By the time they got back, it had begun to rain, and they found Mae and Bea in the basement, painting. Mae seemed pretty thrilled by the change.

"Hey! How'd your date go?" Mae asked as Trent and Ann came down into the basement with them. "You look like...sex-satisfied."

"Sex-satisfied?" Bea asked.

"Yeah. That sort of stoned look we all get after having awesome sex. Real calm, kinda happy, like nothing can bother you...you two totally fucked somewhere out there, didn't you?"

"We totally did," Ann replied, her grin widening a little.

"You fucking perv," Bea said.

"Says the girl who literally fucked her boyfriend in the back of the Pickaxe while Mae watched," Ann replied.

Bea blushed intensely, pursing her lips and looking away. "I was horny."

"So was I."

"Where'd you fuck?" Mae asked.

"My Jeep, in the woods," Trent said.

"Was it hot?"

"It was really hot."

"Yep," Ann agreed.

"I like this side of you, Selmers," Mae said.

Ann laughed. "I do too. You both are really bringing it out in me. I used to be more adventurous but kinda fell out of it. Now I'm getting back into it...you want any help with painting?"

"Yeah, actually. If we all do it, we can probably finish today," Bea replied.

"I'm down," Trent said, and Ann nodded.

"I really appreciate it," Mae murmured, looking around the room. "I feel weird about this. All of you helping me with this idea…"

"That's what friends, girlfriends, and boyfriends are for," Ann replied.

The two of them picked up some paint rollers and got to work.

"Hey, so...I've got a question," Bea said.

"Yeah?" Trent looked over at her. They were together on the couch, the last two awake. After painting the basement, they'd pretty much just hung around the house for the rest of the day until eventually Mae and Ann went upstairs to sleep.

Well, first to do sexy things together and then sleep.

Trent suddenly had empathy for anyone who had ever overheard him fucking any of his three girlfriends. Although it wasn't the first time Mae and Ann had had sex while he wasn't involved, it was rare so far and it was kind of all-encompassing when it was happening and you weren't involved. He didn't feel bad or left out, it was just hard to focus.

Now it was dark, and raining, and he and Bea were on their laptops on the couch. They'd been silently working for the past hour or so. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but he'd been doing more work on getting his stories prepped for publishing. The work was going faster nowadays and he had recently wrapped up all the back-and-forth editing he'd been doing with Ann for his short stories and was getting his first of two finished novels ready for publication.

"I used to go to parties. Not, like, a lot, but often enough that it's worth mentioning. I haven't really gone since everything happened, and also winter kind of kills the party scene, for me at least. No fucking way am I driving an hour and a half when it's snowy...how would you feel about it if I started going again?" she asked.

"Uh...fine," he replied.

"Oh. Okay."

An awkward moment of silence passed.

"Now I've got a question."

"Okay…?"

"Why did you ask that in such a way that you thought I'd react poorly to it? Or feel like it needed to be asked at all?"

She sighed. "I don't...know. I guess, a lot of bad stuff can happen at parties, and I know a lot of people get weird about it. I swear, half the people I knew went to parties to cheat. I mean basically parties seem to exist for a lot of people to hook up. Which I'm not interested in doing. And it's not even like I want to go without you-ugh. Dating you...has cranked a lot of my emotions up to eleven. I find myself getting paranoid about things, mostly that I'll fuck this up. And before you ask: no, it's not anything you're doing. Honestly, you're amazingly permissive and trusting. Which I really appreciate. I just...I don't know, man. It's confusing."

"I get it," Trent replied.

"Do you?"

"Yeah. I'm paranoid too. Of screwing things up."

She laughed. "Sorry I keep bringing this up."

"It's fine...so what kind of parties?"

"I think there's gonna be another party in the woods coming up soon. Next week or the week after that. When all the kids come back home from college for Spring Break. Jackie will know. And also there's Jackie Parties, which are college parties. They usually take place out in Westberg, the college town Mae and I talked about." She sighed suddenly and set her laptop down on the coffee table. "I'm nervous about the one in the woods, though."

"Why?"

"I've brought up before the fight Mae and I had on the drive back. I was so fucking mad at her...but I don't know if I told you how bad it got. I…" She took a deep, shaky breath and looked down at her hands in her lap. "I made her cry."

