Elizabeth waved to Grandpa as the car drove off into the distance. The old man didn't look back and didn't linger. He hadn't been joking when he said he had no business, interest or need to go down the boardwalk way but it had been very kind of him to drop her off. Lucy had driven the Frog Brother's home - they'd given her absolutely no more issues - and she'd let Sammy go with them. He'd promised her he could make his way home in one piece and, tired from the day, Lucy had agreed without much fuss. She wanted him home by twelve, no later but that was the only stipulation she had added to his free time.

Grandpa had reminded Elizabeth of the rule, too. She had accepted it with no fuss or fighting because she trusted that one of the boys could work their magic and she could stay out as late as she wanted to.

Tugging at her dress for a second, she glanced around the fairly quiet boardwalk, feeling a little self conscious.

She had shed her tee, shorts and high top sneakers after her soak and changed into the black dress. It came to her mid-thigh and it was quite revealing, the thin straps offering a decent display of her skin and cleavage. She had felt a bit self conscious but Lucy had disagreed when Elizabeth voiced her concerns. Lucy thought she looked cute and that was enough to stop any more of her umming and ahhhing about wearing the stained shirt again instead. Lucy had very kindly offered to swap shoes with Elizabeth, too, which was incredibly sweet because the black dress and white sneakers didn't quite match. It was lucky the two women shared the same shoe size, and Lucy actually joked that she preferred the sneakers to the sandals she had been wearing.

Lucy had styled Elizabeth's hair into a tight braid, using a red ribbon to secure it but they both agreed that while artful, it looked too formal with the dress and sandals. Instead, Lucy had styled Elizabeth's hair in a very loose, flowing and high bun, using the ribbon as a tie. It looked pretty, both of the women had to admit and using the old blow dryer, chained to the wall of the equally old locker room, Lucy had managed to curl some of the unsecured strands.

Elizabeth had loved it and Lucy had told her it was a trick she had learned from her grandmother.

Unfortunately, when Elizabeth did her mother's makeup in a gesture of reciprocation, the effects had been less than pleasing to the older Emerson.

"I look like a clown!" she had laughed, frowning in bemusement at the high, bright blue eye shadow covering her lids and brows, "and my cheeks? Did you do this blush in a wind tunnel? My apples are here, Elizabeth!"

She had graciously kept the makeup on, conceding that it did look like the model in the magazine, but she said she definitely wouldn't be seeing Max with it on her face.

"When will you see him next, Mom?" Elizabeth queried, putting her mother's makeup back in the pouch she had taken it from.

"I thought my generation was bad with the beehives and frosted lips...huh? Oh, um" Lucy had blushed, the color on her cheeks even more exaggerated, "well I'm working tomorrow from four and then uh, I'll close up at one and um, we're uh..."

"Mom! You're really blushing!"

"We're going to get a decaf coffee, some food after"

"Have you been to his house yet?"

"Elizabeth!" Lucy had laughed, sounding scandalized but with bright, dancing eyes, "no, I-we-uh..."

"It's OK. It's cute!"

"It's not cute, I'm an old-"

"-Mom, don't even"

"...I like him a lot"

"When am I going to meet him?"

"What?"

"It's getting serious, right? Tomorrow isn't your first date, is it?"

"No..no it isn't but..." Lucy had shrugged gently, "I think I have to wait until everyone is comfortable with the idea of me..you know, dating...before I introduce him"

"Well, I don't care" Elizabeth had insisted, "I'm happy for you. I want to meet the man that's making my mom smile and I'm sure Sammy and Mike are feeling the same, too..."

She didn't notice the way Lucy had flinched a little at her eldest son's name, "but to be honest they're so dense. You're probably going to have to spell it out to them"

"Yes, maybe..."

"Look! They have a crimper. Want to crimp your hair?"

"Gosh no. No crimping, no perms"

"Remember when Sammy wanted a perm?"

As both the women laughed, they had collected their bags, making moves to head out back towards the picnic area. Grandpa had wanted to leave by four and it was three when they glanced at the gently ticking clock in the locker room.

Touching her hair gently, Elizabeth smiled, grateful for the time she'd spent with her mother. Tugging at her dress a final time, she headed into the boardwalk.

As the smell of sweet caramel popcorn surrounded her, her smile widened. She was a little tempted by it but after an afternoon of barbecue food, she thought she would be surprised if she even needed to have dinner. As Sammy had entered Lucy's car, he had been telling his friends that he could maybe go for pizza later but Elizabeth hadn't shared his thoughts at all. Even Grandpa had commented that he wouldn't be having supper and that Sammy was crazy. Coming from the old man, that really was saying something.

Alone on the boardwalk, she briefly wondered what the trio were doing. She thought they were probably back at the comic book shop, she'd heard Edgar refer to it as their "base" quite a lot during the afternoon, but, as she saw a flash of leather, she realized that she could care less.

