inferno • lrh (ON HOLD)

twenty-nine - angels and devils

"you have got to be joking, z. i cant go out looking like this!" malory gaped as she stared at her reflection, a look of shock on her face. to say that she had no say in her costume would be an understatement.

honestly, with everything running through her mind, she had completely forgotten that tonight was the costume party at the club down town.

zara had not forgotten.

"oh shut up." making a tsk sound, zara surveyed her best friend again. "you look fine as hell in that."

admittedly, she did look good in her costume. her red lace bodysuit and red leather skirt did wonders for her figure. paired with her favourite docs and a devil horn headband? any person in that club would see how hot she was from a mile away.

not like that wasn't zara's intention anyway.

"but-" malory sighed, meeting her zara's eyes in the mirror. she wasn't going to win this argument, was she? "fine. i'll wear it. but why the hell did you have to dress me like a devil?"

"because i'm dressed as an angel?" giving her best friend a 'duh' look, zara straightened out her white corset top once again. the girl had been fidgeting with it for the last few minutes to try and get it to sit perfectly. "and ash is gonna be an arc angel, so we needed a devil."

ah yes, ashton. he was also going to be there tonight, along with calum, michael, jessa and luke.

luke who she hadn't seen since her hasty exit on friday night.

luke who she had kissed.

maybe she could avoid him for the full night. he would probably have his tongue down another girls throat the moment they arrived so it probably wouldn't be hard to keep her distance from him. or so she thought.

"and when did i agree to do a couple plus third wheel costume with you two?" raising an eyebrow, malory dabbed at the red stain zara had forced her to put on her lips. mal had just wanted to go with lip gloss but zara had other plans.

zara always had other plans.

rolling her eyes, zara pushed malory out of the way of her mirror so that she could survey her own outfit. she was dressed in white head to toe with a corset, a short flowy skirt and high heels. the finishing touches to her look were the silver glitter she had added to her eye make up, her halo headband and, of course, her feather angel wings. "that decision was made for you when you didn't invite the boy you went off with at calum's party tonight."

ah, yes. zara and all of malory's other friends were still unaware that malory had spent that night with luke. everyone but calum was also unaware to what had gone down two nights ago on luke and michael's fire escape too.

and malory would prefer to keep it that way.

when malory didn't deign to respond to zara's quip, the blonde girl groaned, looking over her shoulder at her friend once more. "fine. ignore me. the guys will be here in a minute anyway."

fuck, they were coming over? malory had sworn that on friday night they had all agreed to meet at the club.

"were we not supposed to meet them there?" playing it as cool as she could, malory brushed a hand through her hair as she stared at zara's back. the other girl didn't seem to take any notice of the slight change in mood. thankfully.

"no, ash text this morning to ask if we could all meet here. him and the boys agreed it would be easier for us all to go together." of course. last minute change of plans.

before malory could utter another word, the sound of the buzzer for their apartment rang through the room, alerting them that the boys were here.

well, avoiding luke would not be easy here. but maybe she could just ignore him. he probably just wanted to ignore her too so it would probably work out. maybe. hopefully.

"i'll get it!" zara smiled brightly at malory before skipping out of her bedroom and towards the front door. mal debated on locking herself in the room for a moment before finally deciding to follow her out.

what's the worst that could happen? she's pretty sure that luke regretted their kiss as much as she did. it happened in a weak moment, and it certainly wouldn't happen again.

"- you look hot as fuck z." malory caught the tail end of what jessa was saying as she leaned in to hug zara tightly. the petite girl was dressed in some anime costume that obviously matched with michael's. even standing apart talking to different people, mal knew that their costumes looked amazing together.

finally emerging from the bedroom door, malory stepped into the living room. no one seemed to have noticed she was there yet, all too caught up in their own conversations.

well, that was what she thought until she felt eyes on her.

looking up from where she had just been picking at her black nail polish, her green eyes locked with ocean blue ones, drawing every last ounce of air from her lungs. fuck, okay, he was staring at her.

luke was stood at the front door, his arms crossed over his chest. his dark blond curls were left loose, but his face was cleanly shaven. she didn't know what his costume was supposed to be, or if he was even wearing a costume. his black leather jacket, t-shirt, pinstripe pants and boots combo looked like an everyday fit for him.

fuck. she was still staring. averting her eyes from the man she hadn't seen since friday, malory made her way over to calum, leaning into his side when she approached. the curly haired man smiled down at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing her tightly when he noticed her.

"you're looking good, mally." he laughed, excusing himself from his conversation with ashton and michael so he could talk with her. he had a lab coat on over a crisp blue scrubs and a stethoscope hanging around his neck.

"you're not too bad yourself, dr. hood." malory joked, causing a laugh to bubble from calum's lips.

"he would not shut up about being a doctor on the full ride here." ashton groaned, joining in on their conversation, his black feather wings rustling in the slight breeze from the still open front door. "don't boost his ego."

"well at least he dressed up." zara mused. the rest of the group seemed to slowly join in the conversation. "luke looks like he's wearing his normal clothes."

not wanting to meet luke's gaze again, malory looked at calum when the blond finally pushed away from the door. calum shot a reassuring glance down at his friend, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "calm down, he hasn't mentioned a word. it's all but forgotten." malory wasn't exactly sure if that was the case, but she didn't want to argue right now.

"i'm a rockstar." luke scowled at zara, showing her the drumsticks that he had tucked into his back pocket. i'm response zara just rolled her eyes, shooting the rest of the group an annoyed look.

"i suppose not everyone could put in the effort."

wrapping an arm around his girlfriend, ashton shot her a look which probably meant 'be nice' as she stared down one of his best friends. "we're all dressed up, that's what matters."

"fine. let's just go before i change my mind and make him put on a different costume." zara huffed, all but dragging ashton out of the front door with her. the rest of the group slowly followed after them, all murmuring about how they hoped the night would go.

"let's get this party started!"

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a/n

for anyone wanting to see what i envisioned mal and zara's outfits to be, i'm posting them on my twitter now if you wanna have a look!

you're all gonna love me next chapter.

until then,
andi <3