"Oh, wow. Jeez."

"Yeah. I mean, she was so fucking drunk, so maybe...no, that's shitty. I made her cry. And I know she doesn't really remember it, or says she doesn't...I guess I do believe her. She was wasted. But it was still so mean. But she pissed me off so much, she forgot that my fucking mom died...ugh, it was a terrible time. But that's what I think about now."

"I understand," Trent replied. He took her hand. She looked over at him, frowning deeply. "It was a bad time, and it's a bad memory. But maybe we should try to replace it with another memory. A good one."

"Like Longest Night?" she asked.

"Yeah. Exactly like that. We can all go to the party in the woods and have a good time."

She smiled. "You are way too fucking sweet...I'd appreciate that. A lot."

"Although if you'd rather go alone, that's also cool."

"I don't want to go alone, I want my friends there and I want you there you fucking dork, you're my fucking boyfriend," she replied. She laughed, then kissed him. Then sighed again.

"Now what?" he asked.

"I'm all nervous about this movie we're gonna do tomorrow. I know I was so cavalier about it but now I'm wondering if it's a good idea. I mean, I want to do it...whatever."

"If you aren't comfortable doing it, you shouldn't."

"You're right. I'm kinda torn. I'm anxious about people getting the wrong idea but on the other hand, like, fuck those people. You know?"

"I do know…" He laughed suddenly.

"What?"

"Lori's scared of you."

"What?! We've never even actually met."

"I know, but that's what she said. She was looking in at you when we passed by the Pickaxe. Also, she picked up on some stuff between you and me."

Bea sighed heavily. "Fucking great...what'd she actually say?"

"She said that if she had a boyfriend, and someone like you looked at him the way you looked at me, she'd be scared."

Bea laughed. "That's actually pretty funny...and good. It is kinda nice to be intimidating."

"She's like fifteen and clearly has anxiety problems. Don't feel great about intimidating her."

"Okay, okay, fine. It's not like I was gonna go out of my way to."

"I know. Just be real nice to her, Mae likes her."

"I will." Bea picked up her laptop again suddenly. "I should actually message Jackie, figure that out. We haven't really been talking much. I'd feel worse, except that we've both had so much going on. She's a busy girl."

"With what?" he asked.

"She's got a one-woman band and she's, like, actually serious about it. She's working on her first album. And she organizes all these parties. She's got connections all over the state. And she's always doing gigs and stuff…"

"How does she afford it all?"

"I'm not sure. I guess from the gigs. By that I mean, like, side hustles? She's been side hustling for a few years now. She runs a blog that I know gets donations. What is it? Oh yeah, a . She's got a Ko-Fi too, I think. And people do donate. She writes poems and short stories and articles, and releases instrumental tracks sometimes. I know she actually got tapped to help make an OST for an indie game last year. It didn't pay anything major, but it was something. She takes photos and does some editing stuff online like Ann. I don't know how she fucking finds the energy to do it all, but somehow she does. She always makes it work."

"She sounds awesome," Trent replied.

"Yeah, she is. She's...intense, though. Like really intense. I mean, in the right ways, but there's some tension between her and Mae. Ugh, that's gonna be a thing. Last time they actually spoke she called Mae an asshole. It was at that party we talked about. And she's always, if not hated, then not liked Mae. So we'll have to smooth that out."

"How do you think she'll feel about me?" he asked.

"I'm honestly not sure. I guess we'll find out."

"Guess we will." She finished typing and then shut her laptop with a yawn. "Okay, fired off a message. We should probably go to sleep."

"Yeah, I'm done for the night. I've been working on Demontower for the past fifteen minutes anyway."

"How's that going?"

"Surprisingly well. I've been editing and posting the first novel to a few fan fiction sites and for whatever reason people like it. I'm maybe a quarter of the way into the sequel. I'm honestly surprised by the amount of attention it's getting but it feels kinda weird."

"Why?"

"I guess because it's a fan fiction. I was kind of hoping my original stuff would get attention."

"Who's to say it won't? You haven't published anything yet."

"Good point."

She got up. "Come on, let's sleep."

