As the st cinnamon pancake vanished and everyone began nursing their second cups of coffee, the chaotic energy of the gang settled into a warm, comfortable buzz.

  Conversation wandered - from csses and caffeine addiction, to which professor might secretly be a lizard, to how many shots Jorge actually took st night before dancing on a table (Cami cimed eight; Jorge swore it was five, “and a Red Bull”).

  Then, as Tyrell, rummaging through the fridge for a beer, gnced at the calendar stuck to the door, froze and let out a low groan.

  “Aw hell naw,” he muttered.

  Ravi leaned over. “What?”

  “Halloween’s in like… two weeks. Completely forgot about it.”

  Jorge raised an eyebrow. “So?”

  “So, we need costumes!”

  Bharath blinked. “Wait. Isn’t Halloween for kids?”

  Silence.

  Every girl at the table turned their head toward him, expressions ranging from amused to outright offended.

  Marisol tilted her head. “You did not just say that.”

  Sarah set her mug down with exaggerated slowness. “Oh honey…”

  Cami grinned, eyes lighting up. “Oh my God. This is going to be delicious.”

  Bharath gnced at Jorge and Ravi, who both shrugged.

  “I thought it was a thing with pumpkins and candy?” Jorge said. “You know. Kids ringing doorbells?”

  Tyrel ughed. “You are so innocent.”

  “Oh baby,” Marisol said, reaching over and patting Bharath’s thigh, “you’re about to learn about adult Halloween.”

  “What does that even mean?” Bharath asked.

  “It means,” Sarah said sweetly, “costumes. Sexy ones. Parties. Drinking. Dancing. Making out in masks. Grown-ass chaos.”

  “Absolute chaos,” Cami echoed, grinning like a fox.

  Ravi’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait. Hold on. You can make out in masks? Also, will there be like… lingerie involved?”

  “And fishnets,” Marisol added, casually. “And leather. And glitter. And people lose clothes by midnight.”

  Ravi’s jaw dropped. “This is a holiday?”

  “It’s a lifestyle,” Cami corrected.

  Bharath looked utterly bewildered. “You mean… people dress up in costumes just to get drunk and hook up?”

  All three girls answered in unison: “Yes.”

  The boys sat in stunned silence.

  Then Jorge leaned forward slowly. “Okay… so what are you three dressing as?”

  The room burst into wicked grins.

  “Oh, we’ve just started thinking about it,” Marisol said. “But now that we’re a trio… we need a theme.”

  “Sexy witches?” Cami offered.

  “Cat, mouse, and cheese?” Tyrel grinned.

  Sarah ughed. “Not bad. But we were thinking more iconic. Like… Cleopatra and her two bodyguards.”

  “Or devil, angel, and sinner,” Marisol said, eyes gleaming as she gnced at Bharath.

  Cami sighed dreamily. “God, you two are going to sy together.”

  Tyrel raised his hands. “Okay, no. I refuse to be the only one not making out in a costume this year.”

  “Same,” Ravi added. “This is unacceptable.”

  “Fix us,” Tyrel demanded, turning to Sarah and Marisol. “You have one week.”

  Marisol blinked. “One week to what?”

  “To find us girlfriends,” Ravi said. “Minimum two. Equal or better than Sarah.”

  Sarah choked on her coffee.

  Marisol gave them a ft stare. “You really think I’m just keeping goddess-tier friends in storage for emergencies?”

  Cami cackled. “Oh my god, that’s a thought,” she said, thinking about beautiful Barbie like girls in a storage lined up in a cupboard.

  Bharath and Jorge smirked into their mugs.

  “I’m serious,” Tyrel said. “We want in. We want shawties who are hot, smart, and into freaky costumes.”

  “And emotionally avaible,” Ravi added. “But mostly the costumes.”

  Marisol rolled her eyes. “Boys. You barely survived your st crushes. I’m not setting you up just so I can watch you spiral all over again.”

  “Marisol,” Tyrel said dramatically, “have a heart.”

  Sarah leaned into Bharath and whispered, “They’re trying so hard not to sound desperate.”

  He whispered back, “They’re failing.”

  Ravi pointed at them. “Don’t whisper while cuddling! That’s illegal!”

  Marisol sighed. “Fine. Maybe we’ll introduce you to someone before the Halloween party.”

  “Under one condition,” Sarah said. “You let us pick the costumes.”

  Ravi and Tyrel exchanged a nervous gnce.

  “…Can we see their costumes before we agree?” Ravi asked.

  “No,” Cami, Sarah and Marisol said in perfect unison.

  Cami leaned back and grinned. “I’m going to enjoy watching this year’s Halloween spiral into insanity.”

  Jorge raised his mug. “Then I vote we party on Frat Lane. Big. Costumes. Chaos. And one more chance for Tyrel to try and twerk upside down.”

