A/N: I should probably wait to post this, but I just can't. This is an idea I've had in my brain since June, and it was only recently my muse decided to cooperate. I'm so glad it did. This fic could be read year-round, but it takes place during summer, so I wanted to have it out before summer ended.
The heat in the van was killing him. Which wasn't helped by the dull roar of everyone around him. It was almost enough to make him wish he hadn't come. It was the first week of summer Duncan had invited some friends up to a lakeside cabin his parents owned over the weekend. Alejandro was certain he didn't have permission, but Duncan wasn't the kind to care. In the van with him were Duncan in the driver's seat, Geoff in the passenger seat, DJ and himself in the middle seats, and Owen in the back. Alejandro supposed he should be grateful DJ had agreed to sit in the middle with him.
Just imagining sitting next to a sweating Owen in this heat was enough to make him disgusted. Between the heat, Duncan playing rock music far too loud, and Geoff loudly vibing to said music, and it was of no surprise that he very annoyed. He'd been stuck in this car with the four of them for hours. Honestly the only reason he'd agreed to this trip was to get away from his family. Somehow this was the better alternative.
"Are we there?" Owen asked,
"Nearly, trust me the drive will be worth it." Duncan replied.
"Yeah! A whole cabin to ourselves! I'm gonna cannonball into the lake!" Geoff whooped.
"I can't wait be in nature." DJ sighed happily. "It's so peaceful out here."
"What about you Al? What are you looking forward to?" Owen asked. Alejandro shuddered. Even on vacation he couldn't avoid that accursed name.
"The lake sounds delightful, but I'm most excited for the silence." He said pointedly.
"You think they'll be any chicks in bikinis?" Geoff asked.
"Oh yeah. It's one of the best parts of coming up here." Duncan smirked.
As the arrived at the lake Alejandro looked on in awe. There were around ten cabins surrounding a large body of crystal clear water. It was picturesque, like something from a movie. Duncan pulled into the driveway of one of the cabins. Alejandro unbuckled himself immediately, wanting out of that van as soon as possible. Unfortunately it seemed the others were just as keen to exit the vehicle and so Alejandro found himself bowled over by Owen's girth. "Sorry Al!" The blonde called on the way out. Oh, he would be sorry.
When he finally got out he just stood there a moment drinking everything in. He turned back to the van to find the rest of the boys were already heading into the cabin with their luggage. He got out his own and stepped into the cabin. It was somewhat spacious, with a large open room that was the bulk of it, with only a bathroom, and two other rooms. A kitchen was off in the upper right corner and a fireplace with a couch in front of it stood to the left side. Above the fireplace was a large flat screen TV.
"Okay," Duncan said, turning to the four of them. "There's only two rooms, so I'm getting one and the rest of you can figure out your own sleeping places."
"DJ and I wouldn't mind sleeping in here. Alejandro could share the other room with Owen." Geoff suggested.
Alejandro shuddered at the thought of sharing a room with the butter donkey. "I'd rather sleep in the foyer."
"Then I'll share with Owen." DJ decided.
"Great, well I'm ready for the lake." Duncan decided.
"Don't we need to unpack first?" Alejandro asked.
The other four boys were already stripping their clothing off. "We can do that later." DJ said.
"Wait, so you all had your bathing suits underneath your clothing?" Alejandro frowned.
"Duh, obviously the first thing you want to do is go in the lake. Who wants to look through their luggage for a swimsuit? " Duncan scoffed.
Alejandro sighed. "I will begin unpacking."
"You do that man." Geoff replied as he and the other three left the cabin for the lake.
It didn't take Alejandro long to unpack. He hadn't brought too much. A few changes of clothes, his speedo, some sunscreen, a book to read, bug repellent, and a hairbrush. He was out of the cabin in no time at all. He could see other groups already enjoying the lake. Including a group of girls in bikinis who gave him an apperictive look . He winked at them, causing the girls to giggle.
His own group of, let's just call them friends, were currently in the middle of a splash fight. Something he wasn't too interested in partaking in. He decided to take a walk around the lake, get the lay of the land so to speak. He enjoyed the smell of fresh air, a light breeze has started just enough to prevent it from being too hot. He found himself passing the girls from earlier. Most of them were in the lake or lounging on the shore. One girl in particular was sitting on the edge of the lake with a sketchpad. She had a very large black sunhat on to provide shade. Looking at her pale skin he felt that was a good choice. She wore a black bikini and her black hair was in a short bob with teal highlights. She stuck out. Curious he decided to approach her.
