Twice The Trouble Book 2 of 2: Twice The Love

Chapter 56: Unraveling

Lucas

October 30, 2017.

The D.L.R. Enterprises Halloween Party was supposed to be on October 31st, but we had a crucial schedule for tomorrow, so the celebration was held this evening, right in the massive conference room which easily accommodated the fifty or so party-goers.

From early twenties to late forties, everyone was clad in scary-themed costumes: Vampires, skeletons, mummies, witches, devils, Disney villains like Gaston, Maleficent, and more. The conference room was decorated with string lights, paper pumpkins designs, skull balloons ,and tables of finger foods lined up the walls while modern music blasted from the amps in the ceilings.

Warren, one of my co-workers in the Ad Department, approached me. He was dressed like Flynn Rider from the movie Tangled. In his early thirties, he could easily pass for the Disney character.

"Great party, huh?" he commented, clinking his plastic cup against mine.

"Yeah," I said while surveying the surroundings. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Warren shot me a perplexed look. He was about to say something else when a girl from the Marketing Department in her early twenties and in an asymmetrical cave-girl outfit dashed towards me.

"Lucas, let's dance?" Virginia asked me with a wide smile.

I shook my head, earning a pout from her. "Please, Lucas?" she persisted.

"Gin, leave the young man alone," Kerry chastised Virginia. Kerry was in her mid-thirties and she wore a simple Grim Reaper costume of all black complete with a fake scythe in her fingers.

"Whatever." Virginia sulkily walked away from me, Warren, and Kerry.

Kerry and Warren laughed, making me look at them. "What's funny?"

The thirty-something woman in black flashed me a mischievous smile. "Ever since you started working here, the ladies couldn't keep their hands off of you. Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

I said nothing and sipped my drink of red punch. In my nineteen years on earth, I never tasted alcohol, and I wasn't intending to start now.

"Humble and hardworking." Warren patted my shoulder approvingly. "I like that in a boss."

I nodded at him. "How are those spreadsheets coming along, Warren?" I then turned to Kerry. "Have you heard anything interesting from the R.CODA people yet? We proposed that pitch almost one week ago."

"Easy, sir," Warren chuckled, prompting me to glance at him. "You need to loosen up. It's party time, not business time. And it's hard to take you seriously in that pirate costume. You look like Jack Sparrow."

"Captain Jack Sparrow," I corrected him. I suddenly smiled because Sophia loved watching Johnny Depp movies. She was an avid fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, and we once had a movie marathon at my apartment where she ended up falling asleep on my lap before the very last film was finished. I had carried her to my bedroom and tucked her in before I settled on my couch.

"What are you three talking about?" Vivian came closer to our group. She wore her reddish brown hair down, and her glittery, sleeveless blue dress was similar to the dress that Ariel wore in The Little Mermaid after her father gave his blessing for her and Eric to be together.

I watch too much TV.

Warren smiled at Vivian, his crush. "Lucas was being a killjoy."

"Oh?" said Vivian as she moved closer to my side, her bare arm touching my long white sleeve. I attempted to discreetly inch away but there wasn't much space to scoot into. I was stuck next to her. The young girl with auburn hair smiled at my discomfort. "Why were you smiling a while ago, Lucas?" she sweetly asked.