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ONE

“Come on, Marcus. A few hours won’t kill you,” my roommate Jason said as he opened the container of denture glue.

“They might,” I teased as I leaned against the doorframe of our shared bathroom. “Those are fancy fangs.”

“Chicks dig vampires, and I don’t want the cheap ones falling off while making out.”

“You think you’re going to get lucky, huh?”

He scoffed. “On Halloween? Obviously.”

Jason carried enough confidence for both of us. He was traditionally handsome, tall and dark, and a stark contrast to my slight frame, red hair, and pale skin.

“How will you talk to them? They’ll give you a lisp,” I said.

“The music will be too loud to talk anyway, so I’ll let my body do the talking.” He shimmied in his skin-tight black jeans.

I couldn’t help laughing. “You’re such a dork.”

“Says the guy who’s going to skip getting laid at the best party of the year to stay home and play a video game you play every other day.” Jason pressed a sharp fang to his tooth.

He made it sound like attending the party guaranteed sex. Maybe for him it did, but certainly not for me.

“I’m not gaming. I’m going exploring,” I said.

“At night? On Halloween?” The words came out with the predicted lisp.

“There have been reports of supernatural activity on Halloween at an abandoned house in the woods. I’m going to check it out.”

“On that weird app you use?” he teased.

I rolled my eyes. He’d been giving me shit since I downloaded Compass Adventures in the spring to get me outside more. As a kid, I’d loved geocaching with my dad. Compass Adventures was like that, except leading you on adventures to explore historical sites, quirky pit stops, and the occasional report of supernatural activity. And you collected badges along the way. I was nothing if not a sucker for gamification.

“You want to judge my hyperfixations? Let’s check your YouTube history for how many videos you’ve watched this week about circus history.”

“Don’t judge me.”

“No judgment,” I said, laughing. “You planning to bring someone back here?” I could freshen up the bathroom.

Jason shrugged as he clumsily applied eyeliner. “I’ll text you if I do.”

I was grateful that our bathroom was between our bedrooms, so we didn’t share a wall. He got lucky far more often than me, and I didn’t need to hear my best friend get freaky.

“Call me if you need me to pick you up anywhere.”

“Thanks, Mom. Last call to join me.”

I shook my head. “I’m good.”

Costume parties and getting drunk in loud places sounded about as fun as skinny-dipping in the Arctic. When going out, I preferred trivia night with a small group of our friends.

He slicked back his hair with gel, then spritzed on his favorite cologne before heading out to catch his rideshare.

After filling my water bottle, I checked the Compass Adventures app to see if there were any reports from tonight. Nothing yet.

While lacing up my hiking boots, my attention wandered to my PlayStation. It would be easy to stay home and play Kiss of the Abyss. I was replaying the game again and about an hour of gameplay away from one of my favorite sequences in wooing my favorite character.

Instead of trying my hand at dating women, I spent most of my free time either crossing off real-world excursions in the Compass Adventure app or romancing an incubus with erogenous horns and piercing dark eyes that turned gold when well fed.