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It had been a quiet few hours in the library. Not entirely uncommon; sometimes the library would be barren, then groups of university students who couldn't afford a personal internet source would flock in to get some, if not all, of their work done at once. As the internet becomes increasingly expensive, books seem all the more enticing. Personally I liked both; the internet could be used for quick pieces of information, but I always enjoy the feel of paper in my hands and the fresh smell of an unopened book; so working in a library suited me perfectly.

"Maria, what would you rather have on your plate?" I asked, looking up from my desk at the radiant orange Fox who looked ready do drift off to sleep at a moment's notice. "Paying for an extra one or two security hands to keep the library safe; or paying to repair the library and replace a - for the time being - unknown amount of books that could be potentially damaged should a group of arse-hats break in?"

"I think you're overreacting, Pepper." Maria moaned back. We'd been arguing over what we would do this coming Saturday; Halloween on a Saturday was clearly going to be trouble. Teens use it as another excuse to get drunk in town and cause havoc where they go; and the town's library was right in the centre. "I swear one of these days you're going to cancel Christmas just because it's on a Saturday. In fact, I don't recall a moment when you didn't hate Saturdays."

She had a point, I'll admit. I'm not a weekend kind of Whippet; kids running around during the day and teens getting drunk and stirring up trouble during the evening. Still, on some level I was right; there were a couple of security guards that would come in on Saturday evening to hold the fort, a few hours pay was slightly cheaper than what it would probably take to fix up a percentage of this library, should it be damaged.

"I know my town, Maria." I defended, closing the book I'd been trying to read for the past few minutes; but by then my brain had turned to mush and all my eyes saw were the words and not what they meant. "Halloween is just another excuse for teens to get drunk, pick fights and do many things that they'll later come to regret in life when they realise they haven't made anything of themselves in the time that they were growing up."

"You think a lot about this, don't you?" The Fox smirked, trying to push any of my buttons. "How all teens are nothing but spoilt brats who would rather pull a knife on you than talk to you, hmm?"

"There were plenty of good kids back when I was in education." I retorted, speaking as if I was old. Truthfully I was only a twenty-one year old male; but my ability to stay organised and my professionalism got me to a pretty high working place in the library...the second floor, in fact. "I don't believe that more teens are getting rowdy; it's just that the rowdy ones are becoming more noticeable, more violent and vulgar. They feel they have to swear all the time to hold up a conversation."

"...Okay, fine, I give up you big nerd." Maria slumped on her desk, probably nursing a small headache that I gave her. I enjoyed being verbose at times, but I knew when it was getting annoying for the other person. "I'll get Darrel the Bear down here for an extra sixty quid; he can get pretty restless on his off-days, and he's too nice to say no."

Maria and I were often at odds; it was all playful, of course. Nothing we argued about had much of an impact on the library, other than re-shelving books and changing the isles around; and there were only ever two results. Maria would win, I would reluctantly accept it and she would hold her head up high for the rest of the week; by Monday she would be back to herself. I would win and think of it as nothing, Maria would casually call me a nerd or a geek (which, to be honest, was kind of true), there would be a short silence and we would ask each other what we were going to do after work or later in the week.

"So what're you doing for Halloween, Pepsi?" Maria beat me to the question, calling me by the nickname she'd decided to thrust upon me.

"Nothing. Halloween's more for kids and their parents." I responded, waking my computer up to turn it off. I was in the final five minutes of my shift and I'd decided that nobody was going to turn up in that time. "What do you think I'm going to do? I can't hand out candy; I live in a fifth-floor apartment. I'm not going to carve pumpkins; it'd be a waste of money and a good meal."

"So I guess you're not going to Adam Harrington's party, then?" Maria inquired. "I'm going with a friend; a lot of people are. It's going to be fuuuuun~."

"That rich pervert?" I spat, looking at her in shock. Adam Harrington was the town's...well, I don't quite know what he is. Feline, rich, in his forties, constantly having drunk and lustful parties whenever it suited him; yet he still managed to hold onto his fame and fortune! He was certainly something unnatural; that coming from me...

"I wouldn't call him a pervert. He's just...eccentric." Maria smiled back and pulled a flier from her jeans pocket and threw it to me; clearly an advertisement for the party. "It's going to be mostly booze, so fill up on food before you arrive. It's strictly for over twenty-one's and over - oh! And you have to come in a costume; none of this 'put makeup on and pretend you're a vampire or goth' crap. I'm going as a werewolf!"

Maria brandished her claws at the sides of her face and made a predatory look, trying to give me a teaser as to what she would look like in her costume. I just shook my head and grabbed my book, putting it away in my rucksack before hauling it over my shoulder.

"At least tell me you're going to come and try to meet new people." Maria put on a serious look as I got up from behind my desk to leave. "I'm bringing Ellie with me; you remember Ellie, right?"

"I met her once; she came to pick you up from your shift once." I replied, stopping at her desk for a moment; she seemed genuinely worried for my social life. The truth was I wasn't a friend kind of person; I was a family kind of person. No kids of my own, no partner, but there was my brother, mother, aunt, grandparents and so on; and we were all very close and dear to each other.

"Look, todays the...twenty-ninth" I continued, trying to put her at ease, "I've booked some days off and I won't be back until the second of November. I can't promise anything, but I'll see about going to this party."

"Promise?" I caught Maria raising an eyebrow at me just before I turned to leave. I put one thumb up so she could see it clearly as I navigated my way around the bookshelves and out of the library, into the cool afternoon breeze.

******************************

"...and now you have to think of a convincing lie to tell her when she asks 'where were you, Pepsi'" I scowled at the nickname she gave me as I turned the key to my apartment; it wasn't that I hated the nickname; it was just sounded so...child-like.

"Let's see, convincing lie...convincing lie..." I muttered, satisfied that nobody could hear me at I closed the door and took off my shoes. "...I went to visit my brother in London...that's an idea..."

I trudged through the living rooms and took a sharp right, then a left into my bedroom. Truth be told there was nothing amazing about my apartment; two bedrooms, one of everything else, wooden floors everywhere but in the bedrooms and bathroom, sterile white kitchen, lime green living room, sky-blue bathroom and ivory-white bedrooms.

"Or maybe...I injured my leg in a running accident." I pondered, dropping onto my queen-sized bed. The cover and pillows were red, everything else was ivory-white, the same as the bedroom walls. "...no, if I don't injure it enough I'd still be able to get to the party...maybe as a zombie with a limp. If I "injure it" too much, it won't be "fixed" by the second of November..."

I leant over to turn on my speakers, filling the room with some pleasant noise to stop my ears from ringing so loud. Unfortunately I had placed my mirror on the same side as my bedside table and got a good look at myself. I rarely ever look at myself in the mirror and think "you're being an arsehole, Pepper"; this was one of those rare moments.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, you prick." I moaned at my reflection, turning to stare at the ceiling. I looked rough, unhappy and, most importantly, bored. I reached down into my jeans and pulled out the flier Maria gave me. It didn't look glamorous; black background, a few cartoonish pumpkins on the borders, the title "Harrington's 10th annual Halloween party!" lying above the description of said party, the time, and who and what was and wasn't allowed. Overall it looked pretty cheesy. I tossed the flier away and turned over to look at myself in the mirror again.

"...you're doing this for Maria." I said to myself, getting up wearily. "...and you're going to have to get a costume."