if the glass slipper fits

he had enough in his savings to move. it was one thing if these had been natural disasters and the town was just unlucky, but from his perspective it was simply a warzone pretending to be a safe haven for all. he hadn’t heard dick and or shit from anyone of authority about what happened with the vampires. everyone simply licked their wounds and moved on. he checked the news stations, and nothing outside the town reported the event. nothing local did, either. so fuck it. the great experiment was over. what friends he did make, he cherished. those he didn’t think were responsible for the massacre, that is. no vampires made that list.

he would have to cherish them from afar, however. rick was moving. he’d given his two weeks at redmart, but he wasn’t gonna stick around for the two weeks. he and matty were moving on. luckily for him, matty’s werewolf healing had him well enough to pack everything for him. rick couldn’t do anything with his bum leg. he waited outside the apartment complex, sitting on the truck bed smoking a fat blunt, sneering at anyone who came near. his moms would be disappointed, he thought. until he told them about everything that went down. all those people dead or turned, which to him seemed like the same thing. no one cared. business as usual. 

there really should be a class. she listened to rick and nodded her head. “yeah…i guess you are right.” so many secrets and lies this town held. “so what are you faking?” she smiled a bit. “wait…” she moved away to go to the bar and took a bottle of whiskey. as she came back, she laughed. “we may need this.” she looked around. “time to live a little i guess.” she took a swig of the whiskey and coughed as it went down.

rick laughed. man, this girl was such a nerd. it was endearing, really, and bless her heart she was trying. “li’l bit of this ‘n’ that,” he shrugged, grinning as he watched her struggle with the whiskey. rick took the bottle when she was done. “i’m definitely not as smart as you probably think i am,” he teased, tipping the bottle to his lips. he drank without wincing.

“I apologize for not giving more information. If I had more time to plan then I would have given you more direct directions of what the ball meant. You are always welcome to whatever event I throw and always in my home.” She said with a chuckle looking at the other. Rick had a special place in her heart. He was different from most of the humans she had met before. “I will attempt to get approval on that for the next event.” 

rick doubted that, but he didn’t blame her. sometimes, when someone entered a new relationship, they let their old friendships fall to the side. since he’d heard she had a boyfriend, he assumed she was too busy or too wrapped up in the relationship to bother old friends. it amused him that this was as true for vampires as it was humans. “shouldn’t be hard,” he chuckled, “a bloc party is way cheaper than a party like this. just tell everyone BYOB, then just buy kegs. everything else, the popcorn machine, the cotton candy maker, and the bouncy castle, that’ll cost half of this shindig. great job, by the way. it’s not my kind of party, but it is a sweet ass gig.”

matty couldn’t hear much over the sound of his own heartbeat. “get up?” he asked slowly, trying to decipher the meaning behind the words. the wolf shook his head, closing his eyes once again. he could tell by the urgency in ricks tone that he should be panicking but he focusing on anything right now was difficult. Brows knitting together in a hard line, matty shook his head. standing was a foreign concept with his obvious concussion and even if he could, there was no telling what had been broken on impact. he was healing but it still wasn’t fast enough. the only saving grace was blacking out almost immediately. Matty bit his bottom lip hard, feeling rick dab at his ear. each touch sending a bolt of pain through his head. the wolf lifted a hand to wave him off but just as he did rick was gone. opening his eyes he narrowed at the sight in front of them. now huddled behind their barricade matty swallowed, reality beginning to dawn on him.

this was bad. this was worse than bad. this was catastrophic. rick insulated himself through ignorance against the supernatural drama of the town. he trusted everyone as if they were human, but he realized now he’d always depended on matty and his werewolf abilities to protect him. matty was really hurt. that scared him as much as the vampires. he crouched beside his friend. “stay. play dead.” the joke probably wouldn’t land in all the chaos, but it was good advice. rick peered around the table. the exits were still blocked. their only hope would be to go through a window. matty was too hurt to move right now anyway. for now, all they could do was survive. 

rick placed a handful of forks and knives in matty’s hand. “if something comes, go for the eyes.” cautiously, he peaked over the table. it still had its heavy wooden legs. one looked about to snap off. rick tried to yank it off, but it wouldn’t budge. “fuck, fuck, fuck,” the longer he was exposed the more likely a vampire was to notice him, and by extension matty. taking a step back, he kicked the leg. it cracked and came loose. a hissing from the left made his hair stand on end. he turned, wielding the jagged wooden table leg. he didn’t have to fight them all off, just the ones who found them. he attacked, the vampire a gruesome site covered in blood and viscera, face twisted by bloodlust. if he survived, he would have to thank dom. he ducked to the side, allowing the vampire’s own momentum to send them crashing to the ground, then when he found his opening, he brought the leg down on the back of his head. his screaming stopped suddenly. rick ducked behind the table before another vampire noticed him. “he’s probably not dead, but hopefully he’ll forget about us.”

