2019-07-16 - A Garden Party Revisited

The Addington's garden party is the main event of the summer in Gray Harbor, or at least it was at one time to a certain set of people. The estate they've set up for such a party has a large rolling lawn with a big white main tent and a few smaller ones as well. Everyone is decked out in their summer whites and pastels chatting in groups across the property.

A small group of young teenagers is secluded off behind a hedge, and one rather short but loud boy is speaking in harsh but hushed tones. "Seriously, I'm telling you. No one is going to care or notice." Young Easton is decked out in not one, not two, but three pastel polo shirts all with colors popped as he hands the bottle of rum to another boy in the group. "Take a drink and pass or just pass."

Justin sits with legs stretched out in front of him, back against a tree, in white linen pants and a jacket that's rolled up at the sleeves over a pale blue shirt. "Just give it here," he says, holding out a hand and opening and closing it when the boy seems hesitant to drink from the bottle. "Seriously, how do you survive these things sober?" Leaning forward, he just takes it, and tips it back, taking a swig before passing it on. "It's not like your mother is paying attention. I saw her go around behind the side of the house at least fifteen minutes ago. Bets on whether she remembers to pull the leaves out of her hair when she comes back?"

The boy shoots Justin a glare, and Justin just grins back. At this age, he was still free to avoid his folks, and talking to people, or doing any of the things he'd be obligated to do later in life. For now, he was free, to get plastered if he wanted to, behind a hedge.

Easton hands over the bottle of rum to Justin, with an exagerated eye roll at Chad who sulks about the comment about his mom. Mostly because all the boys present still remember the 4th of July and the watermelon incident from two years ago. That memory's not going to fade anytime soon. Easton grouses, "I don't understand why they even bother pretending like we're not drinking. Back east we just drink with the adults."

"Oh my god, if you say 'back east' one more time? I'm literally going to vomit." Another boy in the group, Teddy, chimes in and makes a gagging motion.

Easton flips him off, the height of maturity, and says, "Whatever. At least I don't have to skulk about in the bushes like a gardener." He grumbles and takes back the bottle from Teddy who tries to grab it back. Easton just stiff arms him and says, "Too damn bad, you want a drink, go steal your own bottle."

"Yeah, back home we'd just drink with everyone else. Or you know, fuck off and go do something else after the obligatory photo bullshit," Justin says, ignoring the eyerolling from Chad. It'd be cruel if it weren't true -- but it's so, so very true. Teddy gets a smirk, "Are you, Teddy? Are you going to literally vomit, rather than figuratively vomit? Are you sure you don't want to metaphysically vomit? I hear that's trendy these days." He even throws in a valley-girl emphasis on the world /literally/ every time that he says it.

"Alright, there's got to be somewhere else we can drink other than behind this shrub. There's like a boat house around here nearby isn't there? Or an old stable, carriage house, something? Anything?" He looks over at Teddy. Teddy's a local. "Can you /literally/ find us someplace with less dirt?"

"Yea well, welcome to Gray Harbor, this is the only thing happening in the entire town." Easton passes the bottle back to Justin. At the mention of a boat house, Easton's eyebrows raise and he looks to the other boys for confirmation. "Wait if there's a boat house, then why are we not out on a damn boat right now?"

Teddy and Chad look at one another and having had about enough of the outsiders showing them up and telling them how backwards their town is and how scared they are of doing anything, find a bit of backbone. "Fine. Let's go take their boat out."

Easton just shrugs as if they suggested this plan completely of their own and looks to Justin, saying, "I'm game. But we're going to need another bottle. And to be clear, I don't mean white wine." This last part is said to Chad who's been so nervous about all of this up to now that he's hardly even taken a sip of booze, let alone swiped a bottle.

Justin takes the bottle back and takes another swig from it while Teddy and Chad finally figure out where they'd left their spines. "Sounds good to me," Justin says, finding that a reasonable suggestion from these two fine local gentleman. "See, I knew you guys could come up with a better place than this." He pulls himself up to his feet then and glances toward Chad when Easton suggests that they need another bottle. He hands the current one back to Easton, and then folds his arms, leaning against the tree, waiting to see how Chad will take that news.

Chad, for his part, suddenly turns an even whiter shade of pale, not helped by his pastel wardrobe. It makes him look like the ghost of golf outings past. He swallows and says, "Me?" which actually comes out a bit squeaky. "I, uh.. right.. sure. I can do that." Bolstered by the idea of the boat house and getting away from the party, he makes a very, very clumsy attempt at stealthing his way into the back door of the house. Of course, everyone saw him go. No one cared.

"Yes. You." Easton confirms helpfully for Chad despite the fact that the question didn't really require an answer. He says, "You can do it" in a patronizing but overall encouraging tone. He then sighs as Chad doesn't even try to sneak. Because while Easton may complain about having to skulk around, he might begrudgingly admit later that it's a little fun to sneak around.

Once Chad has returned with a bottle of vodka, Teddy leads the way to the boat house. They take a path that leads them far enough away from the actual party that they can continue to pass around the bottles, of which they most certainly did not need two.

