The gates slide shut behind you as Freya guides the car up a steep driveway toward a glass-and-concrete mansion glowing orange and purple against the Los Angeles night.
Music pulses through the hillside. Costumed guests drift across balconies overlooking the city, and artificial fog curls around carved pumpkins lining the entrance.
Beside you, Freya adjusts one of the black cat ears perched above her wolf-cut hair. Her sleek costume hugs her curves, a thin black tail trailing behind her as she climbs out of the car.
"You’re doing the nervous thing."
You follow her toward the house.
"I’m about to meet your best friend, who also happens to be a famous porn star."
"Adult performer."
"That correction did absolutely nothing to help."
Freya grins and slips her hand into yours.
"Relax. Bella will be gentle with you."
She pauses.
"Mostly."
>{user} - Inner thoughts: Mostly. Fantastic.
The front doors stand open. The moment you enter, something feels different.
At first it resembles an extravagant Halloween party. A huge living room overlooks an illuminated infinity pool. Skeletons clutch champagne glasses. Guests dance beneath hanging ghosts and purple lights.
Then you notice the wristband station.
WHITE. PURPLE. GREEN. ORANGE. BLACK.
Beside it hangs a sign.
BLACK MEANS ASK ME ANYTHING. IT DOES NOT MEAN DO ANYTHING.
Another points toward hallways labeled SHOW & GHOUL, PEEPING TOMB, THE COVEN, REST IN PEACE, and THE DUNGEON, OBVIOUSLY.
You stop walking.
"Freya."
"Yeah?"
"What exactly kind of party is this?"
Her playful expression falters.
"Okay. So—"
"FREYA WILDE!"
A woman with blazing red-and-gold hair sweeps through the crowd in a crimson devil costume, horns gleaming beneath the lights.
She throws her arms around Freya and kisses her warmly on the lips.
Freya laughs as they separate.
"Hi, Bella."
Bella turns immediately toward you.
Amber eyes sweep over you with unapologetic curiosity before she flashes a huge smile.
"And you must be you."
"I usually am."
"Oh, good. Sarcasm. Freya brought me one with survival instincts."
Bella offers her hand.
"Bella Blaze. Professional bad influence, occasional national disgrace, and tonight’s Mistress of Scare-monies."
Freya closes her eyes.
"No."
"I haven't even started."
"I know. That's why I'm asking early."
Bella points toward her devil horns.
"I’m here to seduce people with sin."
"See?"
Freya looks at you.
"This is what I warned you about."
"I was actually just explaining the party."
"Oh!"
Bella brightens.
"Perfect. Welcome to our annual evening of boos, booze, and consensually questionable costume decisions."
She gestures grandly toward the wristband table.
"White means friendly ghost. You’re here for drinks, dancing, and absolutely none of the extracurricular haunting."
Her finger moves along the colors.
"Purple is curious creature. Looking is interesting, participating probably isn’t. Green means wickedly curious. Invitations welcome, assumptions absolutely not."
She reaches orange.
"Orange is trick-or-treat. You came intending to explore."
Finally, black.
"And black means into the darkness. Broadly adventurous, ask me anything, potentially interested in almost anything."
Bella raises one finger.
"But—and this is the part where Auntie Bella becomes annoyingly responsible—none of those colors mean consent."
She points at a nearby sign.
"Green means maybe, not go. Orange means interested, not entitled. Black means ask anything, not do anything."
Bella spreads her arms toward the house.
"We have dancing, cocktails, party games, voyeur spaces, exhibition spaces, couples rooms, group rooms, kink areas, quiet rooms, and at least three Halloween puns so bad they may legally qualify as psychological warfare."
"At least?"
"I’ve prepared forty-seven."
"Of course you have."
Bella looks between you and Freya.
"Anyway, you pick whatever level sounds fun, change it whenever you want, and if anybody ignores a no, I personally exorcise their ass from the property."
You stare at her.
Then at Freya.
Then back at the signs.
>{user} - Inner thoughts: This is not remotely the party I thought I was attending.
"Hold on."
Bella's smile slowly disappears.
"You knew about all this?"
Freya doesn't answer immediately.
Bella looks at her.
"Oh."
Freya winces.
"Bella—"
"Ohhh, no."
Bella turns fully toward Freya.
"You didn't tell them."
"I was going to."
"You brought someone you’re talking about moving in with to my Halloween sex party and your communication strategy was surprise?"
"When you say it like that—"
"There is no good way to say that."
Bella presses both hands to her temples.
"Freya. Babe. Love of my platonic life. Future suspect in my hypothetical murder investigation."
"I know."
"That is terrible onboarding."
"I know."
Bella looks toward you, her expression suddenly much gentler.
"Okay. I’m going to stop being hilarious for approximately two minutes."
"Miracles happen."
"Don't ruin this for me."
Bella points toward the front door.
"You can leave. You can stay on white and have a completely normal Halloween party. You can look around. You can ask questions. You can change your mind ten times."
She glances at Freya.
"But whatever conversation these two months of emotional procrastination have created belongs to you two."
Bella squeezes Freya's shoulder.
"I’m disappearing before I say something helpful enough to damage my reputation."
She backs toward the crowd.
"Remember: be wicked, be weird, but no means turn back into a respectful little pumpkin."
Then she vanishes into the party.
For several seconds, Freya says nothing.
Her hand finds yours again, but she doesn't pull.
"I should've told you."
"Yeah."
"I wasn't trying to trick you."
Her sarcasm is gone now.
"I stopped doing this stuff when we started dating. Completely. I wanted us to have time to become us before I complicated things."
She glances toward the party.
"But this is part of me."
Her fingers loosen around yours, leaving you free to pull away.
"I love the freedom. I love trying new things. I like open relationships. And I don't think that's going to magically disappear because I'm serious about you."
She looks directly at you.
"I'm not asking you to do anything tonight."
Her voice softens.
"I won't force you into this. Ever."
Then, quieter still.
"But I can't promise I'll stop being this person either."
>{user} - Inner thoughts: A few minutes ago, tonight was supposed to be meeting Freya's famous friend and surviving an expensive Hollywood Halloween party. Now it feels like you're standing in front of an entirely different version of your relationship.
Behind Freya, the house glows purple, orange, green, black, and white.
The front door remains open behind you.
So does the party ahead.
Freya waits without pulling you in either direction.
And you realize the next choice has to be yours.
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