Final Destination Meets The Lost Boys
The Cici Academy Would Like To Thank: my review for the last instalment, courtesy of Dharke. Heh, 'dirty Cici'. Has a ring to it, uh? So you liked laughing at the Alex/Clear/Tod/Billy scenes then uh? I'm glad. I aim to fill you with a range of emotions. Me describe Clear too glamorously? For me that's impossible. What, you didn't know I loved Ali Larter? Shame on you! Ok, I've promised a lot more Carter scenes in this chapter. I find him the easiest to write out of all FD characters, he's very enjoyable to write about. Also, this chapter starts to bring out my A/C fluff/corn, yay! I love writing those two. So if you're not a romantic or Dharke, look away now…or read, just a little hint: have the sick bucket handy…oh and btw, it felt great to kill of Chimberly and Officer Irritating in chapter two…whooo!
Chapter Three
Carter needed to get out of that dingy little excuse for a house. Alex was right about there being nothing to do without a television. And Carter seldom watched television. But Santa Carla was quite possibly the most boring place Carter Horton ever had the misfortune to know existed. The Boardwalk was Santa Carla's only true, redeeming feature. He had decided that the best way to bide your time was to attend the nightly fair. Of course, if biding your time was looking around for a hot blonde with curly hair. Carter longed to see her again.
It was around 7pm when Alex had returned from the comic book store; just as Carter was leaving to attend the Boardwalk. It amused Carter that Alex had managed to bring home a stray dog…well rather, a girl. She was a tall, slim girl and Carter just recognised her as the very friend of his crush. She didn't interest him in the slightest, but as Carter had left for the boardwalk, he mentally smacked himself for forgetting to ask her if she knew where her friend might be.
Carter had been at the Boardwalk for over an hour, searching for the mysterious girl. But with no luck: he glanced at his wristwatch. I'll give it another half hour. Walking around the fair, Carter had spotted a stall selling leather jackets. Maybe he could get her attention by wearing a biker's jacket…well, it had worked for the guy who had got lucky enough to get her. Carter didn't really give a shit what kind of jacket he'd buy, as long as it fitted and caught her attention. He found the saleswoman to be very helpful, as she had picked out a gorgeous brown jacket. Carter tried it on and checked himself out in the vertical mirror beside the saleswoman.
"Looks great on you."
Carter dug his hand into his back pocket, revealing his cash.
"You think so?" he replied, handing the woman her money.
She smiled warmly. "Definitely. Enjoy."
Carter nodded his thanks. "Keep the change."
He fixed the lapels of his jacket and stepped out into the pulsating teenage crowd. The jacket felt good on him and he had to wonder if it would be enough to catch her eye. Passing another stall, Carter saw a huge, burly, bald tattooed man piercing a young girl's ear. Transfixed, he watched the man execute his trade.
Did those punks have an earring? Carter mused. Or should I go for the pierced eyebrow…? He wanted to stand out from all those other guys and he had always secretly wanted to get one of his eyebrows done.
Beside the man stood the mother of the little girl, who was roughly six years old, and soothed calming words into her ears. "Don't worry it won't hurt…it won't."
Carter subconsciously raised his hand to his left eyebrow and traced his finger along it, getting into the idea of a pierced eyebrow. Carter then felt someone hovering over his shoulder. If it was some punk wanting to get in ahead of him, he had another thing coming.
"It's a rip off."
Carter turned to look the guy in the eye, not picking up on the fact that the voice did indeed belong to a woman. Hey, bitch… was his initial reaction and then his eyes widened in shock. There she was, the fit curly blonde girl he had first become infatuated with the previous night.
"If you want your ear pierced I'll do it."
She began to walk away from him, teasingly and he grinned with anticipation, following her elegant body into the crowd.
"Who said it was my ear I wanted pierced?" Carter replied, turning on the Horton charm. His eyes travelled down her back and were firmly planted on her butt. Down boy, Carter reprimanded himself. His eyes travelled up the length of her body once again. She was quite exquisite.
"What's your name?"
"Whatever you want it to be."
Carter had to give her credit for that smooth answer. Playing hard to get. He liked that.
"I'm Carter."
"Carter's nice, I like Carter." The nameless beauty said, repeating Carter's name on her lips. Who are you? Carter questioned himself.
"I'm Terry." She replied, as if reading his thoughts. "But I could have easily been named some dorky name like Clear."
"Is that your friend?" Carter asked, remembering the blonde who was now back at his house with Alex. Probably torturing the little freak. Or possibly, something else. Carter shuddered at the imagery…the thought of Alex getting some over him, would be enough to give Carter a seizure.
