause to gesture to the absolute human mess around the place. "...this."

Trace turned to look. I could see some disgust cross his face as two people started sucking face right in front of him. "I think I understand."

I let out a genuine laugh at that, cocking my head as I finished making both the hard lemonades. "Great. Tell me a bit about your friends. They seem..." My eyes flickered to a booth at a thise. The Gabriella girl was staring... or glaring at me. "Interesting."

"We were all a part of the same courses for webpage designing and we all just somehow stuck together."

"Why haven't you ever brought them up before today?" I placed a mug under the tap. "I have literally never heard about them from you."

"Oh, we've all been busy with our own shit for a while." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away for a bit. "I was surprised those guys invited me out last minute. This is last year's costume."

"I like it anyway." I replied absently, making the Eyeball Martini, which was literally just a normal martini, but with olives that were coated in icing sugar and with the pit in to look like an eyeball. Not my most creative hour, but some classics are classics for a reason. "Anyway, what's up with the Gabriella chick? She seems... intense."

"Said the girl wearing full black contacts." He looked back at me, something unknown crossing through his eyes. "They're very creepy."

"Yeah." Lou was the inspiration. "I just felt it would be something interesting."

"It is... interesting." He sighed again. "Anyway, there's nothing to hide about it- Gaby and I almost dated."

I whistled lowly. "Almost dated? That's always a precarious set of words."

"You're telling me." He laughed, I could see he was uncomfortable. "I was into her at the beginning, but it didn't last for me."

"So, she's still into you?" I asked, placing his tray of drink orders on the counter.

He shrugged, wrapping his hands around the edge of the tray. "Maybe? I don't know, honestly. My feelings for her faded away so... you don't need to worry about competition."

I burst out laughed, shaking my head as he said that and turning towards some waiting customers. "Right. Like I'd fight for you, Trace."

"Well, are you really my girlfriend then?"

"You want someone to fight for you, sponsor someone in the WWE." I rolled my eyes. "I trust you not to mess up and I'd rather you keep it."

"That got pretty intense pretty fast." I heard Trace say to himself as he walked away. I guess that was on me.

The crowd started fading away as it got close to three. The only ones left were the sad drunks, or the romantic couple drunks who were slow dancing to the EDM blasting from a playlist I made online. Dottie was also finally able to slow down a bit on her feet. I was actually now barefoot behind the bar and she was wearing my clunky two-sizes-too-big boots and clomping around cleaning up plates and streamers and fallen decorations and somehow, still carrying out food. One of those groups was Trace and his friends.

Once the barstools had cleared out, I caught Trace's eye and waved them all over. They grabbed the drinks and food and walked over to the bar, planting themselves down on the barstools. Trace smiled at me, leaning in expectantly. I smiled back, leaning in for a quick peck that sent some refreshing sparks down my body.

"So, you're finally free?" He asked first.

"Not really." I gestured around the place. "There are still people, which means there are still drinks to make, which means there's a very long night of clean up." I sighed as I glanced down at the mess by my bare feet. It was wet, and cold and the lemon seeds were poking my feet. I hadn't had a chance to head to the back and get the sneakers I'd worn to work this morning.

"And then your mini-party with your colleagues, right?"

"Yeah." I paused to point at his friends. "Do you guys want anymore drinks?"

"This lemonade is pretty good." Joke-I mean, Hansen, spoke up first. "Can I have another?"

"Sure."

"Make it sweet."

"Got it."

"I'd like one of those lemonades too!" Elena piped up. "I had the martini, but I want to try that. These are limited edition drinks, right?"

"Yeah. No more of them from tomorrow."

"You mean today."

"Oh, right." I shook my head to myself
"Sorry, I'm a bit out of it."

Ethan snickered. "The alcohol fumes getting to you?"

I fake-snickered back. "Yeah, definitely."

I heard a stool shift. Gabriella kept her voice low as she spoke up. "Uh, hey Elena, come to the washroom with me?"

"Sure."

I watched them leave out of the corner of my eye, almost zoning out as I made the new drinks. Hansen thanked me, placing Elena's drink where she'd been seated. I pulled up a stool as well, sitting down in front of Trace. This was a strong feeling of deja vu from this same move. I hadn't heard from Mike and Lou in ages. I'm so glad they didn't come in today. I couldn't handle Lou doing the stupid snap and order thing. Dottie would have been mad, and I would have been mad too, of course... maybe. I don't know anymore. My emotions have been pretty flat lately.

Trace smiled at me. I returned his smile with a wobbly one. "So, what are you guys going to do after leaving this place?"

Hansen and Ethan glanced at each other. "We'll head back home. It's pretty late."

"Yeah, they're right." Trace shrugged. "It's pretty late."

"Who's your designated driver?" I looked over the three. They'd all been drinking. "Or do I need to call a cab?"

Ethan laughed, gesturing to the washrooms at the emerging girls. "Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Gabriella is driving us home today."

I raised an eyebrow, meeting her eyes. "Weren't you drinking beer in the beginning of the night?"

"Uh, yeah." She tapped the table, breaking eye contact for a few moments. "I'm fine. I have high tolerance. And..." She met all her friends eyes in the classic 'is she joking' way. "It's not like one beer ever got anyone drunk."

"No, it didn't." I slid off the stool as a drunk couple approached the register. "But it has read on the breathalyzer and gotten people DUIs. You guys should probably get cabs."

