"So he really said you had to pay for it?" Becca asked as she help Lauren sort out her hair with a blowdryer. "Were either of them cute at least? You said there were two of them."
"I don't know if I were younger I'd say the younger one, Nick, was kind of cute." Lauren said running her brush through her hair several times. "The other one was covered in blood from the demon so I couldn't really say. He had some,God I can't believe I'm saying this but, he did have some gorgeous eyes."
At that Becca stopped and looked down at Lauren with a disbelieving look and turning off the dryer before she spoke. "Gorgeous eye?" She said as if she still didn't quite understand what her best friend had just said. "I thought you said they were red?"
"They were..."
Lauren looked up at herself in the, the memory of those two rubies looking at her and even though they were bright with frustration and annoyance they were still beautiful. She found herself unconciously bitting her bottom lip and run her brush over her hair again as she tried to put a face to those eyes. He was definatly muscled after seeing him tangle with that demon that couldn't be disputed, and even under the blood she was able to see that he had somewhat of a sharp and narrow face. Had she been closer to the car when he went after the dog she might've been able to see what kind of hair he had or what he might've looked like. It troubled her to think that she might've developed a crush on some guy she didn't even know on top of being someone that yelled at her like a child.
She was so deep in thought about how her rescuer looked underneath that thick coat of blood that she didn't even hear Becca's question until she was thumping her on the head. "Ow, what!?"
"Oh my god, you got the shade of damsel-in-distress syndrome." Becca said with wide eyes and a gapping mouth as she sat down and let out a small laugh. "I can't believe it. I thought that you might be the least likely of everyone that I know to get it but hear you are. All swooned over about some guy that you don't even know."
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Lauren asked credulously fully aware of her face begin to heat up. "And I am not swooning."
"It's a condition that we've been discussing in psychology." Becca brought her palm up to her forehead tapping it several times to try and get herself to remember something. "It's not damsel-in-distress, there's a name for it but I can't remember what it is. It's when someone falls for another person after they'd just saved their life."
"I am not falling in love with the guy that nearly ran me over."
"But you were just fantasizing about him a few seconds ago weren't you?" Becca asked with a winning look on her face. "Okay, for now I'll believe that you don't, but only because you have your first date tonight since Chris Edwards in high school."
Hearing the mention of one of Lauren's old attempts at a relationship nearly made her choke when a rapping came at their door. Both girls looked to the door, both asking if the other was expecting someone and getting a shake of the head in response. Both of them got up and walked over to the door and opened it up leaving Lauren speechless to find Roy standing at their door. Beside her Becca let out a little squeak when she saw him. He was wearing almost the exact same thing he was when earlier, with the only difference being the addition of a indigo denim jacket with sleeves that were just a little too long for his arms. But another little difference that Becca saw was that he had shaved and even though she wasn't complaining about the little bit of a stubble he had, she liked the way he looked now even more.
"Hey I'm looking for Lau- Oh you answered." Roy said looking at the both of them with a little bit of nervousness on his face. When neither Lauren or Becca answered, and with Becca only wearing a very skimpy top in clear view of Roy he cleared his throat before speaking again. "Um, I asked one of the people out front which room you were in so you wouldn't have to come out looking for me. Is this a bad time?"
"Uh- No, no you're fine Roy." Lauren said finally breaking her silence blushing terribly and even more so when Becca spoke up behind saying; 'Boy are you fine.' Lauren gave her a glare before turning back to Roy with an apologizing smile. "I'm sorry uh, could you give us a second. I'll uh- I'll be right out."
She closed the door before Roy could even answer and whirled on Becca and whispered as harshly as she could manage without making too much noise. "Are you kidding me?!" She demanded. "'Boy are you fine?' Really?"
"Lauren that's Royce Marson!" Becca exclaimed while still whispering and pointing excitedly at the door. "Not only is he the son of the police commisioner, he's without a doubt the hottest single guy on campus! Probably even the city! How did you score a date with him!?"
"It doesn't matter?" Lauren whispered back pushing Becca's hand down and pointing to their closet. "Just go get a shirt on!"
Becca scoffed and groaned begging Lauren to let her go with them on a double date with one of their gay friends but Lauren was not about to let Becca anywhere near Roy right now. With a whine she walked gloomily over to their closet and pulled out a light blue low necked shirt that showed off a bit of her stomach as well. Better than that strap she was wearing that only covered up her boobs Lauren thought with a sigh as she grabbed her wallet and slipped out before Becca could embarass her even more. But she didn't count on Roy still being right in front of the door as she ran right into his remarkabley solid chest nearly falling over only to have him catch her.