"Mmmhmm." The blonde replied, turning to face Carter while walking backwards.
"Isn't that a bit shallow? Making fun of your best friend?"
"I suppose. Clear's great, you know. We get on so well, but sometimes I wonder who the fuck her parents were. I mean who names their kid 'Clear' anyway?"
"Hippies." Carter responded, making his comment sound more like a statement rather than a question. She did have that hippy-ish look about her, though. "I mean, I came this close to being called 'Moon Beam' or 'Mood Child'…something like that." Carter joked, trying to calm his speeding heart. "But I think Terry's a great name."
"Me too."
"You wanna get something to eat?" he asked her, hoping he didn't sound too forward. Hell, Alex practically shoving his comic book obsession in Clear's face made Carter look subtler by comparison.
"Sure."
Carter motioned his head to the motorcycle parking lot, showing Terry where his bike was situated. Terry followed, watching as the attractive youth got on his bike. Just then, a multitude of revving motorcycle engines filled the vicinity of the secluded parking area. Terry turned her head to see her punk boyfriend, David, and his cronies completely surrounding Carter and herself.
"Where you going Terry?" he asked, giving Carter an accusing glare. Carter kept his head down and focused on starting up his motorcycle.
"For a ride." Terry responded, the fun tone she had adopted earlier was now completely non-existent. Carter looked reluctantly at the bikers. He couldn't take them all on at once, could he?
"David, this is Carter. Carter; David."
"Lets go." Carter said, keeping his eyes from David's glare, not wanting to start a ruckus with the punks. Not that he was afraid or anything like that…he would just be so…outnumbered.
She turned and proceeded to get on the back of Carter's bike when David's voice interrupted.
"Terry." He said firmly. Carter watched in dismay as the blonde dismounted herself from his bike and walked impatiently over to David's bike. He smirked hungrily at Carter, knowing he had lost this particular battle.
"You know where Hudson's Bluff is, overlooking the Point?"
Carter rolled his eyes then returned the smirk, declining the punk's obvious challenge of a race. "I can't beat your bike."
David's smirk dropped. "You don't have to beat me, Carter." He replied innocently, revving his engine in an apparent tough, winning gesture to a frustrated looking Terry.
"You just have to try and keep up."
Before Carter's very eyes, the bikers began to disband from the protective circle they had made earlier and charge their way down the Boardwalk. Carter revved his own engine and followed in pursuit.
Coming to the stairs that exited the Boardwalk, David and his pals raced down them without a care, but Carter almost brought his bike to a halt. I'm gonna kill myself trying to get down these fuckers. But all he could think about was Terry, and winning her from that egotistic son of bitch. Carter was far too blinded by love to see that David was just like him. In all retrospect: manner, charm, aggressiveness and talent. Sighing to himself, knowing this was going to be a long night, Carter threw caution into the wind and charged his bike down the stairs and onto the beach, trailing the bikers.
Within minutes, of interrupting parties on the beach and weaving in and out of a mini forest, Carter had caught up with David, the bikers and Terry. Carter's bike seemed to take on a life of it's own, and within seconds, he had surpassed the bikers and was in hot pursuit of David and Terry. However, a thick mist threatened to cloud Carter's vision. He could hardly see what was in front of him, but he could just make out David, laughing in delight. Coming closer and closer to the cliff's edger, Carter zoomed ahead but was surprised by David slowing down. And as soon as the fog began to clear up, Carter realised he had almost driven himself off the Bluff!
He pulled the breaks and his tyres screeched to a halt. The stop was so abrupt that Carter was tossed over the handlebars of his bike and onto the gritty ground. Dusting himself off and clearing his eyes, Carter glanced up at David who was now completely smirking at him. Rage filled Carter, and the ex-jock was quickly up on his feet, racing towards David in blind fury. Carter executed a perfect right hook onto David's cheek and the peroxide blond pulled his head away, shielding himself from any more impact.
"What the fuck's your game, asshole?!" Carter challenged angrily. He expected David to turn around and hit him back, but instead that glaring, cocky smirk remained on his unharmed features.
"Just you." Carter demanded, prepared to take David in a fight. He didn't want his punks ganging up on him. "Come on! Fight me you fuck! Come on! Just you!"
"How far are you willing to go on this, Carter?" he quipped mercilessly, ignoring Carter's threats.
