Disguise

Road Sense

"I'll have the large tea, and one of those mini muffins." Xena placed her order at the cashier. The teenager smiled at her and nodded, typing her order into the computer and hitting enter. The machine made a small noise as it generated the bill.

"Why don't you both take a seat, we'll send your order to you." She told us warmly, handing me the bill and a table number.

"So, what is our plan for this night?" I asked her, Xena had been bobbing up and down since she came back to the hotel from her meeting and found Reece and me cuddled in bed. Needless to say, she'd thrown the Alpha King out with startling ease before lecturing me about how this was a vacation and I needed to get out of the hotel. Truth be told, I was still rather exhausted, but Reece assured me that this was normal for someone who had just been marked.

I'd only woken up a few minutes before Xena had stormed in.

So, here we were, settling on a small two person table and waiting for our coffee and tea at 5 p.m. and strolling through the streets of the main town. It was getting dark, due to the surprisingly strong cloud cover. Luckily, we'd both remembered to carry umbrellas and we had a car anyway.

"I'm thinking we'll go out for this midnight feast thing. I read it on one of the hotel boards, they're doing a huge feast at midnight at the Triora top." Triora was one of the four mountains that surrounded this place. "It's an annual thing hosted by the hotel with tour guides and like tons of delicious food," she added, her tone laced with excitement.

It sounded like a fun plan, but the dark clouds above were a threat. Xena followed my gaze, "Oh don't worry, it's only five right now, the shower will come and go by ten o'clock max." She informed me, opening up the weather app on her phone and turning the screen towards me.

"Okay then it sounds good." I cheered, doing a small jiggle of excitement. The waiter came with our order and left. "So, I was thinking that we visit the lake, before grabbing a light dinner - we don't want to be too full for the feast - and then directly go for the feast?" I asked and she looked up from her tea and nodded happily. "Sure, let's do that."

The lake was called Ora Lake, and it was a popular tourist location for camping overnight. It was one of the biggest lakes in the state, and despite the large crowd that came to it everyday, it was supposed to be very clean.

"We can go check out the tents and rates and everything and then decide if we want to spend one night there," I suggested as we made our way back to the car. "God, I hope they have tents available!" she whined, crossing her fingers - a childhood habit. I laughed at her cuteness before getting into the driver's seat, it was my turn to drive today.

Switching on her phone, she put the location of Lake Ora and hit navigate.

"It says twenty two minutes," She informed me as I moved the stick into gear and eased out of the parking space.

"Hey, do you want to invite the others too?" Xena piped up suddenly, her eyes fixed on Google Maps. I kept mine on the road, "Others? You mean Reece and all?" I asked her, just to be sure and I could see her nod from the corner of my eyes.

"Turn left here." She added, when I didn't reply immediately. As much as I wanted them to come, this was our vacation. I'd promised Xena that we'd go for one since so long and when we finally got here I couldn't be distracted.

"I know what's going on in that tiny head of yours." She informed me, and I tried to not respond to the 'tiny.' Instead, I shrugged, keeping my eyes on the road because I was a responsible driver. "You know, it's not like they're only your friends. I had fun with them too. Don't think that only you might leave me alone, I might." She joked, but put her hand on my shoulder to make sure I got how sincere she was.