and Laura were standing in the doorway of the playroom and watching a couple of friends getting ready to scene in there.
No one in their bedroom, or the other bedrooms or bathrooms.
Hmm.
She decided it wasn’t worth it. They would eventually meet the guy, whoever he was. It wasn’t unusual for people to arrive at their parties and Seth and Leah never even realized they were there until the guests said their goodbyes before they left. They were just that busy, that crowded. Hell, there was already over thirty people there now, and there were fifty on the RSVP list.
Shoving the impossible thoughts out of her head, she made her way back out onto the lanai.
* * * *
After dinner had been served, Ross called for everyone’s attention. On the lanai next to him were five real pumpkins, laid out on pieces of newspaper, along with packages of pumpkin carving tool sets.
On the table in front of him were a pile of permanent markers in a variety of colors, including several black ones.
“Okay, this is going to be our first ever ass-o-lantern contest. We’ve got the LED tea lights to put inside the pumpkins instead of candles. We know real candles wouldn’t last five minutes around some of you wax play enthusiasts.” A round of laughter rippled through the crowd. “And I don’t even want to know how some of you will be lighting up your subby ass-o-lanterns.”
“Glow sticks?” Gilo called out.
The crowd laughed.
“Not all of us are switches, buddy,” Ross said. “Now, as you can see, we have five real pumpkins for carving. We also have markers for drawing on people. The first five people who want real pumpkins, step forward.”
Kel, Tilly, Gilo, Max, and Rob all claimed pumpkins.
“Great,” Ross continued. “This should be interesting. The knife play expert and the psycho nurse going head to head.”
“That’s psych nurse,” Tilly corrected. Tonight she was dressed as the sluttiest nurse on the face of the planet, which was even funnier because she was a nurse in real life.
“Psych, psycho, same thing with you,” Ross playfully shot back. “Who wants markers?”
Scrye, Mallory, and Landry grabbed markers.
Kel frowned. “Babe, who are you partnering with?”
Chelbie’s hand shot up, a grin on her face. “Me, boss. Bestie can draw on my ass anytime.”
“Well, this deck is stacked,” Ross joked. “A graphic artist going up against an accountant and a sadist. Okay, you have thirty minutes to do your carving and drawing. We’ll judge both categories separately, and it’ll be crowd choice by applause. I found a decibel meter app for my phone, so no paper ballot voting this time. Ready…go!”
Ross laughed as Chelbie immediately hiked the hem of her Slutty Red Riding Hood outfit over her hips and dropped to her hands and knees so Mallory could start drawing.
He walked over to Rich and Nick, who were watching with amused looks on their faces. “I’m surprised you guys didn’t enter.”
“No, watching is more fun,” Rich said. “It’s the closest thing to in-person girl-on-girl action we’ll ever see.”
Chelbie was Mallory’s best friend. Ross knew the five of them spent plenty of vanilla time together. “I can’t fault your logic there.”
Within five minutes, it was plain to see who would capture the drawing category. Landry had Cris bent over a chair in front of him for his drawing, and while it was better than just two triangles and a mouth, compared to Mallory’s artwork it looked like a preschooler drew it. Scrye’s wasn’t much better.
Mallory, however, was using not just black, but other colors as well, shading and highlighting, turning Chelbie’s ass cheeks into a grinning cat-o-lantern worthy of any animated feature.
Except for the part that it was drawn on her ass cheeks.
Landry and Scrye conceded the contest to Mallory without any votes being needed. She won a twenty-five dollar gift card to Sigalo’s, courtesy of Shayla and Tony.
When the judging was
April Angel, Milly Taiden