She was on the hunt for Dwayne.

She couldn't feel him but then, she couldn't feel anyone.

Freezing, she saw a familiar flash of blonde with a very unfamiliar flash of blonde.

Paul and...a girl?

Peering through the thin crowd, she saw that it was Paul and that he was with a girl. They were leaning against the graffiti covered wall of one of the attraction booths, flanked by Marko and David. There were no other girls around, but the one who had Paul's arm slung around her shoulder looked like the cat that caught the cream and, Elizabeth thought, rightfully so.

Paul was handsome, charming. Why wouldn't the girl be proud to be in his arms?

Frowning a little as she peered at the men - and girl - she wondered where Dwayne was.

They were a pack, surely he should be there.

As she tilted her head, she jumped, meeting Marko's eyes.

He raised his eyebrow with a challenging, playful coolness and Elizabeth blushed, heading over towards them.

"Hey, stalker" he said, his voice warm.

"Curious observer" she corrected, shyly, smiling at him, "hey guys"

David nodded, looking bored and the girl entwined with Paul said nothing, pursing her lips a little.

"Good evening, mi chica favorita" Paul grinned at her, his eyes sparkling.

"You speak French?" his girl cooed, looking up at him with awe.

Nobody bothered to correct her and he continued, "how are you feeling today?"

"Good, thank you"

"You look good"

The girl tensed for a second before her smile returned.

"Thank you" Elizabeth knew that he was thinking about how terrible she had looked while off her face and she'd replied tightly, hoping to dis-encourage him from joking at her expense.

She briefly wondered who the girl was but since nobody had made moves to start an introduction and since the girl herself was looking quite obviously at everyone but her, Elizabeth didn't bother to introduce herself.

It felt a little weird, almost like the girl thought only she belonged.

Marko grinned, "how were you yesterday?"

David exhaled a little laugh through his cigarette.

Fighting down her laughter but also feeling embarrassment bubble up, she shook her head. Deep down she knew this wouldn't be the end of it - she knew it wasn't even the start but she was going to shut it down. She didn't want her shame brought up in front of a stranger.

"...I'm fine now and we can leave it at that, if it's all the same..." Elizabeth replied primly, trying not to blush and cringe.

As Marko laughed, nodding, Elizabeth felt a cool body push past hers.

Moving to the side, letting whoever it was pass despite the rudeness of the action, Elizabeth watched as a girl slunk towards Marko, "I'm back"

She wrapped her arms around his waist, looking up at him through heavily lined lashes. She was wearing a tight red dress, perfect makeup and her hair had been backcombed into a wildly awesome, voluminous mass. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about it and her beauty fit well with Marko's. It looked right, like it was meant to be, that he was designed to have a stunner on his arms.

All of the boys looked that way. They were made for nothing less than perfect.

As she looked at everyone other than Elizabeth, the girl asked the group at large, "are we going?"

"Yeah, I wanna go. This place is lame already..." her apparent friend, the girl under Paul's arm purred.

She was also wearing a tight dress but it was made with shiny, purple satin material and her hair had been feathered and blown out, surrounding her face in a very good imitation of Farrah Fawcett. She was holding onto a shiny clutch bag with long, almond shaped nails.

With her simple black dress, Elizabeth actually felt a little dowdy compared to them. They were so stylish and despite their coolness, they really were beautiful. She could imagine that they would be thrust into the realm of stunning if they smiled, if they allowed some warmth and kindness onto their faces.

"We're going clubbing" Marko told Elizabeth and she snorted a laugh, taken aback by his words. Shaking her head, she insisted, "no you're not"

"Hundred percent, baby girl" Paul said, his eyes sparkling.

"No way" Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head, "you don't club. Look at you!"

"Didn't someone tell you a little while back not to judge a book by it's cover?"

Smiling, she shook her head, not even questioning why Paul knew what she and Dwayne had talked about on the carousel all those nights ago, "no, he didn't. He asked if I was judging books by their covers. Totally different, stalker"

"Curious observer" Marko and David drawled at the same time.

She smiled fondly at them both and Paul continued, "strobe lighting, pumping music...and these babies"

He laughed when Elizabeth blanched, looking at the pill filled baggie he'd retrieved from his pocket.

"Too soon?" David queried.

"Put them away" she ordered to the vocal amusement of the three men.

She didn't believe for even a second that they would go to a club but the sight of the drugs had rolled her stomach and distracted her. She wasn't going to push them on it but she absolutely couldn't handle even the sight of the pills.

It was way too soon.

"She's a square" Marko's girl sighed, sounding a little annoyed despite the sweetness of her voice.

