I'm so very sorry for the long wait. I hope you enjoy the third chapter!

"Mom! This sucks!"

"Kara, I know you aren't particularily happy about coming here for summer vacation but you just gotta deal with it. We will be here for the entire week."

"You know, we should of went to Magic Mountain instead. At least I could handle that, besides it'd keep Jeremy busy, all he does is bug the crap out of me here."

Alice sat listening to the daughter and mother for about twenty minutes now. The conversation kept going back to the fact that Santa Carla was boring, or weird, or smelled disgusting. Alice had to agree about the smell but it had to be from all the dead fish that washed up on the beach. Every morning she saw beach cleaners cleaning the dead fish, litter, and whatever else laid on the beach.

Alice had spent the evening working in the video store. She came in early because Janessa came in this morning to find the "Enter" sign busted. She had gone on a rampage about all the young biker gangs in Santa Carla and how've they turned the city into scum. The comment made Alice remember the haunting dream that she had only a few days early involving those boys. She really didn't want to be reminded of it, just thinking about it made her core shake. Instead, she helped Janessa fix the neon glowing sign by replacing it with a new one which took a good hour or two.

Now, Alice sat at the counter sitting and watching all the people come and go in the store. She had register tonight and she thought it was worse than stocking videos.

"Janessa, are you sure you don't want to put me on video rewind detail?" Alice said in a slightly annoyed and whiny voice. Janessa walked back behind the counter and checked the register.

"Di has that job tonight. I can't trust her after stealing about half the money out of the cash register." Janessa said counting the bills in the drawer as if to spot a something amiss since she last checked seven minutes ago.

"Well, if she is suppose to do it, why isn't she here doing it?" Alice said turning to Janessa and closing the drawer back up while Janessa was inspecting.

"Di is irresponsible and naive." Janessa stated firmly putting the cash she held in her hands in Alice's hands.

"I see I am the talk of the town." A cheerful voice said above the two.

Di strolled in with a huge waffle cone filled with strawberry ice cream. She licked it smiling and stopped in front of the counter to give the cone another lick. She wore her hair plain and straight with a flashy peach color t-shirt and a black vest with pins all over it with a pair of denim cut-offs.

"Get that food out of my store." Janessa said pointing towards the "NO FOOD OR DRINK" sign.

"Relax, Nessa, I'm here to get to work. I promise." Di said holding her hand up to her chest as if swearing by an oath.

"We could of used you an hour or so ago." Alice said quietly and harshly.

"Mellow out, will you?" Di said handing her the ice cream. "I brought this for you. You look a little peakish from out there. Not getting enough sleep, my dear?"

"Something like that." Alice said quietly before returning to the register to see the mother and daughter come her way.

"We are going to get "A Nightmare on Elm Street", OK?"

"Yeah, whatever, let's get out of here."

"Kara, you got to stop that tone with me."

"What tone? You are so lame..."

"That's not any way to talk to your mother."

"That's OK, you're not my mom."

"Kara!"

The mother quickly slapped the cash on the counter, gave a feign smile to Alice, and shoved "Kara" through the door. Alice raised a quick eyebrow before stuffing the cash into the money drawer.

"That reminds me of my mom and me." Di said turning from the counter towards the stock room. "Damn, rewind detail. I hope they start putting little stickers on the videos that say "Be Kind, Please Rewind."

Alice laughed and shut the cash drawer. "Can't be as bad as the register."

"Oh, once you've watched the Boy in the Plastic Bubble about a zillion times backwards, you will." Di said walking her way to the door. She stopped right outside it and simply replied, "I do love that John Travolta though."

Alice laughed and Di retreated into the back stock room. Alice sat listening to the music playing over the speakers out on the boardwalk. It had been a really upbeat song and now switched over to an oldies song. She remembered hearing this song on her way to Santa Carla with the truck driver, Sam. Alice hummed along to the tune as the song continued to play.

"Hey, Alice!" A young teenage boy yelled as he skateboarded his way into the store. "Got any good horror movies in lately?" He slowed down and jumped off the board. He flip-kicked the board and set it on the counter.

"Hey, Charlie." Alice said giving the tween a smile. "I don't think anything recently but we got that copy of Dracula starring Christopher Lee you wanted to rent last time."

Charlie was a 14 year old boy who Alice met a few days ago when he was looking for some horror movies he wanted to watch. She was able to help him out and gain a new friend in the process. Charlie had raven black hair that was always messy and usually wore a pair of jeans and a rock band t-shirt while he toted his skateboard everywhere with him.

"Aw! Killer, Alice!" Charlie said handing Alice two dollars for the video. Alice stuffed the money in the drawer and searched under the counter for the video she had kept under wraps for her friend.

"Looks like someone only has eyes for you." Charlie said to Alice while he looked through the window.

"What are you talking about?" Alice said returning to Charlie with the tape. Charlie took the tape and pointed to the group of guys sitting out on the bike rack outside the store smoking cigarettes. Alice heart faltered when she spotted them.

"Not so happy to see them?" Charlie said admiring his friend's face. "You look like death."

"They aren't really my friends, just nuisances." Alice said leaning on the counter.

"I'm suprised they'd talk to you." Charlie replied taking the skateboard off the counter.

"Why's that?"

"They're the Lost Boys, they don't talk to anyone unless they can get something out of you. Or ,at least, that's what my friend Bill told me."

"Oh, and what else did Bill tell you?"

"Well, he told me that they were dangerous and that he talked to his sister who knew someone that disappeared after hanging around with them. Look, the reason they are called the Lost Boys is because they are dudes who ran away from home when they were young. Geez, Alice, I thought by now someone would of told you about'em."

