(Almost) Everyone Sins

It was Friday the 13th in October and the only thing we were told as a requirement for the halloween party attire was to wear black. The costume didn’t matter, so when I walked in, in my black cat suit as Cat woman, I didn’t realize just how many costumes entirely or almost entirely involved the color black. My friends were dressed up as a gorilla, a groom, Zorro, a vampire and a black angel, along with a few other people I had seen around in college in imaginative costumes revolving the color black. I then saw the host, and my long time friend, Jack, dressed up as a priest. I always thought of him as a little odd, but for some reason, seeing him dressed like he was made me feel a little uneasy. 

When he noticed I was there, he approached me and gave me a hug, lingering a little longer than I would have liked, especially since my boyfriend Zach was standing right next to me. I gently pulled away and then Jack gave an overly firm handshake to Zach, who was dressed up as Batman. 

“Cute matching costumes: Cat woman and Batman. Because they have a history, I get it.” Jack said in a tone that sounded more facetious than sincere. He never liked my boyfriend so I always felt weird bringing him to group functions like this, but I promised him I would go months back. He practically begged me to go, excited for it and said he had the best surprise for me at the end. And I was not about to go to his party without my boyfriend, knowing that Jack has had a crush on me before, and honestly still probably did. We met freshman year of college and hung out a lot until I met and started dating Zach sophomore year. We were still friends but not as close as we once were. 

“Why the black theme?” I asked him. 

“Why a priest?” Zach asked. 

“It is all part of the surprise at the end.” He said with his awkward smile. I smiled back, a little forcefully. 

“We can’t wait.” Zach laughed, him clearly not getting any ill feeling. He didn’t know Jack as well as I did, and for good reason too. If he knew how many times Jack had tried to ask me on a date or tell me he liked me, Zach would probably have beaten him up by now. 

“Enjoy. Go get some of the jungle juice punch. It is dangerous, so be careful.” Jack said, and we did just that. 

The party was normal, small and everyone seemed to be having a good time. It was natural for the jungle juice to be gone quickly being that we were all friends from college and that was the cause of our crazy drunken nights. I noticed everyone was drinking, but Jack. He was never a big drinker but he still did, so I wondered if he just didn’t drink a lot because he was hosting. It made some sense.

About three hours into the party, right at midnight, Jack made his announcement for the surprise. People were starting to think about heading out and he wanted to ensure that we all were here for it. Crowding around the big 72 inch T.V., he said he had made a video of all of us reminiscing on our college days. How sentimental…

The video started and everyone's mouth gaped open as the slides moved from one picture to the next. It was pictures of everyone at the party doing something bad. Everyone was speechless, in shock at seeing their own pictures and yet somewhat intrigued by whose picture would come next. 

There was first a picture of Tom, our friend and class clown, who was dressed up as the gorilla, cheating on a college test. Then there was a picture of Jennifer, who was dressed up as the black angel, with her fingers down her throat throwing up in a toilet. There was Max, who was dressed up as Zorro, secretly taking a $50 dollar bill from a wallet that was clearly not his. There was Bill, who was dressed up as a groom, watching porn and then Chris, who was dressed up as the vampire, in bed with two other girls and looking as if they were all naked. The pictures just kept going, until what it seemed like everyone in the room was outed for something from their college days. I saw people I knew in college doing coke that I would never in a million years thought would do such, girls sneaking out of windows escaping a walk of shame when they said they were virgins and others that I couldn’t even fathom to be true until seeing the picture proof right in front of me. 

As I looked over at Jack, who was holding the cross across his neck now tightly in his hands and shaking his head in disapproval, it quickly became clear as to what was happening: Jack was outing everyone. This was his surprise? But it made sense: the black theme like a funeral, and him dressed up as a priest. Like a priest, he was exposing everyones sins with pictures he must have taken or found during our drunken days in college. But that was five years ago, so how long had he planned this? I did think it was weird he hosted a halloween party because he was definitely not the type to host anything. 

Thankfully I didn’t see any pictures of Zach or I, but I couldn’t believe what was happening. How could Jack do something like this? We all made mistakes. We all have sinned, but it didn’t mean we deserved to be outed for it. I looked away quickly and at Zach, who suddenly stared at the screen, anger filling his eyes. I followed his eyes to now see his picture on the screen and my mouth gaped open. And I thought I saw it all, but nothing compared to this. It was a picture of Zach making out with another girl, as in my college roommate our senior year in our then apartment. But that couldn’t be right because I had been dating Zach since sophomore year… Unable to even look at Zach and tears filling my own eyes, a picture of Jack popped up on the screen. He was keying Zach's brand new truck he got our junior year. What the...

And then just like that, it was over. Everyone moved their eyes away from the screen, and where I would have thought they would all be looking at Jack who outed them, I noticed that they were now all looking at… me. Why me? But then it hit me: I was the only one who didn't have a photo pop up on the screen. Why only me? I looked over at Jack again, and his face said it all. He was smiling wide at me at me with a look of adoration and admiration in his eyes.

"Surprise." He mouthed to me. So it was more than a crush.