Eccentric

Chapter 2

We talked about life for a while, and I learned that the red-haired one went by Party Poison, the short dark-haired one went by Fun Ghoul, the afro one was Jet Star, and Party Poison's brother, the tall blond one, went by Kobra Kid. They seemed to be nice enough, but eventually we were done eating, and the sun had started to come up. 

"Well, I guess we oughtta get going now, before BLind sees us," Party Posoin said, appearing ot be the leader in all of this mess.

"Are you the leader here?" I asked them.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," they replied. We got into their oddly painted car, a shade of off-white with a big spider on the hood, and an American flag painted around the side. It was a pretty neat car, but I had seen better. 

Kobra must have seen me gawking at their cool car, because he yelled from inside, "Hey, get in already." I got in the back with Kobra and Ghoul, Jet Star sitting shotgun with Party driving. 

"Where are we going?" I asked no one in particular.

"Home base, we stay at a diner," Party answered.

"An abandoned one, right?"

"No, we run a diner 24/7 and advertise that we live and work there. Of course it's abandoned!" they said.

"Sorry about them," Kobra whispered. "They're always a little cranky when they don't sleep, and we've been out for such a long time, they have been too on edge to sleep for about three days."

"Why can't they sleep?" I asked, apparently a little too loudly, because Party heard me.

"Because, if I sleep, then they can't sleep, and a good leader always puts his soldiers' needs first." They had a point there. They must be a really good leader.

While I was thinking about this, the car suddenly stopped. I realized we were at a really old looking diner.  We got out of the car, and they led me into the diner. Inside, it still looked somewhat like a diner should, though the health rating would be pretty low, I think. They led me to a room in the back of the diner. In it, I saw two sets of bunk beds. Crap. Floor it is. 

"You can take my bed," Jet said. 

"No, that's okay, I'm not going to intrude like that." These guys are too nice.

"Oh, but I insist."

"Nope, I won't, and that's final. I'll take the floor." 

Kobra regarded my fairly plain outfit. I was wearing jeans, a (favorite band) shirt, and converse. "You need to dress more like us."

"You're about Party's size," Jet said. I blushed. So did Party.

"Well, let's find you something then, shall we?" Party asked me. I nodded and followed them to one of the trunks at the foot of the beds. They leaned over and pulled a few things out. "Here, try some of these on and find something you like." I took the pile of neatly folded clothes and looked around for a bathroom to change in.

"Bathroom's over there." Ghoul pointed at a door down the hall.

Once I had tried on all of the outfits, I ended up wearing a galaxy print tank top, a purple leather jacket, and my old jeans, because Party was taller than me. I gave them back the rest of the clothes that hadn't fit, and they all took in the outfit. The jacket was a little loose, but that's how I like it anyway, so the whole thing looked great. Ghoul whistled. I'm guessing he's the one that will never stop flirting with me.

"You look...nice." Party was blushing at me wearing their clothes.

After that they went to their beds, and I slept on the floor near Party's bed on the bottom. They took off their jacket and laid it over me delicately, thinking I was already asleep. Shortly after, I was.

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I woke up sometime in the middle of the night, only to see the bed next to me empty. Where were they? I went in search of Party. I went first into the main area of the diner, and there they were, with their head in their hands. Were they crying? 

"Party, are you crying?"

They coughed. "No." They clearly were.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Party, I don't know you very well, but I know you enough to know that you're upset."

"You'll think it's dumb."

"No, I won't just tell me." They looked back down. I put my hand on their shoulder.

"My mother died recently, and I still have to tell Kobra."

"Oh." I wasn't expecting that. "Are you okay?"

"No. But I will be. I just have to figure out how to tell him."

"Well, right now, you need sleep. Go to bed Party."

"I can't. Then we'll be vulnerable."

"I'll stay up. You can trust me." They leaned on my shoulder, and soon they had fallen asleep on my shoulder, breathing steadily. I stayed like that all night.