"Well, if I knew half the stuff I heard about Santa Carla after I got here, I would not have come at all." Alice said dropping her eyes down.

"Hello, Charlie." An icy voice said cutting through the warm evening air.

Alice looked up to see David standing behind Charlie with a silent smirk playing upon his lips. He grasped one of Charlie's shoulders.

"Uh, David, hi." Charlie said licking his lips nervously.

"So, what have you been telling Alice?" Dwayne said coming around David and setting his forearm on the cash register.

"I was telling her all about you guys." Charlie said smiling uneasily.

Alice unrested her arms on the counter and stood up straight. Dwayne looked back at her and smirked lightly before turning his attention back to Charlie. Marko came up next to David and Paul showed up last leaning on the counter near Alice. Charlie gulped loudly showing Alice his uneasiness with the boys. David squeezed the boy's arm and smirked to his fellow gang members. Paul chuckled a bit. Alice exhaled a breath slowly before walking around the counter to the scene. She picked up Charlie's skateboard and handed it to him.

"Charlie, go home." Alice said watching David's hand slump away from his shoulder. Alice reached over and grabbed his rented tape and shoved it into his hands. The guys moved back leaving the two some space.

"Thanks, Alice, I owe you one." Charlie said smiling and dropped his skateboard and started off to the door.

"I'll be holding you to it too!" Alice yelled as he swurved around the corner of the door. Alice shook her head.

"Now, wasn't that lovely?" Paul said smiling at Alice. Alice rolled her eyes. She shoved pass Paul as she headed back behind the counter.

"You guys are not suppose to be in here." Alice said trying to find something to keep her occupied. She didn't want to have to face the guys or look at their eyes. Their annoying yet seductive eyes.

"You know, that hasn't stopped us from coming in here before." David replied walking around the counter to face Alice.

"As I can tell." Alice said looking at him. "So, the Lost Boys, huh?"

Alice folded her arms and sat back waiting to hear the response from one of them.

"That's what others love to call us, but we don't like it." Marko said walking to David's side. "It's too campy."

"Never liked Peter Pan anyways." Paul said smiling and messing with the Ray-Band shades display on the counter.

"Ah, what's the saying?" Alice said feigning a thought. "Never grow old, never grow up, stay a kid forever and have lots of fun."

"Yeah, something like that." Paul said putting a pair of shades on his face and snapping his fingers at Alice.

"Is that what you guys do?" Alice said looking straight at Paul.

Paul set the shades down on the counter and leaned closer towards Alice.

"Yeah, that's what we do." Paul said smiling.

"Yeah, well, you better go before Janessa decides to chase you out of here and I've seen her before, she can be viscious." Alice said stacking tapes on the counter preparing to check them back in.

David just glared a moment at Alice as she waited for them to leave. David looked over to Marko before he signaled for them to take leave. Paul started walking away but turned back after the rest of the boys left the store. He tapped his hand on the glass counter and Alice looked up from her pile of videos.

"I'm sorry about the other night." Paul said quietly scratching his neck. "I was being a dickhead."

"It's fine." Alice replied. "Why are you apologizing?"

"I like you Alice and I want to be friends with you, maybe more." Paul said. "I happen to act pretty straightforward to things I really want."

"So, you still want to kiss me?" Alice asked stopping her work.

"Well...yeah." Paul said giving a terse laugh.

" I don't think I'm your type, Paul." Alice said turning away from Paul.

Paul pulled himself over the counter and grabbed Alice's arm and stopped her from walking away.

"I said I was sorry." Paul said.

"I know, and I accepted it."

"Oh, but you can't accept the fact that I wanna kiss you?"

Alice pulled her eyes off to the side trying to avoid any gaze Paul would be directing on her. All she could smell was the cigarette smoke that wafed off of Paul. Ugh, she hated that smell but on Paul she could help but love smelling it on him. At least she wasn't being gagged with cologne.

"Can you look at me or what?" Paul said leaning his head forward toward Alice.

Alice lifted her eyes. Then all she saw was the blue irises in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around her chest feeling uneasy.

"You always do that." Paul said smirking. "You don't have to show me your uneasy, I can feel it from a mile away."

Alice laughed a nervous laugh. Then, Paul leaned down and pressed his lips on hers before she knew it. At first, her hands were frozen in mid-air processing what to do at that very second. Then they just settled around Paul's neck gently while he already had his hands on her hips.

"Am I interupting something?"Di said smiling, holding a blue video bin.

Alice pulled back quickly while Paul sat back with a smirk on his face. Alice wiped her hands over her mouth and grabbed the blue bin from Di's hands.

"I think you better go. I have work to do." Alice said looking up at Paul.

"Okay." Paul said and leaned down grabbing another kiss from her. Alice put her right hand firmly on his chest signaling him to stop.

"Not now, Paul."Alice breathed. "I really have to get back to work."

Paul nodded and smiled. He let go of her left hand and turned to the door. Alice gave a small smile and watched him return to his buddies. Paul jumped up and rung his arm around Marko's neck but Marko wasn't returning the same feeling. Instead, Marko was staring at Alice through the window. Alice eyes narrowed in concern before they started their engines.

"So, is Paul a good kisser?"Di said smirking playfully. "Cause it looked like you liked it."

"He kissed me. I wasn't planning or hoping it would happen."Alice snapped. "He likes me, it's really obvious."

"Yeah..." Di said opening her mouth. "But still, you didn't answer the question."