"It's amazing..." Elizabeth gasped softly, eyes adjusting to the interior of the cave from her elevated position, "..oh my God, Dwayne..."
She looked back at him, her smile one of awe. She couldn't believe such a place could even exist. The waves were crashing beneath them still and despite their strength and their loudness, she could hear the soft rock music playing from within the depths of the cavern. It was so surreal. She could see that there were a few oil drums scattered around the room, their fires casting a soft and warm orange glow about the place. She could see plants and weeds and roots hanging from the ceiling but also wreaths and wind chimes and glittering decorations. She was crouched down and even though the stone was cold against her knees, she couldn't really feel it. She was dimly aware of the chill but the beauty, the dream like scene before her was all she could truly focus on.
"You like it?" Dwayne asked sounding excited and she nodded quickly, glancing down into the cave below her once more and he invited her with an eagerness, "go down, there's so much more. You can stand.."
While the plants and roots dangled before the entrance gave the area an inaccessible air, she realized that she could stand, if she tried. The roof wasn't as low as it appeared. It was definitely a room full of secrets, she thought to herself. She glanced down at the steep incline and saw that there were steps carved into the stone. They were narrow and rough looking and she wasn't sure how she would navigate them, "Elizabeth Emerson! Come on down!"
She looked into the cave upon hearing David's booming voice and Paul's joyful, energetic whoop. She wanted to get down there, to see the rest of the room, to see the boys. There was a space before the drop, not much but enough for maybe a few steps. She moved forward a little awkwardly, still unwilling to stand, letting the weeds obscuring the entrance brush over her back. She glanced back at Dwayne, silently asking for help.
He smiled at her, "come on.."
She let him brush past her, feeling his bare arm move against the jacket she was sheathed in. She curled her hand around his as he offered it.
"Just go for it, we won't let you fall" he advised her, "follow my steps.."
He navigated the incline so easily and gracefully. Elizabeth followed him, rising to her feet and wobbling a little as she tried to find and keep the balance that he so easily maintained.
The music was louder down in the cave, the waves almost inaudible. As the refreshing smell of sea salt disappeared, she noted a new, comforting and almost familiar scent. The whole cave smelt earthy and rich and there was a lingering scent of incense. Paired with the fires, it was all so hypnotic.
"I can't believe this..." she said in wonderment, seeing the cave in its entirety from her spot on the last but impossibly tall step.
It was such a gargantuan space filled with flickering, dancing flames and knickknacks, there was a chandelier, a fountain, candelabras scattered in so many alcoves and nooks, a sofa, a bed, even a chest of drawers. There was too much to take in, "...oh my God..."
"It's not a museum, Liz, there's no entrance fee.." she heard Marko speak, his voice tinged with amusement but there was a hint of pride there, too. She drew her eyes away from an old and beautifully thick wooden chest of drawers - wondering how something so antique and ornate could even end up in such a cave - and tried to find the curly haired boy. It was impossible, there were so many shadows, so many areas in which to hide and suddenly she understood the undercurrent of pride in Marko's tone.
It was truly a masterpiece.
She looked down at Dwayne as he jumped to the ground, landing heavily but elegantly.
He slipped his hands on her waist, under the leather of his jacket and over the soft navy material of her dress. She reveled in the feeling for just a second before she giggled in excitement, placing her hands on his broad shoulders and lifting herself off the step with a little jump. He held her easily and, when she was supported by him and him alone, he moved her body in a little twirl. She giggled again, feeling a little rush of air around her legs and through her hair before he set her on the ground.
"I can't believe this place!" she told him, inhaling deeply, hands moving to rest on his chest.
"Amazing, right?" he agreed, hands resting higher on her waist.
"Dwayne? This is..." she trailed off and looked up at him, "...this is beyond anything I could have ever imagined!"
The cave was so magical.
He grinned at her and she could see the satisfaction on his face. He pulled her against him with a gentle tug of his arms "I'm glad you-"
"-slip her the tongue!" Paul advised loudly through a mumble and Elizabeth flushed when she remembered their audience. She heard David and Marko laugh along with the peppy blonde and she shook her head in light embarrassment as Dwayne laughed with them. He shook his head in apology and Elizabeth grinned ruefully.
Forget getting lost in the beauty of the cave.
It was easy to get lost in Dwayne.
As he let go of her waist with a regretful slowness, Elizabeth shyly brushed her hands down the length of her dress, remembering their audience and wondering if she'd flashed anyone during her spin down.
"We saw nothing..." Marko promised, coming into view from an area behind the stone steps. His eyes were bright.
"Speak for yourself" Paul said with a lascivious grin and a wicked wink from his spot on the old fountain in the center of the room. He was sat comfortably with his legs crossed, a big stereo system - the source of the soft rock - to his left and a cigarette clamped between his lips, "are you sure you're set on Dwayne?"