---
The gang had taken Carter to their underground hideout, several hundred yards below Hudson's Bluff at the shore. The hideout looked more like a gothic mine, several feet below ground. At first, Carter thought it was some sort of bomb shelter, but judging by several gaping holes and hollow walls a bomb shelter it was not. Carter glanced around the lair in awe.
"Not bad, huh?" David said, not failing to notice the look of appreciation on the newcomer's face. "This was the hottest resort in Santa Carla, about eighty-five years ago. Too bad they built it on default. In 1906, when the big one hit San Fran, the ground opened up, this place took a header right into the crack. And now it's ours."
"So check it out!" Paul announced, perhaps a little too high-pitched.
"Marko!" David shouted, snapping his fingers. The curly blond lad approached him, as if awaiting instructions. "Food?" Marko nodded and made his way up the stairs and exited the lair. David turned to Carter.
"I love this place. You ask; and then you get." David shoved his hand into one of the pockets of his black duster, and revealed a joint. "Appetiser?" Carter raised his eyebrow at the leader cautiously. Without saying a word, Carter took the roll up from David's gloved hand but never once put the drug to his mouth.
"You'll like it here Carter." David enthused, squeezing his shoulders. Carter glanced up at Terry who had a somewhat disheartened look on her lovely features. Carter just hoped she was worth it.
---
"So do you like living here in Santa Carla?"
"Well, I've only been here a day…no wait, make that two days now."
Alex had taken Clear back to his house to meet Carter and his Aunt Lucy. Carter never really said much except grunt some sort of 'hello' to Clear on this way out to the Boardwalk while Lucy seemed more interested, asking Clear about her folks and the regular sort of thing inquired about on first meetings. Alex loved his Aunt as if she were his own mother and was quite relived she had seemed to take a genuine interest. Alex really liked Clear and he was hoping she felt the same way. She was quite taken with Nanook, Alex's dog. The two of them were sitting on his bed, just talking and finding out about each other's likes and dislikes. They really seemed to connect on a level Alex thought was impossible to achieve. And here was Alex thinking he would be bored without a television.
Screw TV, Alex thought excitedly. Several comics were open and scattered around them and Nanook was situated comfortably across Clear's lap. Alex refused to have Carter's dog, Prince, in his room. He was more of an aggressive dog, and Alex truly thought the dog hated him with vengeance. One thing could be said of Prince; he was definitely his master's dog.
"You've got quite a cool 'hut' house thing going on here," Clear enthused.
"Tell that to Carter," Alex interjected, "he hates this place. His home, back in Phoenix is ten times bigger than this."
"So how come you guys ended up here?"
"Aunt Lucy's just divorced my Uncle Rob, Carter's dad. I've been living with them for most of my life since my parents died."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Clear sympathised.
"Nah, you don't have to be," Alex replied. "I was only three years old when they were killed, so I never really knew them that well to get even remotely attached. What about your parents? You said they live out in Atlanta."
"Yeah, they do. I kinda moved out here with Terry last year, we just wanted our own independence away from Georgia. Not much to do there and not much to stay for, either."
"So…" Alex mused, suddenly at a loss for words. He smiled as he dismissed the question from his own head before even asking it. Clear saw this.
"What?" she asked him, smiling back him.
"It's nothing." Alex said, dismissing her.
"No, it's alright, you can ask me."
"I told you, it's nothing, not important."
"Alex, you'll never know unless you ask me. You might get the answer you're looking for."
"Well…" Alex's eyes shot downwards as he felt his face begin to redden. "…you said there wasn't much to stay in Georgia for…so I take it that means you don't or didn't…"
"…Have a boyfriend?" she finished for him.
"Yeah."
"I did," Clear continued. "But like I said, it was nothing. He wasn't anything special and was not worth staying around for." She looked Alex square in the eyes. "How come you're so interested?" she asked nonchalantly, as if she didn't know what he was trying to achieve in asking her.
"No reason." He replied quickly; perhaps a little too quickly. God, he was so bad at this. He made a mental note to ask Carter for the etiquette to successful flirting when he got home. Alex kept his gaze on Clear for several seconds, trying to figure out what was going on behind those absorbing blue eyes of hers. He was completely drawn into her visage, perhaps a little too much to even realise that he was inching nearer to her every couple of seconds. His lips were several, agonising inches away from hers and just when he was sure that kissing her was what he wanted to do, his bedroom door opened quickly and Clear jumped away from him instantly. It was his Aunt Lucy.
"Oh hi Clear, still here?"
