We spent the subsequent time getting to know more about the town of Phoebe and what things there were to do. Colette and Lincoln were the closest to our ages, so they told us about things we might have similar interests in, like the local coffee shop, appropriately named Deja Brew, or the mini golf place that was right next to strip mall.
Darlene and Gerald were obviously of the older generation, and with Byll being an Orb, there was really no way to know his age short of asking him, but he seemed to suggest similar things to the couple. They’d told us about the bingo hall on the other side of town from the strip mall, as if the town of Phoebe itself wanted to isolate the typical older pastimes from the newer ones. We’d also learned that there was a pretty popular antique shop that sold furniture, knick knacks, and clothing items that had been previously discarded by owners who deemed their use finished. Byll was really excited when telling us all about it, making me smile at the passion in his voice.
We’d just finished garnishing our food with the appropriate condiments and the convenient small bags of chips that the group had to offer. I had no clue who had even prepared or brought what, but they were all adamant about us getting whatever we wanted. I had grabbed another beer from the cooler Lincoln had been prying them from earlier before returning to my seat as Byll finished regaling us with why the antique shop was such a great place to spend money. We were all sat back down around the fire, balancing our plates of food in our laps and eating as the conversation started back up again.
“Phoebe’s a cute little town, for sure.” Colette nodded after finishing a bite of her burger. “But if the rumors are true, nothing compares to the annual Hell-O-Ween festival.”
“You kids and halloween.” Gerald shook his head, but a grin lingered on his upturned lips.
“The town had just started setting up for it when we arrived, and that was back in July!” Darlene explained. “When we first drove in, we drove by town hall and they were already storing huge orange banners and massive jack-o-lantern decorations before the damn leaves had even turned!”
Lincoln chuckled at that, crumpling up his small bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and shoving it in the empty cup holder of his folding chair. “Apparently, Phoebe is a big Halloween destination on the east coast.” He gestured to my sister and I. “And clearly their marketing worked if these two came all the way to North Carolina just to experience it.”
“Damn right.” Myers chuckled. “Krueger and I wanted to end our trip across the country by going all out for our favorite holiday.”
“So have you traveled to each state so far?” Darlene inquired.
“Sure have.” I said after finishing my mustard slathered hot dog. “We’re originally from Virginia, so we went upwards from there and then went west after finishing the top of the east coast.”
“And then we wove our way through the midwest before heading to Florida and traveling our way back up the east coast to end up back in Virginia.” Myers added. “North Carolina is our final state since we left right after the new year. It’s been a fun ten months, but it’s nice to be at the end. And you guys talking about how spooky-centric Phoebe is, I’m excited we ended the journey here.”
“Well, you picked the perfect place from what we’ve heard since arriving.” Byll guffawed. “There’s no better place to get your scare on than here.”
As the group finished eating their food, I was grateful to have fallen into the lap of this little town. The fact that they were hyping up the event that Myers and I had planned around when deciding to come to North Carolina did nothing but build uponmy expectations that this was going to be one hell of a way to end our trip around the country before the holidays officially kicked off.
Just a little over two weeks before Hell-O-Ween was upon us and I was getting antsy to have it here. But with company as good as the people surrounding us at the moment, waiting wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
Chapter 3
Further along in the night,once more beers were exchanged, the bonfire was naturally meeting its end, and so was our little gathering. We'd shared plenty of laughs and shared stories, but I was more than a little drunk now after the steady supply of free beers and I could hear my bed screaming my name in uppercase letters.
Everyone was in the process of cleaning up and snuffing out the fire as the time crept closer and closer to midnight. I was helping Lincoln lug his cooler back to his place, struggling to keep my feet from tripping me. I hadn't been this under the influence since right after Jenna and I had ended things, and I was both reveling in the sensations throbbing throughout my body as much as I was cringing that I hadn't kept better tabs on my state of mind.
Lincoln's place wasn't an RV, but rather a fairly empty lot that had a circular tent there. I hesitated to even consider it a tent, since it had a wood platform underneath it. I didn't see much of the inside as I helped him set the cooler just outside, but from the open flap it looked a hell of a lot more luxurious than your typical tent.
“Wow,” I slurred slightly, giving Lincoln my best half-smile as we plopped the cooler just next to the wood foundation of his tent. “This is the most boujee tent I've ever seen.”
Lincoln's laughter cut through the dark and sounded blissful as it rang in my ears. “It is. It's obscenely priced, but worth every penny.” We'd heard that his family was pretty well off, but I hesitated to ponder just how much money Lincoln's family must have had. I wondered even more that, if his family had such deep pockets, why he'd chosen to leave home and the comfort of an easy financial life to be here in Phoebe. But whether it was my refusal to pry or the alcohol brewing through my system, I couldn't bring myself to ask.
“Man,” I chuckled, standing up straight and regaining my balance from dropping the cooler. “I didn't expect to get this drunk.”
“Me either.” Lincoln's laughter blurred into the space between us. “Good company does that.”
There was a certain glint in his eye after he spoke. Was Lincoln...flirting with me? No, that couldn't be right. I was drunk. We were both drunk. There's no way I could be reading that correctly. There'd been no mention of his sexuality during the night. Then again, I'd brought up my ex-girlfriend as one of the reasons I was looking forward to getting away, so he had no reason to think that I also slept with men.
“Krueger,” I had to admit, my name on his tongue sure as hell sounded seductive, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. And how much I would have liked hearing my name come out of his mouth in other ways. I could already feel the rush of lust filling my dick as he kept speaking. “I know that this is forward as hell, but are you, by any chance...attracted to men?”
Oh fuck. Maybe Lincolnwasflirting with me. I tried to comb through the fog from the beers and focused my attention on delivering my best smirk.
“I am,” I nodded confidently. “I’m bisexual.”
“Great.” His smile was washed in relief. He straightened his back, cleared his throat and gestured toward his tent. “Would you...wanna join me? Maybe have one last drink or something?”
Oh, I knew exactly whator somethinghe was interested in. To be frank, it felt good to be wanted, even if it was a presumed one night romp in the sheets. Lincoln was an insanely attractive guy, and I didn't see the harm in succumbing to the warm feelings flooding my body at the moment.
We stared at each other, and I could swear I could see exactly what things he had in mind for me if I accepted the offer. My dick grew even more as my imagination ran wild with the proposed hypotheticals that swirled in my brain.
“Yeah, I'd like that.” I finally said with a grin. He mirrored my features. “Just let me run over and let Myers know so she doesn't come looking for me and I'll be back.”