"Nah." She flipped her hair, it made her cat hairband shift. It was now slightly askew. "I'm not wasting cash on a midnight cab."

"Then I'm not getting blamed for getting caught by the police." I retorted, stopping in front of the register and trying to catch the drunk couples probably double vision. "Just give me a moment to get your drinks tallied up."

It took a bit of maneuvering, and Dottie having to help out the two swaying guys to find their wallets. It took quite a bit of time to pay off their bill and then I joined forces with Dottie to wake up the sleeping drunks, the barely-able-to-walk drunks, the one girl passed out in the bathroom to get them out of the bar.

I returned to sitting with Trace and his friends, knocking up a casual conversation with them about their lives. Gabriella barely spoke. She didn't seem to enjoy my presence. Seems like she still liked Trace.

I tallied up a few more bills, turning to Trace after the last couple had left the bar. "You guys need to leave too now. We need to clean up."

"Got it." Trace nodded, starting to stand and reaching for his back pocket. "I'll jus-"

"I'll pay." Gabriella hopped up before him, walking right past him and taking a spot in front of the register.

I shrugged, her enthusiasm was weird but I'd rather not deal with her. "Cash or card?" It matched her mostly red aura.

"Cash."

"Great." I handed her the bill, waiting patiently for her to read it.

She nodded, pulling her purse open and rifling through the notes in there. That's a lot of cash to keep around. "So..." I looked up from the purse as Gabriella started speaking. "How late does this place normally stay open?"

"Midnight, usually. I don't have a lot of evening customers."

"Is that so?" She closed her purse, counting out the notes once again. "No one stays beyond twelve?"

"I do." I shrugged, trying not to yawn at this forced small talk. The aura was shifting. The green and brown were in sharp contrast to the bright red. "It takes me about twenty minutes to clean up so it's usually a bit beyond-thank you-" I paused to take the notes from her, counting it out myself "-a... but beyond twelve."

"So, occasions like this..." She trailed off.

"Yeah. Only festivities. Christmas, New Year, St. Patrick's Day- any major drinking holiday we all tend to stay a bit late." I looked up from the register, handing her the change. "Here you go."

"Thanks." She put it all back in the purse, giving me the fakest smile I'd seen tonight. "Have a good night!"

"Thanks. Drive safe." I replied, trying not to make it sound super dry.

I walked out from behind the counter to kiss Trace goodbye before he left. I waved them all off at the door, before closing it behind me. The place was empty. Dottie was seated at one of the barstools with the leftover chaos of a party around her.

Placing a hand on my waist, I smiled at her. "When do you want to get to this?"

"After I've eaten, had approximately two very strong drinks and after that... maybe never."

I laughed as she said that reaching up to tug off the headband. I exhaled in relief as the pressure from the plastic band vanished off of my head. Placing the horns on a table, reaching up to massage my temple and dissipate the migraine that had crept in sometime after midnight. "Fuck... I'm so tired."

Dottie groaned with me. I heard the loud thud of my boots hitting the ground. "Yes but... Sasha has been running around all day cooking. I can't imagine how tired that man is."

I cracked open an eye as I heard the kitchen door slam open. Sasha was standing there with five plates of food perfectly balanced on his arm. "I... am fucking... tired."

"We know." I chuckled, meeting his brown eyes and standing up as the scent of the fresh food hit my nose. "Now get that food to mama."

"Make a drink, Ryleigh." Sasha pulled up a chair and a small table up to Dottie. I tugged my boots back on before slipping behind the counter and started preparing a few tequila shots.

I almost made one for myself before remembering that I was still supposed to be sober. I just replaced the shot with water and took a shot of it like it was actually alcohol. Sasha and Dottie were too tired to notice.

It took us a few hours to clean up. The sun had risen by the time the entire restaurant and kitchen was spotless. We let the tables and chairs stay where they were. I stuck around to watch those two get into cabs. They were really tired and very out of it. My body was over my exhaustion already. If I'd still been able to sleep, I would have somehow trudged home and passed out right on the sofa without removing my makeup.

My stomach growled, hungry for a heavier breakfast after all of Sasha's goodies. But I was out of groceries at home, and in no mood to cook. So I called a cab and headed to the cafe where Trace and I had our first date. Antonio would be happy to see me. And he'd let me use his completely clean, untrashed, not-still-smelling-of-barf washroom to clean up. I'd removed the lens. They were really starting to dig into my eyes. The maximum recommended use for those was supposed to be eight hours anyway. I'd almot hit twelve with them.

I found an empty table as I reached the cafe. The waitress recognised me and was nice enough to let me use the bathroom to change out of my dress from last night. I'd figured I'd been fine wearing it all the way back home but it was actually turning out to be pretty hot today. I don't think I could wear something that thick. The harness underneath it was digging into my skin too.

When I stepped out of the main restaurant building, there was someone sitting at my table. A tired sigh escaped me as I recognised that black head of hair. If my backpack wasn't kept there, I probably would have headed straight for the exit right from here.

I collapsed onto my seat, meeting those familiar dark eyes above a familiar smirk. I'd be happy to see him any other time- any other time being before closing time, but here he was. Crashing my breakfast.

"Good morning, Ryleigh." He cocked his head. "Sorry I missed your Halloween party. I heard it was pretty wild."