Trapped (egobang trans)

Chapter 29 - Late Night Lake

A/N: okay seriously this song is amazing! As if the original wasn't great as is :0000

It was starting to get dark when they finally walked out of the cinema. Arin blinked up at the sky, feeling like she'd just walked out of a time machine. She looked at her phone and was surprised to see that it was almost 7 - two hours later. She'd been so riveted, it didn't feel that long.

"That was great! Awesome find, dude,"complimented Danny, looking over at Sung.

Without hesitation everyone agreed, and Sung's face split into a broad grin.

"Aw, it was nothing! So, wha'd'ya wanna do now?" he replied.

Arin blinked in confusion, checking the time again just in case.

"Isn't it kind of late?" she said with a tilt of her head.

"Late is the best time to hang out, bud! Ya never seen the town at night? It's coooool!" Meouch retorted playfully.

Everyone except Arin looked in agreement about the situation and even started suggesting where they could go. Arin stood idly back, wanting to call her mum to pick her up but not wanting to be a kill-joy. Danny glanced over at her and his smile dropped. He detached himself from the main group and walked over, looking at Arin with a sympathetic expression.

"You don't have to come," he assured gently, "Not if it'll be too much."

It stung Arin that she gave off that impression. Sure, she was anxious and if left to her instincts would never leave her house, but she didn't want that to be her identity. Besides, this entire trip was outside of her comfort zone as it was. What was one more thing? She shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I actually haven't seen the town at night before, so it'll be fun," she said surely.

Danny blinked, speechless for a moment. Then, he huffed a laugh and clapped Arin on the back.

"These small victories of yours are getting bigger."

Returning to TWRP and Brian, apparently it had been decided that they were going to go to the central area of town, where there was a large lake apparently. Thinking about it Arin had never spent much time there, so she was open to the idea.

Trusting Brian to navigate (Meouch really wanted to, but none of them really fancied getting lost that evening) the group set off down the road. The sky continued to darken and soon the street lamps came to life. The amount of people around thinned until they were pretty much the only ones on the street, the cold silent night their only companion.

Typically Arin would be scared of such situations, but tonight was oddly exhilarating. She was surrounded by friends, not so alone in the lonely night. And that was comforting.

Grass replaced concrete and the twinkle of starlight in a body of water could be seen in the distance. Arin marveled at the shadowy foliage around them as they reached the bank. There was a path running it's perimeter which was dimly lit by the occasional street lamps. The lake trickled softly as the breeze made ripples in its surface, and for once even Meouch was silent as they all stood along the path, watching them in the starlight.

"Pretty, isn't it?" said Meouch off to the side, his tone uncharacteristically soft.

"Yeah..." Arin could hardly tear her eyes away.

"God, I feel like an old ma- uh, person looking at this. I see the appeal of a retirement spent sitting on a porch for hours. The world is beautiful... if you let it be," Danny rambled slowly.

They all chuckled at it, but they all knew what he meant.

"Um, what's there to do here? Sorry, kinda missed the rest of the plan," Danny asked after another length of silence.