After they ate they all headed to the carpark. It was Halloween, nobody wanted to go home yet.
"I know an abandoned house," Eyeball said, "might be haunted," he shrugged.
Nobody had any other ideas so they spread themselves between Ace's and Vince's cars. Charlie Hogan had met them before they left and jumped into Vince's car without hesitation.
"So where is this place?" Ace asked Eyeball who was navigating from the passengers seat. Laura sat in the back seat, this time alone. Eyeball gave his very shady directions and eventually they managed to find the place.
"I knew it was here somewhere," Eyeball said, climbing out of the car to join the others who had just arrived. Laura let herself out of the back on the drivers side, careful not to get her wings stuck in the door.
"Here," Ace said as he pulled them loose from her back again, "how did you get these on?"
"I attached them to the dress before I put it on," she said. "It was hard to get into with the zip already up though."
"I'll bet," Ace said noticing how snugly her dress fit her, he tipped her chin up to kiss her again.
"Hey you coming or what?" Eyeball called out to them.
Ace shot him a mean look but nevertheless started walking towards the house.
"How do you even know about this place?" Charlie asked.
"Never you mind," Eyeball grinned.
He ran off to explore and the others drifted away slowly. Ace sat down on the front steps, holding Laura's hips as she stood in front of him.
"It's warm tonight," she said noticing it was true.
Ace dropped his hands and stretched out his arms behind him. The heavy lifting combined with reduced sleeping hours was starting to take its toll.
"Rub my shoulders?" he asked holding her hand limply. He took of his jacket as she sat down behind him and started rubbing his shoulders.
"That's good," he mumbled sleepily as he let out a yawn. She went to move her hands under his shirt so she could reach his back properly but he saved her the trouble by taking it off. He was deceptively muscular for a person with such a relatively thin frame and right now they all seemed tense and knotted.
"What have you been doing to yourself?" she asked him offhandedly.
"Why? You worried about me babe?" he smirked.
"You seem exhausted," she said softly.
He turned around and pinched her on the cheek affectionately, "don't look so stressed."
He looked around the dilapidated porch and stood up. He put his jacket flat on the ground before laying on top of it so she could reach his lower back. She straddled the top of his legs and continued down his back until she was satisfied that it was loose again.
"You've got the magic touch babe," he said rolling over on to his side as she lay next to him. She reached her arm over and continued to rub his back in slow circles.
"You're going to put me to sleep at this rate," he yawned. The look of concern returned to her face, why was he so tired all the time? He was never like this before.
"Reach into my back pocket," he instructed her, his eyes having a definite droop now, "pull out the box in there".
She did as she was told and found a cannister of pills. "Are you sick?" she asked a little panicked.
"No, these just wake me up a little," he said waving his hand dismissively.
She read the sticker. Dextroamphetamine, she had no idea what that was but she handed Ace a little brown pill without question.
"Give me a few more," he said swallowing the first. She handed him two more and he swallowed them as he had the other. Soon he was back on his feet.
"What are those things?" she asked still worried.
"My Uncle gave them to me," he said, "they're completely harmless."
He twisted his back a little again before helping Laura to her feet.
"I wonder where everyone is," she said, looking around in the almost total darkness.
"Who cares?" he said nuzzling her neck.
But as if on command Eyeball and Vince returned to the front of the house.
"Don't tell me you two are at it," Eyeball said, "we just had to get away from Billy and his girl."
"Hey," Ace said aggressively, "are you disrespecting my girlfriend, again?" He pushed him back a little.
"Lighten up," Eyeball said rolling his eyes, "she's fine. Aren't you hon?"
"Uh, yeah," Laura said hanging on to Ace's arm, mostly because she was afraid he might use it.
"Have you guys seen Charlie?" Vince asked, cutting through the tension.
"No," Ace replied, "I thought he was with you."
"He was," Eyeball said, "but he must've taken off somewhere. I hope he wasn't counting on a ride home."
"You leaving?" Ace asked, beginning to light a cigarette.
"Yeah we'll leave you with the two love birds," Eyeball said cackling.
The two backed down the staircase and drove away leaving a cloud of dust behind them.
"Billy!" Ace called out into the dark, "Get in the car, we're leaving."
He walked down to his car and started the engine. Billy and Connie came out of nowhere and got into the back seat.
"Where am I dropping you off?" he asked impatiently as he began driving.
"Just a little closer to town," Billy answered, "we can walk from there."
Ace was happy with his answer. No way was he going to spend all night playing driver. He dropped the others off near main street and began driving to Laura's house. He parked in the same secluded spot as before. He attached the wings to Laura's back so she could show her mother her costume.
"See you inside," he said as Laura made her way to the front door.