The Beautiful Monster

"So, we should do something to match our personalities," she said. She didn\'t know what that could be, but she was sure that they could figure it out. They would just have to be creative.

"Yeah, dark and light," Elias smirked as he pitched a quick look over at her.

"Perfect," Alyssa managed to say. She should\'ve thought about that before.

The costume shop was small, but there were countless racks full of different costumes and accessories to choose from.

There were even shelves full of wigs and makeup too. All they had to do was sift through it all until they found something that popped out to them.

"Are those salt and pepper shaker costumes?" Elias asked with a confused look. He slightly pulled out a costume that looked like a pepper shaker.

Alyssa pulled out the salt shaker and laughed.

"It\'s one of those couples costumes," she explained before letting the costume fall back into place. She wasn\'t going for something that cheesy. She wanted something that complimented them.

"That\'s what people dress up as?" Elias asked with a snort.

"Some people. I like fantasy costumes a little more than regular occupations or joke costumes," Alyssa told him.

When she was growing up, she went as all sorts of different monsters and creatures. Those costumes were some of the easiest to make out of scratch.

Also, Halloween was a way to escape reality. She didn\'t want to dress up as anything that she could possibly be in real life.

She wanted to be something extraordinary, and that mindset hadn\'t changed even now as she got older. In fact, it strengthened.

"Fantasy? You like that kind of stuff?" Elias asked curiously as they walked through the row of costume racks.

"Yeah, I think it\'s cool," Alyssa replied before pausing in front of a few vampire costumes. She pulled one out with a red vest, a black cape, and black pants. "This is perfect for you!"

Elias almost looked taken back.

"This one? Why?" he asked.

"Because you\'re all gloomy and dark, like a vampire. You even have the black hair and pale skin," Alyssa pointed out as she held the costume up.

It looked like a perfect fit for him, and he would look pretty hot with fake fangs in. She had to get him to consider this one.

Elias took the costume and looked at it.

"I mean, it\'s not bad. If you think this suits me," he replied.

Alyssa figured she wouldn\'t get the most excited reaction from anything she showed him. He was a guy in a costume shop, and he was letting her take the lead. This was the one.

"You\'ll look amazing in it," she assured him. She could already picture him in it, and he\'d look badass with it on. It complimented his darker look, and that was what they were shooting for.

Elias cracked a smile.

"Amazing, huh?" he asked.

Alyssa blushed a little. She probably could\'ve said great or good, but she had gone with amazing. It was the truth. He looked amazing. He was amazing.

"Yeah, yeah. Now, I have to find something that\'s the opposite of a vampire," she said as she moved down the row.

She saw angels, but that didn\'t call out to her. She didn\'t want to be a witch either. She wasn\'t sure what exactly she was looking for, but she knew that she would know when she found it.

"What about a fairy?" Elias suddenly asked as she sifted through a few costumes.

Alyssa screwed her face up. All she thought about was Tinkerbell when she thought of a fairy, and she wasn\'t looking to be anything too frilly and childish.

She still glanced over at the costume he was holding, and surprise overtook her. She wasn\'t expecting that.

The fairy costume had a light blue, strapless top piece that changed into a white, organza skirt that came down to mid-thigh. It was slightly sultry but not too outright.

It even had cute blue wings attached to the back. It definitely felt like the opposite of darkness.

"I like it. It\'s cute," Alyssa said with a smile. She traced her fingertips along the light material of the skirt.

She needed tights to go with this costume because she wasn\'t sure about showing off so much of her bare legs. "I need some accessories."

"You\'d look cute in it," Elias said as his eyes drifted up her body to her eyes.

Alyssa forgot how to breathe for a second when their eyes met. His compliment was also making her brain threaten to go into overdrive. She tried to tell herself that they were just words, but that didn\'t help at all. He said them.

"I think we\'re going to look great," she replied. They would be total opposites, but they would still pair well together.

She was just happy that she wasn\'t going alone. She would have both Zoe and Elias to turn to if she felt awkward or out of her zone.

"We already do," Elias pointed out. He shot her a playful wink before walking over to the accessories section.

It was obvious that he was flirting with her. Why couldn\'t she flirt back? Why couldn\'t she say what she wanted to? Alyssa was driving herself insane by locking everything up, but she was still too scared to say anything.

She didn\'t want to mess up or embarrass herself. She could scare him away, and that was the last thing that she wanted.

"You should probably get these," she said as she pointed to a pack of fake fangs. They were the ones that he could stick onto his teeth instead of the cheap, plastic ones. If they were going to do this, they were going to go big.

"I actually already have some at home," Elias replied as he looked through some of the makeup.

"Oh, okay," Alyssa said, trying not to look too confused. She wasn\'t sure why he would randomly have fake fangs in his house, but maybe he had siblings or young cousins that left some there. People had plenty of random things in their homes.

"What accessories were you thinking of?" Elias asked her.