to the weekend without anything blowing up in my face. Theo hadn’t shown back up at my work, I hadn’t given August a reason to pull me over, and Lisa had cleared up her schedule so she was in charge of the pickups and drop-offs again. My phone still buzzed all the time with calls from Ben, but they’d even lessened in frequency. I considered things to be leveling out, even though I was still being blackmailed for baked goods.
When Megan invited me to come along with her on a guided tour of Lunar that Saturday afternoon, I was actually excited to get out of the house and do something. That excitement almost crashed and burned when I got to the parking lot where the bus would pick up the tour and found Megan announcing that I was going to be in charge of leading it.
Her laugh was evil when I glared at her, but when the old tour bus pulled up, a monstrosity that was a school bus turned convertible, I decided I was going to have fun with it. Lunar Tours were just weird enough that no matter what I said, it wouldn’t stand out.
As we all loaded onto the psychedelically painted, wannabe double-decker bus, I elbowed Megan and shook my head at her. “You asked for whatever comes out of my mouth.”
She rubbed her hands together and took the seat at the very front, right next to where I’d be standing. “Can’t wait.”
With Lunar being home to the World’s Largest Potato Chip, previously cleaned by our little gang of goons, and the supposed abduction sites, the tour attracted a weird lot. I looked out over the group of twenty and spotted a few senior citizens with shirts boasting their trip to the chip, along with a few guys around my age who looked like they were already baked out of their minds.
“Ready?”
I looked back at the bus driver and saw that it was Johnny G, a guy that graduated a year before the rest of us. He’d always been kind to me, probably because he was also always baked out of his mind. I grinned and high-fived him when he offered his hand to me. “Johnny! Hey!”
“Reagan James! Is your brother around. I’d hug you, but Russ still gives me threatening looks.” He winked. “After. We’ll catch up after these alien lovers get their fix.”
I nodded along and looked back at Megan, who was grinning as wide as ever. “Did Russ threaten people? For real?”
One of the older people started complaining. “The paper said the tour starts at nine. It’s two after!”
Johnny laughed and looked to me for the go-ahead. I took over my new position of power and nodded to him before looking over at Megan again. Shaking my head at her, I just jumped in, pointing out whatever we drove past, including things that made no sense.
“The house with the blue door on your left is the house where our co-guide, Megan, got drunk for the first time. There were no aliens involved, but the projectile vomiting was something otherworldly.”
I let go of the need to stay polite and had fun. Megan had to step in and talk about the actual stops on tour because it turned out that I couldn’t say more than someone thought they were abducted by aliens here. It was closer to the end of the tour when we were driving past Landings and I looked over at made eye contact with August. He was sitting with Charlie and Theo at a table outside, each of them lost in conversation.
Feeling slap happy, I turned up the microphone and gestured towards them. “If you’ll look to your left, you’ll see three men sitting at a table outside of Landings. While completely average looking, they are three of the abductees from town. They alleged that during a night like any other, while hanging out in their hot tub, big green men showed up and plied them with beer and tasty snacks, like beef jerky and Little Debbie cakes, luring them back to their ship.”
I giggled as August crossed his arms over his chest, looking unamused. He shook his head as someone snapped a photo of them. “Not funny, Rea.”
Johnny stopped the bus and opened the door, despite the missing roof. “Wanna ride? It’ll be our own reunion.”
Megan grinned and took the mic. “Yes, let’s get three of Lunar’s abductees on this tour. You all can ask them all the questions you’d like. Just be sensitive about probing.”
I bit my lip and failed at stopping a grin as the guys left money on the table for their food and climbed on board. August gripped my hip as he moved past, his eyes full of reluctant humor. Charlie was full-on laughing, his smile easy as he wrapped his arms around me, seemingly forgetting our last awkward encounter. Theo stopped right in front of me and stared down at me, refusing to move until I met his gaze.
“Hostess.”
I scrunched my nose in confusion. “What?”
He sighed. “They were Hostess cakes. And it wasn’t beer. It was wine.”
My grin stretched wide and stayed on my face for the rest of the tour. I watched as the guys played along with whatever I said, and by the time it was over, even the elderly couple were cheering for the act they were putting on.
Johnny parked and stood next to me as Megan and I stared in amusement as the guys reenacted how the aliens made them play Twister, a game they couldn’t win because the aliens apparently had six legs and four arms.
“I can honestly say I never expected to see this. Serious August and Grumpy Theo acting out scenes of an abduction? What did you do to them?”
I cursed my blush as I looked over at Johnny. “Me? Nothing!”
He wrapped me in a hug that smelled like patchouli and mint. “Call me if you ever find yourself bored and lonely, Reagan James.”
Megan and I got off the bus first and stood off to the side, waving goodbye to everyone between gossiping. She’d slapped my arm no less than thirty times in her excitement.
“I can’t believe Johnny just asked you out. He’s cute.” She bumped me with her hip. “Come out with me and Kara tonight? I can’t wait to fill her in on today. She’s going to be pissed she missed the tour.”
I glanced over at where August was talking to some of the stoned guys, who definitely didn’t realize he was a cop. “I’d love that. And he didn’t really ask me out, per se.”
“Watch this.” Megan waved Theo and Charlie over, ignoring my look for her to shut up. “We’re debating whether Johnny G just asked Reagan out or not. He very sexily said for her to call him if she was ever bored or lonely. I’m a married lesbian, but I think I can still tell when a man is asking a woman out.”
Theo lifted one eyebrow as he looked at me. “Sounds like he was asking for a hook-up.”
“Asshole.” Charlie scowled at the bus as it pulled away and then nodded to August, who’d just joined us. “Johnny G just propositioned Rea.”
Ignoring Megan’s quiet laughter, I raised my voice to be heard over the stupid amount of testosterone pumping out of them right then. “Johnny didn’t proposition me. He was just being nice. He knows I’m newly back in town, so it’s logical that I might find myself lonely. He was being a friend.”
“Just like high school.” August put his hands on his hips and looked after the bus. “Hipster mother—”
“Okay! This was fun! You guys made the tour for everyone.” I grinned broadly, doing my best to change the subject. “Thank you. I had fun.”
Charlie still looked annoyed, but he was the first to move on. “Want to hang out tonight? We’re drinking with my cat.”
Megan snorted. “I beat you to the punch, kids.”
I nodded and hooked my elbow through hers. “I’m going out with Megan and I’m meeting her wife tonight. Finally.”
“It’s been like two minutes.” Megan rolled her eyes and pushed me away. “Get a grip, woman.”
I took her elbow again and motioned to Megan’s much larger car. “Megan will give you a ride back to Landings. Since it was her tour that kidnapped you, by the way. I’ve got a stop to make before I meet Kara for the first time.”
It was clear the guys were frustrated, but I didn’t wait around to hear them out. The less time I spent alone with them, the better. I practically ran out of there, desperate to get away.
If only I’d kept that same mindset later that night.
