The fairy lights cast soft shadows over Arek's face as he leaned in for another kiss. Ashley's heart was still racing from the first one when she heard a familiar voice turn sharp with anger.

"Get your hands off her!"

Suddenly Arek was shoved backward, stumbling against the porch railing with enough force to make the wood creak. Luca stood between them, shoulders tight with rage, hands clenched into fists that shook with barely contained violence.

"What the hell?" Arek straightened, his usual calm demeanor hardening into something different.

"Luca, stop!" Ashley grabbed his arm, feeling the tension vibrating through him. "It's okay!"

"Okay?" His voice cracked with something beyond anger – fear, maybe, or desperation. "I've been searching everywhere for you! Do you know how many rooms I've checked? How many drunk idiots I've had to deal with? I thought—" He choked on the words. "I thought something happened to you!"

"She's fine," Arek said quietly, but his gaze had turned cold. "I've been watching out for her."

"Watching out?" Luca laughed, bitter and sharp. "Is that what you call taking advantage of someone at their first party?"

Arek stepped forward, and Ashley saw something flash in his eyes she'd never seen before. "You don't know anything about what happened tonight."

"I know enough! I know your type – acting all deep and misunderstood, making her think you're different—"

"Stop it!" Ashley tried to push between them, but Luca gently moved her aside, keeping himself as a barrier.

"You don't get to play protector," Arek's voice had dropped dangerously low. "Not when you abandoned her to go chase some person—"

Luca lunged forward, but Ashley grabbed him, using all her strength to hold him back. "Lu, please! He's been protecting me all night. From drinks, from creeps, from—"

"I don't care!" But his voice broke on the words. "You promised, Ash. You promised today was just us, and then I couldn't find you, and you weren't answering your phone, and—" His breath hitched. "And then I find you out here with him..."

Ashley sucked in her breath, feeling Luca shake in her grip. She'd never seen him like this – her confident, sarcastic best friend suddenly looking so young and scared.

"We're leaving," he said finally, his hand finding her wrist. His grip was gentle despite his anger, thumb brushing her pulse point like he needed to make sure she was real. "Now."

"Ash?" Arek's voice made her turn. The cold look was gone, replaced with genuine concern. "You okay?"

She nodded quickly, seeing Luca tense at the nickname. "I'm fine. I'll... I'll talk to you later."

The walk to the car was silent, but Ashley could feel Luca practically vibrating with emotion beside her. As soon as they were in the car, the questions started.

"Did you drink anything? Did he make you drink anything? Are you feeling dizzy? Can you walk straight? Did he—"

"Lu—"

"Because if he forced you to do anything, I swear to god I'll—"

"Luca!" She grabbed his hands where they were strangling the steering wheel. "I'm fine. I'm completely sober. Arek made sure of that. He took my dares for me, kept people from pressuring me—"

"Stop." His voice cracked again. "Just... stop defending him."

They made it three blocks before Luca had to pull over, his breathing coming in short, painful gasps. When she looked over, tears were streaming down his face.

"Do you have any idea," he choked out, "how terrified I was? I couldn't find you anywhere. And that guy I was talking to... god, he turned out to be straight, which was humiliating enough, but then I couldn't find you, and all I could think was..." He pressed his palms against his eyes. "Everyone's moving on. Everyone's changing. You're hanging out with Arek, falling for him, and I'm just... I'm losing you. I'm losing my best friend and I can't... I can't..."

"Lu..." Ashley felt her own eyes sting at seeing Luca break down. She reached for his hand, and he let her take it, their fingers intertwining like they had since they were kids.

"I know it's stupid," he whispered. "I know I can't keep you in this bubble forever. But you're the only one who knows me – really knows me. And lately it feels like you're slipping away, and I don't know how to... how to..."

"I'm right here." She squeezed his hand. "I'm not going anywhere."

The drive home was quiet except for Ashley's occasional sniffles and Luca's shaky breathing. As they neared her house, his grip on the steering wheel loosened slightly.

"Did you..." He cleared his throat. "Did you at least have fun? Before I ruined it?"

"You didn't—"

"Ash."

She played with the hem of her Sandy costume, thinking about the night. "Yeah. I did. The party, the games... the kiss." Her voice got small at the end.

Another stretch of silence.

"It was your first."

She nodded.

"Damn it." He hit the steering wheel, but the force had drained from his anger. "I wanted to be there for that. To threaten him properly beforehand. Give him the whole 'if you hurt her, they'll never find your body' speech."

A watery laugh escaped her. "I should have done that with cute gamer boy"

"Oh god." He groaned, but his lips twitched. "Don't remind me. 'Actually, only true gamers play on consoles’” he mimicked in a ‘geek-like’ voice. "Should've known he was straight. He was wearing socks with sandals."