"Whoa, this place is...creepy," Bea muttered as she leaned forward between the two front seats of Trent's Jeep and looked out the windshield up at the factory they had pulled up to.

"Yeah, reminds me a little too much of the cult place," Trent agreed.

"It's perfect," Mae said, a huge grin on her face. "There's Lori! Come on."

Trent wasn't so sure about breaking into an abandoned factory, again, to shoot a movie. Wasn't that illegal? He couldn't remember but he thought it was, and having filmed evidence of a crime might not be the best thing. But maybe it would be too hard to identify or no one would give enough of a shit to do anything about it.

He killed the engine and the three of them got out. Ann had opted to stay behind and keep working on her editing jobs, as she felt in the zone.

Lori was leaning against the building, next to the front doors, fiddling with a camera. She smiled when she looked up at them.

"Hey! You made it," she said.

"We sure did. Lori, this is my best friend Bea!"

"It's good to meet you, Lori," Bea said as they approached. She offered her hand.

Lori took it tentatively, her smile growing more awkward. She shook Bea's hand. "You too. Uh...thanks for coming out. Are you, um, cool to film-did they tell you? What we're doing out here?"

Bea laughed softly. "Yeah, they told me. I've thought about it, and I'm down for it."

"Oh. Okay. Neat. Um-oh yeah!" Lori shrugged out of the backpack she was wearing and crouched down. She set the camera on the ground and began rooting around in the pack. Her hand came out with a funky-looking gasmask painted a curious shade of silver. "Here it is!"

"Dude, this is, like, wicked," Mae said as she accepted it.

"That actually looks really cool," Bea murmured.

"Yeah. Put it on," Trent said.

"Okay!" Mae spent a moment pulling the gasmask on and then adjusting it. She turned to face them. "How do I look?" she asked, her voice heavily muffled.

"Actually, like...real creepy," Trent said.

"It's going to look even better with this," Lori said, pulling out a short, dark trenchcoat. She passed it to Mae, who pulled it on. Mae had, as Lori had requested during the call they'd had this morning, worn all black.

"It's a little lopsided," Bea said.

"That's intentional, to make it creepier," Lori replied as she got up and stared at Mae. Her eyes were wide and so was her smile. "It's perfect! You look so creepy, and your messed-up ear makes it even better!" She lost her smile. "Oh, crap. Um. Sorry. I don't know if I shouldn't have brought that up-I'm sorry, Mae."

"No, it's cool! You're right, it will help! Take a picture of me! Show me!" Mae cried.

"Okay, hold still," Trent said, pulling out his phone. He snapped a pic of her and showed it to her. Mae cackled gleefully and jumped up and down.

"Yes! Perfect! What's my weapon of choice?" she asked.

"This," Lori replied, reaching into her backpack once more and pulling out a hatchet.

"Ooh, nice."

"It's, like, a real hatchet so be careful. Don't actually like hit anyone with it."

"Great," Bea muttered. "We're giving a real hatchet to the most irresponsible person I've ever known."

"It'll be fine!" Mae replied. She accepted it, backed up, and took a few experimental swings. "Whoa, nice! It feels good. This is gonna be so cool."

"What are we actually doing?" Bea asked.

"Well, I already went inside and got a lot of ambient shots. I need some shots of Mae, like, lurking in the shadows. And then shots of you two pulling up and heading inside and poking around, then, like, uh, making out. And then Mae killing you. I'm going to try for digital blood instead of practical this time, just to see if I can do it, as much as I hate it. But I'm doing all this by myself...I mean, you're helping me, but, like, from the production end, and it's a lot already...anyway, uh, I'm ready if you are," she replied.

"We're so ready," Mae said.

They headed inside.

The next hour and a half passed with a surrealistic quality. Trent and Bea mostly were just quiet, standing in the background and watching Mae and Lori work. The place absolutely had a creepy abandoned feel to it. It definitely reminded Trent of a lot of horror movies, and whenever he got the chance to see one of the shots, he thought that Lori was doing a good job. She clearly knew how to frame her shots already.

