The Halloween Mask

"Hey Mom, have you seen where I put my mask? Trevor's waiting."

"No Honey, I haven't. Try the laundry room. Oh, and could you tell your father to dust the living room while you're at it? I don't want Angie thinking we live in a pig sty."

I walked downstairs and turned into our living room to see my father sitting on the couch watching ESPN highlights.

"Hey Dad, Mom said to dust the living room before Angie gets here. I'm surprised you're not in costume yet. Weren't you and Mom going to go as House and Cuddy again?" My Parents' go-to Halloween costumes, my father and mother bear striking resemblances to the characters from the hit TV show, with my mother sharing Lisa Edelstein's wide smile and olive complexion. In my father's case it might just be the bags under his eyes and his constant five o'clock shadow.

"Not this year Sam, with your mom's old college friend coming to town the girls are planning their own outfits and I have the night off. Tell the truth I'll be much happier here in my comfy armchair than chasing after those two hens all night. Angie always had a knack for bringing out your Mom's wild side." I hadn't actually met Angie. She and my mom were inseparable in college, and they loved spending Halloween together. Almost as soon as they graduated my mom found out she was pregnant with me, and between my parents quickly deciding to domesticate, start their professional careers, and settle down, the two friends had drifted apart. They still texted and called occasionally, and when I started college myself last fall the pace of their communication increased to the point where Angie decided to fly up from Florida to visit for a couple of days and celebrate the holiday together like old times.

I walked into the laundry room and managed to find my Zorro mask underneath a pile of clothes. Coming back out to the living room it seemed my mom was unimpressed with my father's half-hearted attempt to dust and watch sports simultaneously and had put him to work setting up the guest bedroom instead.

"Oh good, you found it. So, what are you and Trevor up to this year? Got any fun parties to attend?" my mom asked me with a cheery smile.

"Well you know Trevor. I'm sure he has a plan in mind." I said evasively. Truth be told I already knew his plan, and it didn't include one of the boring high school affairs.

"Great! Angie won't be here for another hour or two so you might not see her until tomorrow morning. Your father will be here in case you need anything and you have my cell. Normally I would say I'll be home before you get back, but Angie texted me before her flight took off to plan to shut down the Halloween Bash this year." She grinned.

The Halloween Bash is my mom's company's annual Halloween party. Roughly 50% of the working population of our town are employees at Asher Pharmaceutical, and their yearly Halloween get-together had grown to become an unofficial town celebration, complete with DJ, full wet bar and dance floor.

"Okay, no problem Mom. Have fun." I smiled back, then walked out the door and down our driveway to Trevor's car where he was idling.

"Hey Man, what took so long? 2 more minutes and I was gonna go-go gadget swat team your ass." Trevor joked as I swung into the passenger seat. Trevor had been my best friend since 6th grade. Despite the fact that he was going to the local community college to build up college credits while I was going to the state school 30 minutes away we were still tight. He was short, unathletic, with thick glasses and an inordinate amount of confidence that never ceased to amaze me. Despite my extra 6 inches of height and athletic build he'd always been the ladies man, acting as my wing man from time to time just to help me keep up. Even in his ridiculous Inspector Gadget costume I wouldn't bet on myself to be the one to get lucky that night between the two of us.

"Just bracing myself for your master plan. Did you actually manage to get tickets?" I asked. I only half believed him when he had told me what we were going to do the day before.

"Of course man, I told you. My cousin Stan works in accounting. Every employee gets a ticket for themselves and a plus one. Stingy bastard made me shell out $50 for the pair and to borrow his company ID card but it was worth it. Since all their employees are over 21 they don't even bother to card you when you come in, and the company is so big no one will know I'm not him." He held up the two pink Halloween Bash vouchers in triumph. I had to admit it was a good plan. Asher Pharmaceutical likes to give plenty of free drinks out as a reward for their employees. Trevor just turned 20 and I was still 19, and, while we'd drank alcohol before, the cocktails served at the Halloween Bash were a far cry from our usual cheap booze.

"Excellent! You never cease to amaze Trevor."

"That's why they pay me the big bucks. Now, go-go gadget party wagon!" And with a whoop we were off.

Twenty minutes later we pulled into the main parking lot of the Asher campus. Everywhere around us people in costumes spilled out of vehicles making their way toward the conference center building where flashing lights could be seen and thumping bass felt.

"Hey dude, did you bring the mask?" I asked.

