"Perfect," she said out loud to no one. As if the night couldn't get any worse, now her costume was ruined. The piece of shit car had just barely held onto life long enough to chug and puff into the gas station before it died with one last horrible cough. She had put the hood up and tinkered around in there the best she could β Karen didn't know anything about cars except how to fill them with gas. While she was bent over the greasy engine the wings she had so carefully attached to complete her 'Angel' costume had fallen into the muck.
Not that it mattered much now, without her car running there was no way she was going to make it to the party anyway. She walked over to the pay phone and dropped a coin in the slot, dialed a number. It was answered on the second ring and she could hear the din of a party in the background as a male voice said "Hello."
"Tim, its Karen. My piece of shit car gave out again and I can't get it restarted. Do you think you could come and pick me up?"
"Ah shit Karen, I've already had too many beers to drive and so have most people here. I can ask, see if I can find someone who is coming your direction and make a phone call. Where are you?"
"The gas station at the corner of Main and Vine, the new one they just built. It's cold out here and I'm not dressed to be standing outside, my costume this year wasn't Eskimo Fisherman."
"It could be worse," Tim said. "At least you are in a well lit area and can head inside and get yourself something warm to drink while you wait for a ride."
She agreed he had a point and she told him to hurry up, that she would wait inside for a ride. Karen hung up the phone and turned to walk back to her car when she noticed the man looking under her hood. She approached cautiously and called out "Hello" when she was still a safe distance away.
The man stepped back and slammed the hood closed. "She's dead, nothing I can do for her until the morning." He wasn't very old and he was strikingly handsome. He wiped his hands on a rag and stuffed it back into his back pocket as he approached her.
He held his hand out to her, "I'm Luke."
"Karen," she replied taking his hand cautiously. "Thanks for taking a look at it, but I think I should just take it to the scrap yard rather than sink any more money into trying to fix it yet again."
Luke laughed. "Probably a good idea. Where were you headed tonight, I can tell that you are dressed for a Halloween party but I can't tell what your costumed is supposed to be."
"I'm an angel, or was an angel. That damn car claimed my wings too, and they were perfect. I can't believe that car is going to ruin another night of my life! And this Halloween party was going to be great β Tim had even sprung for a keg of the good stuff."
"Tim Collins?" Luke asked. "You were on your way to Tim Collins annual Halloween party?" Tim had been hosting his Halloween parties since before he was old enough to buy the beer himself. The stories of his annual bash had become the stuff of legends around town in the twenty plus years he had been hosting.
She nodded. "And now I won't make it, which sucks because Halloween and costume parties are my favorite."
"There's no reason we can't give you a ride," he said gesturing to a car parked in front of the convenience store. "That is if you don't mind squeezing in the back. My friends and I are headed just up the road from Tim's. We can drop you off on the way."
She thought about it for a minute. Luke was hot and he looked like a nice enough guy, and the car he had gestured to was awesome β a black Trans Am. On top of that she was getting cold and she really didn't want to miss this party, she had been looking forward to it for so long. Karen agreed to accept the ride and retrieved some things from her car. She locked the door and kicked the broken down car one last time in disgust. At least it wasn't going to ruin her night completely.
Luke escorted her across the lot to the car. The doors swung open and two other men stepped out of the car. The driver was a tall, well muscled man with dark hair and dark brooding eyes. "That's Bobby," Luke said and Bobby lifted his head almost imperceptibly in that 'too cool' greeting.
The other occupant was a short black man, only a few inches taller than Karen was but she could tell he was an athlete because his shirt sleeves bulged and his neck was thick with muscle. He smiled with a perfect set of bright whites as they were introduced, "This is Tre."