Darkness Within Light

The deep rumble of my Turbo II rotary engine is therapeutic. I’ve had the engine rebuilt, ported and everything with racing seals. Anything plastic or rubber is replaced with steel, silicone, or poly-urethane; I refuse to let such a priceless car go downhill. I sat for a moment and let the engine warm up, giggling every time it backfired. Once it was warm I taxied it around to where the guys’ rental van was. After putting it in neutral and throwing the e-brake, I revved just a bit to announce my arrival. The turbo sang and after it spooled back down there was another farting backfire.

Classy.

Nick came bounding out of the van, shouting “Shotgun!”

Holly laughed and shrugged, ironically as my phone buzzed with a text message. ::These guys seem alright. I don’t mind if he wants to experience a true sports car ;) I can carpool with them!::

As we closed the van with the last bit of luggage loaded, I looked back at my Rex. Zak was in the process of climbing into the driver’s seat and Nick was in the passenger’s seat, looking like little boys on Christmas morning.

“Oh, NO, sir. You may NOT drive this car! Besides I’m not sure your arms will even fit where you could steer.”

Nick laughed, “Damn, bro!”

Zak blushed and backed out of the car. “I get to ride shotgun later." He gave me a very strange look, then returned to the van.

I hopped in and cranked my sound system. Waving at Aaron in the van I mouthed “Follow me”

As we snailed along through Dallas’ rush-hour traffic, I blared Deadmau5 to keep awkward silence from setting in. Hope Nick was okay with that.

We pulled into the Quik-Trip off 183 and I turned off the car. Holly was halfway to the store before the van fully stopped. “Ice creeaaaaammm!”

It’s a basic gas station, but also has ridiculous fountain drink options and other foodsies like fruit, sandwiches, and salads.

And ice cream.

Love it.

I popped the trunk and pulled out a small bottle of 2-stroke oil. Zak and Aaron stared at me, either in awe or terrified, as I emptied the little bottle into my gas tank. After engaging the gas nozzle I finally acknowledged their faces. “Not big Wankel engine fans, are we?”

Aaron barked a laugh and Zak’s eyes grew wide, snickering, “WHAT kind of engine?!”

Holly gigged and said to Aaron, “Rotary engines are designed to burn oil”

Crap, lecture time.

I nodded. “But the oil jet valve doesn’t always push enough into the combustion chamber to keep the seals lubricated properly. So... basically you HAVE to red-line the car daily... or premix oil into the gas tank... in order to keep it running in it's ideal condition. I am not a racecar driver, but I did spend four grand rebuilding this motor, so it’s definitely worth the extra couple bucks for the oil.”

Nick laughed as he joined us, “My God, are all Texas women as hard core as you ladies?”

Holly winked and flashed a vicious grin. “Not in the slightest. Wait til you see how we party.”

Aaron was still in the gutter. “But… why is it called ‘Wankel’?”

Zak came out of the store with a giant can of Monster and turned to Nick. “My turn to ride in the badass car.”

“You’re NOT drinking THAT in my car!”

“Why not?”

“Is it sugar-free?”

“No…”

“Sticky.”

I heard Holly snort, trying not to laugh out loud.

* * * * * *

I taxied back out onto the freeway and boosted. 14 pounds. Delicious.

“Nick, what do you guys film?”

He glanced at me sideways, as though he didn’t believe what I was asking. “Do you watch the Travel Channel?”

“No cable. Can’t afford it.”

“But you can afford this car?”

“Priorities, my young padewan.”

He snorted and laughed. “Good point. Well we do a show on the Travel Channel called Ghost Adventures.”

“Oh.” I don’t want to hear anymore.

Silence.

He looked at me cautiously. “Not a fan?”

“Of ghosts? Definitely not.”

He almost looked defensive. “Why? Not enough proof?”

I shot daggers at him. “So what else do you guys do?”

He sat there for a moment, studying me. Trying to decide if I’m a skeptic or a victim, I was just fine with him not knowing.

We moved the conversation on to less tense topics. I told him about my dog, and he told me about his wife – she sounds like my kind of broad. Holly called me halfway home to join the conversation, and so with both of us on speaker-phone the conversations carried on about meaningless stuff - food, music, places around DFW.

I was mostly silent and just listened. I work better socially as a background anyway.

When we finally pulled up to my apartment building, the men each grabbed one of her bags to take in, which was very chivalrous of them, I thought. As I started climbing the stairs Aaron called out behind me “What floor do you live on?”

“Third. All the way to the top,” I laughed at the sighs behind me.

We stepped into my apartment and I sighed in relief. I love this ghetto little place. The guys froze as they heard loud thumping coming from the other room.