"Yeah, right back here." Trevor reached behind us and pulled a duffel bag from the backseat. Inside were a white half mask as well as a shoulder-length black wig and dress coat.

I held up the mask. "Do you really think this is gonna be enough for no one to recognize me?".

"Of course dude! It's dark and between the mask and wig no one will be able to tell who you are. Your parents expect you to be Zorro right? You don't even have to change, keep the cape and black clothes, just put the mask, jacket, and wig on. Voila! Plus, chicks love Phantom of the Opera. You're gonna be beating them off with your cane!" I looked into the bag for half a second expecting to find a cane. Just a joke.

"Okay," I thought to myself, "This could actually work."

We made it past the security at the door without a hitch then stopped for a second to survey the space. Inside was a large atrium bookended by half circles on our end and the opposite side, with parallel second and third story balconies to the left and right that led to wings with conference rooms and offices. I saw a DJ on the far side on top of a stage that seemed to be the epicenter of the flashing lights. Gyrating dancers spread out around it extending two-thirds of the way to us, and more joined them as we watched.

"Where should we start?" I yelled into Trevor's ear over the sound of the music.

"There!" He grinned and pointed to the left at a particularly dense mass of people. "The bar!"

We weaved our way through the crowd and eventually made our way up to the front where a witch was waiting to serve us.

"Well my pretties, what you'll have?" She asked us with a cheery wink.

"Uh..." Suddenly I realized I had no idea what kind of drinks they served at places like this. I guessed that cheap beer probably wasn't the suave option.

"What's your specialty?" Trevor interjected before I could embarass myself further.

"Ohh...you must want Love Potion #9. Guaranteed to add a little magic to your evening..."

"Sounds great!" We both nodded enthusiastically.

She filled two plastic cups with a dark liquid from a large bowl that had "cauldron" written on the side and handed them to us, then turned to face her next customer. We walked off to the nearest empty space along the wall and tapped our cups together to celebrate our plan's success before taking a deep drag, only to nearly cough it back up.

"Dang, what's in that?" Trevor croaked.

"I don't know, but it's strong." We took another sip.

"I think I'm coming around to it."

"Well pace yourself, I don't want to have to carry you out of here later." By his expression I could tell that I would probably be the one to drive us home.

"Better me than you! Especially with these guns." he said poking my left bicep. "You must be hitting the gym hard in the city. Helping with the ladies?"

"Not much" I told him truthfully. "Last year I was still adjusting to college life and I didn't make time for it. I've gone on a couple of dates this year, but they didn't really go anywhere."

"Let's go change your luck then. Down the hatch." We cheers'ed our drinks one more time, then Trevor proceeded to down his in one long swallow, motioning for me to join him. We tossed our empties in a nearby trash can then proceeded onto the dance floor looking for partners.

An hour later I had drank two more Love Potion #9's and danced with three women. First Trevor and I danced with a cute pair of ballerinas only a few years older than ourselves, then I approached a Catwoman only for her boyfriend to appear and shoo me away. After my second drink I shared a short but very lively dance with a She-Devil and parted amicably. Finally, I found a woman dressed as a character from a TV show I didn't recognize, but right as we were moving past the initial "feeling each other out" stage and into light petting my bladder betrayed me and I asked to step away for a minute. After the quickest piss of my life I returned only to find she had been swept up by a Cowboy. Trevor had disappeared while I was dancing with the She-Devil, but as I was sipping my third Love Potion #9 and staring forlornly at my TV character partner learning the two-step I could feel the buzz from the first two drinks kicking in hard and admitted to myself that I was in no condition to drive us home any time soon anyway. I had confidence that Trevor would reappear in due time, probably with a hickey and a story to tell. In the meantime I decided I wasn't going to miss my next chance to get a story of my own.

I waded through the crowd searching for a partner. By this time it had swelled to cover nearly the entire first floor. The combination of the strobe lights, heavy dance beats, and my increasingly drunken state made it feel as if I was floating through a sea of bodies. Easing my way between two circles of revelers I saw her. A tall blonde in a Wonder Woman suit, playfully dancing behind another shorter woman. She was mostly blocking her friend, but from the glimpses I saw the other woman's costume looked possibly Egyptian, maybe Cleopatra? Didn't matter. All that mattered was that they seemed to be dancing more like friends than lovers, and the blonde didn't have anyone dancing behind her.

I thought to myself "I can fix that."