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head as Dwayne pointed a finger at his friend, "don't.."
Paul winked at her again and she had to suppress her laugh. She liked his humor, his easy style and she thought that Dwayne was going to be in for a tough time.
"Are you cold?" Marko asked, moving to plop on the fountain alongside Paul.
She shook her head, no. With Dwayne's jacket and the warmth of the scattered fires, she was actually perfectly comfortable.
"..oh, are you?" she began, looking at Dwayne with concern, eyes flashing down from the jacket she was wearing to him and his short sleeved white t-shirt. He laughed lightly, comfortingly at her worry.
"No, keep it.." he said, standing close beside her.
"It looks better on you, anyway" Paul told her with another devilish grin.
"We don't really feel the cold" Marko told her with an easy shrug, talking before Dwayne could scold Paul.
"That's lucky.." Elizabeth nodded, looking around the cave a little, eyes scanning the room before her.
"Why?"
"Hmmm?" she asked, drawn away from what looked oddly like an antique travel trunk. How did all this stuff get here?
"Why's that lucky?" Marko asked her, watching as she observed the room.
She shrugged, "dunno? Just..you know. It's a good thing, not feeling the cold. Lucky. Kind of rare, too. That and being able to sleep anywhere.."
Marko nodded, accepting her words, "must be difficult to sleep with two brothers?"
"They snore" she told him with a grin, "but my room's far away from theirs, so it's not such a big deal anymore"
"Room away from theirs? Now that's lucky" Paul told her, extinguishing the dregs of his cigarette in a pretty glass ash tray, eyes flicking between her and Dwayne with a knowing slyness.
"Seriously?" Dwayne said, his voice flat and Elizabeth choked on her laugh a little bit, looking away from the pair.
Paul didn't stop. His dedication to embarrassing Dwayne was kind of admirable.
"What's the matter with you?" she heard Dwayne ask the perky blonde just as Marko said, "we're being shitty hosts. Want a drink?"
She shook her head in protest, "you're all great..." and he smiled, slinking up from his seated position just as Dwayne sat down beside Paul, jostling him a little as he did.
Marko pointed behind her, to a tired but clean sofa and she saw a large cooler placed beside it, "what takes your fancy, Liz?" he asked as he led her towards it.
Leaving Dwayne to sit next to a smirking Paul, she followed Marko and laughed a little in unbelieving delight as she saw the cooler in its entirety. It was so retro. The metal was a shiny, highly polished light teal without even a speck of rust. The paint was a little speckled, like a duck egg and the handles were pristine white metal. There were even smaller, white hook like locks on the sides of the lid, "this is so cool!" she told him, crouching down to inspect the box.
"Yeah?" he asked as if it was nothing.
"Yes!" she insisted with a laugh, looking at the box before her, "this is so retro!"
"Original" he told her with a shrug.
"Fifties?"
"Nah, forties, I think...?" he said, glancing just to her left.
She followed his eyes to see David lounging casually on a wheel chair, watching her with amused eyes. His choice of seating didn't even feel out of place within the room. A wheelchair? Why not? Everything was so eclectic!
"Forties.." the icy blonde confirmed with a nod.
"How do you have this?!" she asked, reaching out to touch the cooler before pausing. Was it valuable?
"Go for it" Marko invited and she carefully unlatched the box. He helped her ease off the lid and she looked down at the varying bottles, cans and glasses nestled inside.
"I'll take a beer" David said and Marko reached in before tossing a chilled can at his friend. David caught it easily, "ask and you get, Elizabeth..."
"Me too, bud!" Paul called and Dwayne nudged him in the ribs with a reprimanding, "guests first!"
"'Ask and you get' my ass" Paul rumbled but the smile in his voice made it was clear there were no hard feelings.
Elizabeth glanced back at Dwayne and he nodded encouragingly at her. She knew he would see her home safely.
"Can I have a beer, too?" she asked Marko and he grinned.
"Anything you want, girl..." he reached down and passed her a beer, making sure she had it secure in her hand before lobbing another can at Paul.
"Cheers-" he said distractedly and Elizabeth blinked in surprise.
Marko had thrown the beer like it was a baseball and he was the pitcher...and Paul..Paul had caught it with one hand, while artfully rolling a paper with his other. Paul hadn't even been looking for the beer...
Dwayne laughed a little at her expression and she raised her eyebrows, laughing a little herself.
"You like it here, Liz?" David asked over the hiss of his can as he cracked open the seal.
"I..." she fumbled, looking away from Dwayne and Paul before meeting David's eyes, "...it's amazing.."
Everything was. Dwayne, the boys, their cave.
It was the stuff dreams were made of.
Marko replaced the lid to the cooler and plopped himself down on the sofa. Elizabeth joined him, opening her beer and sitting comfortably on the end.
