Deep Waters

Chapter Twenty

The drive was short, and the town was even smaller than I could have ever imagined. Even going by everyone's descriptions, I couldn't believe my eyes. "Seriously, where in the world are we?" I asked as Kason pulled into a small parking lot outside of a run-down grocery store.

"I don't know but I kind of like it." I knew Kason wasn't a minuscule town kind of guy but I didn't question his words.

There was a gas station, a clothing store, a grocery store, and a farming store. That's all I could see within sight. Not to mention that it was all within the same square mile. And I'm not great with depth perception but my guess was that the town was even smaller than a square mile. It was a weird sight for such a small place in this large area of nowhere. I wondered how in the world these businesses were making any money. There were people walking around but as a small town, there weren't many. And every building looked run down and unkempt. Everywhere looked dirty and nobody seemed to care.

We decided to just park the truck, get out and walk around since everything was within walking distance to each other. As we did, everyone we passed stared at us, obviously knowing that we weren't from around here. One thing I admired about small towns is the fact that everybody knows each other, so it's easy to have a place like that feel like home. But these people just seemed judgmental and not very welcoming at all. Apparently they didn't get many tourists around here...if any.

"So, Hazel tried to make a move on me."
"Wait, what?" I turned to my boyfriend for further information. He had totally caught me off guard. And I was completely not okay with this girl we just met flirting with Kason.

He chuckled and his deep-blue eyes lighting up with amusement. "I'm kidding."

I furrowed my eyebrows, feeling a little frustrated. "Then why did you say it?"

"Well it got your attention, didn't it?" He smiled. "What's on your mind, Hun?"

I started looking around again and spotted two guys just standing outside of the clothing store, smoking cigarettes and staring at us as if we had three heads. "I'm just thinking that this place is a little...odd," I carefully picked my word choice.

Pursing his lips, he examined our surroundings. "Hm. Well, there's horse poop every ten feet that you have to avoid stepping in that no one apparently cares enough to bother to clean it up and everybody living here is probably related, so yes, I guess you could say this place is odd," he replied.

I rolled my eyes at him making him laugh. Kason reached over and clasped my hand in his, swinging our hands as we walked, him with a little more pep in his step. "Come on Babe, relax a little. We are safe. Yes, this place isn't at all what we are used to, but we have a chance to just lay back and relax for a little while. Let's just take advantage of this opportunity of exploring new places and have fun with it." I looked at him, constantly finding myself amused by his quirks, but nodded. "You're probably just a little paranoid," he added. "We should all have a movie night tonight like we used to back in our says of a simpler life." I laughed at his choice of words.

"Okay," I finally said, realizing that this guy I called mine, never failed to put a smile on my face.

His eyes lit up. "Let's see if they have any scary movies," he said, directing us to one of the stores.

"My idea of fun is watching a comedy, not a scary movie."

"No, your idea of fun is watching a rom-com," Kason corrected me, making me realize he was right. "And fine, we can get both." I realized instead of letting me win, he compromised. I guess I was being forced to watch a horror movie tonight.

***

I hope you all have a happy new year:)

~Emily