"Yeah, can we go already?" Paul's girl repeated, "this is lame"

Elizabeth had the distinct feeling that the girl really wanted to say "she's lame" but she didn't say anything. She was too focused on watching Paul slide the baggie from view.

"So are you coming?" David asked her dryly. It was the first time he had really directed a pleasant question at her, that he had conversed with her as part of the group at large and she was momentarily taken aback.

"You're dressed for a club" Marko pointed out.

"-more-so than you guys-" she grinned back, turning to Paul when he commented at the same time, "-yeah, your tits look good"

He winked at her, ignoring the down turned pout his girl had on her face.

"Gross" she laughed at him, before shaking her head at David, "no..no, I don't think so"

"She's underage, anyway"

"I am" Elizabeth nodded, also ignoring the sweet coldness in the girl's voice.

The girl next to Marko had disengaged herself from his body and told David, "my friend Sandy will be there, anyway. You don't need her. Come on?"

"You don't need me" Elizabeth told David, unable to help herself.

"What are you, a parrot?" the girl next to Marko asked, her voice a little sharp.

Before Elizabeth could reply, before she even noticed the cold mask that fell upon Marko's face, the ice-cold body language coming from David or the ominous smirk of Paul's lips, she jumped.

"You look like little red with that ribbon in your hair"

Spinning around, forgetting her company, she expected Dwayne to be there, right behind her.

He wasn't, disappointingly enough...but his voice.

His voice...clear as day, she had heard him...he had been in her head.

Heart beating, she scanned the crowed, unable to see him but feeling him so distinctly.

His voice...he had rumbled, he had growled his words. So deep, so dark and so, so sexy.

Biting her lip, reaching to touch the ribbon in her hair, her body jerked as his voice flooded her mind once more.

"I'll give you ten minutes head start, little red, and then I'm coming for you"

Holy. Shit.

Elizabeth felt a wave of heat wash over her.

She was supposed to be hunting him but he had turned the tables on her in the most spectacular way.

Ten minutes?

She knew what would happen when he caught her and, as she felt a familiar rush of heat down low in her stomach, she knew exactly where she wanted to go, where she wanted him to catch her.

Swallowing, fumbling a little, she turned again, "I-I gotta-"

"That ribbon is so nineteen fifties..." the girl drawled, "...keep up, it's the eighties"

"Old school, not cool" her friend laughed, rolling her eyes.

Elizabeth shrugged, wondering where the nastiness had come from.

Why be mean to her? She wasn't a threat to them or their evening. The only man she had a romantic interest in was Dwayne. She wasn't as pretty as them, nor as glamorous.

She didn't get the mean girl act.

"Uh? Yeah, um-my, uh mom did it for me today. I thought it was cute and..." Elizabeth laughed, shaking her head once.

"Nine minutes"

Dwayne was close and it was driving her crazy, hearing his voice, knowing that he was going to come for her.

Her eyes were bright.

What was she doing?! Why was she even engaging with these girls?

"...you're mean. I think...yeah. You're really, really mean"

Laughing again, she met Marko's eyes before giving Paul a small wave, not even bothering so say goodbye to them. She was sure they all knew exactly why she was running off. She was positive that even if they didn't know Dwayne had been in her head, they could feel how she had reacted. She'd visibly jumped, her pulse had quickened and she'd been hot.

So, so hot. Of course they knew.

Truthfully, she didn't even care.

Part of her wanted to scream it out to the world, Dwayne made her feel like every single fiber of her being was on fire and she felt no shame, none at all.

As the girl scoffed, obviously stunned at being called out, Elizabeth spun on her heel, ready to flee, to run deep into the boardwalk and begin the chase.

"Get yours, girl!" Paul drawled with excitement, though Elizabeth didn't turn to him.

She was a woman on a mission and she was done wasting her time with a bunch of mean girls.

She met David's cool eyes, saw the slight incline of his head and with that, she was gone.

She was running through the crowds, heading towards the beach without so much as a look back.

"She was such a bitch"

"Wait, wait! Wh-what about Sandra?"

David glanced over his shoulder, as he walked, "not interested"

The fact that he had looked back over his shoulder should have been of some comfort, should have demonstrated that he cared about the words directed at him enough to respond, but the coolness of his voice made it clear.

Their evening was over as far as he was concerned.

As he allowed himself to be swallowed by the crowds, away from Elizabeth but also the girls, one of them humphed.

"Don't worry about it. We don't need a third" Marko drawled.

"Yeah, come to think about it...we don't even need a club" Paul said, moving away from the wall.

Their words drew the girls' attention from David's retreating figure and gave them a spark of hope that their evening hadn't been ruined.

"Well said" Marko smirked, also pushing away from his girl and walking beside his brother, "let's go somewhere quieter"

"Quieter?" the blonde in the purple dress asked.

Smirking widely, Marko nodded, "somewhere more intimate..."