Elijah's POV

"Thank you, have a good day." Nico handed me my drink as he pulled away from the Starbucks, chuckling as I shook my head at him. "What? I didn't spill this one yet."

"It is so important to your future that you scrape that yet off the end of that sentence." I teased.

"Geez, my bad." He rolled his eyes at me. "What, then?"

"How do you know a barista all the way over here in Silverdale?"

"Oh, that." He laughed. "What? You think I'm cheating on you with the barista now?"

"I mean, it was just a question, but now I do."

He shook his head. "My God, it was a joke."

"I don't know…" I snickered. "You're acting awfully defensive about it."

"You know what, I'm gonna let that slide because I deserve it for continually sabotaging your coffee." He sighed. "But anyway, me and my previous coffee addiction have just gotten around. I have a cousin who lives up in Seattle I used to visit a lot and the barista in question used to work at the one by his house. Apparently she moved and works at this one now."

"Lighten up, you know I'm just screwing with ya for sabotaging my coffee." I chuckled. "That's cool though."

"Thank you." He sighed. "...I'm gonna choose to believe that."

"...maybe she moved out here to be closer to you." I snickered.

He pulled the car over at the first chance he got. "Alright, now you're making my hypothetical cheating scenario sound like the plot of a bad Lifetime movie." He was trying desperately not to laugh.

"Isn't that the plot of every Lifetime movie?" I pointed out.

"Every new one, anyway." He rolled his eyes. "They actually used to have some decent ghost stories every once in a while, back when my sister would try to get me into em."

I nodded, sensing this was venturing into territory he didn't wanna get into. "Ahh.."

"Yeah, that's...that's a story for another day." He shrugged, starting the car back up to continue on to Spirit. "The short of it iissss...thaaat I don't talk about having a sister that much because she was not exactly on board with the whole gender thing...sooo, that was starting to fall apart even before I got turned."

"...I'm sorry.."

He just shrugged it off as we pulled up into the shopping center. "It is what is."

He pulled his mask up over his face as he pulled the car into the parking space, clearly noticing as I picked up my cup.

"I don't think you can bring that in, what with mask laws and all."

"Wasn't planning on it" I explained, taking another sip from it. "I'm just keeping it safe from you until you get out of the car."

"Oh my God!" He exclaimed, trying not to laugh….and failing. "I seriously can't win with you, can I."

"Still teasing." I snickered. "In actual fact, I'm just about done with it. Just bringing it along to toss it in that trash can right by the door."

"Already?" He marveled. "Shit, and people thought I was impressive for how fast I could down one of those."

I chuckled, taking a last sip from my cup. "Well then, those people just have never met me."

"I guess not." He chuckled back, still impressed.

"Hey guys, welcome to Spirit." A girl over at the front desk greeted us.

I gave a small wave in response, as I followed Nico into the store. "Alright." I chuckled. "Lead the way."

He shot me a particularly sinister looking grin. "Right this way, Sir."

He led me just a little bit further down, stopping in front of a row of animatronics.

There was a Pennywise...among various other evil clowns, the kid from Trick r Treat, and a Michael Myers.

"This is what I rode three and a half hours with you for?" I teased.

"Nahhh.." He answered, gesturing for me to come over. "This is what you rode three and a half hours with me for. Come on, come look."

I sighed, shaking my head. "If you say so."

"I know so." He chuckled. "Come on."

"Coming, I'm coming." I chuckled, looking around the immediate area when I reached him. "Alright, what?"

"Look right here." He pointed out.

"What?"

He pointed, again, in the same direction. "Right here, look!"

I took a closer look to find moderately sized spider...what was so great about it, I attempted to figure out. "...A spider?" I chuckled. "Is that it?"

"Well, no." He insisted. "Look closer at it, I think it's missing an eye!"

I sighed. "Nico, what the hell are you-" But I was cut off when the spider suddenly sprang up at me, seemingly out of nowhere, causing me to jump back at least a few feet "JESUS! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"

He just started laughing hysterically. "Isn't he great? You can control most of these guys just by pressing your foot down on one of these buttons!" He gestured toward the floor where, sure enough, sat a little square that was just big enough to step on.

"Alright, dually noted!" I chuckled nervously. "I reiterate my earlier point though, this is what I came all the way up here with you for?!"

That evil little grin, that I was having the damndest time resisting, returned to his face. "Maybee…"

I sighed, shaking my head again. "My God…" I muttered. "You're seriously gonna give me a heart attack one of these days. You know?"

"Yeah, yeah. Noise, noise." He snickered. "Come on, I'll show you the rest of the store."

"Ohh joy…" I answered, sarcastically. "I can't wait."

I let him take me by the hand and lead me further into the store.