flames | The Lost Boys (1987) | revised

| TEN |

The next day, my aunt sent me out of the house with a smile and a question. "Why don't you invite the boys over for dinner tomorrow night. I'm sure they'd like something homemade to eat, and your mother can meet them." Before I could even respond, she had shut the door, so I was left to my own devices to figure out if I should tell them to come over.

On one hand, I'm sure they wouldn't mind good food and to talk to my aunt for a bit, but on the other, my mother would probably throw a fit. Plus, I wasn't sure Dwayne or Paul owned a real shirt. They each only really wore the same outfit over and over like a cartoon character. I mulled over the options in my head on the drive there, but once I made it to the boardwalk and the boys asked where I wanted to eat, I made up my mind. I would invite them.

So, I told them the plan while we messed around on the carousel, and they promised to find decent clothes to wear and to be on their best behavior. Of course, then Marko almost got into a fight with a surf-nazi that Dwayne had to pull him away from once the guy pulled out a knife. They decided to call it a day after that, and we were about to head to the cave when I made an off-hand comment about how David's coats were beginning to smell bad. Then, we were whisked in the opposite direction to a laundromat that was more into the city than we normally went.

It was a twenty-four-seven wash tucked in between a bakery and a family-owned grocery store. There was no one inside, but music plays faintly over speakers, a poppy radio station. Marko hopped on top of a laundry machine almost immediately, kicking his legs back and forth, while Paul went to inspect the coin machine. David and Dwayne were staring at each other for a few moments before Dwayne started digging in his pockets and David went around collecting clothes that needed to be washed badly.

Everyone ended up shedding their jackets, adding a few extra clothes along the way - Marko's chaps and Paul's pants specifically. He certainly didn't mind walking around in only his underwear for a bit.

Once everyone had been settled in and the clothes were being run through a cold, delicate spin cycle, I hopped up onto a laundry machine by Marko and looked at Dwayne. He met my gaze and cocked an eyebrow as if asking if I needed something. David walked over and stood beside him, leaning against a dryer. Paul was wandering around, messing with buttons and dials.

"How do you two do that thing," I asked Dwayne as I scooted closer to Marko. Dwayne tilted his head a bit, questioningly. "The thing where you, like, know what each other want, but you're not talking or signing. How do you know?"

Dwayne looked at David for a second and then turned back to me. "It's a vampire trick. Since we all share a bond through whose blood we drank, we can talk using our minds. We use sign language out in public so we don't look suspicious, but mental communication is another option we have."

"Oh," I said, swinging my legs like Marko was. "So, hypothetically, you could talk about someone behind their back - literally - without them even knowing?"

Dwayne chuckled. "Worried?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "No," I trailed off, "maybe a little." I didn't think they were making fun of me or anything, it was just a bit strange. "It's very cool, though, that you can just talk whenever, wherever. I mean, are there limitations to it? What does it feel like?"

"There's not really a limit. Since we're bound by blood, we're pretty much fully connected. David could be half-way across the world, and I could still hear him if I wanted to."

Marko cut in next. "I prefer to talk in real life, though. Talking to someone with your head is something you can never really get used to. It makes my head all fuzzy because of all the voices, so I try to cut it out as much as I can."