The boathouse is as grand as you would expect for such a property, looking more like a beautiful cottage on the watersedge than a functional boat garage. The doors locked though when Teddy goes to try it and Chad, with relief in his voice says, "Well I guess we need to find somewher-" He doesn't even finish what he's saying before the first of three polos gets flung over his face. Easton shakes his head and says, "No. We're not giving up that easily. I'll swim in and unlock it."

Need. Want. Desire to make Chad do something he didn't want to with the chance he might get caught and hilarity might ensue. Tomayto tomahto. Justin chuckles as Easton starts shucking polos to go swim in and open it up. "Which begs the question -- why lock it at all if someone can just swim in and unlock it?" These, and other mysteries of life. He has the slightest flush, as he's been hitting the rum pretty hard now that they have two bottles -- there's no real reason not to.

Teddy reaches for the bottle and Justin just looks at him until his hand drops. Chad pushes the bottle of vodka into Teddy's hands, happy to be rid of it for the moment, and to peel the polo off of his face. "Why are you even wearing three of these? Aren't you hot as fuck?"

"Because otherwise I might get mistaken for a local." Easton calls back easily as he kicks off his loafers and shucks off his white linen pants. He takes one more swig of the rum before handing it back to Justin and then shrugs at the question, "Because they're not all that smart?" He doesn't seem bothered by stripping down to his boxers. And he walks down the embankment and slides into the water. "Ah! It's cold as fuck!"

Teddy looks at the clothes and considers throwing them into the water after Easton but decides against it for now at least. "Quit your bitchin' and get in there."

Easton ducks under the water and swims into the boathouse, around the luxury yacht. It's a small boat, but well decked out and maintained. He manages to pull himself up the ladder of the boat and then make his way onto the decking on the inside of the darkened boathouse. It's funny how little light actually makes it into the building. Somehow the light reflecting off the water outside makes it seem almost pitch black inside. The lapping of the water against the boat and the creak of the decking as Easton walks is interrupted by a deep scratching sound that causes him to stop. He looks back over his shoulder, standing stock still, trying to see if he really did just see someone else in the boathouse with him.

With his heart suddenly racing, sure that he's not alone in the boathouse and somehow well aware that whoever or whatever else is in there with him is none too friendly, Easton panics and runs for the door. He pulls it open and just yells, "Run!" sprinting past the other three boys with a speed and grace unexpected of a drunken teenager.

Justin leans up against the side of the boat house, bottle of rum in hand, and watches as Easton strips down to his boxers, making no attempt to conceal the fact that he's watching, either. He looks over at Teddy looking at the clothes and points the bottle at him. "I'll give you.." he starts to say when he suddenly hears Easton running for the door. They burst open, and Easton comes tear-assing out of the boat house like he was on fire.

"The fuck?" Justin says and turns to look into the darkness of the boathouse, now partially illuminated by the light pouring in through the wide open doors. Was that movement in there? Something shadowy near the side of the boat, but too dark to make out in the dim interior.

Teddy and Chad's eyes go as wide as saucers and the pair of them start stumbling over one another in a hurry to follow Easton. They are actually probably the wiser of the three at the moment, as Justin, instead, creeps closer to try to get a better look. That's never smart.

There is clearly a figure moving in the boathouse once Easton is free. Chad and Justin don't know it because they are too busy scrambling after Easton, but Justin would clearly be able to see that someone is coming after them and fast. Easton glances back and sees Chad and Teddy coming after him but not Justin, so he stops and tries to look back. Easton looks back in horror as he sees a grizzled old man burst from the inside of the boathouse. The classic yellow rainslicker and hat out of place on the otherwise sunny day, but what really gets attention is the fish gutting hook that shatters the door casing and trim.

"I'm gonna kill you!" The man at least lets them know his intentions clearly enough, even if the reasoning behind them is completely unclear.

Easton grabs the bottle from Teddy and launches it at the man, yelling "Run Justin! Come on!" He is torn between a desire to wait for the other boy or to flee for his life. And a weird things happens as he turns to run.

First and foremost Easton clearly remembers that the boathouse did scare the crap out of him. And that there was someone in there. Except in reality it was just an amorous party couple who had come to get in a quickie on the yacht. Sure they scared the crap out of him, but they didn't try and kill him.

Second, Easton realizes he's back in his adult body, complete with artificial leg. He's still soaking wet and only in a pair of boxers, but his muscles, tattoos and scars are all back. Granted his height is not really all that different, but at least he's not a scared little kid anymore. He turns back now, suddenly in a much denser wood, with little light. "Justin?! Where are you?"

"Whoah, shit!" Justin scramble/stumbles backward when a dude with a yellow raincoat like the cop from curious george had really let himself go starts lumbering after them with a fish gutting hook. He slips and almost falls, the bottle of rum shattering on a nearby rock. He works to scramble to his feet, but that guy is rapidly approaching.

He turns to run, and takes off into the trees, trying to catch up to the others. "Easton! Teddy! Fucking... CHAD?!" He's stumbling through the woods, between the trees. He can almost feel the fetid breath smelling of old fish and blood behind him.