"No!"

"Under his costume."

"You dodged a bullet."

They were both laughing now, the tension finally breaking. Luca pulled into her driveway, turning to face her.

"Stay over?" she asked softly. "We can scare trick-or-treaters and raid my dad's secret candy stash. The one he thinks we don't know about behind the canned vegetables?"

"You had me at terrorizing children.”

Once inside, they changed out of their costumes into their emergency sleepover clothes. Luca had a drawer in her room since they were twelve, and set up their Halloween operation. Luca rigged his phone to play creepy music from behind bushes while Ashley mastered the art of lurking in shadows.

"Okay, here comes a group!" Luca whispered excitedly. "Ready?"

Ashley nodded, pulling on the terrifying mask she decided to get from the costume store. Mainly because Luca found it disturbing. They watched as five kids approached the door, pillowcases already heavy with candy.

"Remember when that was us?" she whispered.

"Yeah, except your parents would never let go of our hands. Walked us up to the door and everything."

"Up until we were 15." She added, shaking her head. Both of them shaking at the thought of embarrassment.

Their reminiscing was cut short as Luca triggered the spooky music. Ashley waited until the perfect moment, then emerged from the shadows with a ghostly wail that sent the kids screaming and laughing down the driveway.

"Did you see their faces?" Luca was practically bouncing. "That little vampire punk almost dropped his whole bag!"

They spent the next hour perfecting their routine. Luca added sound effects to his playlist while Ashley developed different characters for each group. For the teenagers trying to act tough, she played the quiet, creepy child. For the younger kids, she was more playful, making it fun-scary instead of terrifying.

"Remember when Tommy Peterson made you cry on Halloween?" Luca asked between groups.

"When he jumped out from behind Mrs. Garcia's rose bush?" Ashley smiled at the memory. "And you pushed him into the thorns?"

"Worth the grounding."

"You were my hero that day."

"I'm still your hero." He bumped her shoulder. "Just with less property damage now."

After the trick-or-treaters dwindled, they retreated to Ashley's room with their stolen candy bounty. Sprawled across her bed, surrounded by wrappers, they finally talked – really talked.

"So." Luca examined a mini Snickers like it held the secrets of the universe. "Arek Thompson, huh?"

Ashley buried her face in a pillow. "He's different than we thought. Than anyone thinks, really. He's smart, and funny, and he sees me – not Perfect Ashley, just... me."

"Like how I see you?"

She looked up at the vulnerability in his voice. "Different. But not more. Never more."

"Tell me about tonight?" He wasn't asking for details about the kiss – he was asking to understand.

"He was so careful with me," she said softly. "Not careful like my parents, where they're trying to keep me perfect. Careful like... like he wanted me to experience everything, but safely. He took this horrible hot sauce dare for me, and made sure no one pressured me to drink, and when we played Truth or Dare, he kept steering the questions away from anything too intense."

"The hot sauce thing was kind of impressive," Luca admitted. "Heard his face turned, like, seven different colors."

"You saw that?"

"No, I heard about it when I was trying to look for you." He picked at a candy wrapper, taking a deep breath, "I'm sorry, by the way. Some best friend I am, abandoning you at your first party."

"Hey." She grabbed his hand. "It was my fault. Not yours and you're allowed to have your own life too. Your own chances."

"Even if they end in humiliating rejection from straight boys who don't understand that PC gaming is superior?"

"Especially then." She squeezed his hand. "Besides, you more than made up for it with your dramatic rescue attempt."

"God, I really did go full caveman, didn't I?"

"Little bit. It was kind of sweet though. In a completely terrifying way."

They were quiet for a moment, comfortable in their shared space.

"You really like him, don't you?" Luca finally asked.

"Yeah." She felt herself blushing. "I really do."

"And he... he makes you feel safe? Happy?"

"He makes me feel real."

Luca studied her face for a long moment. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"He can date you." He held up a finger. "But I have conditions."

"Of course you do."

"One: I'm still your number one. No boy gets to replace fourteen years of friendship."

"Never."

"Two: If he hurts you, I get to commit murder."

"Lu..."

"Fine, grievous bodily harm."

"Luca!"

"Three:" His voice got serious. "You have to promise that when things get real with him – good real or bad real – you'll still come to me. Even if it's awkward or weird or... whatever. I need to know I'm not losing my best friend."

Ashley tackled him in a hug, sending candy flying everywhere. "You're stuck with me forever, Lu. No take-backs."

"Good." He hugged her back fiercely. "Because I'm not sharing my horror movie buddy with anyone else. Even if they can handle ghost pepper sauce."