The Halloween Party From Hell

"Do they always have to play Thriller? Other Halloween-appropriate songs exist, and it loses a lot without the music video."

Claire laughed, and threw an arm over her girlfriend's shoulders. "Variety is for the arts, not high school halloween parties."

Maria shrugged, relaxing into her hold. "I'm just saying, it makes the party feel like a set up for every crappy Halloween Slasher ever. We could have just stayed home and watched Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, like sensible teenagers."

Tom and Dave plopped down on the couch next to them. "And been interrupted by the doorbell every five minutes. Or roped into taking the kids Trick or Treating."

Most teenage Gay couples were cautious about PDA. Dave threw himself into in such things with the same wild abandon as diving into a pool for regional swimming competitions. "Pretty sure that's why we're here in the first place, because I am not dressing up to match whatever couples' costume my six-year-old sister has in mind this week, and my parents banned me and Tom from matching."

Tom was part of the Musical Theatre crowd. He could have sourced any number of costumes to match whatever Dave wore, but refused to dress up on principle when his parent joined the ban on matching with his boyfriend instead of his much-younger sister.

Claire and Maria had been sensible and dressed up as Elphaba and Galinda from 'Wicked', since the homoerotic relationship was technically just subtext, even if not a single fanfiction writer viewed it that way.

A zombie ambled past on the way to the punch bowl, arm in arm with a Sexy Nurse, whose outfit made Claire, the daughter of a Nurse and an Anesthesiologist, hold back a remark about how no nurse who'd passed their first CNA placement would be caught dead showing so much skin. It only ever took one instance of being covered in bodily fluids to develop a preference for as little exposed skin as possible, and hospitals tended to be kept cold. Halloween costumes rarely took realism into account, though.

Especially Halloween costumes that were affordable for teenagers. Small wonder that so many of them went as rock or pop stars, whose clothing could be achieved with the contents of an average closet, plus or minus some glitter and stick-on rhinestones. Maria patted her shoulder sympathetically. "Another half-hour, and the kids will be home from Trick or Treating, and we can watch a movie on my laptop, or catch a late showing at the cinema."

A collection of Disney characters shuffled by, likely costumes from middle school being re-used. Over at the snack table, sudden screams broke out, the Sexy Nurse bolting to the nearest potted plant and leaning over to throw up in it.

The four friends paused their conversation. "Should we go see what that was about?"

Claire shook her head. "Whatever gets that kind of reaction is not something I want to be involved in, even if it does turn out to be harmless."

Maria nodded, pulling out her keys. "Agreed. Movies, anyone? I'll drive."

Dave didn't even have to look at his boyfriend before both were rising to their feet. "Good call. If it turns out not to be harmless, LGBTQ characters are always the first to die, and I'd rather be elsewhere for that."

Claire laughed. "Safety in numbers, then? Bit hard to kill off the Token Gay when we're all Rainbow Spectrum."

Tom did a quick check to make sure none of them were leaving anything behind. "Even harder when we're not present to be killed off in the first place. I'll buy the popcorn."

They piled out of the house and into Maria's car, hoping that the whole thing was just a prank gone wrong, and not ground zero for a Supernatural episode or a slasher event that would end up on the 9 o'Clock news.

Horror films could be enjoyable, but no one actually wanted to be a character in one. Especially not a token character.