Bubblegum and Breath Mints

I walked into the headquarters for The Atlantic Paranormal Society and I plopped down on one of the chairs in the front office part. I waited for someone to come up front, preferably Grant or Jay, but it was Steve Gonsalves that appeared. I rolled my eyes, not really wanting to deal with him at the moment, and didn't respond to his, "Hey, Teegan, what's up?"

I crossed my arms and huffed.

"Well, Jay and Grant are on a job fixing someones sink, they'll be back in a bit though.... We've got a new case. You wanna hear?"

I did. New cases always made my day better, no matter how upset I was, but I didn't want Steve to brief me. If anything I would rather Dave Tango do it. That way I wouldn't have to worry about what I said. When I didn't respond, Steve shrugged and left only to be replaced by Tango.

"Come on," he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me to his little corner of the back room, "What's wrong?"

"Today just sucked," I said, "When I woke up, there was no coffee left, because I forgot to go get more. So then, I went to get Starbucks, but I didn't have enough money to pay for it. So I went to the gas station and managed to get a small cup, but it tasted like shit. Then I got to work late, and by late I mean only by a minute, and my boss chewed me out. And this crazy old guy yelled at me for not carrying his favorite brand of spam. Yeah, I know! Spam! I didn't even know we sold spam, let alone know we had multiple brands of it!"

"Wow, sounds like your day was awesome."

"You can say that again."

"Wow, sounds like your day was -"

"I was kidding."

"Oh."

"So Steve tells me there's a new case? Where?"

"It's a park in a town called Monticello, Illinois. Apparently there was this millionaire who built this park around his mansion and when he died the University of Illinois bought it and made it a public park. There have been sightings of the owner in the house, along with a lady in white on one of the upper floors, and rumor has it, that a black panther roams the park."

"A black panther? You do know that's impossible right?"

"Not entirely. I guess when the owner was still alive, he would have game imported from exotic countries and he and his buddies would hunt them on his grounds."

"What and he just missed a giant ass cat?"

"That or it's a spirit."

"Like the gorilla from that one Scooby-Doo movie?"

"Sure."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, there have also been claims of hearing dogs barking at night."

"So."

"The dogs are dead, and the barking comes from around their graves."

"The dogs were buried in the park?"

"Yes."

"Of course they were."

"Of course."

"When are you guys leaving?"

"As soon as Jay and Grant get here. You're coming, so don't ask."

"How did you know that's what I was going to ask?"

"I just know."

I smiled and so did he, then Steve came in, "Sorry, did I ruin a moment?"

"No, come on in." I pulled up a chair next to me, and my heart doubled in speed, "H-How are you?"

"You're talking now? Well, I'm fine, and you?"

"I'm better now." I smiled and couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Do you know when Brian will be here," asked Dave, "He said he would help load up."

"Yeah, I don't know if that's going to happen." Replied Steve.

"Be nice," I warned, "Brian is a good man."

"When he does work."

"I heard that," came a voice from the front room, "And nice to see you too, Steve."

I yipped and jumped up from my seat and ran to the front room, "Brian!" I jumped into his ready arms and hugged him.

"Hey, Teegan, how are you today?"

"So much better now that my bestest friend in the entire world is here."

Letting each other go, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we walked into the back room. Dave looked like he was ready for there to be a fight between Steve and Brian, which was how it usually was between the two of them now a days. But instead of looking annoyed, Steve looked hurt as he watched the two of us walk in together. Brian lead me over to his corner of the room and we sat down on the love seat, me leaning on him, him with his arm still around me. This is how we were until Jay and Grant came in.

"Alright gang," said Jay as he came in, "Are you ready to pack up and leave?"

"You bet we are," I said, sitting up, "Let's do this!"

"Um, Teegan, can I talk to you for a second," asked Dave.

"Sure."

The rest of the group went to pack up while Dave and I went back up to the front, "What's up with you and Brian?"

"Nothing is up with me and Brian. We're just friends."

"Are you sure?"

"Shouldn't I know how I feel about someone else?"

"I guess."

"Then don't worry."

"It's just, I don't think Brian is a good guy for you to be with."

"Well, you won't have to worry about that seeing as I just said we were friends."

"Right."

"Right."

"Lets go help them."

"Lets."

The two of us helped Jayson, Grant, Brian, and Steve load the equipment into the van and we got in. Jay, Grant, and Dave were in one van, while I was left with the ever explosive duo of Steve and Brian. Brian sat in the back while I sat up front with Steve. I got to man the two way radio, which was really cool. However I had to sit in front of the mounted video camera while wasn't cool.... I didn't really like how the camera caught my face because of the angle, but seeing that I wasn't driving, I had no choice. We were ready for a ride from the east coast to the middle east.

