You woke up naturally, without alarms and without having anyone wake you up, a fairly rare thing, the first clue that this was either a holiday or the weekend. You unplugged the charging cable from your phone and took a look at the time. Sunday, October 31st: Halloween.
"Huh, weird that I forgot such a big date" You mumbled, scratching your head.
Unlike most instances where you got free time, you actually had plans for once, your friends had prepared a small Halloween party to hang out together and have fun. However, Jim was off probably chasing after some girl that will surely reject him while Pete is gonna be spending the time with Zoey, as they began dating this last summer. Meaning that, as most of the time, it'd be just the 4 girls and you, something that you hadn't been too conscious about until pointed out by the likes of Emily, Toxic Lily or even Chrissy and her ever loyal white knight/lapdog Ben.
But right now there was no need to concern yourself with their bullshit. It was a nice day and you were gonna hang out and have fun with your friends as usual. Who knows? Maybe the chances will present themselves for you to make some progress. This last summer was quite memorable and you felt like you'd bonded even more with all 4 of your female friends but from among them, it was Jen and Lillian who you got closest to, to the point that it began to make you confused.
All this time, you've been pretty sure that you are in love with Jen and have been trying your hardest to score more points with her in hopes of getting the right moment to finally tell her how you really feel and ask her out... But then there's Lillian. She's always made you doubt yourself, but even more so now.
You've never forgotten that you were perhaps even closer to her before Jen came along, and by 5th grade you were sure enough that you had feelings for her that you couldn't in good faith accept Valentina's confession which was probably a grave mistake looking back. But then again, was it right to enter a relationship you weren't truly into?
During this last summer you had about just as many close moments with Jen as you did with Lillian, which felt like it reignited that old fire from years past. In spite of her shameless tomboyish behavior, plus her very touchy-feely personality you weren't repulsed by her, not even by her massive and constant bouts of gas. Her huge booty could still turn you on just as much as Jen's and perhaps even more, but that was a slippery slope you weren't ready to face just yet.
With this new school year starting, you could practically feel the clock ominously counting down. You were in 13th grade now, super senior year and it was the absolute last you'd get from highschool before having to choose a college or university and thus, probably your last chance to ask either Jen or Lillian out.
As you thought about this, you also realized that these might really be the last days you'd get to enjoy with the friend group you've had since kindergarten-early elementary, though then again, your own parents proved that it was possible to keep in touch with your childhood friends even well into your adult age. But you were already starting to feel depressed about it.
Taking some advice from grandma Regina, you went for a glass of cold water, which you needed anyway. As you drank it, you felt a bit more at ease. You also wet your face with water from the kitchen sink and it also made yo feel a bit better. At the very least those two things snagged you free from falling into a rabbit hole of depression and things best left unmentioned.
But you were back to square one: You've been after Jen for so long and while you've made progress, it's been nearly 6 years with little to show for it. However, you also realized that it was probably bold to assume Lillian would want anything with you anyway, she's been the same she's always been to you after all, changing your views on her is entirely a you-issue.
Being lifelong friends to such an extent that even calling it "childhood friendship" falls short describing it, you can't imagine that Lillian would really be into the likes of you. Then again she didn't seem to be interested in the "pretty boy" types like Jim but one never knows, probably someone drastically opposite of yourself is what she'd be looking for.
'I guess I'll figure it out at the party. I should be focusing on just having fun though' You thought with a sigh. There was no one else at home so you assumed that your parents are either at work or went to do errands like grocery shopping. Ariadne was supposed to be home too but she probably went to goof off somewhere with Jordana.
You had a good chunk of the day free to yourself so you could either spend it at home by yourself or you could go hang out with any of your 4 friends. You began pondering about this as you made yourself a relatively quick but decent enough breakfast, reheating some homemade burger patties that were in the fridge, they'd been made yesterday for dinner by both your mom and your dad as they had a friendly competition on who made the best burgers. The verdict was a stalemate: Your mom had supreme seasoning but your dad was on a whole other level down to the quality of the meat he bought. You'd awarded your mom the win but Ariadne gave it to your dad.