"Oh my god I'm sorry." She said having to pry herself away from him and try to salvage whatever there was left in this date. She brushed a rogue bit of hair out of her face and looked up at him with a nervous smile. "So, uh where are we going?"
Either Roy wasn't bothered by Becca's little outburst, or he sensed that Lauren was embarassed by the little incident because he didn't even hint at it instead he just smiled and gestured for her to lead the way down the hall. As the two of them walked side by side in the hallway that had always seemed too wide to Lauren before but now felt as if it were only large enough for one person at a time she kept trying not to look at Roy even though a part of her felt as though she was supposed to. They were outside in a minute and the cooling air felt good on Lauren's face when it reached her. It was a feeling made even better when Roy slipped his hand into her's and led her down the path toward the parking lots.
"I actually couldn't decide where I wanted to take you." Roy admitted when they reached the parking lot as he turned to face her with a glow about him. "So I figured I'd let you decide. My dad is a friend with the owner of this new restaurant downtown so we could get in there if you want."
"But--" Lauren said realising that there was another option up for discussion which made Roy chuckled nervously.
"But, it being Friday and all I thought you might also want to go check out this new place down in Party Town." He said and the way he said it told Lauren that it really was her choice and that he was okay with either one. "If it's any extra help the restaurant's owner lets me and anyone I bring eat once a week on the house, but the place in Party Town is giving out free drinks since it's their opening night."
Lauren made a face as she considered the two options that had been laid out before her. She was curious about that nightclub down in party town but she also didn't want to come off like some dumb party girl either. But she didn't want to seem boring and go to the restaurant either, it was Friday night after all so she decided to go a third route. "How about we go to Party Town grab a corndog, go on a few rides than we'll head over to that nightclub.
"Fair enough." Roy said with a boyish grin as he began walking toward his car. "I'm pretty hungry anyways."
Lauren followed Roy through the parking lot her heels clacking loudly on the pavement as they went. She kept on expecting Roy to turn to a car but he never did and instead kept on walking toward an old world car that Lauren had only seen online. It was a dark blue Ford Mustang with white racing stripes, the last model made before the war happened. Try as she might Lauren couldn't help but hide her surprise at the sight of it. As far as she knew there were only a handful of old world cars left replaced by the more modern cars produced by the Vega Corporation that had almost no distinguishing marks about them except the colors, or if you put in for a customized one which were outragously expensive. Even that old Camaro that those two demons came up in was a relic and very valuable.
"My god how in the holy hell did you get one of these?" She asked running her hand over the hood of the car. "This thing must be worth a million easy."
"Actually it's worth about 3 million but I can't bring myself to part with her." Roy said tapping the hood of the car with a proud look on his face. "As for how I got it, I found it in Old Town and did all the repairs myself."
"New York!?" Lauren exclaimed looking over at Roy with a look of shock. "You went to New York? I thought that was taken over by demons a long time ago."
"Well the Lawkeepers are slowly trying to win it back." Roy explained leaning on the hood of the car. "I went as a volunteer to see if there was anything salvagable left over from the old world when I was out of high school. Found it in an old run down car shop half destroyed but I managed to fix it up again. She runs fine now."
"That must've costed a fourtune." Lauren said looking up at Roy with a hint of suspicion in her eyes. "Is your dad really the police comisioner or is that just a story you tell everyone?"
"What don't you trust me?" Roy asked feigning hurt before he went on. "No he really is and I never knew my mom. But when I turned 18 I get an e-mail from a blocked ID telling me that I had a trust fund and they gave me the account number, when I showed it to my dad he verified it with the banks and everything checked out. It's a legit account no sign of anything illegal but it was a ridiculous amount of money. I used that money to fix it up, had all the parts made fresh after I looked up the designs. Might as well be a brand new car."
Lauren straightened up when she felt as though she were paying more attention to the car instead of her date but Roy didn't seem to mind much at all. He was watching her with those gold flecked eyes of his patiently waiting for Lauren to get in the car but the way he looked at her made her feel slightly uneasy. It wasn't a bad feeling but she didn't quite trust it because she'd never felt this way before and she didn't want to embrace it just yet in case things didn't work out. Shaking her head clear of doubt she slowly moved to get in the car with Roy moving to get in on his side right after.
The interior of the car was just as gorgeous as the outside, the dash board was all black leather with fully functioning old world gauges. The electronics though were of their time however so it wasn't a wholly original car but it was beautiful nonetheless. The seats were a mix of grey and black material that was so much softer than the leather that was used in modern cars. She looked along her side of the car and saw a funny looking lever that she tried opperating but couldn't get it to move. She all but gave up on it until Roy leaned over getting a bit closer than Lauren was expecting but she didn't mind him leaning over her one bit. He grabbed the lever and began turning it in the opposite direction that Lauren was trying and before her eyes the window began to go down the more he wound the lever.