“Sadie-bearrrrrr!” Holly cooed as I went to the noise and let my dog out of her kennel. She slinkied and bounced off of everyone and everything in the apartment for about two minutes before she realized there were three strangers in her apartment.

She’s a rescue dog, and her former owners had starved and abused her pretty badly. I don’t know her whole history, but she’s very wary around strangers, mainly men.

She went into protective mode. She came and stood next to me, leaning against my leg. She shot her tail up, lowered her head, popped her back-hawk up and let out a demonic growl.

The guys each took a step back. I made comforting noises to her and told them “She’s just shy, I promise she won’t hurt you guys.”

I hope…

Zak crouched down on one knee towards her she inched towards him. She sniffed his outstretched hand, then rubbed her head on it. He grinned.

“Sweet girl,” he murmured to her.

At this she jumped on him, her front paws on his shoulders, her tail wagging so hard her whole backside was dancing.

I laughed and shook my head. That was quick.

Impressive.

I looked around, realizing Holly had disappeared. I peeked around the corner into my bedroom and saw her flung onto my bed. “Oh, party girl, you aren’t going to drag me out tonight? You’re breaking my heart.”

“Five minutes…” She mumbled.

Aaron shuffled, obviously wanting to have a seat but not sure if he should. “Well guys, I guess we should get going.”

I whirled around. “Oh you guys don’t have to. I mean, there’s nothing interesting here, but I’m not kicking you out!” I went to the fridge and pulled out four Shiner Bock bottles… better make that 5, I thought. Sure enough, as soon as I cracked the first one open Holly bounced into the kitchen. “Gimme!”

I brought each of the men a bottle and they stared at the glass. “Shiner, huh?”

“Yeah. 90% of why I’m proud to be a Texan.”

Aaron took a sip and set the bottle on the counter.

“Is it bad?”

“No! It tastes amazing, I’m just not much of a drinker.” he smiled.

We sat around a talked for a little while longer, Zak and Nick taking turns wrestling with Sadie. A couple times they brought up paranormal things and every time I couldn’t help but sound spiteful or negative towards them about it. I didn’t mean to. I just had too much pent-up venom and inherited too much of my mother’s razor sharp tongue to really sound neutral.

Nick smiled knowingly at me, mouthed “I understand” to me, and stood up, brushing the dog hair off of his jeans. “Guys, we better get going. We’ve got a video-conference meeting in an hour.”

Holly gave each man a hug and a peck on the cheek. “Ya’ll should let Desiree know when you’ll be in the area again. She could take you clubbing or something… show you the ropes around DFW.” She slid me a wink. “I might just make an appearance for that.”

I snickered as I gave Nick a hug. I was thinking more like a rodeo or something just to watch their reactions, but whatever.

Clubbing isn’t the MOST unoriginal thing she could’ve said.

Nick smiled. “Actually, we’ll be back down here in a couple months for a concert in Austin, we can probably fly into Dallas and visit around then.”

Zak looked over at him, like a child hoping that his daddy will let him play.

Holly took a step back. “Linkin Park and Mute Math?”

“And Incubus!” Zak and Aaron chimed in.

I felt a rush of adrenaline… kind of a mix of dread and excitement. “Small world.”

Holly whooped. “Hell yeah! Des and I are going to that concert too!”

Zak looked at me and blushed, grinning. Whatever that meant.

Aaron hugged me tightly and then let go, clapping once. “Okay so we need to fly into Dallas and all of us together can carpool down there.”

“So you wanna road trip it?” Holly grinned “You boys may want to come down a couple days early then, or plan to stay several days afterwards. Lots of fun shenanigans between Dallas and Austin.”

I glanced over at Holly. Really, girl, why are you pushing the envelope?

“I’m thinking Fredericksburg, Schitterbahn, Shiner…”

I just then noticed that Zak was standing right next to me, borderline too close for comfort. I looked up. He towered over me, but he had this look in his eyes that was so… I don’t know. Was it affectionate? I wouldn’t call it vulnerable, or happy. Not sad though, either.

I blushed from his gaze and tried to ignore it. “What do you think, Hulk?”

He grinned and his expression in his eyes became crystal clear. It wasn’t really affection, but it definitely was interest, maybe even attraction. Please, no… “That sounds perfect to me.”

Holly whipped out her phone to get their numbers while we finished our beers. I slipped away from the others to the kitchen and began to unload the dishwasher. The bar in the kitchen opens up to the living room, so I was still in the conversation, but had my personal space back. Holly continued to make flirtatious comments as they made plans, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

The guys finished their drinks and tossed the bottles in my trash. They said their goodbyes to Holly as I clipped Sadie’s leash on her. Giving Holly a searing glance, I walked the guys out.