"How did..I mean? How is this yours? And the stuff!" she looked around the room again, "it's..it doesn't make any sense!"
"I'm glad you like it here" David said with a smirk. It wasn't a cold or unkind smirk and she loved the hint of approval in his tone.
"I knew you would!" Paul said, lighting the joint he had finished rolling.
"You like history..." Dwayne said with a little smile before glancing at David.
"...this place has a history?" she asked, following his eyes to meet David's once more.
"This place is history, girl" Paul said tightly, holding his breath around an inhale. Dwayne laughed and smacked him on the back, causing the blonde to cough and everyone else to chuckle heartily.
As she took a sip of beer, her giggles subduing, David nodded, "he's right..what do you know about Santa Carla?"
"Umm..the carousel is the oldest ride on the boardwalk" she flashed a smile at Dwayne, "and um..the amusement park is from the nineteen hundreds?"
All the boys nodded and she thought back to the book she had read, the book she still wanted but she was coming up blank.
She shrugged and David nodded, "Santa Carla was kind of an up and coming place back then" he told her and she saw both Paul and Dwayne settle a little more on their respective places on the fountain, "hard to believe now but it was incredibly..."
"..fancy" Marko suggested as Dwayne said, "posh.."
"..think about glitter on a shit, chica" Paul added with a grin and the four boys chuckled a little with varying nods.
She looked between them with a bemused smile, not quite getting what was funny.
"Paul's right. People tried to turn this place into something it wasn't..." David said and she turned to face him again, "..I say people but it was the rich elite. The rich came first - before the dregs came into Santa Carla, they were there. Clear skies, beautiful scenery, pristine beaches and lots of land...prime spot for the wealthy-"
"-God, they really flocked here" Marko interrupted with a grin, "the town just...they poured so much money into the place, everything just appeared, like that" he snapped his fingers.
David nodded in agreement, "some of the houses that sprang up..." he whistled, "there was serious money in this town. There are a few of those houses..manors..still left, especially if you go up and away and into the hills a bit.."
"There was a ballroom" Dwayne told her, "and a dance hall-"
"-which is usual for the time, sure.." Marko added, "..but this was like..." he trailed off.
"Intense" Dwayne said with a smile, "red velvet chairs with golden legs-"
"-crystal chandeliers-"
"-doormen with those starched collars!"
The boys all chuckled again, Marko shook his head with a fondness Elizabeth didn't fully understand but appreciated all the same.
"Later there was a Nickelodeon Theater and it had this ridiculous entrance" Paul said, still working comfortably through his joint, "and lines down the damn street!"
"First movie?" Marko asked and Dwayne laughed, "Easy. The Great Train Robbery..."
"Twelve minutes of pure action" David intoned dryly and the boys all grinned.
"People paid so much for that..." Marko told her and David added, "they paid more than the usual cost..the people that came to Santa Carla were really making it their own. It was a town for the rich and the rich only"
Elizabeth nodded, taking a sip of her beer. She leaned into the sofa a little, loving their knowledge. She almost felt like she could have been there, the way they spoke. Paul extended his hand towards Dwayne, slipping him a bunch of papers and the brunette easily began to maneuver them. He smiled at her and she nodded a little, accepting his silent invitation.
"There were wild clothes shops, too" Paul said.
Elizabeth looked at him and he carried on, "the street's gone now but there was a row-"
"-modeled after Savile Row in London" David continued, "not that any of those rich assholes had been that far.."
"The Santa Carla lot were very new money" Marko told her with a grin and she smiled at his derisive tone.
"The women's fashion changed with the time...the bustle went out-"
Paul shook his head sadly, "I liked a nice ass..."
"This bustle wasn't an ass, dude, it just gave the illusion of one" Marko said.
"Very disappointing" David told her, his eyes dancing.
Elizabeth laughed, not fully catching Paul's use of the word liked.
"but that went out and sleeves came in, and then those went out and flat corsets and hats came-"
"-hated those hats" Dwayne said with a grimace as he smoothed the finished joint between his fingers.
Elizabeth looked at him. This time, she did catch it. Hated? But Marko laughed before she could really ponder the strangeness of his words, "imagine trying to walk down a narrow street and just having a face full of feathers!"
"And the top hats!" Paul said with a laugh.
"All the men wore top hats" David told her, "the rich really did everything to display that they were rich..."
"New money" Marko reminded her, reaching out to accept Dwayne's offering. She hadn't even heard Dwayne stand, she'd been so sucked in to the story, the imagery. She couldn't have imagined Santa Carla as a town for the rich and thinking about women in corsets and hats mulling down the street while men in top hats escorted them towards a cinema was just...it was so strange but at the same time, hearing the boys talk about it, it felt almost tangible.
Dwayne watched her as she processed the information, as she pictured the scenes that had been set.
