That Blue Gibson

CH 35

"All right, get out," Liz leaned against Dave and Krist's table and gathered up their empty beer glasses. They both looked up at her with bleary eyes as she wiped down their table with a wet rag, but they didn't move. "Don't make me sing the song, guys," she called over her shoulder with a laugh, taking their glasses back to the bar.

"Sing it!" Krist slumped back in his chair with a grin.

Liz went about closing up the bar as she loudly sang the Semisonic song as off-key as she could. Dave laughed as Krist drunkenly tried to headbang to her song before joining Liz at the bar. She looked up when he leaned against a roughed timber post.

"Need help?" he watched her finish loading the countertop dishwasher and press the start button.

"Nope!" she smiled at him and threw a rag over her shoulder, "I'm all done! Where are you two headed after this?"

Dave looked over at Krist who was leaning forward on the tabletop with his chin in his hands, watching them with interest.

"Oh, jesus," Liz laughed, "I'll drive you home."

*

Liz slid into the front seat of Krist's electric car while Dave shoved his friend in the backseat. She looked all over the dashboard for an ignition but found nothing that looked even close to one.

"Start!" she yelled at the steering wheel, "Please?"

Dave climbed into the front seat next to her and held Krist's keys to a small square next to the radio. Liz shook her head as the car quietly started.

"Goddamn rocket ships," she muttered, putting her seatbelt on.

"Your car will be okay here overnight?" Dave asked, looking around the dark parking lot behind the bar.

"Oh, I didn't drive," Liz said as they backed out of their parking space, "I was going to take the beach home."

"She means walk," Krist leaned forward into the front seat.

"You can just walk along the beach at night?" Dave looked at Liz, surprised.

"It's the Oregon Coast, not Watts," she laughed and turned onto the town's main drag.

The entire town was closed down for the night, though it was only 10:30. A few couples were walking towards the hotels, but the sidewalks were otherwise deserted. Liz drove just a few blocks before turning down a short gravel road that ended with a public beach access and pulled over in front of the last house.

"Ever been here before?" Liz asked Dave as they followed Krist up the flagstone path to the bright blue front door.

Dave shook his head and looked over her shoulder towards the ocean where a fishing boat's lights bobbed a few miles out.

"You'll love it," he could see her smile in the dim light and turn to Krist as he struggled to get his key into the deadbolt, "I'm gonna go through the back, Krist. Night, guys," and before Dave could speak, she hopped off the porch and disappeared around the side of the small cottage.

Krist managed to get the front door open and Dave followed him inside, heading straight to the back of the house to see where Liz went. The small backyard was illuminated by a half moon and he could just see her walking up a little hillside to the house directly behind Krist's. It was bigger, at least two stories, with a wraparound porch on the lower level and deck on the upper. He watched her walk inside and the lower level lit up as she closed the door behind her. A few moments later, the lights in the upstairs flickered on, revealing a dining room and kitchen. She appeared in the kitchen window, busy pulling her hair into a knot at the top of her head when Dave's phone beeped. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and grinned.