Who: Lexi Branson and Stefan Salvatore When: Backdated: Late October Where: Costume Shop What: Halloween Costume Shopping Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Halloween was coming up, which was one of Lexi’s favorite holidays. As a kid she’d loved dressing up and trick or treating with Stefan, around the neighborhood then as she got older, she enjoyed dressing up and going to parties. It was one of the many reasons she’d sought out a job at Disneyland as a face character where she got the chance to dress up almost everyday.
Now that Halloween was approaching it was time to shop for a costume and who better to go with than Stefan? It was always too easy to convince Stefan to go to the mall with her, which was one thing she loved about her best friend. He usually went along with almost anything she suggested.
Once at the mall, they headed towards the Halloween costume shop that always popped up around the beginning of October.
Stefan had fond, fond memories of trick-or-treating with Lexi, going to school functions, eating so much candy he felt sick, and then later the expected TP’ing a house, and eggs on the sidewalk, the occasional smashed pumpkin. Stefan was a really good kid, though, so all that other stuff came few and far between. It was mostly the parties and trick-or-treating. And coming up with an awesome costume.
Which was why he and Lexi headed out today. Time to find a great costume. He followed along behind Lexi through the mall, working on controlling his breathing and not freaking out about the proximity of so many hot-blooded humans.
“Love the black light,” Stefan mumbled as they headed in through the front door.
Lexi looked up as they entered the store, locating the black light nearby, which made the white in her shirt stand out, “We should get one for the house. For parties.” They’d yet to have any parties since moving into the house and Lexi wanted to remedy that soon. “So, do you have everything you need for your costume or do you need anything while we’re out?” James Dean was a fairly easy costume, but she didn’t know if Stefan had the exact type of clothes he’d need, already.
“That’s a good idea.” Stefan said. He wondered for a moment if buying a black light at a Halloween store was cost effective, or if they should just order something from Amazon. “Yeah, I think so. Converse, white socks, blue jeans, white shirt, red jacket… and hair gel.” For the Hero Hair. That’s what Caroline called it.
“I’ve got a surprising amount of clothes in my closet for someone who’s spent the majority of his adult life in a uniform.” He added, turning to follow her to the womens costumes.
“Ah, but are your clothes the right era?” Lexi was big on details when it came to Halloween costumes and she wanted to make sure that Stefan’s would be correct, “Has Caroline said which version of Marilyn she’s doing? If I’m doing Elizabeth Taylor the two big things I need are the right wig and lilac contacts.”
“I don’t know. The white dress? Maybe?” Stefan wasn’t really one to ask about these things. He thought his clothes looked good, and he’d already done one trial run on the hair. It was Hero Hair. It was pretty perfect.
“I’m sure we can find you a wig and contacts here… seems like the perfect place for those things.” He added, turning to lead the way toward the big display of wigs.
“I’ll have to ask her when we get home.” Lex said as she headed towards the wigs and started looking them over, “Hmmm, this one could work.” She took one down, but continued perusing the wigs, “Might have to get contacts somewhere else cause I don’t want cheap ones. I assume I wouldn’t get an infection cause of the whole vampire thing, but I wouldn’t want to chance it.” Lexi was no stranger to contacts, needing to wear blue ones for work.
Stefan frowned. He wasn’t sure vampires could get infections. He’d spent the greater part of his formative vampire years in an era where germs hadn’t been discovered yet, so that wasn’t really something he thought too much about. But when she brought it up? Yeah, he was curious. “I think you’re mostly safe? But I wouldn’t want to put anything cheap against my eyeballs, either.” Stefan reached forward to fiddle with one of the wigs on display as he talked.
“Exactly. I mean, I haven’t gotten sick or anything since I turned, so I doubt I actually would get an infection, but I still wouldn’t want to use Halloween store contacts.” She grabbed another wig and held the, together, glancing back and forth between them before turning them so Stefan could see them, “Which is more Elizabeth Taylor looking?” She was fairly certain that Stefan knew who Elizabeth Taylor was, so she didn’t think she needed to explain and bring up a picture for him.
“It’s a wonder they actually sell those here.” Stefan said, watching Lexi with the wigs. He wouldn’t have worn Halloween store contacts, either. Dead or Alive. “Uh…” He mumbled, glancing at the different pictures. “...that one. On the right. My right.” He said, pointing. “It’s not too short.”
“I know. Pretty skeezy to me.” Lexi turned the package around that Stefan had chosen and nodded, “Good choice.” She put the other one back then started walking towards the various costumes, searching for the section she might need, “Now to see if I can find an outfit here.” She had looked through her closet briefly before they’d left and she’d found one or two dresses that could possibly work as Elizabeth Taylor, but she’d wanted to see if she could find anything while out shopping before she made a decision.
“I make those sometimes.” Stefan said, giving her a bright smile. “All right, Elizabeth Taylor dress. Hmm. What sorts of dresses did she wear? Sort of… nineteen fifties style?” He asked, moving over to the costumes. Most of what they had in this place came in plastic bags and were probably cheap. But it only had to last one night, right?
“They are few and far between though, so they’re hard to recognize.” Lexi teased as they moved over to the costumes, “Yeah. I’m wondering if we should check out an actual clothing store though. These costumes are always so cheap and never fit right.” If Lexi was going to dress up, she wanted to look her best.
“We should go to the Goodwill. I bet they have something there. That’s where I used to find costumes back in high school.” Before he spent five years overseas. “Is there still one nearby? In the strip mall?”
“Goodwill is a good idea.” Lexi said, turning towards the registers. “I think there is one nearby.” Lexi pulled her wallet out of her purse as they reached the front and she put the wig down on the counter, “I knew there was a reason I kept you around.” She smirked at Stefan, happy once again to have him home.