"Cool history, right?" he laughed, sitting back beside Paul.
She shook her head, "I..." she trailed off.
He grinned and nodded, understanding how amazing it was, how it had rendered her a little speechless.
"It was an incredible time" David told her.
She smiled, as Marko lit the joint on her behalf, taking a deep drag to get it started. She loved how considerate they all were. He smiled before passing the joint to her.
She handled it gently, taking an inhale like she had been taught.
"Super amazing" Paul agreed, "rich people and their funny money...there was even a park with a petting zoo. They had a fucking lion..."
"It's a mini-golf course, now" Dwayne said, his eyes twinkling.
Passing the joint back to Marko, Elizabeth smiled and met David's eyes, "...what changed?" she asked, curling into Dwayne's jacket a little.
"Changed?"
"...I mean, time changes everything sure" she clarified, "but rich areas tend to stay rich, right?"
All four of the boys nodded.
"Santa Carla isn't a usual place" Marko said with a little shrug.
"..that's why it was largely untouched" David said, "the coast, at least"
"There were poor people, sure, out in the sticks or whatever" Paul said, "farming, growing oranges, getting by. You know...they're still there today, and they took over what the rich left..."
"But the rich people aren't?" Elizabeth asked as she accepted the joint back and took a little drag. She hadn't seen a part of town that could be described as wealthy. Even the so called nicer area of town that she and Dwayne had ventured into on their date was kind of underwhelming.
"Nah.." Marko said with a shake of his head.
"Why?"
"...well, the rich came and tried to make the coast their playground..." Dwayne said.
"...but the poorer people knew better" David finished, "in this case, wisdom trumped money"
"Knew better?" Elizabeth asked, smiling softly as the joint worked its magic.
David nodded and she saw the three boys smiling.
Looking at the each in turn, Elizabeth gave a light, confused laugh.
What did they know that she didn't?
"...what?" she asked, looking between Marko and Paul before finally settling her eyes on Dwayne.
They all laughed a little again and she knew they were laughing at her, laughing because they knew something she didn't..but it wasn't malicious. She laughed with them, "seriously, what?"
"Earthquakes, Lizzie" Paul told her after a spell of silence.
"What?"
Marko nodded and Elizabeth took another drag before passing her smoke back to him.
"Earthquakes..not many but a few...rumbles...throughout the years" David explained.
"Enough of a warning for those paying attention.." Marko said.
"The rich came to the coast and claimed it as theirs-" Dwayne told her.
"-and, in 1906, just a year after the rich built the most magnificent hotel you could ever hope to lay eyes on, mother nature claimed it as her own..."
"an earthquake?"
"A big one..." Paul said.
"The Big One" David corrected.
"It hit during a party, of all fucking times" Marko laughed with a shake of his head, "wiped out a good chunk of the wealthy..damaged a fuck ton of stuff..town never really recovered..."
"So..." Elizabeth looked between the boys before looking around the cavernous room once again.
No way.
"No..." she whispered once again in tentative awe, "no way..."
"Way" Paul grinned.
"You, Elizabeth Emerson, are sat in the remains of what was once the most ornate, intricate and expensive of hotels..."
"Holy Shit.." she whispered, eyes darting between the fallen chandelier, the bureau she now couldn't fully see.
"All original" Marko said, pride lacing his voice.
"And the cave goes way, way deeper than just this..." Paul told her.
"Oh yeah.." David said with a smugness that she fully understood. It was something to be proud of, to feel smug about for sure.
"There are some rooms.." Dwayne said and she looked at him sharply, excitement beginning to course through her.
Rooms?
"Yeah" he smiled at her, knowing how excited and eager she was to look around, to get into the old antiques and treasures, "lot's to explore..."
She looked at him in pure amazement, laughing in pure wonder, "this place is yours?!"
David nodded.
"It's ours" Marko confirmed.
"But..but..." she shook her head.
It was impossible!
"...we've got the deeds to the land" Marko told her with a smile and dancing eyes, "if that's what you mean.."
"..but it was ours even before that" David told her.
She laughed, feeling high from the weed but thrilled and bathed in pure astonishment at the reality of the situation.
"Oh! Show her that fountain pen-" Paul said, jumping to his feet and moving over to a shadowy corner of the cave.
Marko laughed, "or that flouncy hat?"
"With the stupid feathers!" Paul laughed.
"We have a lot of stuff here, Elizabeth" David told her as both Marko and Paul moved to show her the treasures they thought she would appreciate.
"I can't believe this" she said, shaking her head and Dwayne offered her his hand.
Marko had lied. It was a museum.
She let him pull her up and, looking away from David with a grateful smile, she smiled up at Dwayne, "I can't believe you would show me all of this.."
"Show you?" Dwayne asked, kissing her forehead, "you're one of us, Liz. It's yours, too..."