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“Do I win?”
“Shit yeah, you win!” he exclaimed. “That was awesome.”
“Want your sword back?”
“Nah. I’m gonna go drown my sorrows in some punch. See you later, Masked Prince.”
The big guy went trundling off, some people who I assumed to be his friends following right after.
A woman dressed like Wonder Woman patted me on the back. “That was cool!”
“Yeah,” added a man in a big full-body dog costume, voice muffled through the headpiece. “You really showed that jock what’s up.”
I blushed a bit from their compliments, glad for the protective shield of my mask. “It was all just in good fun. I just got lucky.”
“Kinda suck if you got a toothpick stabbed through your hand at Carter Bryant’s party,” said a person of indeterminate gender through the face plate of a knight’s helmet. “You did get lucky. But it was cool,” they added.
After a few more compliments and side comments, the conversation faded out. No one had any real interest in the event now that it was over; there was plenty more to see and do.
I looked around for Brian, to tell him of my triumph, quickly picking out his bright red-and-blue suit in the dull mood lighting. I headed over, smiling a little while imagining his reaction. I opened my mouth to call out for him and get his attention.
The crowd cleared a little bit in front of me, a gap opening in the dance floor. I slowed to a stop.
Brian wasn’t alone.
He had pulled off his mask and was speaking very enthusiastically to a young woman dressed as Mary Jane, Spider-Man’s constant love interest throughout his character’s many iterations. Brian leaned over her, though not too much, since she was almost his height. Their heads were close together and though I couldn’t hear them, the rapid motions of their lips left me with no illusions. They were deep, deep in conversation and my advance would be little more than an unwelcome intrusion as a third wheel.
I turned away, meaning to get a drink since the fog in the air had me a bit thirsty. My eyes landed upon a young woman standing by herself a short distance away from Brian and his Mary Jane. I drew to a halt as soon as I spotted her, my jaw dropping a little bit from surprise. How had I missed her?
She was stunning.
She was dressed as a princess, though her costume was unlike anything I had ever seen before. No way she had picked that up at a store, though I was equally unable to believe she’d made such a thing herself. It was almost too good for words, too good to exist anywhere outside of a movie set after a team of professionals created it. And she certainly fit the same category. She seemed somehow familiar in a way I couldn’t quite place, like I had seen her before somewhere. Perhaps in a dream. Perhaps in a fantasy. Or maybe she was just so amazing to look at that I could feel herbecominga fantasy.
No. Screw that.
I wanted to know her. I had to talk to her. I hadn’t organized this whole thing just to fantasize, after all.
I made my way over to the princess and held out my hand to her. “Hi, princess.”
The princess raised her shapely eyebrows at me. She hesitated before taking my hand, though was too polite to deny me, I could tell. “Hi. Have we met?”
I started off too strong.
I dialed my behavior back a little bit and released her hand. “I thought you looked a little familiar.”
She tilted her head and gave a tiny smile. “Maybe I could say the same about you if you didn’t have that mask on.”
I chuckled. “A secret identity is a secret identity, princess. I’m not going to reveal myself that easily.”
“Well, then I won’t reveal myself either,” she replied. That same smile played over her lips, alluring and a bit distant. I wanted to see more of it.
“That’s fair enough. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I think your costume is amazing.”
She blushed and tilted her head down. A few stray strands of brown hair escaped her bun and fell across her forehead. I reached out and brushed them back into place. She hastily reached up and fiddled with her headband, more of her hair escaping in the process, spilling free onto her shoulders. “Oh, this silly thing. I knew I should have used bobby pins.”
“Need help?” I offered.
The princess hesitated, surveying me with a skeptical glance. I did my best not to look like a creep, just a nice guy wanting to lend a hand to a lady in need. She relented and nodded. “Could you hold my hair in place while I put this headband back on?”