Matty laid against the marble in a sorry heap. His head leaning awkwardly against his shoulder. Blood trickled from his nose and ears, becoming absorbed by the fabric of his shirt. He’d been fading in and out of consciousness for what felt like forever now. The sound of everyone’s frantic screams should have been cause for alarm but they weren’t. All the wolf could focus on was the intense pounding in his skull and the way his body had been twisted. This had to be the most confused he’d been waking up since he’d stopped going to college parties.

“Wha–?” He grumbled between short breaths, he could feel a rib stabbing him as he tried. There were definitely a few things broken. Opening his eyes, Matty did his best to look at the voice. Lolling his head up to rest against the marble wall he looked around. “Are you still mad at me?” He asked, it was the only question he thought to verbalize. The intense pain had begun to set in. The last thing he’d been doing was dancing with Sunny and now all hell had broken loose. 

rick barely heard him over the chaos. “what? that so doesn’t fucking matter right now dude. can you get up?” there was an awful lot of blood, and the guy looked like he could barely remember his own name. it sucked that the thing he did remember was rick being angry at him. it was so stupid and petty. he couldn’t have known this was going to turn into a bloodbath. rick glanced up at the wall. “did you do that? jesus fucking christ. okay, the place is locked down, and we gotta go, or they’re gonna fucking kill us. can you stand?” rick picked up a discarded cloth napkin. it wasn’t big enough to wrap his head, so he used it to dab at his ears. a screech from behind. rick dropped the napkin in favor of a hunk of marble. he swung blindly, catching a yowling vampire right in the jaw, sending them crashing. he flips a table, sending glass ware and utensils crashing to the ground, then hides the pair of them behind it. “dude what the fuck are we gonna do?” he asked, eyes frantic.

Although Rick was the last person Wilbur wanted to spend time with right now, his heartbreak was currently replaced with panic as everyone around him scrambled to get to the door. He tried to push through them to get back to the other, and once he felt a grip on his wrist, his eyes peered up at him, before darting around again. “I don’t–” he stopped though, mouth falling open slightly as he saw a vampire tear into someone’s throat. “We have to get out of here.” He whispered, face going pale.

julia laughed and pushed her glasses up her nose again. “i guess not.” she smiled. “i just…i don’t know how to pretend to be confident. i’m clumsy all the time and…i don’t know.” she felt too nerdy to be cool. “i spend most of my nights reading…alone. there isn’t like a class for this kind of stuff.”

“no, you’re right, and there def should be.” he knew several people who could use such a class. “think about this, though... i guarantee everyone in this room, everyone you ever met is faking something. it’s honestly human nature. no one knows what they’re doing, everything happens by accident. the human experience is kinda just luckin’ your way through life til you figure it out.” he pointed at several party goers, many of whom shot him dirty looks. “they’re all fakin’. you’re not alone.”

fuck fuck fuck what the fuck is happening? terror gripped rick in a way he never thought possible. he tore through the panicking mass of victims and killers. he’d already tried the doors to find them locked. news stories of the past raced through his head. he tried to remember what the survivors had done in those instances, what people had done to save others. all he could think of was hiding amongst the bodies with blood smeared on his face to avoid getting killed. 

matty sighed, he knew he’d fucked up and he was gonna tell him, honest. but when matty left, rick was still asleep and the place sunny had insisted he got his suit from had no service. But lastly (and probably the most important) he knew rick wouldn’t come if he knew first hand. the wolf followed after him, head ducked slightly. “come on, i’m sorry,” he practically whined once they’d gotten outside. “what can i do to make it right?”

rick groaned. he didn’t want to be mad at him, but he couldn’t help it. it was one thing if two dudes showed up looking goofy. then people thought they were just lovable jokesters. but if one dude showed up to a formal dinner dressed up like a hotdog, he was just an asshole. he set down the cases, pulling out three beers. he handed two to matty, then cracked his own open. he shrugged, then took a swig. “why don’t you take these to your date ‘n’ and enjoy the party, eh?” okay, that was too mean, he thought. “we can sort it out later, just go be with the person you came with, i guess.”

Wilbur heard Rick calling behind him, but he didn’t look over his shoulder. If he did, he knew he would completely break down… and he didn’t want the entire town to know what was going on. He froze, however, when he heard someone scream, and spun around, trying to locate the cause of it… but suddenly everyone was swarming towards him (or rather, the door,) and he started getting swept up in it. His eyes darted around, trying to spot someone he knew, or even anyone that could explain what was happening, but then he heard Rick call his name again and he looked over his shoulder, eyes wide and afraid. What was happening? “Rick!” He called back. trying to push his way out of the swarm of people heading to the door, which was seemingly locked and refusing to open.