  Marisol choked on her coffee. “Oh my God, we’re not doing another Tyrel-twerking emergency.”

  Cami threw her head back. “He almost dislocated his hip st time!”

  “I almost had it,” Tyrel said defensively. “I just needed a sturdier wall.”

  “You tried to twerk on a vending machine,” Ravi deadpanned.

  “It was vibrating! I thought it would help!”

  Laughter broke across the table again - full-bodied, unfiltered, the kind that only came after a shared night of chaos and cinnamon pancakes. But then Cami leaned forward, her expression shifting from mischief to something more focused.

  “Okay, but seriously - if we’re going to do this right, we should skip Frat Lane this year.”

  Tyrel raised an eyebrow. “Frat Lane’s tradition.”

  “It’s also packed with freshmen, guys with fake swords, and kegs that taste like mop water,” Cami replied. “I’ve got a better idea.”

  “Oh no,” Sarah said, already smiling.

  Cami smirked. “Club Zero.”

  Tyrel blinked. “That pce in Buckhead with the steel bar cage on the second floor?”

  “The one with the ser lights and dress code?” Mairsol asked.

  “The one where that one girl danced on a speaker in a trench coat and nothing underneath?” Ravi added.

  “That’s the one,” Cami said, smug. “If I call now, I can get our names on the guest list.”

  Bharath furrowed his brow. “Isn’t that pce kind of… fancy?”

  “It’s not fancy,” Marisol said. “It’s legendary. It’s the kind of pce where the bouncers wear sungsses at night.”

  Bharath was still stuck on the concept. “So… we get into costumes… and then go to a nightclub?”

  Cami nodded. “Big crowd. Real DJ. College night on Saturdays. Girls in feathers, guys in mesh, drinks with fire in them. It’s glorious.”

  “I’m going to need… like, a full tutorial on this,” Bharath muttered.

  “Think Diwali meets Mardi Gras,” Marisol said. “But more cleavage.”

  Bharath’s eyes widened. “...So we can’t just hang out here?”

  “You can,” Sarah said gently. “But we’ll be there. In velvet and eyeliner. With maybe… a whip.”

  Tyrel raised his hands. “Alright, alright. No further questions. Club Zero it is.”

  Cami grinned. “That’s what I thought.”

  “Wait,” Jorge said, still chewing toast. “That pce has a two-person minimum for costume themes, right?”

  “Which works out,” Marisol said, “because we already have a trio theme.”

  “And we’re maybe setting up two of you,” Sarah added, pointing at Tyrel and Ravi.

  “I want my match vetted,” Ravi said. “Someone who reads and dances.”

  Tyrel raised a finger. “And she has to be hotter than Sarah.”

  “That is a high bar,” Jorge muttered.

  “Thank you,” Sarah said, sipping her coffee with a grin.

  Marisol sighed. “I’m not pulling women out of thin air.”

  “Just give us a chance,” Ravi said, hands together in mock prayer. “A week. That’s all we ask.”

  “And if you don’t find us someone,” Tyrel said, “we show up anyway, in matching cat suits.”

  Marisol stared. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Oh, we would,” Ravi said. “We already called Goodwill.”

  Bharath rubbed his temples. “Can I be excused from this entire conversation?”

  “No,” said everyone at once.

  Sarah reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “You’ll have fun. Promise.”

  He gave her a long look. “What if I just… come as a ghost?”

  Marisol leaned in, eyes gleaming. “Only if it’s a bedsheet and nothing underneath.”

  Tyrel whooped. “My man’s going to be the horniest spirit in Atnta!”

  Cami pulled out a tiny notepad from her purse and started jotting. “Alright - guest list, costumes, pre-game pns, backup ride options, fake IDs for anyone under 21…”

  “I’ve got a fake ID,” Marisol said.

  “I have one too. I guess you guys need one. Don’t worry I know a guy,” Sarah added.

  “Who are you?”

  Cami smirked. “Don’t worry. My guy at the door owes me. Long story involving broken heels and tequi shots.”

  Jorge leaned toward Bharath. “Hey. You good with this?”

  Bharath paused. Looked around the table. Lingered on Sarah’s grin. On Marisol’s smirk. The wild spark in Cami’s eyes. Ravi and Tyrel’s sheer commitment to getting id.

  He exhaled.

  “I guess I’m going clubbing for Halloween.”

  Tyrel leaned back and whistled. “From stabbed hero to dual dimepieces to nightclubs… Bharath, you the American dream brah.”

  Ravi raised his mug. “To Halloween. May our costumes be tight, our drinks cold, and our dignity optional.”

  They all clinked mugs.

  And in that moment - costumes and chaos ahead - none of them realized this Halloween would be one they’d talk about for years.