But suddenly he's not in his summer linen suit anymore either. He's in a pair of jeans and hiking boots with a grey t-shirt, and as he comes to a stop and turns in circles, there's nothing behind him anymore. It's then that he hears Easton's voice and he comes around a corner, heading in that direction. "Easton?" But it's Easton as he is now, not more than a decade ago. As he stumbles around a tree and comes face to face with him he stares at the man, "Were you just? Was that? What the fuck just happened?"

Soaking wet and still breathing hard, Easton is disoriented and trying to figure out where the hell he is, and why. At the sudden approach of Justin, despite the fact that he was just calling out to him, causes a bit of a shock. "What?" He can't even process the question as he's having trouble still coming to grips with the fact that he's soaking wet in the woods in his boxer-briefs (he stopped wearing boxer shorts long ago). He shakes his head and says, "I didn't.. you're back?"

The look he gives Justin is clearly wary. Like he's not sure he believes it's really him or maybe he's still trying to mentally process what just happened. He finally seems to catch his breath, and then he sees his clothes. Neatly piled next to a towel and a stream.

"Yea. I was just .. I think I slipped. We were back at the summer picnic."

But then he can feel another set of memories trying to write itself in his brain. Did he really just strip off and swim in a stream? What? That doesn't sound like him at all. But he remembers doing it now, as if of course that's what happened. He goes for the towel to at least dry off, walking gingerly in barefeet across the trail. He picks up the towel to wipe his face and then looks again at Justin, actually looking at him and seeing him as an adult. "Hey. It's uh, good to see you?" What the hell do you even say?

Justin is still a bit rattled from whatever he just experienced, whatever he just saw. He glances back over his shoulder, as though expecting the scraggly guy with the fish hook to suddenly come lumbering through the trees. "I.. yeah. I bought a house on Bayside," he says a little distractedly, brow furrowing. "I was just at Addington House.. I mean.. yes.. no.. I was, this afternoon, with Hyacinth and all.. and then I was going to head back home.. " And then he was a teenager again, getting drunk behind a shrub. He rubs at his temples, none of that making much sense to him either. Only coming to Gray Harbor in the summers, he had plenty of months for any weirdness he experienced to fade, get over-written by perfectly reasonable explanations.

"You.. saw that too? The picnic, the boat house, Teddy and Chad?" He seems both a mixture of disturbed and relieved that he wasn't the only one that had seen it. "That was.. like some crazy hallucination." He glances over toward the clothes and the stream and then asks, "Do you usually come out and randomly swim in the stream at night?" Because this is a question that bears asking. He does start to laugh a little bit at the comedic nature of the scenario, though. "It's good to see you too, actually. It's been a while. You out for the summer?"

The glance over his shoulder causes Easton's head to swivel ever so slightly as if looking as well. He isn't a hundred percent sure that they are out of the Dream either after all. He tries to follow what Justin's saying about being there and not being there but the look of confusion on his face is clear. Obviously he gets why Justin's confused but he's also not sure what he means at first.

"Yes." Easton states clearly that he was there. He did see that. It's as much for his benefit as for Justin's though. He says, "We were kids again. Getting drunk at that party." And despite how that dream ended, there's the edges of a smile on his lips. It's a good memory. "It was a Dream. Big D. I.. uh. Shit, it's good to see you." Now it's not a question. Despite the fact that they've both said it once, Easton still feels the need to say that again. He shakes his head and starts to pull on some of his clothes. "No. I don't. Normally do this. But I'm living out here full time, at my parents old place in Bayside towers."

There are noises in the woods, because it's woods, and animals and shit. But every time a branch cracks, Justin tenses just a little bit. It'll take a little bit to shake that off. The smile on Easton's face, however, does seem to ease some of that tension, and he can't help but grin a little, too. "Man, it's been ages since I thought about that party." Then he looks puzzled. "Dream with a big D? What does that even mean?" Now it's his turn to look confused. "I swear, I've been hallucinating a couple of times since I got back, though. I'm starting to worry if there's some skunky shit in those edibles Dahlia brought home." Except that he'd hallucinated in the Addington house long before consuming any of those. He shakes his head again, and then grins, "It is really good to see you, though, yeah. Weird.. circumstances.. but.." He trails off. Then he says, "Oh yeah? So you're right down the street then. You should come by. Dahlia's staying with me now. I don't know if you heard, but her mom died, and I think the walls of that trailer were closing in on her, so I gave her a room at my place. I haven't been back that long."

Pulling his jeans, Easton laughs and says, "Yeah, it's funny, even being back I hadn't thought about that either." He then asks, "Wait were you out hiking?" He then looks around realizing they must be somewhere up in the woods near town. But at least there looks to be a path to they could follow to get back. He smirks as he hears 'Dream with a big D' repeated back and he says, "Name of my sex tape. No, kidding. It's a thing" He looks around, somehow not feeling like here or now is the time to get into what that even means. He pulls on his shoes and says, "Let's head back? Maybe I can help fill you in. But sadly it's not the edibles man. Believe me, I wish all that was was a bad trip."