The Heartbreak Club

6. broken hearts, tricks, and treats

Though Willa had previous intentions of attending Kelsey Webster's Saturday night Halloween party, she'd left choosing a costume to the last minute. This meant, after rifling through both her and her mother's closets, the best thing she could pull together was the Harry Potter costume she'd worn to the movie premier at her local cinema years ago.

Sure, the skirt was a little short now, and the blouse was a questionable fit across her chest, but it sufficed. She'd since lost her wand - replacing it with the handle of a paintbrush instead - but she still had her Slytherin attire.

Ashton had volunteered to drive them, after a lengthy discussion of how he didn't want to drink. They both agreed that this would be better short and sweet, though that didn't mean she wasn't holding tricks up her sleeve, and nor was he.

Her parents were in the living room, along with her Aunt Katrina who was popping the cork off of what looked to be the third bottle of wine shared between the three of them.

"Oh, Willa!" her aunt said rather animatedly. "I am so sorry to hear about you and Dec, he seemed like such a lovely boy."

Willa turned her back to them to grab her coat from the rack, screwing her nose up while she was turned away. "Well, so did I."

"It's okay, she's handling it really well. Now she has more time for school work and perfecting those college admission essays," her dad said.

"Yes, she should definitely take advantage of being single while she's still young and beautiful. In my day I was an absolute storm cloud of trouble - you have to live."

Maybe it was just to spite her aunt, but Willa turned around and shrugged. "Actually, I've got a boyfriend right now. In fact, he's here to pick me up. Bye!"

And before she could be lectured on staying single, she slipped out of the door, pursing her lips and running down the dampened grass towards the black sedan waiting for her.

In the dim light in the cabin of his car, Willa could make out faint patterns painted over Ashton's high cheekbones, his crooked grin framed with delicate lines of black.

"A skeleton?" she asked in greeting, examining the ornate paintwork, lines gliding over the planes of his face in a way which was both haunting and beautiful. "Don't tell me you did that yourself."

Ashton laughed, the black and white paint crinkling at the corners of his lips as he put his car into drive. "No. I was just going to wear a mask and be done with it, but Ben wouldn't have that."

"Ben did that?" she asked in disbelief, marveling at his art work. It was like the skeletal drawing had been tattooed onto his skin, and some weird part of her squirmed with the realization that it actually made Ashton look devilishly good looking.

"He likes to paint," he said, tapping his thumbs on the wheel. "I like your costume by the way. I'm a Slytherin too."

"No way," Willa said, again surprised. Ashton Hartford didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd sorted himself into a Harry Potter house. No, he was the kind of guy who she'd have thought would find it lame.