It truly was old world and Lauren had to hide a blush that'd crept across her face at not being able to figure out something so simple but Roy just gave her a warm smile and produced a funny looking bit of metal. Despite her curiosity Lauren didn't want to a appear a bigger fool than she already had by asking what the little metal object was when Roy inserted it in a small slot. He gave it a twist and the engine roared to life, and boy did it roar. Lauren felt the vibration of the car's engine all the way through the floor as it ran up her feet as all the electronics turned on making her feel a bit more comfortable in the car with the site of familar features, she helped herself to one of them by tapping on the screen of Roy's radio just to see what kind of music he listened to.
The sounds that filled the car were those of which Lauren was very familiar. They were exactly like his car, old world music and it brought a bit of a smile to Lauren's face when she heard it. The familiar stuming of a guitar filled the car before the voice of the singer kicked in singing one of Lauren's favorites. It was Shinedown's Second Chance that was playing andtry as she might Lauren couldn't contain herself when she heard the song. Roy just laughed as they pulled onto the main road heading for Party Town which was basically just an enormous amusement park with a few night clubs and a movie theater surrounding it.
It sat on what used to be the capital of the United States after many of the national mouments had been desicrated during the war. The only monument that still stood moderately undamaged was the Washington Monument, most of the surrounding buildings were still standing though they'd been convereted into a place of amusement now. The Capital Building was now called Capital Theater which was the biggest movie theater in the United States while the other government buildings were recration centers. The Smithsonian still served as a museum though it also functioned as a rollarcoaster with each section using a unique theme. The place that was once the Lincoln memorial was now a home to an interactive laser tag facility that was set up to resemble a World War II battle ground with that memorial still up to offer at least some education for when people went to play laser tag. As for the White House, it was barely standing the last time Lauren saw it, a mere shell of what it'd once been before after the demons put it to the torch during the war. It was left up only because of its former purpose thought Lauren had always thought that one of these days a gust of wind was going to knock it over.
In the center of once political center of the United States sat the theme park for which the whole place was named. Party Town, it a place for both children and adults to go because it offered such a wide selection of things to do. It was most famous though for the Lookout Ferris wheel--which was now the largest one in the world at 255 feet in the air--and the Around the World rollar coaster which wasn't quite as tall as Lookout but it was high enough that the people on the wheel could enjoy the view of the other ride which wound all the way around the wheel several times. Lauren had remembered taking Becca and Ashton's picture from the peak of Lookout as just as they went over the summit of the rollar coaster as so many other people loved to do.
Thinking back on it Lauren had never once gone on the Around the World before, Becca had told her that you should never, ever, go on it alone because once your up that high and see that steep drop you can't help but hold onto whoever's next to you. Maybe that somebody could be Roy, she thought to herself as Lauren watched a blank white car drive by the owner honking at them as many cars did she found out. But then she couldn't very well blame them, Roy did have an amazing car and it was unique which made it all the better. Sure it was a bit louder and probably couldn't move quite as fast as the new cars could but as far as she knew there wasn't anything like it, and there couldn't be because like he said, he had to build this from the ground up.
She looked up at the darkening sky as Roy got on the last road that'd take them straight to Party Town, and already she could see the reflection of lights coming off the gigantic park. She looked forward and already she could see the Lookout Ferris wheel up in lights along with its partner the Around the World rollar coaster. The sight of them made Lauren's heart rate pick up as it always did since she hadn't ever ridden the coaster but she would soon enough she promised herself. She looked over at Roy who looked like he was rather deep in thought but once he noticed Lauren looking at him he turned to her.
"Sure you don't want to just go to that restaurant?" He asked.
"Well, if you want to we can." She said with a shrug not wanting to come of as bitchy or snotty until she noticed that Roy seemed to have grown tense. He was doing his best to appear light hearted by smiling and keeping his face relaxed but Lauren saw it in his eyes that he was considering something though what it was she couldn't say. "Is something wrong? If you don't want to go here that's perfectly okay we can go to that restaurant if you'd like."
"No," Roy said looking away from her and making it all too obvious that he was just trying to look forward. Lauren gave him a look before she leaned back against her seat feeling bad that she might've just screwed this up without even realizing it. "It's just that I know there's going to be a lot of demons around here tonight, and after that pack of dogs got into the city earlier today- I just don't want anything to happen is all."
