The meeting

If nobody knew any better things had returned to normal. Sure Pete was heavily focused on by the ladies but there was no transformations or arguments. They drove Lily back to the other group saying she was afraid she and Pete would fuck again if she stayed. The teen was amused by that statement, feeding his ego that he was good enough to tempt her away from that loser Luke. He had to admit even four girls with him was too much to handle at the moment and he was a bit relieved there wasn't going to be five. Fiora was unusually giddy and pleasant but Pete knew why she was radiant, not just post-sex but also the knowledge she had slept with the man her friends were trying to 'steal' away. The man knew for sure when he caught the brunette wickedly smiling at Lissa, the ego flaring in her eyes.

"Wait." Sarah muttered. "You both say it might not be safe to stay here. Weird things are happening and will continue to happen, and now you both want to finish the vacation suddenly?"

"Can we also talk about how Fiora went from the shortest to the tallest?" Mary laughed. "She could kill someone with those legs!"

"This entire trip was to fix your relationship with Jay," Lissa piped in.

"And to help you move on," Sarah quickly added.

Lissa shrugged and rolled her eyes, "Well not even a day in you dump Jay. So besides me making a fool of myself last night and this morning how is the vacation helping me?"

Mary snickered, "You learned to eat pussy."

"Fuck off." Lissa hissed. "Answer the question, why are we here? Why stay when whatever is happening is happening and we don't understand it?"

There was silence between the girls and Pete cleared his throat, "We are here because we spent two hundred bucks and a six hour drive to get to live in a fucking mansion on the lake! This place would be literal paradise besides the thing in the woods."

"And what do we do when it finds us?" Lissa asked victoriously.

"It won't." Pete faked confidence. "We've been here for a day now. Full twenty four hours. The thing is slow but if it really wanted to come here it would have. I was alone in the woods. I've watched enough tv to know that it was trying to trap me when I was alone, which generally means it is weak or afraid. Not being in the woods and being together is all we need to do to avoid that thing."

The girls looked at Fiora who hesitated looking at Pete who gave her a look. Faking a confident smile Fiora nodded, "He's not wrong. It's usually crime shows but nature reflects the same thing. Like a spider's web."

"And what about miss blow up and our new sexy secretary?" Lissa said pointing to the new girls.

Pete shrugged, "Something that might be temporary and honestly neither seem bothered at all. We are scared and looking at things in a negative light. Fiora wanted to compete with the other girls in a quite literal way, and Mary probably wanted to show off. We could be sitting in actual paradise where what is happening is just wish granting and we what? All run away from the best thing in our lives and never find out?"

The girls laughed with him but Lissa crossed her arms, "We came here to watch a horror film be made. Now we have some creature from a horror film and we all try to rationalize it and continue partying. I really don't want to die in such a metric ton of irony thanks. I'm going to town and staying there for a bit and watching the filming like we planned. You can call us when you are done in the weird mansion Pete." She got up and realized the other girls were watching her. "Nobody?"

Sarah shrugged, "I'm not exactly hyped to be staying with my super recent ex thanks."

Lissa turned to Mary who just laughed, "Liss, don't be a loser."

Fiora stood up to Pete's horror. "I'll drive you. You know who to text if you change your mind. I'd love for you to stay though, Liss. It's a sister vacation like Sarah said, it's not all about relationships." Fiora looked at the floor, "I'm going to Uni after this and it'd suck if the last time I get to see everyone you spent it with another group."

Lissa teared up and turned away, refusing to show more feelings than she had to. "Fio...if this wasn't possibly life and ****...I'd obviously stay."

Fiora nodded sadly and the two of them walked to the front of the house leaving Pete with the blonde and redhead. Mary immediately turned to them and smiled, "So what do you think?"

"Lissa has a good point but our argument brought up how we aren't always considerate of each other, and Fiora seems to need this more than we do." Sarah said bluntly taking a drink of her orange soda and leaning back in her chair she seemed to claim.

"No bitch, what do you think of leggy Fio?" she then looked at Pete trying to make him uncomfortable.

Pete didn't take the bait, mostly because he had just had sex with her and wanted to act cool, "She does look really good. Seems happier too."

Sarah nodded and looked warmly at Pete, "Yeah, I was thinking that. She's way less defensive and even a bit giddy."

The redhead nodded and walked to the kitchen, grabbing a beer, "You don't think Pete had a go with her new body while we were gone do you?" Sarah looked at him suspiciously and he tried to quickly think of an excuse when the door flew open and the girls ran inside. Lissa pranced inside with an angry pout and tossed her purse down on a chair.

"SO the car is broken down," Lissa crossed her arms, "Still don't think this is some horror bullshit?"

The next several minutes were four girls with coolers and beers watching a shirtless Pete inspecting the broken down car and whispering to each other. Pete tried to keep his eyes on the car but it was very difficult and they each seem amused to be distractions. At one point he heard an offhand comment, "You know ignoring that he's, you know, Pete and everything, he's nice to look at." He knew that voice was Mary's and he couldn't hide his smile hearing the other girls agree and giggle. Eventually Pete wiped his oily hands off on an old rug and shook his head. "No good?"

"Well without parts it's going to be one hell of a job. Maybe I could get it working by the end of the week. Maybe." Pete frowned. "Best case scenario is the others get their car fixed soon and can get someone to come and bring us parts. Or see if there's a towing service."

"I'll search for a towing service on that reddit thread," Fiora offered and grabbed his phone. He was nervous trusting her with it again but Lissa looked like she was about to cry and he knew she hated crying in front of people.

Pete walked up and gave Lissa a sentimental look, "I'm sorry. Without parts this is next to impossible. If there's no towing service the only thing we can do is walk to town. And I'll go with you. No way in hell you're allowed to try that on your own." She just nodded trying her hardest not to cry. "Hug?"

Lissa was cold at times, he knew deep down she was a sweetheart but she didn't like showing it. But he was immediately pulled in and squeezed tight by her, tucking herself into him as much as she could. "How are you so nice and a total fuck boy at the same time?" she whispered and he laughed while rubbing her back. He could tell the others were giving them an ugly stare but they could fuck right off. Lissa was in shambles on a trip she never wanted to be on. After several minutes of cuddling he could hear her uncharacteristically weak voice, "You really think we are safe here?"

Pete thought for the perfect thing to say, "I think so. But if you don't then that matters more to me."

Fiora groaned, "No towing service for an entire day! Oh wonderful and he's off tomorrow. Guess Thursday it is. Sorry Liss."

Lissa wiped her eyes and pulled away from Pete forcing a smile, "No, thanks for trying guys. Walking to town sounds like the easiest way to be the first victims so maybe two days wont be so bad. I wouldn't mind a swim though to relax."

"What about the shed thing?" Sarah asked.

"What?"

The blonde waved her arms trying to draw an invisible map, "I forgot all about it til you said swimming. There's like a garage or shed or something by the lake."

Pete nodded, "Honestly might be a boathouse but even then could have some tools and parts." He went to walk to it but felt Lissa still wrapped around one of his arms. "I think I should swim with Lissa make sure she's okay. Maybe a buddy system is in order? Maybe Fiora could take my phone and take pictures of the inside if it's unlocked or of the door if it is locked. Sarah could you go with her? You have the keys to the place."

"Sure." Sarah said and wrapped her arm around Fiora's, "Time for an adventure!"