It smelled like fall. The air was cool and crisp. A dense fog rolled over the ground, covering their feet as they walked along the gravel path.
Benjamin had parked his car on a residential street near the party, not wanting to get a parking ticket.
"Cold?" he asked, noticing the goosebumps forming on Stephanie's exposed arms.
Stephanie turned to him. The light from the moon bounced off her eyes as she did. She was freezing, but didn't want to complain on their first date. She had been waiting for this day for so long and wanted everything to be perfect.
"I'm okay," she lied.
Benjamin took off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders.
"Now you'll be cold," she said, wrapping his jacket around her as it blew in the wind.
"I'll be fine," he said.
"I like your costume," he said, smiling at her. She was wearing a black and white French maid outfit. She looked good, but for some reason he had expected something more original out of her. He had worked with her for over a year and her being different was what he had liked about her, but now she seemed more like all the other girls he had dated.
"Thanks," she replied, pulling at the skirt self-consciously. It wasn't like her to wear something so revealing, but she had made an exception for Ben. She had met his previous girlfriend at the office party the year before, when she was dressed as a Play Boy Bunny. She wasn't trying to compete with that, but she couldn't exactly show up as a Pilgrim. Although, she couldn't help but notice Ben wasn't wearing a costume. A wave of panic struck her. "It is a costume party, isn't it?" she wondered aloud.
"Obviously," he said. "It's a Halloween party."
"Right," Stephanie said, she contemplated his statement, not wanting to look stupid, but she had to ask, "What are you then?"
"A vampire," he said, flashing a toothy smile.
"You' don't look like a vampire," she said, confused. He was wearing a regular pair of jeans and a gray wind breaker, no vampire teeth or cape to be found.