"Well then being around a lot of demons is probably exactly where we should be don't you think?" Lauren asked giving him a curious look and noting that his hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I mean they'd be able to handle any kind of Savage demons that came up right? And then there's the Lawkeepers, you know that there's alway a few Lawkeepers around when there's a big gathering of demons anywhere."
"I wouldn't put much faith in them." Roy said as a shadow passed over his face before he shrugged his shoulders and then his features were all relaxed again as he started pulling into the parking lot. "Anyway, I haven't been here in a while does Henry still have the best corndogs or did someone upstage him?"
Things went a lot easier after that. Roy had lightened up after the two of them got out and started walking along roads of the utopia of entertainment that was Party Town. If truth be told Lauren hadn't been here for the better part of a year when she took the picture of Becca and Ashton on on the Around the World coaster. She'd forgotten herself just how big the place was as she looked around at all the booths, rides, and arcades that were on either side of the road sized path they were walking on. It really was like a little town within DC that was built by someone with an amazing imagination. She felt like she was walking around Disneyland but without all the people walking around in those big costumes of characters running up to hug you.
Several children ran by them waving light up swords or shooting small plastic guns at each other screaming in delight while their parents attempted to keep up with them. Lauren let out an embarassingly childish giggle when she saw a street magician blowing up an animal balloon that was attached to his pinky while he blew into his thumb. Behind him were several contortionists bending over backwards into a ball while their partners rolled them along the ground. And of course beside them she saw several fire dancers twirling their batons, hoops, and whips in a very impressive preformance before they all threw thier object into the air and spat out plumes of fire before catching their ornamant and taking a bow.
The crowd that had been watching erupted in applause with Lauren and Roy joining in before the preformers all gestured to a brightly colored ball no larger than a basketball rolled out in front of them. Everyone leaned in to see what it was and they all jumped when the ball uncurled to reveal a tall slender clown. His brightly colored outfit gave an explaination to the color of the ball but Lauren was mystified by the fact that he'd curled up into such a small ball. His blow hair flowed out from under his three pointed hat and he bowed to the surrounding audience before he twisted completely around with his feet remaining in the exact same spot. Lauren gasped when the clown stood over twelve feet tall and his legs wound about each other while his arms stretched out and bent to form an arrow pointing to his right. "If you like what you saw here come and see the newest addition to Party Town, Cirque de'monique, the only all demon circus in the world! Come and be mesmorized, hypnotized, and mystisized by our magicians, acrobats, dancers, and everything else you expect to find in a circus! Tickets are cheap only $8.00 per person, children and elderly get a discounted price of $5.00."
The clown's arms shrank back down to their original size and he slowly came back down to his normal height spinning all the way down. Lauren turned to Roy who looked more curious than anything before she grabbed his hand and hauled him over to the clown wanting to get a picture with him. She had to wait for a second though when the kids that'd seen the whole preformance had crowded around him asking for him to do something else which he did pulling off his glove and making his hand grow to the size of a full grown adult before shrinking back down and doing a very fluid dance. The other preformers were good, but Lauren was really interested in this clown, the way he moved made it look like he had no bones in his body at all and wanted to ask just how he did it.
When finally it was her turn the clown acted like he was about to sneeze before he grabbed his nose and made his whole head grow three times its normal size before deflating to its original size. She along with everyone else clapped while he waved at the audience and took several bows before turning to her and producing a flower from seemingly out of now where. "Flowers for the lovely lady." Lauren took them and noticed that they were made of paper but she made no complaint and acted as if they were the best thing she'd ever gotten and thanked him. "So what can Carny do for you?"
"Actually I was wondering if I could talk to you about something," Lauren said and quickly explained her whole demon report that her professor wanted her to do before she asked the most important part. "And can I take a picture with you?"
"Of Course!" Carny exclaimed throwing an arm around her shoulder and smiling brightly while Roy took the picture with her PET. When the picture was done Carny withdrew his arm and flicked his red nose which deflated to a regular nose before he took off his hat and wig before he addressed her. "And about you'r report I'd love to help but I'm a bit tied up with work. We can talk about this a little more later on if you're going to that new night club. That's where our first preformance is, but if not we're set up on the north east end of the park."
"Okay, I'll see you at the club then." Lauren said with a smile before turnig back to Roy. "We're actually heading there right now my name's Lauren by the way in case you see me and I don't see you."
"Pretty name for a pretty girl." Carny said before putting his hat and wig back on and doing a backflip. "My name's still Carny so I'll see you at the club in an two hours!"
"You must really like demons huh?" Roy asked as the two of them continued their walk toward the northern most part of the park where the club was supposed to be. She looked at him surprised by the question but not so surprised that she hadn't expected to hear it. "Don't worry, I actually really like that about you. You're like a kid on Christmas when you meet a new demon, or at least when you met him I mean."
