Chapter 11
Thoughts of Arzewere taking hold of my brain and shaking them to make sense of my even deeper crush on him. After seeing him go full-on that first night in the haunted house, I was fully hooked on him. Why? I couldn’t quite say. It should have been scary. Normal people would have been scared by the commitment Arze displayed to scaring the locals. But me? I was enamored, properly enamored. I wasn’t sure if it was my inclination toward the macabre and mysterious, but I loved not only how fucking cool Arze had looked when he’d grown his bark, but also how lethal and…well,sexyI thought he looked as well.
Had I seen one too many horror movies before the appropriate age? Surely, my parents were horror fanatics. But that didn’t change anything as to why Arze was behind the last three reasons I’d touched myself in the shower. My palm was getting used to the Arze fueled mental temptations, and my dick certainly wasn’t complaining. I was though. Because as nice as it was to fantasize, I wanted the real thing.
I wanted him.
Which was problematic on multiple levels. He was my co-worker for one. The last person I wanted to ruffle feathers withwas Jane by making the work environment weird by saying something too suggestive or making an uncouth gesture on Arze’s behalf. Another problem was that I’d just told Lincoln I wasn’t looking for anything with anyone given the fact that I wasn’t staying in Phoebe, which was still true. The problem with me entertaining the idea of hooking up with Arze was the fact that I’d still have to see him at work after, and that didn’t exactly boast the hit-it-and-quit-it type of vibe that I was swearing myself to.
So, I was fueling my sexual frustrations into more writing. After work last night, after seeing Arze hulk out, I’d stayed up for another couple of hours and written the first sex scene between my human character and his demon love interest. Which in turn had turned into the first of the aforementioned three jack off sessions I’d had about Arze while showering before finally succumbing to sleep. And this morning, after another run that ended in another shower masturbation meeting of the minds, I’d spent most of the morning and day letting this novel take hold of me the way I wished Arze would. By the time I left for work the next day, I’d written something close to thirty pages.
Being sexually frustrated was really working for my novel. Just not so much for the author.
I’d managed to keep myself in check at work, thankful that I hadn’t been paired with Arze for my first Saturday shift. It was infinitely more busy than Friday night had turned in to, which was fairly busy in of itself. I was paired with Abigail and Ripp in the haunted house, being the finale of Boiler Bay yet again, still donning my Freddy cosplay. I’d spoken to Jane after we’d shut down around ten that night and she was going to start training me on the maze next week, so I had a lot of work to look forward to. AKA, a lot of things to keep my mind occupied. But that didn’t stop them from straying to Arze. It was just nice to not have tointeract with him a whole hell of a lot while I tried to wane my crush on him.
I got back home a little before ten thirty Saturday night, and I’d been greeted with an invitation by Darlene and Gerald. They were doing another late night bonfire and wanted to invite me and my sister. Everyone that we’d met at the last bonfire was also joining. I’d graciously accepted, saying I needed to shower work off of me before I could join them.
While I was showering, I tensed when I realized that this was going to be my first time hanging out with Lincoln since we’d agreed to not hookup again. It wasn’t that I was nervous about going back on my word. I was solid on that front. No, I was worried that Lincoln would try something or be really weird around me. We’d agreed to try being friends, but I was skeptical that he would keep things that way.
I decided I’d give him the benefit of the doubt as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair. Lincoln said he was down to be friends, and I needed to let him prove that.
I stepped out of the shower, Myers waiting for me out in the living room with our folding chairs while I got dressed. But I told her to head out without me, because I wanted to extend the invite once I pulled my clothes on. Now that I knew that Khalice and her family also lived in the RV park, temporary or not, I thought it was only right to invite her to the bonfire. She wouldn’t be the only Orb there, since Byll was going to be there too, so hopefully she’d feel more accepted knowing she wouldn’t be the only Orb there. Even if she declined, I felt it only right to extend the offer.
Trudging up to the RV that her family called home for the time being, I felt weirdly nervous. I hadn’t interacted with Khalice outside of work and hoped that it wouldn’t be awkward to do so. I hadn’t seen her much since I’d started trying to learnthe haunted house, since she’d been working at the maze. It’d be nice to see her outside of a work setting for a change.
I knocked exactly four times on the RV door, not bothering to saunter up the three little steps that lead up into the vehicle. I’d wait for Khalice’s invitation before I drifted up the steps.
When the door to the RV ripped open, it wasn’t Khalice who happened to answer. Rather, it was a shorter, more volatile looking stellymn that loosely resembled my co-worker. He resembled a teenage boy, aside from the red skin, spiky navy hair, and the solid white irises. The trio loft of horns and the swiveling tail were pretty good indicators that he was anything but a typical teenage boy.
“Who the hell are you?” His sour tone accompanied his indignant scoff, setting me on edge.
“Chrizel!” A deep, booming voice chastised from an unseen location within the RV. After a series of stomps, the door to the RV pulled further away to reveal an older stellymn, clearly the father with his aged polo and sweatpants. I smiled at him as Chrizel crossed his arms, ruffling the leather jacket he was wearing as he proceeded to pick at the frayed denim at his knees, red skin peeking through. “Go to your room if you're going to have an attitude like that answering the door.”
“But I wanted—”
“I don'tcarewhat you wanted.” The father said sternly, giving the teen an unshakeable stare down. “Room. Now.”
“Fine.”
Chrizel inherited his father's stomp, parading around the inner confines of the RV like he was hoping his heels would cause the mock hardwood floors beneath his feet to catch fire. The stellymn before me now smoothed a hand across his forehead in frustration, exhaling the awkward encounter from his lungs before setting his eyes on me.
He was handsome as far as stellymn went. I'd only been with one previously, but he was quite attractive. He had gold hoops in both his ears and his navy hair was super curly and coarse, kept close to his head. With an apologetic smile, he turned to me and shook his head.
“I’m so sorry about that. Teenagers are certainly difficult to manage.” He huffed, overwhelmed and exhausted by the act of trying to maintain his son's apparent mood swings. “Can I help you?”
“Hi, I'm Krueger.” I tried to abate my tone. The last thing I wanted to do in front of a group of stellymn was come off nervous and weird. Especially when I thought they were so cool. “I work with Khalice.”
“Oh yes, the new guy.” He nodded, his smile never leveling off. “I’m her promised, Jgel.” He briefly broke eye contact to lend a hand for me to shake. Once I chuckled nervously and shook his hand promptly, he added, “Come in, come in.”
Stepping inside the RV, I realized that their RV was pretty similar to the one Myers and I had. It was cramped, as most were, but stylish and modern. The floors were typical millennial grey, faux hardwood that fell into place next to the black countertops and appliances. A dining booth sat opposite a couch, with a little hallway on either end of the main hub leading to what I assumed were separate bedrooms. I thought Myers and I were cramped in our RV. I couldn't imagine trying to have a family in one, but I was glad to see them making it work for them.
Jgel gestured to the couch, and I swiftly took a seat as he sauntered toward the smaller than average fridge that was built into the wall of the RV. “Can I get you anything before retrieving Khalice for you?”
“Oh, no thanks. I really only came to invite you guys to a little bonfire thing happening.”
"How wonderful." Jgel's words would have sounded genuine but there was a bite to his tone that let me believe the last thing he wanted was to be surrounded by the judgmental humans that made up most of the park. “Let me go get Khalice.”
“Thanks.”
