Page 58 of Sack

No one from her group won the costume contest. That honor had gone to an absolutely incredible Hulk—pun intended. If the guy’s muscles weren’t real, he did an amazing prosthetic job and one hundred percent deserved to win. But there was some good news, they’d gotten into the preview screening of the new Marvel movie not due out until next fall.

It was after midnight before they made it back to their rooms.

“I’m beat.” Tina tossed her staff to the floor and threw herself onto her bed. “I’m not as young as I used to be. These long hours are killing me.”

Tina was the oldest of their group at thirty-two, but she was far from ancient.

“You’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep.”

“I’m not sure I’ll make it through another day.”

Jessica was the planner of the group and an arduous task driver, wanting to make the most of their trip. “You can sleep in and missSuper Weird Heroesand meet up with us atSuper Robot Wars.”

Tina yawned. “Maybe I will.”

Ivy went to her bag and pulled out her PJs, tossing them on her bed. “Use the bathroom first before you fall asleep in your makeup.”

“Good idea.” Tina sluggishly stood and disappeared into the bathroom.

Ivy stripped off her costume, hearing a thunk as her phone hit the carpeting. After slipping on her sleep shorts and tank, she bent to retrieve it from the pile of fabric and sat on the edge of the bed to power it on after having turned it off for the movie. She’d missed a text from Colt.

Sorry I didn’t text earlier. Just getting in. Hope you’re having a good time.

Ivy checked the time stamp and saw it came in about an hour ago. She wondered what he was doing that he was out so late. Not that she was his keeper or anything relationshipy like that. But… she still wanted to know. Not sure if he was already asleep and would fail to answer, she thought a minute about her response and typed—

Was at a movie screening and needed to turn my phone off. Did you have a good night?

Ivy paused before hitting send and reread what she wrote. Was that too subtle? She erased the second sentence and replaced it with—

Late night for both of us. Did you go out?

She hit send before she could change her mind again. Surprised to see dots appear, she waited while he typed.

Went to a party with friends.

Why did that make her stomach dip? Because she was a hypocrite, that’s why. But no matter how irrational and silly it was, she couldn’t get the image of him surrounded by a bevy of beautiful women out of her head. She knew way too much of the goings-on at celebrity parties thanks to TMZ. She tried for blasé and nonchalant.

Oh, fun. Did you have a good time?

Parts of it were enjoyable. Met some guys and played basketball then had to babysit some woman for over an hour while Linc hooked up with her friend.

Ivy wondered which was the enjoyable part. Basketball or the woman. He sent another message while she pondered that for too long.

What about you? How was your night?

I didn’t win the costume contest, which was a bummer, but the movie made up for it.

Let’s see it.

See what?

Your costume.

Oh. I’ve changed into my PJs already. Let me check my photos. Hang on.

The only photo she had in that outfit was the one where she was sandwiched between Han and Luke. It wasn’t the best shot of the complete getup, but it would have to do. She went back to her text convo, selected the photo, and hit send.

A few seconds later her phone rang.

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