To The Shock of Miss Louise (Carousel Series #1)

Chapter 10: Santa Cruz, CA | 1983

The Lost Boys and Ruby settled into a routine. She became accustomed to the nocturnal schedule of the Boys fairly easy. Occasionally they took her to the Boardwalk, but most nights they stayed in and played Poker and listened to Paul's rock box. It was still rather chilly for a lot of people to be on the Boardwalk.

Days passed into weeks, and weeks into four months. It was finally July in Santa Cruz. Slowly, warmth crept into the cave and the Boys got rowdy and more hyper then even they themselves were known for. Early parts of the night were spent in the wooded areas inland, working on their skills of defense and flying practice. Ruby would sometimes tag along, jotting down ideas for the script while watching the Boys toss each other around. Eventually, they would tire and head to the Boardwalk, for the night's real fun.

Ruby always rode with Marko or David, though at times she wondered what it would be like to ride with Paul or Dwayne. She felt she was still distant from them; Marko was her lover and David was technically her "boss", working with her on their script and teaching her what she needed to know about vampires. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever form a bond with them. Dwayne was somewhat hard to talk to, but always there if she needed someone.

And Paul was forever in his adolescent male humor, coming up with some sexual aspect to everything. He never forced the issue, which the other Boys always thought was quite surprising; their Paul hot for a girl but respecting the fact she was with Marko. Marko never worried because he knew his best friend would keep his paws off his girlfriend. Ruby had given thought to the fact that if she were to give Paul an inch, would he run it a mile? But she never wanted to find out. She was happy with her Marko.

Somehow, David had found an antique typewriter in a junk shop down the way from the Boardwalk and handed over enough money to have the thing repaired to working order. So day after day, while the Boys slept through the burning daylight, Ruby transcribed everything from the scraps of paper David had collected. It was slow going, but it gave Ruby something to do. It was only a matter of time now, before they would have a final copy and could take a vacation back down to Hollywood and shop it around.

Ruby sat hunched over the old typewriter. This thing was a pain, more trouble then it was worth. But it was all she had, and at least it wasn't electric. The cave wasn't exactly wired with power.

On her fourth cigarette in two hours, the half-empty pack sat on the arm of the couch next to her. Plunking away, letter-by-letter, having to stop every so often to check the ink ribbon or just curse the contraption, Ruby had kept lighting smoke after smoke. The fourth burned between the fingers of her right hand, as she ran over what she had just typed.

"Well at least that sentence made it though without typos." She sighed. The cave was still hot from the afternoon sun. It had been probably 100 degrees outside, she guessed. Enough to warrant her to be sitting there in nothing but her underwear. Taking a drag off her smoke, she adjusted the paper again and commenced another volley of typing.

"Man, I got to start getting up earlier." Marko's voice filled the chamber. Ruby looked up to find him leaning on the rough wall. His arms were crossed over his chest, his jacket still on the back of the chair down in the main cave.

"Why's that?" Ruby smiled, exhaling the smoke and setting her cigarette in the tray. Marko grinned, padding over to her. His hands cupped her face as he bent to kiss her. She kissed him back, toying with the edge of his shirt.

"So I can enjoy staring at you while you're dressed like this." He chuckled, stepping up on the couch and sitting behind her. Hands sliding down her bare arms.

"You've seen it all before. Nothing terribly special about my underwear." She laughed, leaning back against him. His arms wrapped around her and a kiss was placed to the side of her neck.