Escaping RiverCreek

Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Intensity

Cory speeds back to Kayla's house. He pulls up behind the Celica, flashing the high beams a couple of times. He waits a moment while Rick stumbles out the bedroom window, trying to slip on his overcoat. Fumbling into the Man-Van, Rick appears pissed by the interruption.

"What the hell, homie? You know I was busy in there and her parents almost caught us!"

Cory's expression refuses to change. In fact, he glares over at Rick with a look of disdain.

"Hey, my mother nearly caught me and Tara. She thinks it was you and Kayla. Now we need to get our asses back so she doesn't go looking for us—or worse, call your parents."

Rick gulps hard as he learns about the turn of events. "Guess we should go then," he stutters as he begins to pull out the keys to the Celica.

Cory snatches his keys from Rick's hand.

"Yeah, let's roll on out of here, man," Cory says, opening the driver's side door, then running through the cold night air to his car.

Rick waits for Cory to pull away before he drops his Man-Van into drive to follow him home. By the time both vehicles pull up alongside the curb, they notice Mrs. Dubois sitting in her car, waiting on them. She kills the engine to the cruiser and gets out to wave the boys over before she cups her hands together to protect herself from the frigid cold air.

Once out of the night air, the three of them take a minute to warm up once the door is closed before anything is said.

"Well, boys, how was the date?" Mrs. Dubois asks, slowly removing her leather jacket.

"It was ... g-g-good, Ma ..." Cory manages to mumble.

"Well, that's a good thing. Now, young man, I'm disappointed in you, taking Miss Kayla down to the riverfront like that. She's a hard-working, classy gal. You better treat her like a lady and not some two-dollar hooker. Hooking up in the back of your van—I'm ashamed."

Caught in disbelief, Rick nods his head, responding, "Yes, ma'am," taking the rap for Cory and Tara.

She chuckles at his pathetic apology. Sherriff Dubois hangs up her jacket and lumbers to her bedroom.

"Thanks for covering for me, man," Cory whispers, placing his jacket up last before they stroll to the bedroom.

Once the door is closed, Rick replies, "Hey, it was my idea, so it's all good, but if you don't mind, I'm gonna jump online and talk to Kay for a minute."

He waves Rick over to his computer. "Nah, go ahead. I'm gonna sit on the bed and read."

The boys sit and dive into their own thing for about an hour before the feeling of exhaustion slowly creeps in as their eyes begin to feel heavy.

"Hey, man, let's get ready to crash. Got a big game tomorrow, ya know," Cory says during an extended yawn.

"Yeah, I was about to jump off anyways. Let's call it a night. I wanna see you kick ass tomorrow."

Lifting the mattress, the boys set the spare one on the floor. Cory motions for Rick to take the bed while he sleeps on the spare mattress on the floor.

"Nah, man, I'm good on this one," Rick argues back.

"You're the guest, so go ahead. My way of saying thank you for saving my ass with my mother."

Not wanting to argue over it anymore, Rick flops onto the bed and covers up.

"Night, brother."

"Night, man."