Ghosted (completed)

Calling All The Monsters

Axel sulked in the passenger seat without as a glance in my direction. I'd had to pry his car keys from between his fingers once he'd finished them from his pocket. Though he seemed to have sobered up a good bit during our conversation on the porch, there was no way I was letting him risk ours, or someone else's life, by driving under the influence. Oliver had disappeared as soon as I'd pulled away from the house, promising to return, but it'd been close to twenty minutes of driving in the darkness, the break lights flashing on Marcus' car and the dim headlights of Axel's the only source.

"There's no way." I finally whispered my thoughts out loud. "King wouldn't—"

The words trailed into the tense air between Axel and me for a while as I lost myself in my head again.

I knew King. I'd known him for ten years; the guy may be a poser and people pleaser, but he wasn't a murderer. Sure, he had his issues with Oliver, but not enough to kill him, surely.

"Wouldn't what?" Axel's husky voice filled the car as his eyes flickered from the dark road stretching on ahead, to me. "Are you sure you really know the guy?"

There was an almost condescending tone in his voice as he spoke, and it took everything in me not to pull the car on to the side of the road and cross my arms like a petty child until he stopped treating me like one. Unnerved by the question, I diverted the subject momentarily.

"Oliver grabbed the cup at the party."

"What?"

I shot him a quick look. "The beer? The one that I apparently dumped on you and the girl you were planning on getting it on with over the island in the kitchen? I watched Oliver grab it and splash it on you guys. Then I blinked and it was me in front of you."

"You grabbed the cup, Ophelia." Axel denied my previous comment with a snicker. "You walked into the kitchen, froze, then stalked across the room and grabbed the cup. Then you threw it on us."

That wasn't what happened, but I knew we'd spend all night arguing over it, so I dropped the subject for now. To my relief, Axel leaned forward and broke the silence before it could become unbearable.

"They're pulling off the interstate." he stated. "Get ready to turn left."

"Yes, Dad." I grumbled.

He wasn't amused by the comment, or maybe it was the realization of where my best friend was driving the lot of his friends too that'd altered his mood further. "Shit."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"They're heading for the lake."

I frowned, momentarily lost in thought as I tried to piece together what could possibly be concerning about that.

"That's the only thing this far out." Axel explained, taking my confused look as an indication I hadn't heard him the first time. "I've been out here hundreds of times."

Just as I contemplated the idea of turning around, Oliver nearly gave me a heart attack as he poked his head between the seats and said, "He's right. They're skinny dipping."

Once I'd slowed my heart rate, my nose started to scrunch at the thought of seeing King or Marcus naked.

"What?" Axel questioned, eyebrows raised as he took in my new expression.

"Oliver said you're right." I feigned a gag. "He says they're planning on skinny dipping."

Axel sighed. "Of course they are."