As I approached I noticed a few more details. She was definitely older, maybe 20 years or so than myself, but was in excellent shape. She had the long lean body of a runner, with a small pert butt and great legs. I eased up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, giving her my most winning smile and holding up my hands in a non-verbal "May I join you?". She gave me a once over, taking in the full length of my Phantom of the Opera suit in an instant before smiling back at me and giving a slight nod in acknowledgement.

I eased my body behind hers and tried to find her rhythm. It was somewhat awkward, as she was still matching the rhythm of the woman in front of her, but I didn't mind. She smelled like sweat and sweet smelling perfume. After a few seconds I caught on to the beat they were following and we began to really grind into eachother. We continued this way with my hands on her hips for a song, then she leaned back and yelled in my ear above the crowd noise.

"Having fun?" she asked in a flirty voice.

"Most definitely!" I responded eagerly. She giggled.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty four." To this day I don't know where the lie came from. Trevor and I hadn't practiced anything beyond showing his cousin's tickets at the door, and I wasn't exactly at my peak mental capability.

"And you don't mind dancing with an older woman?" She asked me. It felt like a challenge. She was looking me directly in the eye now and I was dimly aware the rest of my night depended on how I answered this question.

Subtlety wasn't going to be my strength at this point so I went with bold honesty instead. I leaned down to her ear so I wouldn't have to shout. "I love it. You're a fucking fox."

I could see in her eyes that I had passed her test. She leaned back into me even more so that our entire torsos were connected and then took the conversation in another direction. She asked me if I would like to dance between them. On one hand, it would mean not getting to grind on her anymore, but on the other hand I'd get to be in the middle of a cougar sandwich. No brainer. Wonder Woman leaned forward to explain the idea to her friend, who looked back at me furtively then seemed reassured and nodded. I didn't get a good look at her face, but once Wonder Woman turned to me and smiled I slid forward and took my place in between them.

Cleopatra seemed a little stiff at first, clearly not entirely sold on the situation, unlike Wonder Woman, who pressed into my back and started running her hands all over me. I tried placing my hands on Cleopatra's hips, but she stiffened up even more. I took my hands away and she relaxed a little bit, then we danced that way for a few minutes. Despite her hesitation, I had to say Cleopatra was probably the better dancer of the two. Her body followed the song more closely, and in a way, we fit together better. While Wonder Woman had been a little too tall to grind into properly, Cleopatra rubbed right into my semi that was starting to develop. Still in pretty good shape for a woman her age, Cleopatra had more of an hourglass figure and a softer, rounder ass than her friend, and it felt awesome pressing into me.

Tired of being in the back, Wonder Woman slid around me to dance face-to-face with Cleopatra. She sexily ran her hands down my arms and placed them back on Cleopatra's hips and encouraged us to get more pronounced in our movements. Cleopatra relaxed more once she was face to face with her friend and I could tell they were both having fun. Wonder Woman leaned down to whisper in Cleopatra's ear again, and whatever she said must have been good because she pressed into me harder and seemed to start deliberately sliding on my now full erection. I was in heaven. I started sliding my hands around Cleopatra's thighs and stomach, avoiding her erogenous zones for now so I wouldn't spook her. Wonder Woman had no such reservations. She continued to run her hands all over her friend and me, exciting both of us.

Another guy came over and asked Wonder Woman to dance, and to my surprise she accepted, moving a few feet away. I was disappointed to see her go, but the way things were progressing with Cleopatra I wasn't devastated. Normally this was about as far as I would take things with a stranger on the dance floor, but with the Love Potion #9 still swirling in my brain I felt like pushing boundaries.

I leaned down and kissed Cleopatra on her bare right shoulder. She felt warm and smelled like something familiar. I couldn't quite place it but I liked it. I looked at the back of her head to see how she'd react. Nothing. I decided to try again and this time she tilted her head ever so slightly left, giving me more access. I began to plant soft kisses higher and higher on her shoulder until I reached the cleft between her shoulder and neck. Once I reached that spot she let out a huff of arousal and I knew I had her.

Feeling emboldened, I raised my head a few inches and gently bit her ear. She gasped in surprised and finally turned her head. I didn't wait to see her reaction, I leaned in and closed my eyes, kissing her on the mouth. She had soft full lips, slightly open first in surprise, and then in lust. For one long glorious moment we passionately tasted each others mouths. I felt her gently push my chest with one hand to separate us. Looking down at her face smiling in triumph I suddenly felt my heart crash into my stomach. From somewhere around my belly button I felt it beat once, twice, three times while I stared into a terrifyingly familiar face.

"Mom?" I gasped.