You enjoyed your food and thought that given their big appetites, any of the 4 girls would love to have some of these. Jen and Lillian were the ones who had more of a thing for meat, fitting to their ancestries and backgrounds. You even remembered that Lillian of all people even had once a meat cooking competition with Romina, who challenged her on the grounds that Argentinian beef was supposedly superior to Brazilian. You were dragged as the judge and in the end, Lillian won but not by as much of a long shot as she would've hoped.
After you finished your food, you washed it down with some good ol' chocolate milk and then you washed both the plate and the glass you'd just used. You gave things another round of thoughts while diligently washing, something that you remembered Cindy memed about not too long ago, that it was very much a "guy thing" to do just like having deep thoughts in the shower. It felt alright however.
You walked back to your room and took a look at your "costume". You weren't entirely sure if it could be called that. Cindy's hosting the party and she wanted to make it themed after this visual novel saga she'd been enjoying and she'd even gotten the entirety of your friend group to play the games so you could join in her hype.
To be fair, you'd played the first one and a good chunk of the sequel and they were indeed pretty good, even to someone who didn't often dab in this gaming genre. You definitely had quite a bit more fun with the fighting games, which were a further sequel. You remembered when Cindy asked you to cosplay as the protagonist of the 2nd game though you mildly protested that you looked nothing like him, nor like the protagonist of the 1st one for that matter.
~~~
"Yeah, but you're a bit like them though" Cindy giggled, showing you a picture with both protagonists of the 1st and 2nd games, the latter was also a prominent character in the fighting subseries but wasn't quite the true protagonist anymore.
The 1st guy was a very simple-minded guy that hailed from the mountains and took everything at face value, however he was very strong for a human and had his fair share of amazing and hilarious moments throughout.
The 2nd guy was more along the lines of your typical anime student protagonist, he was a very frail guy that constantly suffered from anaemia and was a very light eater, a trait that everyone was quick to point out. It was true that you often ate little for your size but you weren't pale, sickly and frail like that.
But there was even more to this guy, for he had a bizarre superpower: the ability to see the death of things in a way, as bright red lines that were only tangible to him, that he could slice with insane ease using a simple knife. But looking at these lines often threatened his sanity so he had to wear some special eyeglasses that were gifted by his Sensei, a tall redhead and powerful Mage that he met in his childhood days. He not only appreciated the glasses for their effect but also as a memento of her.
This 2nd guy wasn't quite as oblivious as the 1st but he had his moments. Cindy still considered that you resembled him a little, but also heartily agreed that beyond that, the two of you were nothing alike, as this guy was kinda messed in the head and had some psychopathic urges. Some of the story where he'd been particularly intense had mildly creeped you out but you pressed on, as the rest of the game was fairly good.
He also had good fighting sequences and proved himself in spite of his subpar physical prowess. The fact that he appeared so weak because everyone else in his world was so strong was funnily relatable to you, as you remembered how Jen and Lillian easily made you seem weak without even trying or meaning to.
"I think either of them fits you" Cindy said "They do have that 'big brother' aura, you know?" She said and cutely hugged you with one arm, inadvertently pushing one of her large boobs against your back, which you definitely felt but she appeared not to notice or not to care.
"But I think the second one's a bit better. I think you'd look cute with glasses" She added, making you blush a little.
"C-Come on, Cindy. Those glasses aren't exactly flattering, if anything they'd look ne-" You were saying but stopped yourself, realizing who of all people you were talking to.
'Of frickin course she'd find it cute' You thought, as Cindy wasn't exactly shy about her being a nerd herself. You looked at her and saw that she was giving you the puppy eyes.
"Alright, alright, you win! I'll cosplay as that guy!" You chuckled while looking away, but also gave Cindy some headpats.
~~~
Snapping back to reality, you had to decide how to spend the day until Halloween...
