Drifting into Darkness Read Online Free Page A

laughed.
    Maybe it wasn’t so bad. I looked out of the window at the traffic passing by. The town wasn’t as small as I originally thought, but that was a good thing. I was used to the hustle and bustle of a big city so I was sure I’d get used to this new way of life.
    “So,” I said to Lisa, “what is there to do around here?” I asked as I popped a fry in my mouth.
    “Hey, guys,” Sarah interrupted as she came to a stop at our table. “Can I git y’all anything else?” she asked without taking her eyes off Derek. “Can I git ya something, Derek?” she asked with a little bit too much seduction in her voice.
    My eyes widened in surprise as I looked from her to Lisa, who was completely ignoring her. Derek, however, was looking right at me with a bored look on his face.
    “Nah, I’m good. Thanks,” he replied.
    “I’m good too,” I told her with a smile.
    “Ok, jus’ let me know if ya need anything,” she said with more of a southern accent than she had before. “Here’re your checks. Jus’ let me know when you’re ready.” She set down two receipts and walked off with too much sway in her step.
    What the hell was that all about? I cleared my throat. “That was a little awkward. Does that happen a lot?” I asked them both. Seeing as how they both reacted, I assumed it did.
    Lisa flailed her hand at me. “Girls do it all the time. There’s just something about the Johnson boys,” she said sarcastically as she bumped her shoulder with Derek’s. He laughed and shook his head as he played with the straw wrappers we left on the table. I wasn’t sure I’d be so nonchalant about it. “We just ignore it. They do it all the time, so there’s no reason to bring more attention to it.”
    She was a bigger person than me for sure; there was no way I’d let something like that slide by without saying something. I wouldn’t care if it started a fight or not.
    “So,” she said changing the subject, “you asked about things to do around here. There’s the movie theater, a couple of clubs, and Stan’s Arcade. And since you’re in the south, there’s also mud boggin’, farm parties, and of course, the car club,” she smiled brightly.
    What the hell was mud bogging? I was going to ask, but I honestly didn’t want to get her started. The first thing that popped into my head was girls wrestling in mud. I was sure that wasn’t it, but I wasn’t that interested in finding out. “Farm parties and the car club, what does all of that entail?” I asked as I took a sip of my coke. “What do you do at farm parties?”
    “The parties are held on the family farm,” Derek stated. “There’s a portion of the land that was used as camping ground when we were little and it’s not used anymore. So Landon and I have parties out there, and we usually always have a bonfire. You just drive out there to hang out and bring your own beverage. We bring a stereo system out there too.”
    I’d never been to a party that was held outside at night. Although there were those frat parties Erin always dragged me to where people congregated outside, but I was sure this wasn’t the same. “You don’t get in trouble with your parents for the parties?” I couldn’t see any parent being happy about their kids having a party with underage drinkers.
    Derek shrugged his shoulders. “Nah, they really don’t care. We just have to let them know when we have one so they know we’ll be having a bonfire. You know, with the crops and all. It’s nowhere near any of the farmland, but…anyway; we just have to make sure the mess is cleaned up the next day.”
    “Cool.”
    “Yeah, you should definitely come to the party Friday night,” Lisa said enthusiastically as her phone dinged on the table. She picked it up and replied to whomever had sent her a message as she continued talking. “There’s goin’ to be a lot of people there with school out and all. You could get to know a bunch of people.”
    I took one last bite of