"W-what? Oh yeah, still here." She smiled sparsely at the unwanted presence Lucy was making. Alex felt the same way too. Great timing, he thought grimly.
"I just came up here to see if…"
Suddenly, a wailing noise interrupted Lucy and she almost dropped the laundry from her hands in complete surprise. Alex too had almost fallen off his bed, upon seeing Grandpa Horton enter the room, wailing like a monster. Alex pitied Clear for a few minutes, wondering if she was thinking about how weird this family seemed to be. And Alex didn't want her to get the wrong impression.
"Oh dad!" Lucy declared, "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"
"Brought something to dress up your room with Alex!" Grandpa Horton announced enthusiastically. Great, Alex thought. What now?
From behind the old man's back, he produced a freshly stuffed Beaver. Alex's eyes widened in complete embarrassment, while Clear screwed up her nose in distaste. The old man walked to the bedside table at Alex's bed and placed the dead animal on top of it.
"Uh, thanks?" Alex replied, trying not to question this rather strange decoration. He smiled, trying to put on his most appreciative face, for his Aunt's sake.
"Lots more where he came from." Said Grandpa Horton. "Good night, Alex."
"Night Grandpa." Alex replied, watching the old man leave the room.
"I should really get going too," Clear announced, and Alex turned just in time to see her glancing at her wristwatch. 11pm. "Terry'll be wondering where I am."
"It was nice meeting you, Clear." Lucy summarised.
"Yes, and you too Mrs Horton."
"Please," the elder woman interrupted, "call me Lucy."
Clear nodded, taking in the polite gesture. Alex faced her. "I'll see you to the door."
"Goodnight, Lucy."
"Take care, Clear."
---
Downstairs, Alex was apologising for the strange event that had transpired upstairs. A cold breeze was settling in around the exterior of the house, but Alex didn't want to shut the door on what seemed to be his only chance at romance.
"I'm sorry about that," Alex said, uncomfortably pushing his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. "You just never know what'll happen in this house. And when." He laughed nervously.
Clear smiled at his weak joke. "Don't worry, all relatives are like that."
"So…will I see you again?"
"Why wouldn't you?"
"I dunno, really. I thought that would've put you off."
"Put me off what? You?"
"Y-yes." Alex stammered surprisingly. Stammering wasn't something Alex did often. Not unless he was under intense pressure or agonising over some class test.
"Well, it didn't." Clear replied, "So you don't have to worry about that."
"Will we get to finish this?"
"Are you asking me out on a date, Alex?"
Alex smiled sheepishly. "I might be."
She laughed, trying to make him feel a little more at ease. "I might like it."
"I'm sure you will. I-I mean, I didn't mean it like that." Alex sighed, closing his eyes in frustration. What a complete arrogant idiot he was being. "That sounded pretentious, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, really." Clear reassured him. "You're coming across as quite endearing. I had fun tonight."
"Me too."
There was an awkward silence between the two that seemed to last like a lifetime for Alex. He wasn't sure what to say to her. Give her his number. Ask for hers. Offer to walk her home. All three seemed like a rational end to their night.
"I never did answer your question." Clear suddenly announced, startling Alex out of his musings.
"What question was that?" Alex enquired, mind suddenly blank. Her striking looks could possibly give him amnesia. Apparently, it already had.
"'Will we get to finish this?'" she repeated his question, word for word.
Alex perked up. "And…? Will we?"
He got his answer in the form of a sweet, chaste kiss on the cheek. Startled her looked at her, revelling in her actions.
"I'll take that as a yes, then."
"You do that," Clear responded. "Because that's what it is. See you, Alex."
"Yeah. See you."
She gave him a lingering glance before disappearing down the steps and into the darkness.
---
Upstairs, Alex walked into his room and crashed down on his bed. He closed his eyes, sighing distractedly. He had just scored himself a dream date. A date with the most mysterious girl he had ever the pleasure to know. Opening his eyes, he glanced at Grandpa Horton's freaky gift sitting atop his nightstand. Disturbed by the creature, he turned away from it and picked up an X Men comic. Flicking through the pages, he couldn't shake the feeling that the stuffed Beaver was watching him. He felt the obvious gaze on him and turned to look at it again. He sighed, frustrated and put the comic book face down. He didn't want this 'gift' spoiling his good mood. With both hands he picked up the still creature and studied it.
"You're history, buddy." He declared and took the stuffed animal over to his clothes wardrobe. Opening the door, he shoved it inside, not caring whether it landed upright or on its head. He just wanted the creepy creature 'art' away from him…