Halloween horrors
Halloween. Finally, that time of the year when you could pretend to be somebody else and get away with it. Cute had thought a lot about which character he’d play. Would he be somebody terrible or somebody nice? Following up on the success of The Dark Knight movie, would he play the Joker or the Batman? He was too short for either, more like Robin. But nobody remembered Robin and he wasn’t even in the movie. No, he had to pick some other character. After much deliberation between being the devil and an angel, he had picked the latter. Cupid, to be more precise.
He had picked white shorts and a translucent white sleeveless undershirt to go with his white sandals. The wings and bow came from a friend. After he had put them on and admired himself in the mirror, he was satisfied he looked good enough to go out.
He was at Propaganda waiting for Fred to show up. There was a Halloween getup competition and they had decided to attend it. Cute knew he wouldn’t win any prize. His costume was too simple.
Fred showed up late. He was Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Instead of elaborate makeup he’d decided to stick eyes on to his cheeks to complete the look that went with the pirate outfit Cute had helped him purchase from Mong Kok.
Fred had wanted to be Spiderman at first, but he was a big gweilo; the shops on Tung Choi Street didn’t have his size. A shopkeeper told him he wouldn’t be able to find his size anywhere but at the rentals. So Fred had gone for the pirate outfit.
“Sorry, traffic was slow,” Fred said.
“I thought you’d sail here in your ship, captain.” Cute laughed. “The Black Pearl.“
“I ran aground.” Fred laughed.
“Will you participate in the competition, captain?”
“No. I’m here to enjoy myself, not for others to enjoy me.” Fred winked.
Cute’s cell phone buzzed. It was Diano. Since it was noisy, with thundering music in the background and all that chatter, Cute excused himself and went outside to answer the call.
“What’s up?”
“Where are you?” asked Diano.
“PP.”
“Already?”
“Yes. Fred’s here too. Where are you?”
“I’m at the Landmark, waiting for Norman. I had asked him to be on time but obviously…” Diano trailed off.
“Where do you plan to go?”
“Lan Kwai Fong. Where else?”
“It’s almost midnight. You’ll have to join the snail-paced queue to get in.”
“The queue starts here and goes all the way to Pottinger Street before turning back into Lan Kwai Fong through Wellington Street.” Diano sighed.
“Dim suen ar?” asked Cute. “What do you wanna do?”
“Wait for my master.”
Cute laughed.
“Oh, here he comes,” said Diano. “Call you later.”
Cute was happy Fred was gay. At least they didn’t need to hide like Norman did. But he was straight anyway. Wasn’t that a curse already?
Both, Fred and he, met a lot of friends inside. It was like the most happening place for the gay crowd that evening.
Cute went outside to answer the phone when Diano called again. There was a long queue of people waiting to get in.
“Wei. Where are you?”
“There’s a huge crowd of people outside the Beijing and Norman has forgotten to bring his card. Disappointing.” Diano sighed. “He wants to go somewhere but it would be suicidal to get into Lan Kwai Fong now.”
“Yes! Why don’t you guys come over to PP? It’s Halloween night. Nobody’s gonna recognize him.” Cute said.
“He isn’t dressed up,” said Diano. “I got him the devil’s horns to wear.”
“What are you?” Cute asked. “A vampire?”
“Yes. Anyway, he’s okay to come to PP,” said Diano. “I’ll catch you when we get in.” He hung up.
Forty-five minutes later Cute caught sight of Diano, who was walking towards the dance floor with Norman in tow.
As Norman turned towards the bar, Cute caught sight of his face and froze. It was Oliver!
Diano didn’t know Oliver. Or, at least, that’s what he always said. They had never met. But if this guy was Norman, then Norman and Oliver were the same person. That meant Oliver had been lying to them. He was Diano’s lover, Norman. And poor Summer was in love with Oliver too. Oh God. Both Diano and Summer were in love with Oliver!
Cute felt a sudden rush of anger. What a creep! How dare he do that to his friends, the only two people that mattered the most to Cute!
He felt sad for both Diano and Summer. One of them, if not both, would end up heartbroken. Should he tell them about Oliver? Should he tell them what he was doing to both of them? There was a high likelihood that spilling the beans would piss at least one of them off. Maybe they’d be angry with Cute and stop talking to him.
Maybe Oliver was gay after all? That’s why he was close to Diano. But why did he need to hang out with Summer? It was hard to believe he was doing that for friendship. It was obvious, from what Summer had said, he’d be aware of her feelings. Oliver was playing with fire.
Should he approach Oliver and ask him what he was up to? Good or bad, he didn’t want Oliver to disappear from his friends’ lives. Summer would give up on love and Diano would be scarred forever. Oh God. Why did it have to happen this way? He couldn’t handle the pressure any more.
He went back to Fred.
“I’m tired. Let’s go home.”
“Already? Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’d rather spend the night in your arms.” Cute said as he looped his hand under Fred’s arm.
“Sure. Let’s go.” Fred put his glass down on the counter and they walked out.
Cute sent a message to Diano saying they had left.