"Excuse me?" He noticed the grip on her pencil tighten like she was annoyed he was talking to her. "I was wondering what you're drawing."
Instead of engaging him in polite conversion the girl looked at him, annoyance clear in her features. "If you're here to hit on me, I'm not interested in a summer fling."
"Oh no. I was just curious. You don't see many goths hanging outside this time of year." He admitted.
She sighed. "My friends invited me up here. Normally I'd have stayed home, but this lake is interesting to me."
He raised an eyebrow. "What's so interesting about this lake?"
The girl looked excited for the first time since he'd begun talking to her. "Oh there's been some disappearances over the years. Nothing out of the ordinary for a place like this. Of course any amount of disappearances is going to make stories and this lake has a lot of them. Some claim there's a werewolf in the nearby woods. Some say the ghost of someone is killing people. Some say a sea monster lives in the lake and it's kidnapping people. It's really interesting actually."
Alejandro didn't believe in the supernatural but he had to admit it was always interesting to hear what people came up with to explain the unknowable. "So you're here to research these stories?"
"Maybe not research but I might see something. Even if I don't the lake gives my muse plenty to draw." The goth said.
"Well I will leave you to your sketches then. If I see or hear anything unusual I will let you know." Alejandro said.
"Sure. I'm Gwen by the way." The goth said.
"Alejandro, lovely meeting you." He replied.
He returned to his walk around the lake but not much else caught his eye. Eventually he did reach his companions. He knew the moment he got there as he was immediately splashed with water.
"Oh hey Al, come on in the waters fine." Owen said with that stupid grin on his face. He smirked. Time to pay Owen back for knocking him over when they were getting out of the van. He backed up and ran at the lake, jumping into it in a perfect dive. His placement was such that Owen was hit with a wave of water. Owen looked surprised for a moment but his victory was short. "Wow great splash Al!" He huffed. Even when he was getting revenge Owen was okay with it.
Now that he was in the lake he got dragged into the splash fight from earlier. He had to admit, while it wasn't the way he'd like to spend time at the lake it wasn't horrible either. It gave him a chance to take his annoyance with Owen out on the blonde without looking bad. Even if pushing water at him didn't phase the blonde it made him feel better.
After DJ made cold cut sub sandwiches for dinner Duncan suggested they find a monster movie on TV. DJ wasn't so keen on the idea, but Geoff and Owen convinced him to join in. Alejandro on the other hand had no interest in that. "I think I'll take another walk, the air is just right now."
"Whatever man, try not to get eaten." Duncan shrugged. Alejandro exited the cabin and breathed in the fresh air. Summer nights were so nice. He stepped down the stairs and began to walk around the lake. As he did the sweetest sound reached his ears. It was a series of beautiful notes. So alluring, he stopped thinking. He had to find out where the sound was coming from.
He walked along the lake, the song filling all his thoughts until he finally found the source. It was a skinny young man with brown skin. His shoulder length hair and half lidded eyes were also brown, albeit a darker shade. He wore a pair of green swim trunks and a necklace that looked to be made of silver, He was sitting with his feet dangling in the lake water. He must have just been in the lake as water dripped down his form.
"Excuse me?" He said, the young man startled, stopping his singing. "I couldn't help but notice you have the most amazing singing voice."
The young lad smirked. "Following mysterious voices at night is a good way to get killed."
Alejandro raised an eyebrow at this. "I can take care of myself, I assure you."
"Bold words." The teen whispered. "Perhaps too bold? After all, if I wished you harm I could just wait until you got close to the water's edge…" His smirk widened. "And pull you in."
Alejandro chuckled. "I guess you heard the stories about this lake, but I'm not taken in by your little act."
"One should be wary of such tales. Often there is truth to them." The smaller male warned.
Alejandro smirked. "So, what is my would be killer called?"
"You know it's rude to ask someone their name without first offering yours?" the stranger said.
Alejandro rolled his eyes. "I am Alejandro."
"And I am Noah." He said with an incline of his head.