"You're not getting jealous are you?" She teased hitting him lightly on the shoulder.
"Maybe just a little." Roy admitted as they approached Henry's snackbooth for their corndogs.
Henry was a middle aged man who's worked in Party Town for as long as Lauren could remember, probably even longer than that. He was a big man who used to be a security guard and often told Lauren that he was a war veteran though he was far too young to have even been born during the last war. She knew him as the man who made the best corndogs in all of Party Town, or actually he was the best cook in all of Party Town period. He'd always chef up some kind of amazing food when the holidays came around, but it was a Party Town tradition to get at least one corndog from him before you left. Yet despite all of his business Henry refused to leave the park and go open up his own restaurant to make some real money. He said that the park was his life and he couldn't stand the thought of leaving her, he was practically imortalized by the park with a sign in his honor at the front entrance that read; Home of Hungry Henry's which he loved to remind people of.
When they got up to his stand he didn't change a bit, he still had a keg of a belly and still had a big brown beard with pale blue eyes. He was wearing his signature apron that had "Who's Hungry?" written across it in what looked like ketchup and mustard along with his big white chef's hat that leaned slightly to the right. He was dancing in his stand which was really a trailer making the whole thing rock while he hummed some tune that no one else knew. Roy rang the bell and Henry stopped what he was doing and came over to the serving window before asking what they'd like in his big booming voice.
"Two corndogs please." Lauren said while Roy held up the money. "Extra batter please Henry."
"Lauren!" Henry's big voice said too loudly as he leaned out with a big smile on his face. "Ain't seen you in a year, thought you'd moved outta'ere and done somthin wich'yerself."
"Nope I'm still here Henry." She said with a smile at having seen him again still happy as ever to be doing what he loved. "How's the cooking been."
"Oh ya'know same ol same ol," Henry said disappearing into his trailer as he started on their corndogs. "Been thinking bout enterin that cook-off at this year's Collaboration Festival. Spose to some bigshot chef there saying he's better'n ol Hungry Henry's' Bah, them old rich people don't know the first thing bout good wholesome food. But never mind bout me, ow you beem an who's this wich'ya e'yer boyfrien?"
"Hopefully," Roy cut in making Lauren blush a little but she said nothing when he looked at her which made Henry laugh a big man's laugh as he called it.
"Hopefully? Either ya are, or ya aren't." Henry said as he turned around with two freshly made corndogs. "Ain't no inbetween there."
"Well it's just a date so far Henry," Lauren said taking the corndogs and handing one to Roy before she looked up at the old cook. "First date but so far he's got a good chance about being a boyfriend."
"If you say so Lauren." Henry said leaning down on his counter to look at them. "If I hear bout you mistreatin my little Lauren I'll show ya what's what, ya hear?"
"Yes sir," Roy said with a grin before he took Lauren by the hand and they both said bye to Henry before they walked away. "Oh my god, he still makes the best corndogs!"
"All about the batter," Lauren said taking a second bite of hers as they wound their way through the crowd. She could feel the pulsing of something in her chest like really loud music but that couldn't have been it could it? "Hey do you feel that?"
"That bumping in your chest? Yeah I feel it." Roy said taking the last bite of his corndog and throwing the stick in a trash can. "Sounds like the people in that club are having a good time."
"No kidding."
As the two of them walked past the last stand of Party Town they saw the bright strobing lights of the new club flashing through the air making the usual indigo sky as diverse as a rainbow. Lauren looked on the building that housed it and gasped when she saw that it wasn't just some new building but it was the White House! They made the former house of the president of the Untied States into a night club. Whoever owned it must've had to spend quite the pretty penny to get the rights to do that to a national monument, though it'd basically been a ruin after the war between humans and demons now it looked almost brand new. It wasn't white anymore but either a really dark grey or a light black, who knows it could've been both for all she knew but it looked like it had a metalic exterior because it was reflecting light back off of it. There were windows going all the way up the front of it from the ground to the roof with one more window outlining the very top of the building, but the real eye catcher was that across the front of it in big bright red lights it read the name of the club. Leon Pride.
A/N: Chapter 2!!!! Yay! So like I said there's going to be at least one more boring chapter after this one with Lauren but don't worry the pace will pick up for sure. So what do you guys think about this Party Town place, seem pretty fun? I'd definately go there if it really existed, amusement park, laser tag, movie theaters, a circus, and nightclubs!?! I'd LIVE there!!!! Anyway I hope you guys are liking this story so far, what do you think of this demon Carny seem looney enough??? Let me know you're guy's thoughts of this so far!!!!
Pic is Roy