And Mae…

Was getting way too into her role. It was creepy. In a good way, but also in a strange way. As he watched her work, mostly lurking in shadows or walking silently down corridors, wielding her ax, he was reminded of stories of Kane Hodder, the only man to play Jason Voorhees more than once, and how he got super into the role and often wouldn't break character off camera. In a way, it made sense: Mae loved horror.

When it came time to film them, Trent and Bea were nervous, Trent more than Bea, but they did their best. Mostly it was them walking through the place, checking it out, talking about inane stuff while being stalked silently by Mae.

Finally, they ended up in one of the side rooms.

"Okay, makeout scene," Lori said.

"Sorry if I taste like cigarettes," Bea said as she stepped closer to Trent. "I brushed my teeth as best I could and used mouthwash but I was craving bad this morning…"

"It's fine," Trent replied. "I'm ready when you are."

"Okay, I'm rolling, go," Lori said.

They started kissing, and because of how in love (and lust) they were, that quickly turned into making out and tongue-kissing, and Trent felt his heart thumping in his chest. After a bit, Lori called cut, then did so again when they didn't respond.

"Whew," Bea said, stepping back and blushing. "That was-mmm. Sorry."

"That was, um...okay, Mae," Lori said, looking awkward and uncomfortable, "uh, time to kill."

"I'm ready," Mae replied, her voice flat. She was lurking at the back of the room, in a shadow beside the door.

"You're too good at that," Bea said.

"I was born to play this role," Mae replied.

"Okay, let's do this."

Given the way Lori had it planned out, Trent and Bea's part in the shots was actually over, as it would all happen off camera and be more implied.

"It'll make sense in post," Lori said when she was finished filming.

"I believe you," Trent replied. He had something of an idea of filmmaking.

Lori finished packing up her camera and then the stuff she'd given to Mae, who seemed reluctant to give it back. Especially the gasmask and hatchet.

Bea laughed as the gasmask came off.

"What?" she asked.

"Your hair's all messed."

"I like it," Trent said.

"Of course you like it, it's like sex-hair," Bea said, rolling her eyes.

"What's sex-hair?" Lori asked.

"How your hair gets all messy after having sex," Mae replied.

"Oh. Um. Okay."

"Probably not the best topic for a kid, actually," Bea murmured.

"I'm fifteen! I'm not a kid," Lori replied. An awkward few seconds passed. "Sorry. I get defensive-no one takes me seriously."

"It's okay, I get it," Mae said. "People call me kid too and I'm twenty."

"Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it," Bea said. "I just...fifteen already feels like a really long time ago to me. You're pretty sharp for a high schooler."

"Thanks...I think?"

"I meant it as a compliment. I swear I'm not mean. I'm just a jerk sometimes. I don't really mean to be."

"I think that's a lot of people, but most of them don't really admit to it...uh, speaking of being a jerk, I'm not trying to be but, like, would it be mean if I bailed on you? I really want to get home and start editing this and working out the rest of the shots," Lori replied.

"That's cool. Just let me know when you need me to be Gasmask," Mae replied. "That was, like, a lot of fun."

"You're good at it. It was scary...okay, bye!"

She scurried out of the room as she pulled her pack on again and they followed in her wake. Bea pulled out her phone as they stepped back outside into the gray light of day. "Oh, huh," she muttered after staring at her screen for a moment.

"What?" Mae asked.

"Jackie got back to me. There is indeed a party going on, tonight actually. It's not too big, not a spring break one, but just a party in the woods...she says we could go," Bea replied.

"Eh…"

"It'll be better than last time," Bea said, putting a hand on Mae's shoulder.

"Eh…"

"You don't have to go if you don't want to."

Mae stared at the ground for a long moment, then looked over at Trent. "Do you want to go?"

"Yeah, actually," he replied.

"...I want to go," Mae said.

"You really don't have to go," Bea said.

"Yeah, if you don't want to, you shouldn't," Trent agreed.

"I want to, but I don't want to, but I want to, but I'm scared to? But I want to. I need to. I like doing things like this, and, like, it'll be different this time. You and me are cool now and besties again, Bea, and I've got a boyfriend! Like a real boyfriend who I love and who loves me. And Selmers can come, and Gregg and Angus!"

"If you're sure," Bea replied.

"I'm sure."

"Then let's go tell everyone and get ready, we've only got a few hours."