"It's a bit late for a swim is it not?" He asked. Lake water tended to be cool even in sunlight, and while that made it refreshing during the day the water would be freezing at night.
"Not at all. The water is always refreshing to me. I practically live in it." Noah smirked.
"Oh really?" Alejandro said, deciding to play along. "That seems like more trouble than it's worth."
"It's completely natural to me." The teen told him.
"Do you often go swimming late at night?" He asked.
"It's the only time I get the lake to myself." Noah told him.
"And what pray tell do you do here?" Alejandro questioned.
"Sing, relax, lure people to their untimely demise…" He trailed.
Alejandro chuckled. "You just don't know when to quit."
"You are quite foolhardy aren't you?" The smaller male teased.
"Not foolhardy, logical." he corrected.
"More Often than not they are the same." Noah said ominously.
"Well then I'll leave you to it. I'm sure you'll manage to scare someone." Alejandro said, he continued on his way. What an interesting teen. He wondered if he'd see more of him this weekend.
He completed his walk and entered the cabin to find his 'friends' were all sitting on the couch watching a monster movie. Duncan was smiling, DJ looked horrified, Owen was nervous, and Geoff seemed fine for the moment. "Hey Alejandro, you want to join us?"
Alejandro shrugged. He was sleeping in the foyer anyway so he might as well. Geoff moved from his spot next to DJ and sat down on the arm of the couch. Alejandro sat in the open space.
"What are we watching ?" He asked.
"This movie about a lake monster. It's really good so far, people keep disappearing, and our lead is trying to figure out where they're going."
The movie was about what Alejandro was expecting, your usual monster romp where everyone acts dumber than even Owen. It wasn't long before two of the teens were standing near the lake. The girl was scared, and the boy said he'd protect her. Then the predictable happened.
"Those two are going to smoochville." Geoff chuckled.
"No, no! Don't you know you never make out when a monster is involved!" DJ cried.
"Wow they're really going at it." Owen noted.
A first person underwater shot followed as tense music built up to the inevitable moment when the creature popped out of the water. The teens screamed and the scene cut to black. Any atmosphere that would have followed was ruined when a commercial for skin cream came on screen.
"Aw come on!" Owen said.
"Lame." Duncan sighed.
"Cable TV is the worst!" Geoff complained.
"I'm kinda glad we get a break. That was getting way too scary." DJ said.
"I'll give the movie one thing at least they know not to show the monster too early." Alejandro said. He couldn't help but think back to Noah. He imagined the lanky teen trying to emulate the monster in the movie. The thought made him chuckle.
"Dude, what could you possibly be laughing about at a time like this?!" DJ asked.
"Oh nothing, just an amusing thought." He replied.
"Well don't do that during the movie," Duncan teased. "You might scare DJ to death."
"Oh come on man! You know how I am about water!" DJ protested
"It's okay big guy, no one's judging you." Geoff said.
"Oh I am." Duncan said.
Before DJ retorted Duncan shushed him. "The movie's starting again."
The rest of the movie went as predictably as one would expect. The main character had several encounters with monster and managed to survive all, the monster claimed more victims, the lead female managed to take the monster down, and then of course the hook at the end that revealed it, might have survived.
As the credits played DJ sighed. "I'm glad that's over."
"It was pretty tame man. There wasn't even a lot of gore." Duncan pointed out.
"Horror is such a predictable genre. Of course, the creature survived. I'd have been more surprised if it didn't." Alejandro said.
"Dude, I didn't see that coming!" Owen said. "I thought it was a great twist."
"Of course you did." Alejandro rolled his eyes.
"Well it's pretty late. We should turn in if we want to get in the lake again tomorrow." Geoff said.
"It's only two A.M." Duncan shrugged.
"You think I can sleep after this?!" DJ asked.
"I agree with Geoff actually." Alejandro nodded.
"Whatever, I'll just find something to do in my room." Duncan said.
"Come on DJ!" Owen exclaimed, grabbing the brickhouse. "I'll help you get to sleep." DJ went without protest.
"You can take the couch bro. I can sleep anywhere." Geoff said. He wasn't kidding either. Not soon after he lay down on the floor he fell asleep.
Alejandro did his normal bedtime routine. He used the restroom, brushed his teeth, applied moisturizer, and then settled in for bed. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.