"Hey, Jay," I asked into the radio, "Would it be alright we played music?"

"Go for it."

"Thanks."

I turned on the car's entertainment system, and plugged in my iPod. I pressed play and the songs "Airplane Over the Sea" came through the car's speakers. I settled in for a long ride of just the three of us, talking to the driver to keep them awake, and for a ton of coffee.

We arrived at the Allerton House at ten o'clock in the morning, and we all got out slowly, feeling like we've been crammed into a car for the entire night.... We were greeted by a Sarah Blaze who worked with the college and was also a head at the park. She thanked us for coming and offered us rooms in a small guest house that was just off the house. It contained ten rooms, five on each side, and we were allowed to sleep for a while before starting in on our over nighter. I got a room to myself next to Steve who had one at the end. Our room was connected with a door, which was cute. I fell onto the bed after closing my door, and almost fell asleep until Steve knocked on the joint door.

"Oh my God, this had better be good."

"Open up."

I struggled to move, seeing that my tired body really liked the feel of those comfortable beds, and I opened the door, "What?"

"I, um... want you to be on my team."

"Are you serious?"

"What?"

"You couldn't have waited for that?"

"I wanted to... tell you now."

"Really?"

Steve smiled, "Um... are - are you going to bed?"

"I was, yeah."

"O-Oh," Steve looked down, "I didn't know if you wanted to walk the trails or hang or something."

"There are trails?"

"Yeah, this park is crawling with trails."

"Um... maybe after a small nap, yeah, I would love to."

When I woke up, it was because Jay and Grant were knocking on my door, telling me that we were about to set up soon. I was a bit confused as to what happened with the plan to go on a walk with Steve, but it turned out that he had fallen asleep too. The two of us laughed at our tiredness, and we helped set up the computers. I was the put cameras in the room where the white woman was often seen, the hallway where Robert Allerton was often seen, and then two here the panther has often been seen. Dave was busy placing mini DV's around the dog's graves, and in other placed facing the house. The teams were split up, Jay and Grant together as always, Brian and Dave were together, and as Steve had wanted, he and I were a team.

Steve and I went around the house, then the grounds, but nothing happened to us. By the time Jay and Grant called it quits, we couldn't have been happier. We took down everything and headed back to our rooms. I flopped down on my bed and was thankful the night was over.

The next day we left the video/audio review to Dave and Brian while Steve and I went on that hike we talked about yesterday. The two of us started in front of the house and walked along the lake to a rusted spiral staircase that lead down to a path along the river. I lead the way, happily taking in the park's beauty. Before we left, Sara - the park expert - told us about the different parts of the park and the statues. She told us the story of the lost statue that was hidden somewhere in the park; it was of a bull raping a woman, and it is believed that it was moved from sight because it was deemed offensive. It hasn't been seen since. Steve and I made our way up a man made staircase and onto a ledge with a bench. The ledge looked out over the river, the view framed by trees.

"This place is incredible," I said, looking at Steve.

"That it is."

We continued along the path and came across the Sunken Garden, a place surrounded by stone walls and golden fish. I sat down on one of the benches and Steve sat next to me.

"Thanks for letting me work with you," said Steve, "I've been meaning to ask you for a while."

"N-No problem, Steve."

"But I have to tell you why I wanted to work with you."

"Why?"

Steve turned to me, and wrapped his hands around my waist, pulling me to him, "I'm in love with you."

My heart stopped beating. Did he just say what I think he just said? I tried to pinch myself, but the way that my arms were pinned to his body, I couldn't move them. I wanted to cry, I wanted to squeal with excitement, I wanted to kiss him... so I did. I leaned forward and kissed him, and he kissed me back. His hands moved to pin me to him, and the movement allowed me to move my hands around his neck. We kissed for what felt like hours, then he pulled away with a smile.

"I'm glad you feel the same way," he said.

I let out a laugh, "I'm just glad that you feel the same way about me."

"Oh, I feel the same way." Leaning in he kissed me again.

"Well what the fuck is this?" Came a voice from the behind us.

We pulled apart and found Brian and Dave looking at us with shocked faces.

"How long has this been going on," asked Brian, "Are you taking advantage of our young Teegan."

"Brian, back off, I wanted to kiss him." I moved to face the two intruders.

"So this just happened?"

"Yes, Brian this just happened."

Dave came up and grabbed onto Brian, "Dude, it's okay. They're dating now, it's cool."

"Fine, whatever," Brian backed away with Dave, "But if you hurt her I swear to all that is holly I will kick your fat ass."

"Brian, leave." I said.

The two of them disappeared and I turned back to Steve.

"That was annoying," he said.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He kissed me again, and life was good.