Wilbur didn’t look up at him at first, but when there was silence between them for that long moment, he knew what Rick’s answer was going to be. He felt his body tense slightly as he heard the other’s tone of voice, and had to bite the inside of his lip to keep it from trembling. Of course Rick didn’t feel the same way, why would he? He panicked at every little thing, could never make decisions for himself, and was ridiculously needy. And on top of all that, he was an idiot for thinking that Rick could ever want him for anything more than they already were. He shouldn’t have mentioned it, now he knew that he’d ruined everything. Wilbur stood there for a short moment after Rick finished speaking, his mind going a mile a minute… “I have to go.” And with that, the half elf pulled open the doors to the balcony and started through the ballroom, trying to avoid as many collisions as possible so he could get out before the waterworks started. He couldn’t even hold himself together until he was alone… pathetic. That was the only word Wilbur could think of to describe himself, in that moment.

julia laughed softly. “i mean…i guess.” she was never one to really want to stand out because she didn’t like drawing attention to herself, but he had a point. “yeah wanting to compete and all.” she smiled and nodded. “you just seem to have a lot of confidence in you…that is definitely something i wish i had.” she admitted.

“aw, thanks, that’s a nice thing to say.” rick grinned toothily at her. “y’know it’s super easy to fake, right? that sayin’ “fake it till you make it”? well, it’s legit. no one knows what’s going on inside, so really, you can do whatever the fuck you want on the outside.” he leaned in conspiratorially. “you’d never know it if i felt super dumb in this when everyone is all glam’d up, right?” he winked.

“formal isn’t usually a problem for me…but i tend to keep to myself a lot, so i don’t know how i would fit in at any situation.” she shrugged a bit. she smiled and shook her head. “no, i had this in my closet for some time.” she was going to say she knew she didn’t look great, but at his compliment, she blushed. “uh, thanks.” she looked around. “i just feel like this is definitely the place where everyone is gonna try to one up one another.”

“fitting in is for chumps, don’t even sweat it. better to stand out one way or another.” he sort of needed that to be true tonight, especially considering how he looked right then. “oh yeah, for sure. i mean, you come to a party like this so you can show off how flashy your outfit is, right? it’s a big ol’ pissing contest. that’s sociology one-oh-one, right?” at least he thought so. he didn’t remember his first sociology class since he hadn’t attended it. 

“I don’t know, I think I like parties where there just aren’t a lot of people… but I know that isn’t your thing either.” Wilbur pointed out. Board game and movie nights, that was what he liked. Not rooms crammed full of people. As Rick said he could talk to him though, he swallowed hard and nodded slightly, his mind scrambling to figure out how he was going to word what he wanted to say. His chest suddenly felt tight, but he took a deep breath, eyes flicking away and looking at the ground. “I, uhm…” He cleared his throat, trying to calm himself. “I have feelings for you.” 

Seeing Rick’s expression to her professional aspect Gummy couldn’t help smiling at him. Looking him over she wasn’t expecting for him to be wearing something so unprofessional. She expected him to wear something Rick-ish. Not like this. “I’m sorry. I should have known better.” She apologized only to chuckle at his reaction. “There is no keg. If you would like I will have another party where you can invite all of your friends and there will be a keg for just you.” 

rick shook his head. “nah, it’s my fault for thinking this would be... i guess, not this. i thought since it was, like, to celebrate the town or whatever, it was gonna be a block party. i don’t have a lot of experience with formal parties. my moms’ never thought they were worth anything, and even if they were, i don’t think i would get invited anyway.” still smiling, he shrugged one shoulder. “keg’s aren’t for just one person, they’re for everyone. but next party, definitely make it a big ol’ block party”

julia couldn’t help but laugh a bit more. she was starting to feel a little at ease. “it happens every year to just celebrate that this town was made. this is the first time i brought myself to come.” she shrugged a bit. “i think like everyone else, you have to rock what you got.” she looked around. “though….most people are able to rock a lot of money.” she shrugged. “i just think spending money on outfits might not be the smartest investment. especially if you are only going to wear it once.”

“oooh,” rick nodded his head in understanding. “see, i thought it was more of a, like, town block party or summer fest or something.” he followed her gaze, noting all the glitz and glamour. truly, everyone looked gorgeous and very expensive. “yeah, right? that’s why i’m not a big fan of big formal things. like, sure, they have their place, but they’re also kinda crappy if you think about it. all the pressures ‘n’ social contracts ‘n’ shit.” he returned his attention to julia. “did you buy this just for tonight? you look hella gorgeous, so,” he gave her two thumbs up. “way to go, chica.”