We had reached the parking lot when I felt a hand on my shoulder. “So... do you honestly want to hang out with us again?” Zak asked quietly.

“What do you mean?” I turned to face him. The guys went on to their van.

“I dunno. I just assumed that because of what you believe that you are repulsed. I didn’t want you to feel pressured into something just because Holly offered.”

I cocked my head at him and forced a large cheesy smile. I placed a hand on his shoulder, just at the base of his tree trunk neck. “You don’t even know what I believe, Mr. Bagans. And there are plenty of reasons why I’m not repulsed by you or your friends.”

He squeezed my shoulder gently and pulled me into a hug. “Good to know.”

I did a mental face-palm. I sounded like one of those dumb crazy broads that fall head over heels at the first man that takes interest, and his tone sounded like he was playing along in that game.

Time to kill that direction.

“Do we need to bring dates?”

He looked startled, to which I mentally smirked. “What?”

“Well I’m assuming Nick will be bringing his wife, I’m sure you and Aaron will want to bring girlfriends... or main squeezes. Do Holly and I need to bring dates?”

“’Main squeezes?’” He laughed.

“Flavors of the week, arm-candy, whatever. Take your pick.”

He blushed. “Actually Aaron kind of has a thing for Holly. So I was going to offer… if you need a date… I’d be glad to apply for the position.”

I smacked my forehead. “Holly is too fast for a sweet man like him, but she’d be a hell of a date.” I looked up at him. “Please don’t let him fall too fast for her.”

I’ve always been Holly’s damage control. I love the woman; but... damn.

He took a step towards me and placed his hand again on the back of my neck. “Got it… but you avoided my offer.” His thumb stroked just shy of my shoulder blade and he grinned boyishly.

I stiffened at the touch, but I swallowed the anxiety of him being all up in my personal space. “I don’t need a date in order to go out, thank you VERY much. But I… I don’t see why not. B-better than having two third wheels, r-right?” I tried to pile confidence into a smile but failed. He smirked.

Prick. He knew he was making me nervous.

He leaned in towards me, and I fought the urge to slap the hell out of him. Or would pepper mace be more polite? His nose brushed my hair away from my ear and his lips were just millimeters away. You have GOT to be kidding me…

“Agreed,” he breathily whispered in my ear, allowing his lips to graze my industrial piercing's metal... and then slowly drew back. I gasped as I checked to make sure my heart was still beating, not caring if it seemed obvious.

What the hell… Are you always this slutty?

I bit my lower lip to keep from blurting out my thoughts.

Holly hung over the balcony railing above us, graciously giving me an escape. “Bye, guys! Be safe!”

“Bye, Zak.” I said, still kind of shaky… Only at that point I wasn’t sure if I was wavering because of anger or shock.

“See you girls soon.” He smiled that damn smile again and walked away. He returned to the van and we waved them off.

Sadie and I ran for about 30 minutes. When I got back Holly was waiting for me.

“What the HELL was that about? Was he… flirting with you?”

Not a damn clue, I thought.

I poured Sadie a bowl of food and started cutting up meat to make dinner. Holly pulled up her laptop and started Googling the guys’ show, Ghost Something.

“Oh, my, GOD” Holly whined from the living room. I dropped the spinach in the sink and dried my hands on my jeans as I ran to her. “What is it?”

“Zak is a fucking rock star, Des.” She turned her laptop to show me the evidence. Web shrines, fan sites, fan-fiction that rated from G to NC-17, and lots and lots of pictures. His Twitter was full of flirtation and big-headedness.

I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell?”

She laughed “Don’t you even try to say you’re not jealous!”

“I’m not jealous. More like confused.”

Actually, I wanted to be angry… make that furious! Girls go gaga over him… Which really, is not surprising, but it made me wonder if those thirty seconds of “intimate” contact I received from him were his M.O.

If so I was NOT going to be his “date” to the concert. I have no tolerance for douche-bags. I refuse to play their games and I can’t stand being around guys who are high on themselves, who think they’re the ultimate “ladies’ man.”

Holly voiced my concerns. “So was he sweet on you because you’re awesome, or was he sweet on you because he’s a famous whore?”

I rolled my eyes. “Well I’m not THAT awesome, I’m pretty sure my reactions to their ghost hunting turned him off. And if it does happen to be the latter, I’ll trade you at the concert.”

She smirked. She pointed to a picture of him online, shirtless. “Only because you begged me.”

Oh, damn… “You evil skanky bitch.”

“Yep.”